dirtier fingernails & cleaner minds

Years ago, my parents talked me into a form of self-abuse so heinous I can’t bring myself to recount the details. It was that gruesome.

This cleanse, despite being recommended by a woman who named her first born “Apple,” seems more reasonable. Most of the recipes appear edible, some even enjoyable.

The Los Angeles Times La Plaza Blog

Vegetable samosas with cilantro-mint chutney made in my new molcajete.

Both were delicious (thanks to the genius Tiku family recipe), though I’m still perfecting my samosa-wrapping technique.

Also note: we do not have a table in our Mexico City apartment, so we eat on a wooden vegetable crate.

A between-meal snack in Mazatlan, Mexico: three kinds of oysters with hot sauce & lime ($95 pesos or about $6 US)

Freda: Our Christmas dinner was fantastic. This recipe, from Cooking Light (don’t be deterred by the low calorie count) was easy and really good. I added strawberries to the figs for extra yum. I also had to substitute Ricotta, which was nowhere to be found in Colonia Roma, with panela (a similarly wonderful Mexican cheese).

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Red Wine-Poached Fig and Ricotta Tarts

The wine mixture used as a poaching liquid for the figs is reduced to create a rich sauce that is drizzled over the finished tarts. Briefly poaching the figs infuses flavor and makes them even more tender, but you can skip this step and just make a sauce to drizzle over raw figs. You can also make this in a 9-inch round removable-bottom tart pan and increase the baking time to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

• 1 cup Zinfandel or other fruity dry red wine
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 12 fresh figs, halved (about 3/4 pound)
• 1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
• 3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Fresh mint sprigs (optional)

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Combine first 5 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add figs. Reduce heat; simmer 2 minutes. Remove figs with a slotted spoon, and place in a shallow dish. Cover and chill. Bringthe cooking liquid to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes or until reduced to 1/2 cup. Cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 450°.

Roll dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface; cut dough into 8 (4-inch) circles, rerolling dough scraps as necessary. Fit each dough circle into a 3 1/2-inch tart pan. Bake at 450° for 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Combine ricotta and honey. Spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons ricotta mixture into each tart shell.

Arrange 3 fig halves, cut sides up, inside each shell. Drizzle each tart with 1 tablespoon of the wine mixture. Garnish with mint, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings

Freda: Food is good for you. Food policy is a political danger zone.

This Christmas, we’re making country pork ribs with sauerkraut & apples from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks.

Also available from this work of culinary genius: Jalapeño-ground beef corn bread.

Amazing — just amazing.

For kicks. My entries into the National Geographic Foodie Challenge.

This could be fun.

Tacos al Pastor (5 x 12.5 pesos or less than $1) at Plaza Insurgentes, Mexico City

The stand doesn’t look like much, and the amount of lard that went into the bad boys was ungodly, but the pork was sweet, the salsa spicy and damn were they delicious.

The deranged chef, Thanksgiving, 2008.

Poblano tacos from the mercado down the street. Amazing.

Grilled poblano peppers stuffed with cheese (and more melted on top), with avocado and two kinds of salsa.