The Plus Side of Food Here

Living here for two months so far has made me realize a couple things about food.  Here's a list of five things I've learned about food which I think are pretty great.

1-EVERYTHING TASTES BETTER WITH LARD.  I've had beans with lard and beans without lard, and they taste better with lard.  I've had two identical pumpkin pies only one was made with lard and one with butter, the lard crust was better.  I could go on forever.

2-Tortillas taste way better when you just watched them be made than when they've been sitting at the store for, god forbid, a whole day or more.  That's right, I'm officially a tortilla snob, and I'm not ever planing on going back to the dark side. There are tortillarias everywhere including three doors down from my house here.  Whenever I feel like it, I can grab a couple pesos and be happier than ever when eating a piping hot tortilla off the stack that I just watched be made. I am seriously considering opening up a tortillaria in Ann Arbor so that I don't die when I go back. 

3-If you're at someones house and they offer you food, you better eat up.  It's considered very rude not to eat if someone offers it to you.

4-Very close to number 3, you must share food.  Say for example, that you just went to the store and bought a bag a chips.  Well get ready to share every last chip.  But this one works both ways so it's a win.

5-The Coca-Cola is way better here.  It's made with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, and it is really delicious.  It's probably one of the main reasons why Mexico has the most diabetes out of any other county....

6-Guacamole is really good. So are tacos and fresh salsa.  Fresh coconut may or may not be God's best creation.  It's really amazing how much better fresh fruits, veggies and cheese taste and all the food here is made with fresh ingredients. We eat fresh fruits and vegetables all the time at home but nothing can compare to cut and bought that day.

7-Sea food is abundant here in Mazatlan.  You can find all sorts of crazy kinds and in fact the Benefields have been given both swordfish and a bucket of little squid before. The fish too, although you might not know exactly what kind they are, are fresh and delicious. 

8-Mexican soup is amazing.

9-There is this magical truck called the Pan(bread) Truck.  It is filled with delicious bread and drives around at night with with a loudly playing recording that lets you know it's there.  For 5 pesos a pop (37 cents) from a pretty big selection which is freshly baked, you can buy the bread a pastries of the gods.

10-Did I mention tortillas?