Baby Sea Turtle Release

Turtle nesting area

One evening at sunset in Puerto Vallarta, my husband and I met with some other tourists next to a hatching area for baby Ridley turtles. The resort participates in a conservation project that collects eggs that mother turtles lay on the beach and puts them into “nests” buried under the sand. The eggs then incubate for anywhere from 45 to 90 days. Once the babies hatch, they dig their way to the top where they are kept for a day before being released.

Let us out!

While the babies were scrambling over each other and up the sides of the box to “race” to the open ocean, we had a brief talk by two of the staff who cares for the eggs and newborns.

 

Hello Manuel

Manuel -- FREEDOM!

We were then each given a baby to name prior to releasing them. Steve had to go for Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory and I had to name mine Manuel from Faulty Towers (TV program in the UK). We lined up at dusk and were handed our squirming little babies who couldn’t wait to get free. At the count we released our babies and watched them crawl over the rippled sand towards the waves that would take them on their journey to adulthood – hopefully. Manuel hurried headfirst towards to ocean while Sheldon, true to his character, had to stop and analyze the situation and take his time. He finally had to be helped into the waves!

Final moments before release

Normally, the breeding season runs from July through December but there were still plenty of babies to release that week. Puerto Vallarta’s Banderas Bay is a breeding ground for six of the seven kinds of turtles.

The Mexican government set up a sea turtle protection program around 30 years ago because there was a danger that they were becoming extinct. Only about 1% of the babies ever reach adulthood so the protection program is very important. The turtles, who return to the beach where they were born, don’t reach reproductive maturity until between 8 and 12 years old so it’s amazing that any of them survive.  Many of the resorts, hotels and tour programs participate in releasing thousands of turtles each year. Combining tourism with the protection program is a benefit to the environment as well as the economic development of the area,

If you are planning a trip to Puerto Vallarta during the turtle breeding season, it’s definitely worth participating in one of the release programs! The babies are adorable and it’s helping to protect these turtles for many years to come. 

Hasta luego Manuel!



 

Our Adventures at My Mexican Kitchen

Chef Edgar ready to begin cooking

Although Steve swears he can’t cook, he’s always happy to eat so he immediately took to classes at My Mexican Kitchen because of their motto – Learn or Just Eat! We savored (pun intended) our first class with Travis and Edgar, owners and chefs, in April because of their passion for traditional food. We couldn’t wait to sign up for more classes so this trip we booked the “Chef’s Choice” menu on Monday night and went back for the “Tapas” menu on Friday night.

Concentrating on my knife skills

Travis and Edgar’s classes are always an exciting adventure in preparing handmade tortillas and getting them onto the hot griddle without any wrinkles in them. We pick up new information about all of the chilies that are available there and how to use them. One of the things that we love about the classes is that they’re ‘hands-on’.  We help with chopping, sautéing, hand pressing and cooking tortillas, and best of all – eating the results of our efforts.

Our “Chef’s Choice” menu included Enchiladas Verdes, which are authentic Mexican enchiladas, nothing even close to the “drowning in cheese” dishes that you get in the US. Our sauce was made with tomatillos, not tomatoes, so we had a green salsa to cover the enchiladas and we used only enough manchego cheese to add taste, not smother the tortillas.

Smell all that garlic!

The aroma from one of my favorite dishes, Papas Cambray Al Ajillo (Chile-Garlic Potatoes), as the garlic was sautéing, filled the kitchen and made everyone’s mouth water. Although we’d had an enchilada, we were ready for tasting of the rest of the meal. We were each given a few blanched almonds to carefully pop out of their skins. “Careful” was the word because it was easy to send them shooting across the prep table. These were used in our Pollo Almendrado (Chicken in Almond-Chipotle Sauce). Our evening culminated with us retiring to an adjacent table to enjoy our creations along with some wine and good conversation with other students.

All day Friday we tried being careful not to eat too much before arriving at class as we’d been warned that the tapas evening would be a constant eating festivity. We started off with two of the staples, Guacamole and Salsa Pico De Gallo. Even though we were warned, again, to not gorge ourselves because there was a lot more to come, it was just too hard to resist both of these favorite flavorful dishes.

Perfect - no wrinkles!

We moved on to making the handmade tortillas for Chalupas Poblanas (mini tortillas). The process was the same as for the larger tortillas but it was just making smaller versions. As usual, our challenge was to get them on the grill without any wrinkles. We made our own salsa for these – a red one this time, adding a chili de arbol, it’s a hot and spicy one, to make it according to our taste. Travis and Edgar are very good to make the salsas in three different levels of spicy; mild, medium and ultra-spicy for Edgar and me. Enfrijoladas, our next dish, definitely is not low-calorie because of all of the sour cream, avocado and cheese. But – YUMMM! These were followed by Empanadas De Papa (Potato Empanadas). As if we’d not had enough of the high-calorie goodness of the previous dishes, we made empanadas with mashed potatoes and then fried the filled tortillas in hot oil. Again, can’t eat those without the cream and queso fresco.

