Cooking class, part one: shopping

We took a cooking class today with Alejandro Ruiz, who runs the restaurant here as well as the Casa Oaxaca restaurant nearby. I had high expectations since the food at both locations is so good, but I never expected it to be so fun!! We took the class with two other women - both from Minnesota!! - and they made it a lot of fun. One now lives in Mexico City but used to live a block away from me in Brooklyn and the other lives in Manhattan and used to waitress with my cousin's babysitter, Bev, in Mpls years ago! There was a lot of MN and NY talk.

The day started with a trip to the market to buy the ingredients. I just love visiting markets when i travel!! We bought fresh masa dough for the yellow mole.



Then we bought all the fruits and vegetables.






And chiles



The meat was already waiting in the kitchen, but it is always interesting to see all the American health codes thrown out the window (other cultures seem much more daring with their food)



Lots of grasshoppers for sale



We bought sun-dried shrimps for a soup



And then we bought fresh fish



Fresh zucchini blossoms for garnish



I kept bumping into piñatas as we walked around

Location:Oaxaca, Mexico