Aguas!

Good morning.

Occasionally I'd heard my father say, "Agua!" in the sense that he would have been meaning, "Me rindo...,"  or, "I give up," as in a contest of some sort.  Having the wonderful personality  he had, he always accompanied this cry with a rueful laugh that negated any serious intentions about whatever subject was at hand.

Or maybe "Agua!" just meant, "Help!" and I misinterpreted the meaning of his cry.  That's the tragedy of being between two languages....and the other language was on top.  I never was quite sure what was being said in Spanish (emotionally) whereas in English I can hammer it down quite effectively with just the right choice of words.

All of which brings me around quite irrationally to what I am writing about today: Aguas.

One of the nicest things about Mexican cuisine is the concept of "aguas."  You can make an agua with almost any fruit (or probably vegetable for that matter). All you do is macerate a little fruit or the scraps thereof in pure water, add a bit of sugar, and stir it up.  It puts any horrible soda pop in the shade, folks.  Nothing is more delicious or refreshing.

One of the best aguas I ever had was in the wilds of Tecate, BC.  Our piano teacher, who was adventurous in his choice of pupils and venues for recitals, scheduled one on a ranch in Tecate, which is east of San Diego by an hour and south thereafter.  We went in a caravan and crossed the border, following the leader into unfamiliar territory as we drove through dry and arid and rocky countryside.  When we finally arrived, hot and thirsty, we were in a perfectly comfortable airy Mexican country house.  With a fabulous wild yard, oak trees, huge rocks....all we could desire.

The hostess, a charming and sophistated denizen of Tijuana BC in her weekday life, had prepared a wonderful greeting for us: a huge glass jar of agua de ciruelas.  It was in  one of those big jars with a tap. A few plums were swimming around in the bottom and the color of the water was very pale pink, and there was ice in it too.  What a delicious way to refresh ourselves after a harrowing ride.

You need for this wonderful drink, water, fruit, and sugar. Ice is good if you are an American. Mexicans do not need ice as much, usually. You do not need very much fruit to water, proportionately. I made agua de ciruelas this week with with four small ripe plums in a quart of water, and the agua was very dark rose in color....so I diluted it of course, and it was just delicious.  As I always like to spare the sugar I sweetened it with Sweet'n'Low which makes a very thin drink. Cane sugar tastes better. But with the deeply sprightly and flavorful plums, artificial sugar is just fine. You learn to like it. (Don't use aspartame, as it is poisonous and too sweet anyway. Splenda is OK if you wish to drink chlorine.) You can make it in the quantity of a glassful if you throw the fleshy scraps of a  peach into the water (skin is bitter) and proceed proportionately.  You can make it a little bit alcoholic (as in tepache) by adding the sugar and letting it set aside on the countertop for a day or two...but more about that another time.

Peaches make a wonderful agua, as do pears and pineapple...it's basically water,  our deep necessity, and some fresh fruit and some sugar. A perfect drink for a hot dusty day when you have been driving toward an unknown destination and need  refreshment.  YAZZYBEL