January 14, 2015
Don’t be mad at me. I am writing this post sitting on a lounge chair on the beach at Chac Al Hal Bay with my toes in the cool white sand and gaze occasionallyat the unparalleled view of turquoise waters, a few palapas and a fishing boat or two in the distance. The Christmas crowd has come and gone and the resort village is back to the few die hard regulars that fell love with... View Article
January 13, 2015
I am learning a little about Mexican cooking while we are vacationing here. The more I learn, the more there is to learn. I have been experimenting with different rice dishes lately and this red rice turned out to be one of my favourites. I used achiote paste that I heard about at a cooking class with Claudia of Can Cook in Cancun and after discussion (mostly with hand gestures) with staff at our place... View Article
January 13, 2015
Latitude 20 has taken on a club role here in Puerto Aventuras. In addition to good authentic food any time of the day, it’s the place to go to meet locals and other snow birds and ex-pats that spend several month a year here on the Mayan Riviera. The restaurant is owned and run by Peter and Danny, both personable and sociable and I know that Danny has significant talent in the kitchen. I was... View Article
January 12, 2015
The culinary scene is developing in Playa del Carmen. New restaurants feature sophisticated versions of Mexican foods, private chefs are available to cook in your home while you are on vacation and some will come to your house to teach Mexican cooking in your own kitchen. You can also attend cooking classes and learn how to cook authentic Mexican foods prepared with local ingredients in the traditional way. The best cooking school in Playa del... View Article
January 8, 2015
One of the new hotels in the eco chic Tulum scene is hotel Mi Amor. It is part of a group of four Tulum hotels by the Colibri Hotel Collection that includes the Hotel Mezzanine, El Pez and the famed La Zebra, all situated on the Tulum white sand and turquoise water stretch of beach. We have driven past the Mi Amor on the way to the Mezzanine a couple of times while it was... View Article
January 3, 2015
The red doors in the wall surrounding the villa swung open and we were invited into a charming courtyard dominated by a lone giant banyan tree. Lorenzo led us through the open style villa to the covered patio at the back of the house and we settled in the comfortable wicker furniture covered with colourful cushions. After a few words of introduction Lorenzo invited us to the outdoor kitchen at the end of the patio.... View Article
December 10, 2014
Hola from the Mayan Riviera. We arrived here a few days ago and I am just getting into the swing of things. The pace is different here. The trip down was a “speedy” 26 hours with an overnight stay at an airport hotel, thanks to the monopoly that Canadian airlines have over the Canadian skies. I believe it takes the same amount of time to fly around the world. Upon arrival we had to endure... View Article
September 21, 2013
Mexican food has been part of my repertoire for a long time. I enjoy the earthy flavours, simplicity, colours and aromas of this cuisine. I am just now replacing some of the Mexican cookbooks that I had before, and already have a few books by the incomparable Diana Kennedy (the Grand Dame of Mexican Cuisine), the modern and innovative Rick Bayless of the Fronterra fame and a few other books for information and inspiration. Diana Kennedy,... View Article
October 2, 2012
Last year while visiting the Mayan Riviera we had dinner at the famed Hartwood restaurant in Tulum. The restaurant became famous after Bon Apetit magazine did an article about the chef-owner and his wife (from NYC) and since then the line-ups to go into this no-reservation policy restaurant have been increasing as I believe have the prices. I was motivated to write a review of our experience at the restaurant and you can find it here... View Article
September 18, 2012
On a recent trip to the Mayan Riviera I had a fried avocado salad at one of the large hotels on the beach. It was quite special and I made it a few times since I got home. Today I had a couple of beautiful, ripe yet firm avocados and I thought I’d make these lovely fritters and serve them as tacos in corn tortillas for a quick lunch. I have also stuffed them into... View Article
August 11, 2012
It doesn’t always have to be tomato salsa. Here is a lovely mango salsa to add to your cooking repertoire that will brighten up the flavour of many foods. Salsa is generally associated with Mexican food (love it) but don’t limit its use to just tacos. Serve this as a condiment along with other foods, as a dip with endive spears or tortilla chips, spoon some over a salad or top a grilled baguette slice... View Article
July 16, 2012
I mentioned that I write travel reviews on Trip Advisor. I have written about a number of hotels on the Mayan Riviera in a series about Luxury Breakfast on the Mayan Riviera and this posting about Puerto Aventuras was submission #7. The Trip Advisor articles have generated so far more that 21,000 readers so I assume people find them helpful. You can find all the submissions in the Travel section in this blog, left column... View Article
