another new favorite

Here is another song I recently discovered on the blog "Oh Happy Day", which you can find in my links. So great. Hope you like it!

mexico- arriba! arriba!

We just returned from a vacation to Mexico.

We stayed in Puerto Aventuras which is a town about an hour or so south of Cancun. We considered staying in Playa del Carmen which is about 30 minutes south of Cancun but I'm really glad we didn't. It is fun to stay a little more out of the way of the thick streams of fellow tourists. Puerto Aventuras is a gated community mostly comprised of houses, condos, Americans and Europeans... so not quite the "authentic" experience we tend to value, BUT it was great because we stayed in a condo rather than at a resort. The complex was called Quinta Luna and most people who own the 20 condos either permanently live there (mostly retired-folk) or used it as a second home, occasionally renting out to people like us.

The great thing about this condo was the view out our back door.

Jealous?

The lagoon was literally steps aways and our beach was private. A few more steps away and you were in the Carribbean. ABout 20 yards away around the corner was an infinity pool. We swam 2 or 3 times a day and had no competition for space or lounge chairs. At Spring Break, that is a rare thing indeed.

We were able to cook which ended up being a really good thing with the kids. We made a stop at Walmart (yes- they have TWO Walmarts in the Mayan Riviera- what is this world coming too?!) and bought a few groceries to have for breakfast and snacks, plus a few easy dinner options like pasta and a frozen pizza. I was really hoping to enjoy lots of great food but..... the kids whined like crazy come 5:30 when we would begin to suggest that we walk 10 minutes to the Marina area or pop in the car to find some good tacos or the like.

So I had maybe three really good food moments:

1. We stopped in Tulum which is a major Mayan archaeological site on the far southern end of the riviera area. In the pueblo itself there was an ice cream shop where I had both cajeta and corn ice cream. Yum. We need some shops around here to try these flavors.

2. About 10 minutes south of Puerto Aventuras is Akumal, which is a favorite snorkeling and scuba diving destination. I really liked the feel of this town. Just before you get to the arch there is a store on your right and a loncheria. We had read on locogringo that this place was pretty good and we decided to try it. I had some mole enchiladas and good limeade which were pretty decent and one of the boys had the chicken tacos which were really good. Plus their beans were good. Everywhere served refried black beans and sometimes the consistency was just weird. The guac here was also excellent- very lime-y.

3. This is kind of silly maybe, but I had a coconut ice pop at Xcaret that was quite tasty. It looked like a superfat, short white otter pop. If I could buy those here, I would have a freezer stocked full of them.

One thing we did that I will never do again is go on one of those sales pitches. When we picked up our rental car there was a lady who wanted us to come do a meeting at her resort, in return we would get $160 cash to pay for part of our car rental and we would have breakfast and the kids could swim in their great pools. The talk would just be about 90 minutes. We knew perfectly well what it was and thought since we always say no, we may as well hear what they have to say just to listen and learn. It was actually for a private residence club, not a timeshare, which seems to be a better idea, right? Investing in a purchase versus a rental? Man, these guys wouldn't take no for an answer. They came back at us with so many options and literally acted like we were crazy for not wanting to do it. They didn't seem to understand that some people need to do some research and think about an expensive decision before making it. It was also very strange that when we said we had no idea what other resorts charged for comparable programs or what people currently doing the program have to say in favor it, they didn't offer any info to persuade us. How about an, "oh here! I pulled this off a message board last week! Everyone loves us!" or, "down the road at these three spots they charge x amount for almost eactly the same thing, but ours has better trading power!". I mean, come on. I think walking out of there was a very good decision indeed. The good breakfast, cash and swim were not worth it. Afterwards we were thinking about our preferred way of travel and while we enjoy a nice resort here and there, we would hate to be committed to something like that because we like to have a pretty authentic experience immersed in the culture when we travel internationally. You know... stay at family owned small hotels, taste the local cuisine, walk out our door into the country or city, rather than into a pool and spa infested vacation bubble. Okay, enough of that.

