There's a little restaurant, serving breakfast and lunch in a house nearby. The couple had opened a restaurant on the border of Centro, but like many newer restaurants in town it had not remained viable. So they converted the ground floor of their home in our fraccionamento to a restaurant and live on the second floor.
Some friends of ours - also residents of our area - had decided that they liked the food and wanted to help the in-house restaurant prosper, so rounded up some more people and set a once-weekly time for us to gather (Friday mornings at 9:30).
And it seems to be doing well. The food is Uraguayan/Mexican - quite tasty, imaginative pairings, and native dishes woven into a changing menu. We all always find something that we really like on the menu. One member of our group lives across the street from the restaurant [Tannat] and visits more often than once a week, as do some of the others.
So a 'How to Make Pizza in a Pan' (no oven required) was set up and five of us signed up for the cooking class. Although only four showed up for the class, we had a great time and there was more pizza to taste for the four of us!
We learned the proportions, techniques, and timing for making the dough, types of accoutrements for topping the pizzas, and of course we got to sample each one.
One member of the group brought a bottle of wine and Michael and I brought a bottle of anejo tequila (Hornitas Black Barrel). Since the husband of the couple had been a bartender at one time, he turned out margaritas for the group about five times - or was it six? Both the margaritas and pizzas were tasty and promptly polished off!
One of the group members took notes and will be emailing the directions for the dough and some of the topping combinations soon - I hope! After several margaritas it may be tricky to recall some of those combinations.
Now to think of another subject for a cooking class...maybe desserts, or tarts, or flans....
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
A bit of rain
After a long wedding weekend in hot, humid Puerto Vallarta - lounging on the beach between appearances - we returned home to decent weather for March. Cooler, non-humid weather.
Cold, wet, windy weather. Winter weather. Even rain with hail mixed into it last night.
Weather that the dogs dislike. Weather (especially when there's thunder and lightning) that makes the dogs a bit crazed, huddling up on the bed and (for Fiyero) trying to lick the skin off of our face/neck/whatever he can reach Miyake is satisfied shaking. No amount of comforting helps until the rain/thunder/ and especially hail lets up.
Reminds me of our first January in San Miguel when it rained for days, flooding parts of the lower town. We were happy to be up on a hill at that point. A pain to walk back up the hill every day upon returning home from downtown, but comforting when the creek overran its banks!
We remember walking through that part of town, looking for a new place to live when our agreement expired that wasn't up on top of a hill and comparing the potential houses' locations with the water level marks that were left on buildings.
Now to find some insulating strips to quiet the metal-framed doors and windows when the winds are blowing....
LATER - It's raining again, but at least there's no wind this time. Bedroom drapes are closed, perhaps we'll all get to sleep a bit earlier.
EVEN LATER - At 3 AM Miyake decided that she needed to go out And it's stopped raining altogether!
Thursday - Okay, this is weird. It seems to be snowing. A sort of slushy snow that puddles, but it's snow! Third time in recent memory that it's happened here: 1978, 2009, and now this year Out in the campo they received more snow/snow; we put up with the melty stuff. And presently (1 PM) the skies are clear, the wind is gone, and the sun is out - but it's still chilly!
Cold, wet, windy weather. Winter weather. Even rain with hail mixed into it last night.
Weather that the dogs dislike. Weather (especially when there's thunder and lightning) that makes the dogs a bit crazed, huddling up on the bed and (for Fiyero) trying to lick the skin off of our face/neck/whatever he can reach Miyake is satisfied shaking. No amount of comforting helps until the rain/thunder/ and especially hail lets up.
Reminds me of our first January in San Miguel when it rained for days, flooding parts of the lower town. We were happy to be up on a hill at that point. A pain to walk back up the hill every day upon returning home from downtown, but comforting when the creek overran its banks!
We remember walking through that part of town, looking for a new place to live when our agreement expired that wasn't up on top of a hill and comparing the potential houses' locations with the water level marks that were left on buildings.
Now to find some insulating strips to quiet the metal-framed doors and windows when the winds are blowing....
LATER - It's raining again, but at least there's no wind this time. Bedroom drapes are closed, perhaps we'll all get to sleep a bit earlier.
EVEN LATER - At 3 AM Miyake decided that she needed to go out And it's stopped raining altogether!
