I’ve been walking a lot lately, and not just because the weather is finally behaving. I’ve been trying to balance the amount of exercise I get with the number of popsicles I have been eating. This summer was the summer of the the paleta for me. A paleta is a Mexican popsicle, and I have been quite obsessed with them, to the point where I was eating one a day during the month of August, hence, the new exercise regime.
Paletas are delicious frozen treats made with fresh ingredients. Some of them are straight fruit and sugar and some are made in combination with milk. Paletas are texturally different from ordinary popsicles, sometimes with chunks of fruit, or coconut inside. The flavors are also unique, ranging from creamy guava to hot chili melon. The hot chili is weird and addictive, a combination of sweet, savory, and spicy. I love that one. I also think may have developed an unhealthy relationship with the rice paleta, which tastes like divine frozen rice pudding, complete with grains of rice and bits of cinnamon stick. Thoughts of it distract me from work. We might have to break up soon.
Paleteria La Reyna is ground-zero for paletas. The ice-cream wizards there make both ice cream and paletas on site. You can buy them there, of course, but if you are lucky enough to live nearby, they send the treats out in bicycle-powered vending freezers and you can run out into the street and buy them from the nice guys who pedal them around.
La Reyna is also a restaurant, serving delicious, simple Mexican food like tacos and tortas. Go there for lunch and have a paleta for dessert. Or, take a cooler and bring a dozen home. You can also buy them from the Donut Whole-which is why I ate so many. The Donut Whole is right down the street from my house- walking distance, as it turns out.