Rachel Laudan

Now here’s a question. How did Mexicans make agua fresca before every household had its blender?  Some fruits–the citrus–are easy to juice.  But that’s not true of other agua fresca bases such as barley, rice, or pineapple. Well, here’s the answer. This 1860 oil by a wonderful Mexican painter, José Agustín Arrieta, shows horchata vendors. [...]

Since Alex mentioned the pink horchata of Guadalajara, it seemed time to give a recipe for yet another of the multitudinous drinks that goes by this name (just hit the tag horchata for earlier discussions of this family of drinks). This comes from Maru Toledo who appears on radio and television in Guadalajara and who [...]

9:45 on Monday. Internet reconnected for the first time in several days. No phone but there’s always hoping. And the reservoirs are full and the water is tumbling through the arroyos and the mountains are green. So how can I complain about my isolation from the modern world thanks to soaked phone connections? Give me [...]