Back in 2019, and just in time for Día de Muertos (or what Americans dare call “Mexican Halloween”) Mattel came up with a signature Barbie Día de Muertos which – according to a very long press release – featured a “long, embroidered dress decorated with flowers and butterflies [and] a crown with the iconic monarch butterflies and the cempasúchitl flower to honor, in every way, the symbols and offerings of this emblematic Mexican tradition.”
Today, as if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t brought so many calamities to the world, she is back, and she’s not alone: Mattel’s Second Edition Barbie Día de Muertos comes with a catrina-faced Ken Doll Día de Muertos, featuring a “charro look” and a “calavera sugar skull bolero tie and sombrero with a golden band.”
Today’s 7.6 magnitude quake came on the same day as devastating quakes in 1985 and 2017.
Nope, I’m not making this up. Today, Monday, September 19, 2022, at around 1:07 pm local time, Mexico City residents were shaken (not stirred) by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, that killed at least one and damaged a lot of buildings across several states.
I first learned about it not on Twitter, but on the family WhatsApp that was going nuts with voicemail notifications from my brother and sister sounding really really scared. The first message, from my brother, came through at 2:08 pm/EST and it simply said “Está temblando,” two words any born and raised Mexican knows all too well.
Then came my sister with a 7-second message saying it was really fucking bad and then I sort of panicked.
I had been in transit but as soon as I got home I called to make sure they were OK. Thankfully, everyone was unscathed. Scared shit still, but unharmed.
Barely 7 or 8 minutes later, the memes started pouring in. It was – once again – my people’s way of dealing with calamities, from highlighting the HUGE coincidence of the September 19 date to celebrating the inevitability of our demise.
I’m just gonna post a few examples below to give you an idea of what’s going on today post-sismo, but feel free to follow this blogger’s Twitter feed to keep up in real time.
“Hola, mi gente!” My favorite YouTuber continues to kick butt
Doña Ángela, the adorable abuelita behind the super successful YouTube channel De mi rancho a tu cocina, continues to reign on the video channel, where she has amassed (pun intended) over 4 million subscribers –and counting.
Doña Ángela is not TV famous, and her kitchen does not boast any Michelin stars, and that’s because she’s the real enchilada, cooking all kinds of delicious stuff from her humble kitchen in Michoacán. Watch her make everything, from juicy carnitas to cheese-stuffed chayotes (yum!)
But the best part of the whole thing (at least for this blogger) is that Doña Ángela continues to get way more pageviews than other folks pretending to cook online, including Martha Stewart (and her molcajete cat) and Gordon Ramsay, who once said dulce de leche tastes like shit (yup he did.)
IPAndemia: The Mexican IPA you didn’t know you needed.
The mexicans have done it, my friends. I hereby present you with IPANDEMIA, a West Coast IPA celebrating “los héroes de la salud,” the heroes of our health –forever and ever.
I really didn’t want to do it, but then I thought about it and, well, what the heck? In my latest column for Hispanic Executive Magazine I went down the “x” rabbit hole and tried to “Hisplain” the so-called controversy around “Latinx.”
In a nutshell:
I must tell you I do not use “Latinx” in my daily life or my writing, nor do I identify myself as such. (Truth be told, I’m totally fine being called whatever—as long as you don’t call me before 8:00 a.m.)
But you can also click here to read the whole thing…
200 grams of Grah CRV Kuk Meks Umak is only 1.70 euros!
It will never not be funny to me that beans and corn have come to become synonyms with Mexican food. No matter how varied and wonderful our cuisine actually is. Here is the latest specimen found at my local Konzum in Zagreb.
Taquitos Bandidos in Downtown Zagreb. Photo: Laura Martínez, July 2022
Good morning from Zagreb!
So, here I was, strolling through the capital of Croatia, taking in the sights and sounds of this gorgeous city, when I bumped into “Taquitos Bandidos,” a small joint in Downtown Zagreb luring visitors with the promise of “Street Food.”
Of course I didn’t come all the way here to eat make-believe Mexican food, but I was intrigued and walked in to see the menu, which was brought to me by a family of flautas dressed like “bandidos,” complete with mustachios and sombreros, with one of them even waving a gun.
The menu features your regular taquitos, quesadillas and “spicy dips,” but of course, being from someone totally clueless about what Mexican food is all about, it includes chilli con carne and… chicken salad wraps.