The kids had a blast on the trip. They told us on our last day that they didn't want to go home and could we please move to Mexico?

desserts for the serious sweet tooth

I bought a new cookbook today because I couldn't put it down. I had heard the title before and it hadn't grabbed me the same way the actual design did when I picked it up and saw the pages inside! It is so Cute!!! Every page is styled with polka dots, stripes, scalloped edges and ribbons. Greens, pinks, blues and browns everywhere. It feels like walking into the yummiest bakeshop you can find. The style of the pages reminds me of the adorable Miette, a local patisserie and confiserie, though the desserts are different. You can buy the book here.

I love how Jill O'Connor begins the book when she speaks about Willy Wonka and says, "There, food isn't just sustenance. It is adventure. It is magic. It is adundance, luxury and excess, all tied up into one big, pink, innocent bow of childlike glee. That is the world I wanted to re-create with the recipes in this book. Just like the aromas wafting from Wonka's chocolate factory, sweets oozing with sticky chewy caramel and butterscotch, gooey with marshmallow and jam, dripping with cream and dribbled with chocolate entice us to indulge our inner Augustus Gloop- if only every now and then."

Plus the desserts aren't like your typical baking cookbook. There's "Dark Chocolate Soup with Cinnamon-Toasted Pound-Cake Croutons", "Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake Pots with Shortbread Spoons", "Sticky Pear and Walnut Upside-Down Gingerbread", and "Hawaiian Caramel Corn", to name a few. I can't wait to try some of these out!

There is just something about holding a book in your hands, feeling the paper, turning the pages, and appreciating all the visuals, that make you want to buy that book right then and there. I never would have bought this book by just searching online! Thank goodness for bookstores.

daffodils

Don't you just love Trader Joe's? Every spring I love getting their daffodils- a bunch of 8 stems or so for $1.29. I always get 5 or 6 bunches and put them in one vase. They come still closed or just beginning to bloom so they have quite a long vase life!

cooking class

A few weeks ago I taught a cooking class at our church. I get to do this once in a while and it is pretty fun- not that I am an expert or anything. When I like something, I tend to do all kinds of research and reading about it and learn everything I can, so I guess I tend to know more about my favorite things than the average Joe. Plus, eons ago, when I was first working at HomeChef we had to go through training and attend all their basic technique classes so we could really share knowledge with our customers. This experience helped me so much with a solid base of technique so that I felt comfortable to go off on any tangent of cooking and baking that I felt compelled to try!

The class I taught was called "The Art of Sauteing" and I demonstrated the basic technique through a few different recipes. You can find my handout here. We didn't get through everything listed but we did do Chicken Marsala, the sautueed mushrooms, and Coconut Glazed Pineapple. It was all sooo good. I haven't made the chicken in quite a while and had to make it again the next night for my family. The pineapple is quite excellent, if I do say so myself. After sauteeing the fruit, you deglaze the pan with pineapple juice and coconut milk. Serve everything with Pollyanne's coconut ice cream and toasted coconut flakes and you are set!

I would say the key basics of sauteeing are:
1. preheat your pan, preheat your pan, preheat your pan.
2. after the pan is hot, put just enough fat to cover the bottom of the pan (it will liquify very quickly because your pan is hot. :)
3. don't overcrowd your pan or the food will steam instead of develop that great golden crust we all love.
4. all those brown crusties left on the bottom of the pan make a great pan sauce. Just pour in a liquid of some kind and it gets all those flavorful bits off and makes your pan easier to clean at the same time!

More tips are included in my handout.

I love this song

I recently discovered Regina Spektor. This song gets stuck in your head, so beware! The video is so fun and creative.

Hairspray

While I was doing prep work for our Easter Dinner Saturday night (more on that later), David's mom put in the movie "Hairspray", which she had brought with her from Oregon. It was really fun! I had no expectations, had no idea what the story line might be except the obvious reference to hairspray (and therefore certain hairstyles), and only knew one song. The singing was great. The dancing was super high energy. And John Travolta is one of very few men, comfortable enough in his own skin, who could pull off the role of Traci Turnblad's - um- large mother. He is hilarious. Anyway, fun show. You can check out the trailer here.