El Dia De Los Reyes Is Tomorrow! Where Will You Be Getting Your King's Bread?

Savoring the Holiday Foods Season To The Last Crumb! Dia De Los Reyes Magos


Its kind of hard to believe that the two best food-tradition days of the year are already over. Well...if you weren't raised hardcore Catholic or are Mexican that is!



Rosca De Reyes: The Forgotten Holiday Treat


I'm just hyping up for it now to be honest. And, its not too late! To be honest, I don't really know much about the actual history (could Wikipedia it and give you the whole blogger-typical spiel but naaaah). I'll just give you my mom's version.

(translated)

"Well, the celebration takes place every 6th of January of the year. Since cute, baby Jesus has already been born. You pray, sing and make a festive dinner of some sort. Colaciones, colorful, sugar candies with an anise-seed center are given to little kids. You then look for a godmother to buy the baby Jesus doll a fancy wardrobe makeover that includes open-feet Mexican Huarachitos and a gold-linked crown."

"In Mexico, you would do it during the late evening before the actual day. So on the offical day of celebration, the baby would wake up surrounded with candies and little gifts. And then, during dinner, we finally get to eat the Rosca de Reyes. There could be up to 4 teeny-tiny baby Jesus's baked right into it so be careful not to eat Jesus! You are to cut it up in small pieces and share the cake. Whoever is blessed with the baby-stuffed piece is the lucky recipient of a Tamale-Atole based dinner on the 2nd of February thrown in their honor. And that is all about the 3 Kings!"

She then continues to add, "and SOMETIMES...there are people who hide the baby doll, or even eat it! All to not have to throw a party!"

Well, there you have it. Straight from the source!

What about the bread?! Well, think of one continual, oversize piece of typical Concha (the most common form of Mexican Pan Dulce. If not a concha, then a piece of Filipino PandeSal braed. Still no? Well, ok...some King's Hawaiian bread then! Except a bit denser and richer, the bread is usually yeasted and made with whole or condensed milk and lotsa butter. There should be some sort of spice flavor to it. Most places use crushed pieces of cinnamon, kind of like the more popular Pan De Muerto? And then topped with the sparse stripes of sweet, crunchy strudel and extra chewy, dried pieces of prettily-colored fruit like figs, cherries and quince!





It's So Pretty When Its All Dolled Up With Egg Wash!


And of course...all in the shape of a huge 2-3 foot oval. With a piping hot cup of thick, Chocolatito Caliente to dunk it in? ...dayuuum.

I know down South during Mardi Gras, they also celebrate with something like this. They call it Kings Bread (direct translation even!) but don't know how they are connected. All I know it is equally bomb to eat. Although, there's of the more fluffy--cinnamon roll like--variety, glazed, sugared, then stuffed with maple, brown-sugar cream cheese filling.



Compare/Contrast: Mardi Gras Kings Cake Overflowing With a Cream Cheese-Maple-Brown Sugar Filling


I had the most exemplary of ones when I joined the SAVEUR Magazine offices for a staff lunch last year.

You can get these bad bready boys at just about any Mexican, South, or Central American bakery anywhere not in West L.A. They usually advertise with huge banners or opaque window drawings so just look for a cartoony king.

My mom has grown fond of the extravagantly buttery ones at La Favorita bakery. They have a couple of locations but I like to go to the one on Whittier Blvd. in front of Salazar Park aka. my old hoood yo! I literally lived in the neighboring storefront for a large part of my adolescence, well at least long enough to not get asked "Where you from!" from the local L.P.V'sters. Well, except one cold, metall-y time, but that is a different story.

But fear not Westsiders, La Monarca Bakery just opened a new Panaderia in Santa Monica a few weeks ago. The Rosca de Reyes will be available here all day tomorrow. you will pay a little more but at least you will get the jizz of it (ha, ha). Although, I will say that my mom went to La Monarca to give them a try and still ended up getting La Favorita. (She even brought back the sample piece they were giving out to rub it in my face!)

