saag aloo, mung bean curry

Some detractors might prefer that I eat tacos or something, but I decided on this great day of traditional, um, tequila consumption, to stuff with Mexican goodness not my stomach but my mind.

As very few people care to remember, Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of unlikely victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. In the wake of numerous costly wars--in which they gained independence from Spain but lost half their country to the U.S.--Mexico had stopped payment on its foreign debts. The French took this rather badly, and marched 6,500 soldiers toward Mexico City. Along the way they were engaged by Ignacio Zaragoza and his outnumbered, ill-equipped forces.

As you may already have inferred, the French lost the battle. Unfortunately they won the war, took the capital, and installed Maximilian, which might lead one to question the ultimate cause for celebration.

Then again, who am I to rain on parades? Any excuse to party is a good excuse, especially when your history is ridden with colonialism and drenched in blood.

De lo perdido saca lo que puedas.

-rrr