Celebrating Cinco de Mayo A Little Early

Cinco de Mayo is a day of celebration that recognizes Mexico’s victory over the Second French Empire led by Napoleon III at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. But it is really more of a Mexican-American “holiday”, celebrated in America much more so than it is in Mexico. For many in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo isn’t a day of monumental importance or a national party. For some, it’s merely a date marked in the calendar, while for others, it’s a day to commemorate the resilience of the Mexican spirit and a taciturn reminder of the valor of the Mestizo in the face of adversity. Yet, Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico outside of Puebla. Unlike Mexico’s Independence Day, Sept. 16, it is not even a federal holiday. In the United States, by contrast, more than 500 cities have annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations, with the largest in Los Angeles, drawing as many as 500,000 revelers. The United States started celebrating the day in 1863, in California in response to the resistance to French rule in Mexico and as a way to honor California’s Mexican- American heritage.

I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, in Pasadena. California, and Los Angeles specifically, has a very large Mexican population. The name “Los Angels” itself means city of angels. That being said, Cinco de Mayo was always a big, festive day, and the festivities have grown ever since.

We “celebrated” the day, a couple of days early, with some good Mexican food and games after. Most people like to make fajitas, burritos, tacos, or nachos for the day. But these are the foods popular in most restaurants, and especially in Mexican restaurants, everywhere you go. These ARE NOT the only good Mexican foods around by any means of the imagination though. Mexico has lots of fabulous food. I wanted to make something less mainstream, but still authentically Mexican. I made a Mexican or Spanish chicken, with Spanish rice, some sauteed vegetables with Mexican herbs and spices and flan for dessert.

First, I marinated the chicken for about 5 hours, in a spicy tomato sauce. Then we grilled it up when we were ready to eat. I reserved some of the sauce and cooked it down to serve on top of the cooked chicken as well. My sauce was a quick version of an adobo sauce.

1 cup salsa

1 TBSP garlic

1 cup orang juice

3 TBSP onion, diced fine

1-2 tsp cumin

1 jalapeno, diced fine

1-2 tsp oregano

lemon verbena and/or cilantro, chopped

Mix everything together well and use as a marinade for the chicken, and let it marinade for at least 3-4 hours. Reserve some of the marinade for later to top the chicken once it is cooked.

When ready to cook, you can cook it any way you like, but I liked it grilled. We also heated up some tortillas on the grill while the chicken was cooking.

Next came the Spanish rice. You have seen this before, when I had my Old World/New World fiesta. Spanish Rice

We go to Mexico all the time. As you know, we LOVE diving in Cozumel. When we eat out, often the vegetables served are sauteed zucchini, crookneck and carrots, mixed with cumin, oregano, and sometimes peppers. This is exactly what I did too. I also threw in some of my lemon verbena, which is already growing wild and taking over my backyard. But I LOVE cooking with it. 🙂

Dessert was flan. You saw this from my Old World/New World fiesta as well, only I made it as individual portions, since I was only making it for only five people this time. Old World/New World Fiesta

And of course, we had margaritas too.

I love Mexican food, and we eat it all the time, so really this was just yet another normal dinner for us. And as usual, we celebrated with friends and games after. So it was a celebration of sorts, but really just a celebration of life, because life is good, and it is always better when shared over good food with good friends.

Que tengas un gran dia y haz que cada dia sea grandioso. Mantente segura y mantente bien. Hasta la proxima. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

On a side note. Today, May 4th, would have been my mother’s 95th birthday. Sadly, I lost my mom over 18 years ago, so she is up in Heaven now. Happy, Heavenly Birthday Mom. I love you always and forever.