Mexican Tonight

For some odd reason, I was craving posole yesterday. I had some leftover rotisserie chicken, and I went to the store to pick up the rest of the ingredients. After looking at a variety of recipes, I came up with this variation which I have to say was just what I was looking for. Perfect for a cold winter's night.



This is my recipe for posole. 
oil
onion
chicken broth
cilantro
dried thyme
small can of diced green chiles
14 oz. can of posole (hominy)
2 cups of rotisserie chicken
Dash of Cholula hot sauce

Saute the onion in oil until it becomes transparent. Add some dried thyme. Then, add the chicken broth, diced chiles, and cilantro. Put in a food processor or blender unless you can use an immersion blender. After, add the chicken and drained posole. Let everything heat up. Serve with a few dashes of hot sauce. Lettuce and radishes are common accompaniments, but I didn't feel like it. The soup was already perfect in my eyes.

How did I learn about Mexico? Well, here is a picture of me when I was working for the Embassy of Mexico.

Before becoming a teacher, I was hoping to break into the Foreign Service. I was in Washington, DC studying for my Masters in International Relations at American University's School of International Service. After finishing, I was so happy to have scored a job at the Embassy of Mexico's Cultural Institute. It was housed in a historic building in downtown DC. Everyday as I walked up the stairs seeing the mural that decorated the staircase, I would pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Mural painted by Miguel de Covarrubias, student of Diego Rivera

Although I was just the Cultural Minister's secretary, I realized what I had an opporunity to immerse myself in Mexican culture. While there, I developed a love for Mexican food particularly "real" Mexican tacos, posole, and chiles en nogadas. I met some amazing people who showed me a beautiful side of the Mexican culture. I get nostalgic when I hear "Mexico en la piel" by Luis Miguel remembering that we stuffed 3,000 envelopes while singing this song. Tonight's post is dedicated to Maricarmen, Humberto, Euri and the others that worked with me. Los siempre llevo en mi corazon. 

As a side note, today is a FIFA Day. Club teams are required to send the players home to their national teams. Tonight, Mexico is playing Jamaica in a game which my husband tells me is going to count as a qualifier for the World Cup. The other option that the countries have is a friendly game which is to help prepare them for the World Cup. My husband is watching Colombia play Guatemala on the computer, and we also have the Mexico-Jamaica game on the television. We are getting pumped up for the World Cup!