This is one of the food stands outside the school (the ones the teachers have deemed safe, since street food usually isn't), and more specifically, the only one of those stands that's open at 8:30 in the morning. Hey, sugary cereal at 6 AM doesn't last long.
My favorite items from her menu:
Burrito
The old standby! It's hard to tell from the picture, but these are nearly Chipotle-sized. They contain rice (which has some carrot pieces and peas mixed in), tomato, lettuce, Oaxaca cheese, either green salsa or chipotle salsa, and the meat (or other filler) of your choice: chicken, steak, pastor (pork with spices), sausage, egg, hot dog, ham, pierna (which is chicken but not?), milanesa (beef that is breaded and shallow-fried), or vegetables. And yes, you did see hot dog on that list. Burritos with salchicha are actually one of my favorites to get!
P.S. - Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) cheese is really good and tastes sort of like mozzarella and I am buying some as soon as I get home.
Torta
The only true difference between these and regular sandwiches is the kind of bread used. Here I had a torta de milanesa, the country-fried-steak-ish meat dish described above. What's in the torta varies based on the restaurant; Rosalba brought me one from a place that put avocado on all their tortas.
Sopes
Lighter fare than the heavy burritos. They consist of small tortillas (corn, as opposed to the flour ones used for the burritos) spread with refried beans and topped with lettuce, sour cream, onion, and a crumbly cheese that looks like feta but didn't taste like it (and salsa is always an option).
Molletes
These remind me of French bread pizza. A thick bread is spread with refried beans and a generous amount of Oaxaca cheese and toasted until the cheese is melty. Then they're topped with tomatos, onion, and your choice of salsa.
Here you get the one food picture I took from the first week of school when I was actually eating from that cafeteria you saw: huarache.
Huaraches are open-faced, oval corn tortillas spread with refried beans (why yes, beans are common around here, how could you tell?) and topped at the least with meat and shredded cheese. Good, but hard to figure out how to eat.
Of course, these are just my lunches. Well, by lunches I mean brunches? Because the meal around 4-ish is technically lunch? But I don't eat again after that one, so... I give up.
Here is a small sampling of the food I've had at restaurants.
Chilaquiles - Far and away my favorite of the restaurant fare I've tried here, specifically the ones at Garabatos. It's hard to tell what under all that cheese (which I think is either Manchego or panela), but it's just chips, chicken, and salsa. They're like nachos, but actually Mexican.
More molletes - Lyni's version has just the beans and cheese, but the bread was toasted better, and the salsa reminded me of the mild at Chipotle.
Consume de pollo - Mexican chicken soup, more or less. Chicken, onion, avacado, and I think the herb is cilantro.
Of course, most of my lunches/dinners have been eaten at home.
This is a pretty typical Rosalba meal. Beef (not always with onions), refried beans, rice, vegetables, and soup.
Tostadas make a consistent appearance at the table as well. Basically tortilla chips, but as the whole tortilla instead of chips. Now that I think about it, that means that 'Tostitos' just means 'little tostadas', which makes a lot of sense.
Beverages of note:
Agua de tamarindo - Made by boiling tamarind, straining, and adding sugar. Lyni's also adds pineapple juice.
Agua de jamaica - Pronounced 'ha-my-ka', not 'ja-may-ka'. Same deal, boil the flower, add sugar (except that this was actually jamaica-flavored - that's bottled beverages for you). And yes, what Latin Americans call the flor de jamaica is what we call the hibiscus flower.
Even when the food is pretty much the same as in the States, brands are different.
Bottled water is a necessity here, of course. Bonafont is the most popular brand, so far as I can tell, but I personally prefer Epura, the brand the school cafeteria sells.
Alpura is, as you can tell, a dairy brand. This and Lala seem to be the most common in supermarkets. Notice the type of packaging the milk is in - no jugs here! This coated-paper box is called a TetraPak, and is effective enough that unopened packages do not need to be refrigerated.
Del Valle and Boing are the most common juice brands. While here, I've seen the familiar apple, orange, grape, and grapefruit juices, but also mango and guava - and I'm sure that's not the full extent.
Sometimes a company from the US will sell the exact same product here, but under a different name. As you can see, here we have Frosted Flakes called Zucaritas. Sabritas are also very easy to find here, but you probably know them better as Lays.
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And now it's time for...
Learning Mexican Spanish!
servicio a domicilio - home delivery
para llevar - to go
(buen) provecho - enjoy!
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Just a little more packing, then hopping on a plane home! Stay tuned for my final thoughts on my overall experience here.
