La Vida Mexicana

When last we left our tireless travelers...we had just arrived at our Loreto Bay.  While the casita had the basic cooking utensils including a nicely appointed kitchen and outdoor grill, our next adventure was to find the town of Loreto and a grocery for some food and other necessary provisions.

Turns out there are two "major" grocery stores in Loreto.  Based on our other trips to Mexico, these were smaller, but both still very well stocked with mostly local fare.  It seemed like we were in the store a very long time reading signs in Spanish and calculating the peso to dollar equivalent on each item dropped into the cart. Our first trip included a whole fresh chicken, a pork slab of of some kind, salad veggies, avocados, limes, coffee, milk, cereal, yogurt and gallons of fresh water. Of course, sampling the local fare at some of the many restaurants in Loreto would supplement meals at home.  In Mexico, your chicken come with feet.  I did not have a tried and true preparation for chicken feet so I discarded them.

From guidebook research, we also knew of a weekly farmer's market held each Sunday in an open arroyo near town that was a common source for fresh food and flea market items.  We were looking forward to finding additional food items at this venue as well.  Unfortunately, due to the recent rains in Mexico, that market was displaced to another location.  We would scout for its new location on the next Sunday.

Since there is a large influx of American and Canadian expats each year to Loreto Bay, there are some specialty markets that have cropped up to serve American tastes such as a wine/gourmet food items.  The wine selection was limited but decent, prices a little high.

Our first meal at home was simple using just a few fresh ingredients and very tasty.

Roasted pork loin, salad and wine

  
There was only one restaurant open in the Loreto Bay Village upon our arrival as the "gringo" season had not yet begun so we also enjoyed dinner and drinks out at the Agave Restaurant on their opening night that was quite enjoyable.

    

Oooh, Mexico...where not even the sun is in a hurry

We are here for another 30 days.  This is Loreto Bay, Baja California Sur Mexico!  It is a desert climate located about halfway down the Baja peninsula.

The hidden gem of The Villages of Loreto Bay is tucked between the Giganta Mountains and the azsure Sea of Cortez approximately 7 miles North on Mexico Hwy 1.  We ended up here through a friend of Mike's who had offered us a favorable multi-month rental on a 2 bedroom casita he owns in the community.  Mike and I have spent several vacations in Mexico and enjoy the culture, the vibe, the food, sun and sand that is unique to Mexico.  This is our first trip to the Baja.

Upon our arrival in late September to the small, but very new airport we were confronted with the reality that English, when spoken loudly with extreme enunciation is not any more understood by the local taxi driver than speaking English at a normal volume.  The years of high school Spanish have served me well.  Key words and phrases are still stuck in my feeble brain even after my recent birthday, who knew?  We obtained a "collectivo" (group taxi) at the airport and made the journey to the Villages of Loreto Bay.  While trying to make Spanglish small talk with the taxi driver enroute, we began to acclimate ourselves with the two lane highway that would take us to town, including the various free-range horses and other animals grazing on the roadside. By free-range I mean, no fences anywhere.  Watch for animal signs dotted the road, large animals...bigger than your car, good safety type.  

The Loreto Bay complex was...in a word... "vacant" when we arrived.  Another couple of words would be "ghost town".  The taxi driver dropped us off at our unit with the help of a security guard and our Mexican adventure had begun.  The first few minutes were spent unpacking, assessing the contents of the cute little casita and then we embarked on a recognizance walk in search of an open restaurant.  Not an easy task at a resort area whose season does not really start until mid-October.  

After a fairly long walk through the complex in 85 degree heat and literally not seeing another living soul, we began to wonder about our lodging choice for the next 47 days.  Oh ye of little faith.  We saw an open door at the Loreto Bay real estate office.  A chance conversation with Orlando, yielded some basic info on our new community, a map of Loreto with street names and key points of interest such as the two major grocery stores, bank, wine and liquor store and well known restaurants clearly marked.  A local bar that shows NFL games was also part of Oralando's intel... pay dirt.
 
Orlando was getting texts from his co-workers to come join them for happy hour.  It was 3PM in the afternooon,  just one of the many reasons to like Mexico.  Friendly Orlando offered us a lift to the Loreto Bay Golf Resort and Spa on his golf cart as he was on his way over.  It was basically our only chance to get some grub so we jumped aboard.

Orlando delivered us as promised and left us to join his amigos.  We sat down to a late lunch of fish tacos and a burger with this view.  In the immortal words of Coach Levy, "Where would you rather be than right here, right now?"

Hasta Luego!  

Morning cup of joe

Let me just say that I have not always been a coffee drinker.  I would have a rare cappuccino with dessert on a special occasion at a restaurant or a heavily sweetened coffee-like concoction from Starbucks for a treat every once in awhile.  About 6 months before we moved to Hawaii, I bought a single-serve Keurig coffee maker on sale and I became quite enamored with its ease of use, the cute little pre-measured coffee pods and the relative consistent quality of my homemade brew.  I then introduced the coffee to a generous pour of Carnation Italian Sweet Cream creamer, ALWAYS in my favorite coffee mug and my morning routine now included coffee, just one cup.  

