Fiestas Mexicanas; Menus and Recipes

Book excerpt: With this book in hand, a gal from Maine or Oregon, or any state in between, can truthfully claim to be a cook mas Mexicana que el chile verde (more Mexican than green chile), as they say in Mexico. Pick any one of a famous national dishes: a step-by-step recipe tells exactly how to make it - a bilingual menu tells you what to serve with it. You can't go wrong. Whether you are entertaining at dinner, with a tea or with a TexMex cocktail party, Fiestas Mexicanas assures you thereputation of international gourmet hostess, for every dish is authentically Mexican from the first dash of pepper to the last whiff of spice. In addition to regular and special occasion menus and fialureproof recipes, there are helpful chapters on essential ingredients and two separate indexes - English into Spanish and vice versa. Also included is an Aztec calendar and some idiomatic expressions of the Spanish language. Co-authored by the late Eleanor Ringland, who lived in Mexico during her early years, and by Lucy Ringland Williams, who has lived much of her life on the border. -- from book's dustjacket.