Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Cinco de Mayo: why Mexicans don't celebrate May 5th

Now live online at EAT Magazine, you can click over and check out my guest blog on why Mexicans don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

While in Puerto Vallarta, my family and I bacame a local fellow who told us - to my surprise - that Cinco de Mayo is not a public holiday in Mexico and is not as enthusiastically celebrated as it is around the world.


In the United States and here in Canada, we welcome the day as an occasion to celebrate and enjoy Mexican food and culture. But in Mexico, the day commemorates a battle that took place in Peubla in 1862, where troops triumphed over the French army who out numbered them two to one. It’s a dark part of their history, full of oppression, and one that a local friend told me they would rather let pass.

Nonetheless, celebrations continue around the globe. It’s thought of as a reason to gather friends or family together to share some great Mexican food, cold cervezas and just maybe a shot of tequila.

Because this just may help bring some sun and warmer weather our way, here's a recipe for sangria. It can be put together simply and cheaply using red wine, lime juice, simple syrup and diced apple. The lime juice and syrup adds a refreshing flavour and zing.



Sangria (recipe is per glass)


Ingredients
1/2 cup simple syrup
1/2 cup red wine
1 shot of lime juice
1/4 of an apple, diced ice

Directions
Make the simple syrup first. In a medium saucepan, combine one cup sugar and one cup water. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Cool.

In a wine glass, and a handful of ice cubes and add syrup, red wine, lime juice and diced apple. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh delicious! I'll take some of that!! Yum! To Summer! (which will eventually show up... I hope...)...

Lorelei said...

Yum, I love Sangria. This will be perfect for a warm spring evening on the deck

Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan said...

i'm really enjoying reading through your notes and recipes! i notice on the sangria recipe that the instruction to mix the sugar and water doesn't correlate with the ingredient list, which just says simple syrup. also, is the proportion of simple syurp to wine 1:1? i look forward to browsing through your blog more!

Melody Wey said...

Yes, I've gotten a lot of questions about this sangria recipe. First, make the simple syrup by combining one cup sugar with one cup water in a saucepan. Bring to boil until the sugar dissolves and then cool.

Once you're made the simple syrup and it's cool. Slowing add it to the sangria until you have the sweetness that you like.

This isn't a heavy wine sangria but rather a light, cocktail-style summer sipper. The proportion they made for us in Mexico was 1:1 syrup to wine but that may be too sweet for some people. When in Mexico...