Sub Categories in Travel

Category of: Travel

Back in my kitchen: Artichokes with olive oil and lemon

March 8, 2017

It’s good to be back in my kitchen after three months away. We came back from visiting first the Mayan Riviera and then Central America where the weather was warm and sunny, only to face the last of the snow and cool temperatures of latitude 50° at home. For some strange reason it makes me feel better knowing that the Champagne region in France is also at the same latitude. Ahhh, champagne. The first adjustment... View Article

Yucatan road trip – Hacienda Kaan Ac, Valladolid

January 28, 2017

After spending a couple of months on the Mayan Caribbean coast I was ready for adventure so we packed up a few things for a road trip and headed west into the Yucatan to explore the Mayan towns, haciendas and local foods. It’s not my first trip into the Yucatan countryside so I know my way around and love the experience every time. The new highway from Cancun and Playa del Carmen going west is... View Article

Mexican bean soup

January 16, 2017

The weather down here on the Mayan Riviera has been unusually cooler, still in the 20s but a lot of warm tropical rain and clouds. Fittingly, soup was on the menu this week to go with a shredded green salad with citrus vinaigrette. Both were quite delicious so I thought I’d share them on the blog. Salad in the next post. I find that dried beans that I buy here cook much faster than the... View Article

Chilaquiles with salsa verde

January 14, 2017

As much as I enjoy going out for breakfast at one of the beautiful beach restaurants in this area, once in a while I have to put my cooking skills to use and make something at home other than the routine oatmeal that I usually “have to have”. Chilaquiles, a classic Mexican breakfast dish, is one of my favourite Mexican style breakfasts. Although it is seemingly a quick dish to make, it is composed of... View Article

Mayan Street Food and Taco Tour with Cozumel Chef in Playa del Carmen

January 7, 2017

I have been travelling to the Mayan Riviera for years but must admit that I have never stopped to eat at street food carts and although we do eat at local restaurants, only a few serve mostly local people. Now before you dismiss me as a food elitist, please consider that, first, you can get authentic local dishes even at high end restaurants and hotels, you just pay more for them, and second, street food... View Article

Mayan Riviera: Enfrijoladas, tortillas with black beans

December 21, 2016

I first came across this dish at a cooking class at Latitude 20° restaurant in Puerto Aventuras, taught by Mexican chef Danny. The simplicity of the dish combined with the intense flavour appealed to me instantly and it quickly became a regular dish I prepare both here on the Mayan Riviera and at home, at latitude 50°. I am generally attracted to simple foods that make the indigenous cuisine of real people in villages around... View Article

Cooking on the Mayan Riviera: Roasted Salsa Verde

December 20, 2016

So my fridge is starting to look better with a few things in there ready to be pulled out and used in various dishes. This roasted tomatillos sauce known as salsa verde (green sauce) is a useful one to have and goes particularly well with chilaquiles that I tend to make here regularly. I get the tomatillos at a market that sets up in our resort village twice a week with fresh fruits and vegetables... View Article

Granola, Yogurt, Honey, Papaya

December 19, 2016

Local fruit and granola dishes are featured on any breakfast menu on the Mayan Riviera and although I rarely order it at restaurants I enjoy making it at home now and then. Just like we have unparalleled berries, apples, pears and stone fruits in the Okanagan, local fruits here are so ripe and full of flavour that they hardly resemble the version of these same fruits that we get at home. I am yet to... View Article

Chilaquiles with red sauce and fried egg

December 17, 2016

Chilaquiles, meaning “broken up sombrero” in one of the native Mayan languages, is a quintessential Mexican dish that you find anywhere, from humble beach cafes to five star hotel restaurants serving local cuisine. Chilaquiles is made with fried corn tortilla triangles (or strips) that are briefly soften in red tomato or green tomatillos sauce, then topped with fried egg, queso fresco, chopped red onion, plenty of chopped cilantro (forgot to put it on before taking the... View Article

Pickled red onions

December 15, 2016

If you have been to Mexico, and I am sure you have, you know how important pickles are to the layers of flavours in this simple yet complex cuisine. Almost every dish is accompanied by some pickles, be it the bright and colourful pickled red onion, mildly spicy jalapenos, pickled radishes or pickled fruits. The most commonly seen are the pickled red onions that go so well with the variety of seafood so abundant in... View Article

Report from the Mayan Riviera and Mexican tomato sauce recipe

December 12, 2016

We landed at Cancun airport a week ago after a short and reasonably comfortable Westjet flight from Toronto. We stepped outside into the colourful vegetation and fragrant air of the Mexican Caribbean and felt immediately at home in the familiar surroundings. Even my limited Spanish held up for the brief conversations along the way. Next we had to endure the usual ordeal of car rental, having to do with mandatory insurance that can quadruple the... View Article

Amsterdam – Jordaan food tour with Eating Amsterdam (Netherlands part 3 of 5)

November 17, 2016

Once we got the museums and The Hague under control we were ready to explore the food scene in Amsterdam. I had a few food items on my “list” and a lot of them revolved around breakfast: dutch pancakes, dutch baby (a puffed pancake, but turned out they never heard of it) and the little pillowy pancakes they call poffertjes. In the street foods department I had stroopwafel (waffles) and dutch fries on the list.... View Article