An American Breakfast in Mexico

Our first full day in Mexico was November 25, 2020. the day before Thanksgiving! Likely the most stressful day of our time here, simply because it was time to find what we needed and understand where we were!

We desperately needed to find an ATM for cash. Cash is King in Mexico…the “big box” stores take a card, however, everyday life definitely requires Cash!

This was a new experience for us. The pan-d of 2020 prompted many businesses in our home in Tennessee to say NO CASH! so we were conditioned to use cards.

NOT ONLY DID WE NEED CASH we needed PESOS! AND we needed to understand Mexican money! Mind boggling your first day.

TIP:  We could have learned more about Mexican money and conversions before we left our home in TN. Get some play Pesos and become familiar with the exchange rates and how to recognized the coins before you arrive!

Several Mexican “Helpers” saw us on the street as “lost gringos.” They know the look! One walked us to an ATM that didn’t take our card. We left the ATM and the “helper” and kept walking towards the “Centro” center of town. 

Suddenly appeared another “Helper,” named JT. We were happy to have his help because he spoke English very well.

JT is a nice fellow, a salesman and a fast-talker. He captured us, literally, and walked us to stores where he gets a commission and after about half an hour took us to an ATM.

By then it was afternoon and we were starving…”No Problem says JT, I’ll take you to my restaurant.” We blindly followed and experienced our first “Mexican” breakfast.

Most Mexicans don’t go out for Breakfast and I think they may not even eat breakfast, so choices for that meal are limited. In fact many restaurants don’t even open until late afternoon, a few are open at lunch.

JT told us what to order, so we obeyed and we had the WORST breakfast ever! Now that was just our inital reaction because, after all, we are Americans.

Since that day we have looked for different ways to enjoy a more “American style” breakfast at home, as a “Celebration Meal.” We typically don’t even eat anything until around 2 pm so we are still able to do our Intermittent Fasting in Mexico.

Challenge #1  Finding the perfect ingredients

Mexican pancakes are very different from American pancakes.  Normally I would mix up my own pancakes but some of the ingredients are hard to find!

Take baking soda for instance. In America I bought baking soda in a 2 pound bag from Costco! Here they sell baking soda in a little spice bottle…weird!

Anyway I found this great organic pancake mix with some healthy grains and now we can occassionally enjoy some good old fashioned American pancakes!

Maple Syrup is an imported item, most locals use Agave or Honey or Jam. Restaurants serve pancakes with Jam.

Sausage is another item. We have not ventured into the world of Chorizo yet. I’m sure there is some really good Chorizo that won’t burn our gut but Phil really likes link sausages. Fortunately we can get an imported American brand of link sausages. Familiarity can be everything!

 Fortunately  we can easily find organic eggs a palatable butter!

Challenge #2  A Very Small Kitchen

Our kitchen is big compared to some studio apartment kitchens and we are so grateful for that! Additionally the prior tenants upgraded the electric so you can have more than one appliance going at a time without throwing the breaker! Thank you!

Our “stove” is one 1000 watt induction burner. It works great! It boils water in a few seconds and our one saucepan and skillet are very functional for quick or one dish meals. However, an American Breakfast, especially one you can sit down and eat together, is a bit more difficult on a one burner stove, he he. We brought an electric griddle from America, however, it was damaged in our suitcase. Fortunately it was the only item we lost.

Amazon Mexico to the rescue! I was able to order this “healthy” 22 inch griddle, a ceramic non stick without the icky unhealthy stuff. Its much larger than our other griddle and makes cooking in a small space enjoyable. I’m a big fan of Amazon Mexico, and even have a Prime account which is about half of the one I had in the US. Our orders are shipped to the DHL about a mile away. Simple!

Back to the small kitchen issue. The griddle makes it possible to do the pancakes, eggs and sausage quickly and at once for the most part, while the syrup is heating on the induction burner.

You can see our “kitchen cabinet” which was formerly a dresser :0). It holds most of our kitchen dishes, towels, glasses, etc and a nice little “coffee/tea” spot. We secured the cup holder and the light on the upper shelf with gorilla tape velcro for earthquake proofing. Our silver Travel Berkey water filter is easy to put in a back pack in case of an earthquake that would require us to run.

 Keeping bugs and critters outside is super important in this hot humid climate. We were taught to put our food scraps in the freezer until garbage pick up. Hence we have mostly frozen trash in our freezer.

As you can see, Phil was very happy about our American Breakfast in Mexico. It was delicious and in a very enjoyable space, our studio apartment in Bahias de Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico! I’m happy too, especially because Phil does the dishes!