Celebrating La Dia de Muertos in my Casa

Being an interior designer, decorating for La Dia de Muertos is one of my favorite times of year to be creative.  And of course, the most important part of that is creating an altar for my brother, Carter Mullen.  The niche in my hallway is the perfect place to honor him and his life.

 Surrounded by marigolds, los flores de Cempasuchil.

And those who knew Carter, and there were so many and many that considered him their best friend, you will recognize some of his favorites things.  His extensive Mexican mask collection, his love of the Grand canyon and especially Lake Powell, Suduko, the infamous red pen, basketball, the terrier dog, a shot of good tequila in the skull glass, a Mexican wrestler, the church that resembles the Parroquia in San Miguel de Allende and a bottle of his favorite wine, a Turnbull Cabernet.   And the two candles, one of Saint Michael, the patron saint of San Miguel de Allende, where the Mullen family had a home for over 42 years.

I decorated the bar with Day of the Dead napkins, the Frankenstein bar towel, a black vase from San Bartola de Coyotepec (one of the village that I visit on my Oaxaca tour where they make the most beautiful burnished black pottery) filled with marigolds and of course, a few bottles of tequila.

My kitchen counter, with one of the hand-painted tequila bottles.

More Halloween decor.

Getting ready for a dinner party.  The runner is from Chiapas, the black skulls from San Bartola de Coyotepec, the little pig salt bowls were just recently bought in the gigantic Sunday market in Tlacolula, the beautiful basket filled with Chestnuts from the Thursday market in Zaachila and the clay pumpkins from the Tiangis in San Miguel de Allende.  Traveling in Mexico in October always gets me in shopping trouble for I am always buying something new for Las Dias de Muertos.

September 7th, I posted on my Blog about making Cochinita Pibil.  It turned out SO good, I bought an 8 pound pork shoulder and made the recipe again.  This is just part of the braised pork that I served to make tacos for the dinner party.  I used the remainder of the pork for the filling of tamales that I made the next day.  It's always a good idea to break up the tamale making process by preparing the filling a day or two in advance.

Freshly made corn tortillas in the basket, the pork pibil, salsa Veracruz, pickled red onions, fresh limes and sliced radishes.  The makings for some delicious tacos! 

And Halloween would not be Halloween with out a carved pumpkin.