Zócalo Blog

Enchiladas Rojas is an exquisite specialty that originates from Mexico and has over 20 different versions to choose from. The practice of rolling tortillas around other foods goes back to the Mayan times near the Valley of Mexico where they would roll small fish with their tortilla. Nowadays, the modern Enchilada is made with your choice of filling like cheese, vegetables, meats, beans, and/or any combo you like the most then covered in a chili tomato sauce. Yummm! Today, we want to talk about this delicious Mexican dish and put your cooking skills to test. Don’t worry, you're not alone in the process! We got you covered.

One of the biggest Mexican celebrations of Mexican heritage and traditions in the United States is celebrated today, on May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo. However, in Mexico, this day is not largely celebrated, parades and events are mostly limited to the state of Puebla, and it is not a federal holiday. So, what is Cinco de Mayo? In today’s blog, we would like to shed some light on this holiday that celebrates the Mexican victory over France invasion in 1862, officially known as Día de la Batalla de Puebla, or Battle of Puebla Day. 

Let’s get started on our next adventure to the motherland of our favorite drink: TEQUILA. Now, we're not just talking about the drink but the “Pueblito Magico” Tequila, Jalisco. The land of the beautiful blue agave scenery, cobblestone streets, and of course the best tequila in the world! 

Although in the United States Mother’s Day is celebrated the second Sunday of May, Día de las Madres in Mexico is always celebrated May 10^th no matter what day of the week it falls on. As with all important celebrations, this day is one centered around food, family, and music and is a day that will last several hours, if not all day; In Mexico all family gathers to celebrate La Jefa de la Casa, our mamá.

The same as us, we are sure you have been stunned at the artwork and detailing behind one of Mexico’s biggest beaded forms of artwork: Huichol. The Huichol work is known for the colorful decoration using symbols and designs. Many people, both tourists and Mexicans, experience Huichol art as astonishing artwork without knowing about the talented artisans behind the pieces and the meanings of the designs that date back centuries. That is the reason why today we wanted to highlight the talented beaded work of the Huichol, or Wixárika/Wirrárika/Wirraritari (pl), as they call themselves in their native language.

With Spring upon us and all plants blooming around, so does one of Mexico’s most famous and ancestral plants: Nopal. Since Pre-Columbian times, nopales have been a part of the Mexican diet and up until this day are a staple of Mexican cuisine. We wanted to share a delicious recipe for making nopalitos salad for those who are looking to serve an authentic Mexican meal and take advantage of the many health benefits of this plant.

Ahhh.. it is finally here! Our regional highlight of places to visit in Mexico where we invite you to join us in daydreaming about being able to travel again. This time we want to pack our bags and visit further South: Chiapas. A land of pure contrasts, Chiapas offers stunning scenery that holds the magnificence of Mayan archaeological sites with ancient Mayan cities in the middle of rainforests. Next to these sites, one can also find colonial charming cities where people are as friendly as they are warm. We have gathered information on 3 places to visit in Chiapas, Mexico that will provide you all with a glimpse of the state that has everything to offer.

Lolo was founded by three brothers, Julián, Luis, and Manuel together with their mother, Linda. This week’s blog is a special piece as it highlights their hometown and the talented work they grew up learning about: Taxco, Guerrero. Taxco de Alarcón is a small, colonial town in Mexico renowned for its workmanship in high-quality silver and its beautiful Spanish architecture, including its breathtaking church, Santa Prisca. With this blog, everyone at Lolo is excited to also highlight a new line of collections of Sterling Silver. We are beyond excited to bring these pieces and to share some information about the founder’s hometown and sincerely hope you will receive them with the same love and admiration we have.

As with many holidays, Mexicans love celebrating Valentine’s day and consider this day a special occasion to celebrate with their loved ones. Día de San Valentín is also known as Día del Amor y la Amistad (Day of the love and friendship) which includes people celebrating and showing appreciation for all relationships, both romantic and non-romantic. This year, as the numbers of COVID-19 cases continue to increase dramatically around the world, getting together with friends seems to be difficult as we want to avoid the risk of exposing our (and other’s) health. That is why we would like to share some ideas that the Lolo family has on how to celebrate this Día del Amor y la Amistad.

We, at Lolo, consider Maíz to be the greatest gift our ancestors left us with and this week we wanted to pay homage to that by sharing the basic principles and a recipe on how to cook tortillas de maíz, or corn tortillas. Learning to make tortillas is essential in learning about Mexican culture as it is considered the base for many Mexican plates. Tortillas are also always present on a Mexican table as a companion to every meal. Lastly, handmade tortillas have no comparison to store-bought ones and are an amazing upgrade to every dish. Although not an “easy” recipe, we highly encourage you to take the time to make them and experience the important connection of cooking from scratch.

For Lolo, it is important to highlight the astonishing art created by artisans in Mexico. This week, we want to highlight the stunning Otomí work from Hidalgo, México. Hidalgo is unique as it is birthplace for tenangos one of the most traditional pieces of Mexican embroidery and art. These embroideries are made by using multicolored threads filled with inspirations of images of flora and fauna found in the region, creating animals and flowers that seem almost fantasy-like. 

January 6^th is known as Día de Los Tres Reyes Magos, or Three Kings Day. In Mexico this is (almost) the last day of celebrating holidays and is also traditional to spend it surrounded with friends and family and a table full of food, specifically a delicious rosca de reyes. Even tough it has a Christian religious history behind it and with its origins in Spain, Día de Reyes in Mexico is more about the warmth brought on by getting together as a family during these festivities. That is the reason why all people in Mexico and/or of Mexican descent around the world are familiar with the tradition behind the rosca de reyes and how hiding the Baby Jesus figurine implicates more togetherness.

On the eve of the most expected new year, 2021, we wanted to share with you all reflections and a brief conversation with Julián, Luis, and Manuel, the three founding brothers from Lolo. Overall we cannot help but to be thankful to you all for bringing so much light into our lives and for helping us in our efforts to support artisanal communities. Here are five questions and the answers each of them had to share, including a final message for everyone who has shown their incredible support.

Native to Mexico, the Poinsetttia flower, Euphorbia pulcherrima (or Christmas flower, flor de navidad, nochebuena, pastora, pascuero, Pascua, and Estrella federal) is the one flower you think of when thinking about Christmas. Bright crimsom red, with its unique star-shape, this beautiful flower is thought to be endemic to the town of Taxco, Guerrero and it fills us with pride knowing that Lolo and this flower share the same roots.

The recipes that we have selected start with our favorite seasonal beverage: ponche, a traditional drink in Mexico served during posadas and Christmas dinners. The next one is the customary bacalao. You can enjoy this delicious dish as a main course during the dinner, the best part is that the following day you can put it inside a bolillo or telera to create the famous “Tortas de Bacalao” for the “recalentado”. Finally, one of our favorites desserts that is also a popular street food, buñuelos, eating this messy and crunchy sweet is a fun experience on itself, just be mindful of the crumbs!