You just have to make it yourself.
I went to El Maiz (a Mexican shop in Zurich) and stocked up on some basic Mexican ingredients: black beans, corn tortillas, jalapeños, queso blanco, and red and green salsa.
Last night I made spinach and mushroom enchiladas, black bean salsa, and fresh guacamole. Scott whipped up some margaritas, Ali brought some fancy chips and salsa from Globus, and we had quite the feast. There were even fresh-picked cherries for dessert. Mmmmmmm.
El Maiz (Josefstrasse 23, closed Mondays) is a wonderful option for when you get tired of the same four Mexican items sold at Coop or Migros. They even sell that most elusive of baking supplies, Pure Vanilla Extract. Things at El Maiz are not cheap, but then again nothing in Zurich is. And I’d rather spend money on good ingredients to make something delicious myself than spend it on crappy food in one of Zurich’s many ‘Mexican’ restaurants.
I also know a Mexican laidy that makes real mexican food in Zurich. Order only. Let me know if you want her data.
We NEED to find this in Geneva!!
Sorry we couldn’t make it. It sounds like you guys really out did yourselves! Ashley and Sebastian
Gelosa.
Amen to that! In Basel we’ve got El Sol out in Dreispitz, which also weirdly carries furniture, clothes, and other home accessories.
The trouble I always had in Switzerland was finding chilli powder that was hot enough- we always ended up using two tablespoons to get the food spicy enough. I wish I knew about that store when I was there!
The biggest problem I had in Switzerland was finding chilli powder hot enough! I had to use 2 tablespoons to make things spicy. I wish I had known about this store! BTW totally agree with you about the adding tomatoes makes a dish spicy! ha ha ha!
Sounds so much better than the pizza we tried to make in China years ago. But the adventure of finding all the ingredients sure was fun.
I am more than happy to send you some spices from the states if you’d like. We have a wonderful Indian market about 5 minutes from my house that sells wonderful spices dirt cheap. I just bought a 1/4 LB of pimento for $2.95. Same goes for cumin (which I use in Mexican cooking all the time). Any kind of spice or bean you’d like it’s there. We can work out an exchange. Swissy boy would love a few items from home.
Jane
j.s. – sounds tempting. I may be in touch.
mike – making pizza in China sounds much more challenging, but totally fun. I’m adding that to my list of things I want to do someday.
jane – thanks for the offer! I am pretty set on spices at the moment. I did some serious stocking-up on my last trip to the US.