Summer Tastes Like Mexico

May 2026

Last week, I returned to Teotihuacan, Mexico, home to the ancient Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, a place that has shaped my life for almost 30 years.

I first arrived in Teo when I was 22 years old. I was a young woman carrying deep heartbreak and loss from my teenage years, and I knew I wanted to heal. Not simply move on, but truly transform my life into one I love living.

In Mexico City, I began apprenticing with two extraordinary Curanderas, traditional healers who blended herbal medicine, spiritual practice, and ancient indigenous healing traditions.

Reyna and Magali both held medical degrees from the United States, yet their work also honored the ancient Mesoamerican understanding of healing through herbs, ritual, spirit, and the connection between body and mind.

That apprenticeship opened the doorway to conscious dreaming.

I learned to become deeply aware of my waking life, my thoughts, my reactions, my patterns, my surroundings, and then to carry that awareness into my dream world while asleep. The practice was about becoming lucid not only in dreams, but in life itself.

Six years later, I met my husband Lee.

He was on this same journey of awareness and conscious dreaming, and together, alongside Alberto and Veronica, we helped create The Dreaming House on the Avenue of the Dead in the ancient city of Teotihuacan.

Lee and I both believed deeply in freedom.

Freedom from fear.

Freedom from the limiting stories we inherit or tell ourselves.

Freedom from the doubt of the mind.

Last year, I returned to Teotihuacan carrying Lee's ashes.

Before he left his body, we spoke often about the places I would take him. Teo became the beginning of an epic 19-month journey filled with grief, beauty, transformation, and love.

Then last week, I returned again.

This time, I was leading a group of incredibly conscious and successful entrepreneurs called The Mavericks. Everywhere I went, I felt Lee's spirit beside me. And honestly, the entire time I kept thinking about all of you, The Juicie Bits, and what we are building together.

A community gathered around the kitchen.

Not just to talk about food, but to connect through the deeper parts of our lives. Through truth. Through vulnerability. Through the stories that shape us.

This is the energy I want to bring into the world:

Depth.

Honesty.

Connection.

One thing I learned while building The Pinewood Kitchen is this:

Real connection is the non-negotiable ingredient.

It matters more than perfection.

More than performance.

More than polish.

Right now, all of this feels like the fond of something extraordinary.

The foundation layer.

The richness at the bottom of the pan.

The beginning of something deeply nourishing and delicious.

Recently, I had the most wonderful conversation with DeeDee, one of our beloved foundation members. She is an absolute delight, y'all, and she shared that one thing she misses while avoiding corn is a truly good tortilla.

So this letter went to Mexico: two tortillas and a soup from The Dreaming House kitchen. Summer always tastes a little like Mexico to me, and this soup is comforting, vibrant, and perfect even on warm evenings.

I cannot wait to gather with you again.

With love,

Mee

This month's recipes — the Azteca Clear Broth Chicken Tortilla Soup from The Dreaming House kitchen, plus both the classic corn and 3-ingredient almond flour tortillas — live with members inside The Juicie Kitchen, along with the grocery list and our live cooking class.