Oaxaca: La Olla

Could there be anything wrong with an airline that serves complimentary booze?

I'd say no, except I did find one thing. The airline could serve it on a red-eye flight, the people behind yours truly become trashed and start talking REALLY LOUDLY all. freaking. night. long.

With that said, however, I do have to give a massive shout-out to Mexicana Airlines. Fantastic service, decent food, tons of leg room, and the aforementioned free booze. Top all of that with a great fare and our trip to Oaxaca was off to a boozy and thrifty start.

By the time we arrived, we were massively sleep-deprived and needed some calories and caffeine. La Olla has been mentioned on many food and travel sites, so we decided to stop there for breakfast. The one thing we loved about Oaxaca was the strong coffee. It's strong and beautifully balanced, so we were chugging mug after mug of black coffee without cream or sugar. Even though I'm not a big fan of adding cream and sugar to my coffee, I usually do it when I think it'll help. In Oaxaca, however, it would have ruined the perfectly pungent brew.

The bread was delicious... sweet with a vaguely wheat-y earthiness.

The condiments? Yes, that's right... jam, salsa, and the best butter on this planet. The butter was so rich and so flavorful that we considered trying to sneak it back into the States. Or take regular trips across the border to Tijuana to buy butter. Jam and salsa seemed weird at first, but they paired surprisingly well. We probably weren't supposed to pair them, but hey, they were there...

I ordered a tortilla de flor de calabaza (squash blossom frittata). The egg was mixed with squash blossoms, zucchini, onion, and epazote, a herb that is supposed to be pungent, but seemed to blend seamlessly with the other flavors. I could also have been so sleep-deprived that my brain wasn't processing unfamiliar flavors.

I don't normally like omelets for breakfast because they can be really heavy. Yet, this one was light and refreshing and was still heavy enough to stave off hunger for a while. All and all, a worthy stop in Oaxaca. La Olla is part of the Casa de los Bugambilias B&B and is also linked to the La Casa de los Sabores cooking school, which was highly recommended in our research for Oaxacan cooking classes.

La Olla
Reforma No. 402-1
Col. Centro Oaxaca, Oax. Mexico, 68000

Where I've been...

Oh, crap... it's May. Almost June.

After many attempted comebacks, I'm starting yet another one. It's been a while and life has been incredibly busy. The first half of 2009 has been filled with travel, some great projects, and amazing food... here's a mini-scrapbook:

Land of seven moles...

Land of enchantment...

Land of 10,000 lakes...

Land of insanely fabulous cheese...

Land of fabulous food...

Lastly, we've been scrambling to get things done by August. Someone once told me that wedding planning was busy at the beginning, a lull in the middle, and scrambling at the end. I agree, because once we had a venue, we procrastinated like hell.

Now we're scrambling like crazy to get things done... it feels like we're planning the wedding in three months!

In the midst of all of this, I found out that grad school wasn't going to happen this year. I was waitlisted at a couple of schools and finally formally rejected at the end of April. Oh, well... my consolation is another year in beautiful San Diego and another year of fabulous eats.

Let's hope this is the return of semi-regular posting... starting with that long-overdue recap of our Oaxacan adventure.