I’ll never forget the first time I tried Sangrita. It was in the stunning colonial town of Queretaro in the beautiful home of my dearest friend Mariana. We were in the garden, the late afternoon sun was out but not too intense. I had just flown a couple thousand miles to attend her wedding. Everyone was seated, lounging slowly sipping and savoring their tequila while alternating with a red brewage… “Esteffi, prueba… Se llama sangrita.” Tart, spicy, mouth-filling it was wonderful… Tequila was a civilized affair, a drink to be relished and appreciated… a far cry from the crazy “tequila-bam-bam” shots I had learned to drink at 16 during a summer language exchange program in the countryside outside Toulouse, where we would fill double shot glasses half with tequila and half with soda water and whack it on the table with a loud vulgar “bam! bam!” and chug it through. Here it was smelled, studied, tasted, pondered… Like a good single malt whiskey. That is until of course nightfalls and the music starts and then the rounds of “banderitas” are passed… Intoxicatingly fun, patriotic drinking, shooting lime juice, tequila and sangrita… one after the other in honor of their Mexican flag.

Plaza Mayor in Mexico City; The road to Queretaro and some roasting chiles by Luis de Terry

I have always felt close to Mexicans, always at home, like cousins… The music makes my blood hot… in a good way as it inches from my ears to my swaying hips and dancing feet… Don’t even get me started on the food, where I have previously ceremoniously declared that I could eat true Mexican cuisine forever… (Read my article in the Philippine Star) The indigenous and the latin with the looming American big brother rolled into one thriving unique culture…

Roadside Barbacoa on the way to Queretaro

This past month has been all about all things Mexican beginning with an amazing dinner at my friend Tinky Locsin’s home cooked up by Luisa de Terry and culminating with the exhibit at the Ayala Museum of Mexican contemporary masters: “Mexico: Fantastic Identity” from the FEMSA collection that is on until November 9. I strongly encourage you to visit with the works of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera but some more interesting abstract artists such as Gunther Gerzso… Unfortunately I couldn’t take a photo of his piece there but here are some examples taken from the Pollocks the Bollocks site. (To learn more about Gerzso click here.) These two pieces below I would LOVE to hang in my home.

So it may not be Cinco de Mayo but in celebration of such a wonderful culture… here is a beautiful recipe for Sangrita… Ditch your ugly shot glasses and cheap face wrenching tequila in favor of the good stuff… Like Don Julio 70 (Tinky’s Fav!) and Herradura Reposado…

Amor y Luz, Esteffi Tinky’s Sangrita Recipe