Robert and I love Spanish food: jamón iberco, pimientos padrón, croquetas, gazpacho, tortilla de patatas, paella (well, I like paella anyway). There is nothing better to feast upon when dining out at restaurants whose chefs know what they are doing.

But once we moved to the flat and started to cook in more often, I had to dust off my recipes. There are a number of healthy and tasty go-to dinners in my repertoire, which are all very simple (frequently involving only a single pot or pan). In fact some of them adapted very easily to locally available ingredients (got a liter of ready-made gazpacho in the frig? You’ve got a great base for a light pasta sauce!)

But the spice/comdiment section of our local supermarket is on the thin side — pretty much the zestiest item on shelf is soy sauce. I found myself longing for my favorite hot sauce, Cholula.

Some friends who are coming to visit asked if there is anything they can bring from the states. It didn’t occur to me at first to have them drag along a couple bottles of Cholula Chipotle or Chili Lime, but that got me thinking: Madrid is a big city. Surely there must be some place that imports Mexican treats.

Hopping on Google I found a store called 100% Mexico (https://www.100porcienmexico.es/) about 350 meters from the flat. They feature clothing, arts, and most importantly, food direct from Mexico. While I could have stocked up on tortilla chips and salsa, my goal was Cholula, and there was an entire shelf of the stuff.  Surprisingly, it was priced at 4 euros a bottle, which is only slightly more than I paid at the Safeway in Bisbee.

I selected my two favorite flavors and headed home to toss together a big batch of fresh elote.