Ahhh Raaaaaaza!

La Favorita Bakery
3865 Whittier Blvd.
Los Angeles,
CA 90033
ph: 877-231-8168
(Inside Strip Mall)

http://lafavoritabakery.net/

La Monarca Bakery
1300 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 451-1114

http://www.lamonarcabakery.com/

A Mexican Christmas Winter Ponche Recipe & My Last Two Weeks of Illegal Drinking-Driven Debauchery

So, as you all may have noticed, I fell DEEP into 'Holiday-Relax' mode this last year.

For the first time in the whole year, I took some damn personal time to be twenty finally. You know, enjoying complete meals without ever whipping out a camera? Ok, ok...I did sneak in a couple of shots of my moms awesome Duck Tamales, Buñuelos and Ponche but nonetheless enjoyed a couple of meals without exercising my hunger's last moment discipline...it felt great to just eat.


Duck Mole Tamal, Achiote Spiced Guacamole, Nopal (Cactus) Salad, Refried Great Northern Beans, Radishes: My Christmas & New Year Dinner


Buñuelos (paper-thin flour tortilla fried in Grapeseed Oil & dusted in cinnamon-sugar)


Ponche: Mexican Christmas Cinnamon Tea Filled with Anything and Everything eg. Guavas, Mexican Crab-Apples, Prunes, Sugar Cane etc. (Recipe Posted Below)


My Older Sisters Dessert Spread: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Tea Cookies & Sweet Potatoes in Piloncillo Syrup

Uhhh...it also kind of just hit me that I am turning the big, effin 21 in just two weeks, two freakin weeks. Do you guys know what this means for a restaurant blogger? YES! I am now going to be able to legally drink, no more using the risky technique of "Walk in like you own the place" or hope that my glasses and increased posture will get me through. No more GETTING DENIED entrance to a food event for not being of age, and most importantly...not having to ask a passerby bum or stranger to buy me beer and end up with the wrong kind!

Ok, so not much will be different since it hasn't really stopped me from drinking before but somewhere between blogging, writing 100 word radio commentaries and getting mentioned in the New Yorker...I tend to forget that I am twenty sometimes. So for the last couple of weeks (ooh-ee New Years Eve, jeez!) and until I turn twenty one, I will live up my last two weeks of illegal drinking driven debauchery...


A Pair of 40 oz. King Cobras at Fourteen: My Introduction to Alcohol in Moderation via the East L.A Punk Scene

A Dear Recipe From My Holiday Break:

Ponche (Mexican Holiday Cinnamon-Fruit Tea: Familia Cabral Style)

1 Gallon of Water (Purified or Tap doesn't matter, will boil)
4 Medium Sticks of Cinnamon
1 Small Handfull of Dried Hibiscus Blossoms
1/2 lbs of Fresh or Frozen Sugar Cane
1 Large Apple, Deseeded, Quartered (Fuji, Gala or Granny Smith; No Red Delicious please)
1 Large Orange, Peeled and Segmented
1/2 lbs of Tejocotes, whole (Mexican Crabapples; available frozen in Mexican-American Markets)
1/2 lbs of Small Fresh Guavas, whole

*this is a mix that I have habituated, feel free to alternate amounts or even add dried fruits like prunes, apricots, raisins, fresh pomegranates...possibilities are virtually endless.

1) In extra large stock pot, lightly crumble all the cinnamon sticks in the one gallon of water, add the hibiscus blossoms, turn heat highest and boil until color changes and the scent makes people in your household swoon...

2) Once color changes, lower to low heat and carefully drop in the fruits.

3) Simmer under low heat for 1-3 hrs until fruits become tender and soft.

4) Enjoy, while contemplating winter, family and life.

--Con Piquete (A generous shot of Tequila traditionally thrown in it to truly keep one warm) is up to you!

...my mom fancies Sauza brand Blanco though if you do.