Frying the Empanadas

Another basic in Mexico is the Tostada. We made ours with handmade tortillas, brushed with oil and fried, and our homemade refried beans. Another dish that is definitely not low-cal. To top off our evening of gluttony, we made Pollo en Adobo (Chicken in Adobo Sauce). We were struggling to find room to appreciate this delicious dish. After the previous dishes, we may have cooked it to perfection but by this time we were too full to do it justice in savoring it.

Tostada with toppings

Every single dish was exceptionally tasty and truly authentic Mexican cooking! The only problem is that you need someone to wheel you out to your car and drive you back to home away from home. As if eating yourself silly is really a “problem”! The lessons are incredibly fun, the eating is phenomenal and you leave with recipes to recreate at home so that you can relive the scrumptious food adventure that you experience at My Mexican Kitchen (Bucerias, Mexico). This time we’ve returned home with our own personal My Mexican Kitchen chef aprons and a salsa dish and tortilla basket with cover, thanks to Travis and Edgar!

Our aprons, salsa bowl and tortilla basket from My Mexican Kitchen

More photos of Mexico and Mexican cooking can be found at

https://picasaweb.google.com/102840684536112573599/MexicoJanuary2014?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Happy New Year -- Feliz Año Nuevo

What are your resolutions for 2014? Be healthier, read more, eat more healthy, exercise or just generally be a better person?  How’s your will power? Will you persist or fall off the wagon by the end of January?

We are one week into 2014 and already it’s speeding by and I find I have far too many things to get done. I’ve not been able to catch up since my trip to Spain and am constantly mixed up with what day it is, what date and what’s the date for my deadlines. But I did make a list of resolutions for 2014. I’m a list-maker extraordinaire so this is nothing new. Although this exercise did make me wonder - why do people make New Year resolutions? Are these any different than goals that can be set at any time of the year?

One of my resolutions is to connect more often with friends and family. I don’t mean always by text or email as the younger generation (hence my family) is so fond of, although I now have dozens of new friends on Facebook. Most of these new friends are from Spain so it’s encouraging me to keep at my Spanish lessons so I can keep up with what they are posting. In order to increase my Spanish, I’m continuing my lessons on a weekly basis.

I started off this year by spending New Year’s eve with my husband and a couple of grandsons watching the fireworks over Annapolis (7.30 - early version for children), followed by ice cream and a candied apple. It was a great evening but both grandsons fell asleep before the ball in New York dropped! Then we met another grandson and his mom and dad for a visit to the Science Museum in Baltimore a couple of days later.  I’ve connected with a cousin in Colorado whom I’ve not seen in far too long and we shared a quick recap of the last 50 years. I’ve promised to visit him and his family this year. This is a “have to” because his dad, my “favorite uncle", is now 98 and I want to spend some time with him.

Actually, my “connect resolution” began last year when I visited the UK and spent time with friends that I’d not seen for a while. We didn’t have much time but it was nice to be able to catch up with them for a couple of days. I always find it amazing that with really good friends, you can pick up exactly where you’ve left off and the years slip away.

Other resolutions include taking more classes in addition to my Spanish so I’ve already signed up for several classes at the Community College. I’ve chosen an incredibly eclectic range from cooking and nutrition to Interior Design (only a quick workshop) to weight training. It’s a broad range, I know, but I just have too many interests to try and cover and I had to fit all these in before starting my contract in Delaware in March. I’ve also signed up for a few workshops not related to the university and again, totally different topics so I should keep busy the next couple of months.

As always, travel is one of my resolutions and I already have several trips in the works. The first is a trip to Mexico this Saturday to again look for housing. We have a couple of new places to look at this time but we have narrowed down the area. When working this spring, I’ll be tied to an office during the week – scary thought as I’ve not done this for a very long time – but my daughter and I have already agreed to a yoga/spa weekend and a trip to New York. And I have the conferences in June, which will mean travel the first 2 weeks of that month. Then it will be a trip to San Antonio and I’m really hoping that I can do another trip to Spain this autumn.

So – for you is it resolutions or goals for 2014? For me “resolution” has a connotation that it’s a temporary thing and not a permanent change. The word resolution kind of sets me up to only adhere to whatever the “written resolution” is for a short time and then I’m on about my normal day-to-day schedule to not think about it again. When I write out my list, I tend to think more in long term goals that I’d like to become a permanent change in my life.

 

What about you? Have you made some 2014 resolutions/goals? What inspired you to make those resolutions or goals for 2014? When thinking about the upcoming year, think about these sayings: 

"Do or Do Not – There is no try. – Yoda 

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."  
Chinese Proverb

I want to wish you a very happy New Year (or Feliz Año Nuevo for my Spanish friends) and to wish you health, happiness and success this coming year.