Earlier this week I went shopping at Pancho Villa’s Market with a friend who knew her way around the Mexican grocery store better than I did. She shared a great tip- if you like pan dulce, try the larger version sold as “Concha Grande,” that look like a monster Pan Dulce. Dee Dee says that she thinks that the larger loaves are more moist than the little rolls.
Going for a dunk…
We tried our big loaf o’ Pan Dulce this morning at breakfast with our chorizo burritos. We all agreed with Dee Dee… Yum! It was great dipped in coffee and nice on its own. Down right delicious like the little rolls, but the smaller Pan Dulces are definitely a bit more dry.
Haven’t had Pan Dulce before? Try them for breakfast or a snack. Look for them in most Mexican grocery stores with bakeries.
Six months is way too long to wait. Time for another “field trip,” this time with Dee Dee and Suzanne, friends from our church’s Bunco Club. Incidentally, Bunco Club needs to be renamed to “Let’s Have a Blast Chatting about All Our Favorite Things, Then Finally Get Around to Throwing Those Dice” Club (at least on the day it was held at my house, oops). Well, we chit-chatted about so many different favorite products, foods, restaurants and other places that we promised to go on a field trip to a few of these spots the very next week.
According to Dee Dee, Fruitilandia was once a dumpy-looking small shop across the street from it’s current location at 4328 University Avenue in San Diego. Now it is located in a bright spot, still offering smoothies and all kinds of fabulous Mexican drink specialties.
We asked about the different snack options and were all in for sharing a Tostilocos, and tried the Strawberries and Cream (unfreakingbelievably delish), Pico de Gallo Fruit Salad, Fruit Salad with cottage cheese, raisins and honey, and a Licuado.
Holy cow, where has a Licuado been all my life? It is kind of like a Mexican milkshake, only lighter, like a smoothie. And tastier. And more refreshing. Choose which of many fruits you want blended into your drink with the milk- I chose pineapple and mango. Wow. Delish.
The three of us split a snack that we decided was like a Walking Taco… on steroids. We barely made a dent in the Tostilocos- served in one opened small bag of Tostitos was cucumbers, jicama, fried peanuts, tamarind bits, spicy sauce and chicharron strips. I’m pretty sure there were 42 other things in there, we just couldn’t get down to the bottom of the bag.
Three forks-full of chicharron… not fried.
Imagine how sad I was to find that the chicharrones were not fried… boo hoo hoo! I definitely prefer my chicharrones fried. Pork skin cooked this way is like calamari, only a little more firm. Not bad, but not to my taste.
Fruit Salad Pico de Gallo- something I never had, but always meant to- chunks of fruit with chile. Definitely tasty, now all my So Cal and Mexican friends and family can get off my case. I think I liked the papaya and watermelon best.
Fruit Salad Pico de Gallo
Fruitilandia could take over the country’s smoothie market. I hope it does.
I thought it was really funny that Yesterday’s Pearls Before Swine comic was about Funyuns, ha.
My dad, about a week ago, stated that he’s not eaten Funyuns before. This, coming from a man who never met a salty snack he hasn’t liked. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, either, I LOVE any kind of chips. And I consider it my mission to introduce my son’s friends to all kinds of different foods- nopales, ramen noodles, edamame, and a host of other different treats.
This was going to be fun, and we headed off to the Mexican market for some groceries and different chips… Funyuns for my dad and other snacks that I was sure the my mom, mom-in-law and husband have all not tried, and we had a great lineup:
I think my mom wins the Best Face Made while trying a new snack- despite this face, she decided that she liked freshly made chicharrones:
The mom tries real chicharrones from Pancho Villa Market.
Here’s the Funyuns Face of Approval:
I still can’t believe that he hasn’t tried Funyuns before…
We also tried a corn stick snack called Charritos- Chile Limón flavor:
We all pretty much liked the Charritos Chile Limón flavor…
Despite the face mom-in-law is making, we all decided that the Original Black Bean Chips by Beanitos were not only all right, but they would be great with guacamole-
She didn’t think these would be good, but was surprised that they were.
Only Abby could handle the heat of the Ruffles Tapatío Limón flavored potato chips. Holy crap, these were HOT!
The one and a half Mexicans in the tasting panel thought that these were too hot! Abby liked them, though.
So try the Beanitos and Charritos for a different snack, the Ruffles Tapatío if you really like the heat, and if you have never had the pleasure of Funyuns, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO GET SOME!
Pancho Villa Market is where you can head in San Diego for freshly made tortillas. We are out of torts, so, here I am. Instead of a usual post-grocery shopping snack of little,street-style carne asada soft tacos, today I’m looking for something different.
The fabulous woman behind the counter and I combined our Spanish and English and came up with these snacks: birria de res, and buche de puerco, a chile relleno, some carnitas, and a burrito with adobada de pollo. (Need to brush up on your high school Spanish? Here’s a great site for a cheat sheet- “A Gringo’s Guide to Mexican Food,” or, “Everything You Need to Know to Read a Taqueria Menu.” at http://doginspace.com/taqueriaspanish/).
Carnitas and rellenos I know, but the adobada, birria and buche were all new to me. And I will eat anything if it is something other people will regularly eat- no squeamishness in me. Bring on the tripas, medudo is one of my favorites.
WHERE HAVE THESE BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!? The birria and buche became little, soft tacos as fast as possible by toasting up the tiny corn tortillas and adding a little jack cheese and lettuce.
Buche de Puerco on the left, birria de res on the right (ignore what the lids may say, we were too hungry to care about the details).Buche and birria soft tacos. YUM!Front- burrito with pollo de adobada, Back- husband swiping carnitas
Which brings us to today: 
Holy cow, where has a Licuado been all my life? It is kind of like a Mexican milkshake, only lighter, like a smoothie. And tastier. And more refreshing. Choose which of many fruits you want blended into your drink with the milk- I chose pineapple and mango. Wow. Delish.
branching out... on a limb 