The only good thing I found here was that they actuallly sell Jarritos, which of course cost as much as a bottle of Corona and way more than what they believe is tequila.
As for the food, well if it looks like this … so don’t blame me if I go in there soon to ask them to DELETE THEIR MENU.
“La Aborteria” in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, Mexico, helps Mexican women get safe, affordable, medically induced abortions.
Welcome to Hell.
As y’all probably know by now, on June 24, 2022, the not-so-Supreme Court of the United States decided to overturn Roe v. Wade, effectively ending the constitutional right to an abortion after almost 50 years.
This – obviously – sucks for millions of American women, especially those in 13 states where abortion has immediately (or will very soon) become illegal following the ruling.
One of such states is Texas, which will soon initiate a so-called “trigger law” that will make performing abortion a felony.
Wanna know how bad this is? Under Texas’ law, an abortion provider could face life in prison –yup, LIFE IN PRISON – and fines up to $100,000 if they perform abortions or help facilitate one. The same goes in other nutcase states, including Idaho, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.
And all this brings me to the reason of this post (and the end of my ranting): A small, but thriving, safe heaven in Northern Mexico awesomely named La Abortería, where two women are determined to help Mexicans get access to safe, affordable, medically induced abortions.
The plot twist here, is that the founders of La Abortería are already bracing for an influx of Texan women seeking help –as we’re all assuming nobody wants to spend life in prison for not wanting a baby, right?
According to Bloomberg Law, while the Mexican abortion networks had helped one or two Texans a year, now they’re helping about five Texas women a week get medical abortions. Of course, I’m aware this great option is not open to all, and it requires people travel, leave their work, kids, etc. for a while to go get help in another country.
And this, my friends, is yet one more reason to be enraged. The end of Roe is not the end of abortion in America; it’s the end of safe abortions for the not-so-rich, Americans.
Move over Con-chamacos! Mexican Mother’s Day is today, so Panadería KaryCar, a pastry shop in Jalisco, had the awesome idea of launching the con-chanclas, a concha/chancla combination that is going to make your mamá very happy.
Now… if they only worked a bit harder on their grammar, because, as y’all know: #AccentsMatter
There seems to be a ton of Cinco de Mayo festivities in the Tampa area –for some reason.
No matter how many bizarre holidays Americans come up with, Cinco de Mayo will forever be my favorite. And not only because it’s an excuse to drink all day and yell ¡Viva México! while thinking it’s Mexican Independence (it’s not) but because it is also the time of year that brings out the stupidest most creative marketing brains to sell Americans everything, from DIY printable fiesta kits and taquito shooters (whatever that is,) to senseless drink mixes, “ethnic food” and even life-size cardboard Mexicans as scene setters.
Etsy T-shirts, anyone?
Nacho de Mayo, because why not?
This time around, though, in honor of that amazing marketing tool known as Twitter, I’ve put together a few tweets making their way to my timeline using the #CincoDeMayo hashtag. This has only begun, so, please help me by tweeting me your own personal horrors for 2021 Cinco de Mayo and let the “Mexican” madness begin!
Ah yes, the special churro doughnut
Happy #CincodeMayo! Chef Christine has a special Chocolate Churro doughnut today at all shops! Enjoy this cinnamon sugary, chocolate ganache-y beauty with a cup of @CompassCoffeeDC.
You may not know this but Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a very important religious holiday in Mexico, and among the many events that take place during the course of the week, the so-called passion play is one of the most popular — and well-attended. It consists of a representation of the via crucis, and involves everyone, from workers, students and housewives who become actors for one day to play the roles of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Nazarenes, the apostles — and other characters (not all of them strictly Biblical) including a spy, a dog, and a wandering Jew.
In the play, when Christ gets captured, we see him carrying a cross a long way and until he reaches a location that represents Mount Calvary. In the most famous of these representations (the one that takes place in Iztapalapa) we see Christ carrying his cross from the town’s main square to the nearby Cerro de la Estrella in the heart of Mexico City.
Unfortunately, not all Mexican towns and cities have a mountain or even a hill around, so they resort to crucify Jesus on pretty much any location, including an electricity pole. This, as you can imagine, can have bring about some funky accidents.
Move over 
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