Tamales at Home: The Perfect Party Food

by Eva Grodberg

One of my best vacations ever was the week I spent at Mexican Home Cooking School, outside of Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Estella Silva and her husband Jon Jarvis taught a small group of us to make recipes passed down from her family. Originally from Puebla, one of Mexico’s noted culinary regions, Estella taught us recipes for mole’, and sauces I had never heard of before, like pepian and pasilla. Of all the recipes we learned, I find myself making tamales regularly because they’re easy and economical to make in big batches and everyone loves them.

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Say Hello

by Eva Grodberg

Using a simple two-word phrase can greatly enhance your trips to France, Spain or anywhere else French or Spanish are spoken.

Although I don’t remember where I read this, it was definitely before my 2005 trip to Barcelona and Madrid. That was the first time I made a conscious effort to always use a two-word hello in shops and restaurants – and noticed significantly better communication with people when I was traveling. In Paris, which I have been visiting since 15, using a two-word phrase made a drastic improvement in the quality of my trips.

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