Thursday - Okay, this is weird. It seems to be snowing. A sort of slushy snow that puddles, but it's snow! Third time in recent memory that it's happened here: 1978, 2009, and now this year Out in the campo they received more snow/snow; we put up with the melty stuff. And presently (1 PM) the skies are clear, the wind is gone, and the sun is out - but it's still chilly!
Friday, March 4, 2016
Puerto Vallarte Wedding
We seldom need an excuse to go to Puerto Vallarta. This last weekend was no different.
Well, we were invited to a wedding...as if we needed an excuse!
The long weekend was reason enough to drag our butts to the sandy beaches of PV. Aside from the first day we managed to find our way to the beach each day. There were the usual restaurants facing the beach and we tried out Mi Pueblito ( 3 times) and La Palapa and another (don't remember it's name) on the other days. We also met up with the happy couple and friends at Apache (or The Blind Donkey) for dinner the last night in town.
The new beach spot was Sapphire Ocean Club. Two hundred pesos each got us a lounger, umbrella, iced water, and fruity water for the day. They also had a terrific restaurant which we used on two days. There was a small suite hotel attached to it - which we'll probably not be able to afford on future trips, either. Located between the old Green Chairs location (being re-done when La Palapa took over the locatoin) and the Blue Chairs of Blue Chairs fame.
The highlight, of course, was teh wedding, held in a wonderful smallish restaurant perched on a hillside that served wonderful food as well of three types of margaritas (watermelon, 'Green', and regular) as well as straight tequilla (almond flavored as well as a Reposado). Lovely wedding service, great food and drink service, and wonderful food as well as friendly folks as fellow guests.
Beginning at 7:00 pm, we (and many guests) called it a night before the second part of the party started.
The menu was dated 2017 and it took a while for the guests around us to determine whether it was 2016 or 2017. Guess we'd had too many margaritas by the time someone noticed the misprint.
Eventually we made our way to the airport and caught our return flight to Queretero on TAR airlines, where we had the same cabin attendant who recognized us from our earlier flight to PV.
While we may upgrade ourselves a step or two on our next trip to PV, (not to the level of the Sapphire Ocean Club - it was several steps higher) our hotel was basic but well maintained with friendly staff and squeaky clean.
And the shuttle home used the cuota, not the libramentos that our tip to the airport used. Guess there was a development in roads that were available as the result of a horrific accident on the day we returned from Cabo that required some time to correct.
Well, we were invited to a wedding...as if we needed an excuse!
The long weekend was reason enough to drag our butts to the sandy beaches of PV. Aside from the first day we managed to find our way to the beach each day. There were the usual restaurants facing the beach and we tried out Mi Pueblito ( 3 times) and La Palapa and another (don't remember it's name) on the other days. We also met up with the happy couple and friends at Apache (or The Blind Donkey) for dinner the last night in town.
The new beach spot was Sapphire Ocean Club. Two hundred pesos each got us a lounger, umbrella, iced water, and fruity water for the day. They also had a terrific restaurant which we used on two days. There was a small suite hotel attached to it - which we'll probably not be able to afford on future trips, either. Located between the old Green Chairs location (being re-done when La Palapa took over the locatoin) and the Blue Chairs of Blue Chairs fame.
The highlight, of course, was teh wedding, held in a wonderful smallish restaurant perched on a hillside that served wonderful food as well of three types of margaritas (watermelon, 'Green', and regular) as well as straight tequilla (almond flavored as well as a Reposado). Lovely wedding service, great food and drink service, and wonderful food as well as friendly folks as fellow guests.
Beginning at 7:00 pm, we (and many guests) called it a night before the second part of the party started.
The menu was dated 2017 and it took a while for the guests around us to determine whether it was 2016 or 2017. Guess we'd had too many margaritas by the time someone noticed the misprint.
Eventually we made our way to the airport and caught our return flight to Queretero on TAR airlines, where we had the same cabin attendant who recognized us from our earlier flight to PV.
While we may upgrade ourselves a step or two on our next trip to PV, (not to the level of the Sapphire Ocean Club - it was several steps higher) our hotel was basic but well maintained with friendly staff and squeaky clean.
And the shuttle home used the cuota, not the libramentos that our tip to the airport used. Guess there was a development in roads that were available as the result of a horrific accident on the day we returned from Cabo that required some time to correct.
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