la cantina

We served up a menu of Mexican food and I was itching to hang my papel picado, Mexican paper cutouts, in the dining room. D felt like he was on the prom committee as we decorated, but I do adore these colorful and intricate banners and may just leave them up for a few more weeks.

Most of the recipes came from two cookbooks, Everyday Mexican by Rick Bayless and What's Cooking Mexican by Marlene Speiler. Our main dish was from A Cook's Tour of Mexico by Nancy Zaslavsky, but largely that cookbook was too ambitious for us. We have to learn more before trying the complicated moles and sauces. These days I try to test run cookbooks with the help of the library. The photos often look tempting, but that's not a good enough reason to clutter up our bookshelves.