Dia de Los Muertos/Lovely Bones

Yesterday, on kind of a whim, I bought tickets to Mexico for Day of the Dead and the two surrounding weeks. It's been a dream of mine for several years, and I finally have a chance. Also, my lovely friend Julia will be there for the first two weeks, and she seems like a really ideal person to travel with.

Coinciding with All Saints' Day, Dia de Los Muertos is like a graveside family reunion. To an outsider it seems macabre, but the richly coloured paper-mache Catrina statues exist to mock Death, personified. At midnight, the religious hold picnic-vigils with their loved ones whose souls are believed to return, guided by the sound of churchbells and the scents of their favourite foods, and rich marigolds.

My daydreams keep returning to city blocks taken over by flower and folk art markets, marigolds on the air, the crowded cemeteries full of those who go to honor their dead. Seas of flowers, people walking with brooms, buckets of water, back and forth to the communal water tap so they can clean headstones. They set up their altars, bring food, alcohol, sugar skulls, and music and sit with their departed loved ones.

Sugar Skulls
Ingredients:
granulated sugar
meringue powder
powdered sugar
dye coloring paste + water

Tools:
sugar skull mold
large mixing bowl
electric mixer
food processor
cardboard cut out to the sizes of the mold pieces
pastry bags for frosting
colored foil for decoration

Besides the mold, the key ingredient to the mix is the meringue powder. Some recipes suggest egg whites, but meringue powder is cleaner and probably smells better than raw egg. I found it at a local gourmet bakery specialty store but I know that they carry it at Michael's, in the cake decorating section. Don't ask the employees, they never know where anything is. Michael's also carries the dye paste which you use for the frosting mix later on.

Day 1 consists of making the actual skulls and letting them dry. Combining the ingredients you wonder, "How is this going to turn hard?" Trust me, it does. Press the sugar mix into the mold, pack it in tight. Take a straight surface to the back and scrape off the excess so the back is flat. Then, take a piece of cardboard, flip it over, just like you would with a cake. The sugar should fall out easily, if it sticks, that means your mix is too moist. I find that rinsing out the mold every few pieces helped out, just make sure it is very dry before you make another piece. If a piece doesn't come out right, just put it back in the bowl, mix and try again.This is the downside, you have to allow an 8-12 hour drying period.

If you have leftover sugar in the bowl, throw it out. It will harden in your cookware. Do not attempt to do this on a humid day, the sugar will not set up properly and you will be disappointed.

Day 2 is about assembly and decorating. The first step is to make royal icing, which is basically sugary cement. Do not attempt to make this unless you have an electric mixer or food processor. Once it is done you smear some on the back piece, press it against the face part. Some icing will ooze out of the seam, just run your finger over it till it is smooth. Try to do it in one go.

Set them aside to dry while you mix your frosting colors. Mix your desired frosting colors and pack them in frosting bags.Then the fun part: decorating.

Use plastic baggies or disposable cups to mix your colors, and you will save yourself the aggravation of cleaning it up later. Only use concentrated paste to dye. Liquid food coloring dilutes the frosting, rendering it useless. Keep the frosting covered as much as possible; it will begin to harden if exposed to air. Close any windows near the frosting to prevent drying. If you find that it is drying out too much add a little bit of water and remix it. If you are not skilled with a pastry bag, they sell squeeze bottles you can use that will give you awesome detail, but beware, they clog easily because of the frosting consistency. Find one that has a larger nib diameter. The foil pieces are adhered with frosting.Once your skulls are decorated, set them aside to dry. 5 lbs of sugar renders about 13 medium sized skulls. Once they're ready you set them up in your location or altar of choice.

PS: you don't eat the skulls. I'm cheating by putting them on my food blog, because while they are made of edible materials, the sugar is just used because it makes such a lovely white surface, almost like bones.

I think perhaps a Day of the Dead party is in order when I get back, with sugar skulls on cupcakes, Agua Fresca, ceviche, and little altars everywhere.

**photos courtest of google image search - I know it's cheating, this entry is full cheating - hopefully after my trip I will have many more of my own**