My favorite mug!

This comforting morning ritual gained momentum as a necessity for me in Hawaii where I was up and on conference calls at 5AM to coincide with the Pacific Time Zone of my Seattle colleagues.  My coffee life was further improved by a chance visit to Thunder Mountain Kona Coffee Roasters on the Big Island. Again, I am not a connoisseur, but I began buying their raw beans and grinding my own coffee for use in my own refillable K-cup filter.  Good for me, good for the environment, and you could buy the beans at Costco, win/win.

In May, I bid a sad farewell to my Keurig as it was wrapped and packed for its voyage across the ocean headed for a storage unit on the mainland.  Would it be safe?  Wouldn't it be lonesome sitting in the dark all wrapped in paper until its release....who knows when?  It wasn't the coffee maker that I was feeling anxious about, it was the comfort of the routine.  No daily budget for Starbucks could replace the quiet, relaxing relationship with my mug and its steamy dark brew. 

On the first few weeks back on the mainland I was lucky enough to share my morning cup of joe with my BFF at her breakfast bar where we would scan the morning news and chat.  But the day was approaching when I would no long have access to this morning luxury.  

Our first few days in Portland, OR sans Keurig were filled with experiments into deprivation or coffee surrogates. Each new place we stayed had a version of the tried and true "Mr. Coffee" pot for brewing a vat of coffee. The water to coffee ratio in pot brewing was not in my wheelhouse.   You might be thinking, as you are reading this, "Geez, you probably can't swing a cat in Portland without hitting a coffee shop."  While that is true, my preferred observance of my coffee ritual does not include drinking it in the company of loud strangers or walking down the street with it in a paper cup.

However, Portland did provide a resolution to my coffee conundrum.  At one of the street fairs we attended, we stopped into a coffee and tea brewing emporium that did not actually serve beverages but did display a multitude of brewing devices accompanied by a knowledgeable brewmeister who tipped us off to a very portable solution to my problem.  

This device is divine it its simplicity, portability, price point and quality of brew.  The GSI Collapsible Java Drip ($10 on Amazon), a box of #2 filters from Trader Joes and 2 Tbl spoons of whatever coffee I choose has given me the comfort of my uninterrupted coffee respite from Portland to Seattle to Loreto, Mexico.  

  

    

    I am now comforted by my morning cup of joe wherever I go.  Sorry for the rhyme. 

Seattle, a city of alternatives

Mike has challenged me to post less food related columns and delve into other areas...be careful what you ask for.

Saw this story in today's news headlines:
"Very important lesson for drug traffickers: Do not store your half-ton of weed in the backseat of your car.
A Brazilian drug smuggler did just that, police say, and the man was killed when he crashed into a tree while being chased by police ... because the 1,100 pounds of weed came barreling forward and crushed him against the steering wheel."

While in Seattle, we saw a couple of alternative ways to obtain your "legal" herb of choice that may not be as hazardous.  I am not condoning it, just sharing that the pioneer spirit of the Northwest is alive and well.

To your door delivery, let someone else take the risk.

Or get it delivered via a special VW Cani-bus.  

On the edge of 50

Seems Fortuitous Hiatus was true to its name for a while, but I am back with a host of backlogged posts, they may be a little out of order, but oh well.  I will strive to improve my productivity going forward.  :-)

Late summer is a birthday bonanza at the Czerwinski household, Mike's on August 21st and mine on September 14th. First of all, thanks to all of you who sent me warm birthday wishes.

As some of you are aware we have spent the month of September in Seattle house sitting for some friends who were on a several week European vacation. They did not mentioned seeing Clark Griswold on their travels...but you never know. It was a win/ win for us.  We got to enjoy their magnificent home with expansive views of the Cascade mountains, Mt. Ranier and Lake Washington.  The house also included a fully outfitted kitchen, multiple outdoor grills and the sweetest Welsh terrier named Sophie.

Short ribs braising down to yummy goodness.

Back to my birthday. As you know from my previous posts, we have been eating out at restaurants a lot. The aforementioned kitchen was full of Le Cruset cookware of various shapes and sizes and just about any kitchen tool or gadget you could buy from Sur La Table. This bountiful kitchen bonanza prompted a homemade birthday dinner.

Now before some of you get out the lanterns, pitchforks and rakes to come after my husband for not taking me out to dinner, let me say that part of my birthday enjoyment was spending time planning the menu, shopping, using the best kitchen ware I have ever had access to, spending time together prepping in the kitchen and then enjoying a delicious meal.  A very special bottle of wine and yummy desserts from 65th Street Bakery rounded out the dinner.

My birthday dinner menu:

Zinfandel Braised Short Ribs

Puréed parsnips

Steamed broccoli

Lemon bar (Janice)

Bottle of 2003 Joseph Phelps Insignia Cabernet

Birthday Dinner

In the end I got my cooking fix, the meal was at least restaurant quality (maybe better) and there were some kick-ass leftovers for the next day. Knowing that in our upcoming trip to Mexico minimal food preparations would be required, ie: dunking some raw fish in lime juice with a little jalapeno and cilantro, this hearty meal was perfect.  Happy Birthday to me.