“I find myself when drinking to be in a constant state of desiring Mexican food. But to put that more accurately, you’d have to replace the word ‘drinking’ with ‘awake.’”

Me too, Hannah. Me too.

Alas, our Mexican food feast:

Salsa verde, with tomatillos, jalapeno, avocado

Fresh guacamole and pinto bean salad

Chipotle mayonnaise and huitlacoche (also known as corn fungus, which tastes far more delicious than the concept lets on)

Freshly blended salsa

Diced jicama with lime, salt and chile powder

Crisp potato, chayote, tomato and corn salad, spiced with epazote, a traditional Mexican spice

Chiles en escabeche, or spicy carrots- actually my favorite dish of the day

Green beans with red onion and spices

Shredded oaxaca cheese and toasted pepitas

Roasted ears of corn with chipotle mayonnaise

Vegan and oaxacan cheese-topped grilled nopales, or prickly cactus leaves

Regular (beige) and vegan (green) tamales, filled with pablano “ricotta”

Lentejas con pina y platano, or lentils with pineapple and plantain

Pollo con salsa poblano verde- dark meat chicken in a luxuriously creamy poblano green sauce

Smoky Mole negro with grilled seitan

Hot corn tortillas

Mamelas (thicker tortillas), topped with veggies and cheese

As well as veganized

Vegetarian chile relleno

Then fried in egg batter

Smooth and sweet almond milk horchata with vanilla bean

Coconut milk truffles, rolled in chopped pepitas, almonds, coconut and chile powder

And mescal (tequila’s chain-smoking sibling) with orange and pomegranate juices

Salud, amor, riquezas, y tiempo para gozarlos- health, love, wealth, and time to enjoy them all.

The final days are upon us. We’re done with the knife skills, the cook tech, the baking, the health lectures- and now we’re onto the fun stuff. Like bread fried in ghee and mango-vodka cocktails.

In case the clarified butter and tropical drinks weren’t a tip-off, today we focused on Indian food. It’s one of my favorite ethnic cuisines, due to a) the spiciness and b) the bread. For a culture that’s more known for it’s curry than carbs, the bread is mind-blowingly delicious. Chef showed us how to make both chapati (or roti, the picture is above) and paratha (stuffed with spiced potatoes) on the stovetop, and I got pretty efficient at flipping the chapati on a griddle and quickly roasting it on an open flame.

Since we had all day to work on our meal, the class was pretty leisurely and I got to work on a bunch of very different recipes. Like pakora, a fried, chickpea flour-based fritter with potatoes and onions that was served with a spiced raisin chutney that I also put together:

They were soft and crispy, like Indian tater tots.

Ironically, though mushrooms and cooked spinach are my two least favorite vegetables, I ended up working on the spinach-mushroom saag dish, heavily flavored with cumin, coriander and cayenne:

I also put together the best part of the meal: mango punch, spiked with vodka. I guess they wait until you can handle a knife sober, to let you handle one tipsy.

The drink contained lime, lemon, agave, mint, mango nectar, ginger juice and a hefty pour of vodka that you could barely detect among the other flavors. Kind of dangerous, really.

For non-alcoholic refreshment, we also had mugs of lassi, a yogurt drink flavored with rosewater and cardamom pods.

I really thought I’d like this, but I actually didn’t care for the rosewater taste. It kind of reminded me of soap.

Our feast also featured a chicken dish, marinated in a spiced coconut milk base and baked in a 500-degree oven:

I went back for seconds on this!

A classic lentil dal, which I loved:

Vegetable biryani, the Indian take on lasagna, with layers of curried vegetables and boiled rice:

Spiced chickpeas:

And vegetable curry, which was hands down my favorite dish of the day.

It contained cauliflower, potatoes, squash and peas, all individually roasted before being mixed with the most fragrant, incredible spicy sauce.

To top our dishes, we had an assortment of Indian “condiments,” like tamarind and an onion-cilantro mix:

Fresh mint relish, with a surprising amount of kick from minced peppers:

Cucumber raita, the classic way to cool down a spicy dish:

And melted ghee, or clarified butter.

Did you know that India has the highest rate of heart disease in the world? Unsurprising. Ghee is too good to pass up.

As a little something sweet to end our meal, we had almond milk fudge, decorated with edible gold. Fancy.

Surprisingly, I passed this up, save for a tiny nibble. I’m not a big fan of maple crystals…especially on the heels of Thanksgiving pie.

Jai Ho- I’d say victory in the kitchen was ours.