Last month I was in Mexico City with my best friend Pedro to scout and try new restaurants. Two places made the cut.

From my time as a Chef de Cuisine at La Calenda, I saw how they grew fresh herbs from The French Laundry Garden. I was lucky to be able to cook with the best herbs and I could use a little bit of everything, from the purslane, watercress to other heirloom herbs.

Cooking underground in Pomuch, Campeche: Relleno Blanco Yucateco

I never know what we're going to cook at Diego's.

That's part of why I love going. Our Yucatán tour always passes through Campeche, the colonial city with a vibrant market, before we drive 40 minutes north to Pomuch, a small Mayan village.

I spend plenty of my mornings in the biggest market in Oaxaca. Whether, it’s bright and early to buy produce for the cooking school or a tour of the market on Wednesdays with guests. And out of all the food options in the market, nothing hits home like memelas.

A milpa is the biggest expression of Mexico’s food chain: Corn, squash, chiles and beans. A milpa as an agriculture practice that to this day –not only in Oaxaca, but in most states of Mexico and also in South America– goes beyond a productive food growing system, it involves the many people who grow but also eat what is grown from the milpa.

To my fortune, my neighbor and good friend Lider has been growing marigolds in his field besides corn and other heirloom seeds. Three years ago, during the Día de Muertos tour we pay a visit to his fields. We cut our own marigolds for the altar we do all together at the cooking school.

The first time I encountered Chorizo Verde or its preparation, it was when I was working in Houston, getting ready to open the acclaimed restaurant Caracol with my good friend Chef Hugo Ortega.