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.

Cathedrals, Music and Monasteries



Cloisters at Monastery of San Juan

The past couple of months have been filled with visits to ancient Spanish cathedrals in Toledo and Segovia, and a monastery in Rascafria that was begun in 1390. All are steeped in history. In addition to my in-depth tours, I’ve been reading several historical novels based in England and Spain around the 1500’s. The time leading up to Christmas couldn’t be a better time for visits to all of these places because it really made me stop and think about how important religion was 500 or 600 years ago, and I couldn’t help but compare it to how materialistic people are now and how little thought is given to the real meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. (although I missed Thanksgiving this year)

Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes

My Spanish history lesson began a few weeks before even arriving in Madrid because I was immersed in the story of Queen Isabel (the Catholic). I knew that I wanted to visit Toledo because it played an important role in the history of Spain since it was the early capital from the 6^th century to the mid 16^th century. Toledo is a spectacular city filled with narrow cobbled streets and centurys-old buildings and has over 2,000 years of history. Two of the highlights of my visit included a tour of the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and the Alcázar .  The Monastery was started in 1477 at the request of Queen Isabel. The architecture is flamboyant Gothic but incredibly magnificent.

 

Alcázar

The Alcázar is an impressive building at the highest point of the city. (Toledo is built on a hill but you always seem to be walking uphill and rarely down.) It was originally built by the Romans as a palace but was reconstructed by the Christians. It’s been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times but the last time, following the Civil War; it was reconstructed as the original building looked.

Aqueduct in Segovia built by the Romans

After a very quick visit to Segovia my first week, I returned to explore for a whole day. It’s a walled city dating back to 75 CBE and is stunningly beautiful but the most impressive features are the aqueduct and the cathedral. The Roman aqueduct dating from the late 1st or early 2nd century is made of around 25,000 granite blocks that were positioned and held together without any mortar. All together there are 170 arches that are about 95 feet high. It’s just impossible to comprehend how the Romans (well - their slaves) could have built such a magnificent structure that remains perfect today. The massive cathedral in Segovia was started in 1525 but took over two hundred years to complete so there are multiple architectural styles. One of the things that stood out the most for me was the choir, which was positioned in the middle of the cathedral – not in the back as in later centuries. Within the choir were the wooden carved high-backed chairs on either side and the organ with the pipes positioned above. In the middle were four well preserved music books. These were huge hard bound, thick books with hand written notes and words in Latin. Where else could you see the real music that was performed 500 years ago?

Yes - we had snow one morning!

My next visit to a monastery was the Monastery of Santa Maria de El Paular, a 15^th- century monastery set in the foothills of the Guadarrama Mountains. 

While staying in the attached hotel for a VaughanTown program, we had a personal tour of the monastery by a resident monk. This monastery was the first in Castile (an area north of Madrid) and construction began in 1390. During the first four and a half centuries it reached cultural splendor and became one of the most powerful in Europe. I don’t have words to describe the splendor and exquisite architecture in the various rooms within the monastery. They range from the most austere cells and dining room for the monks to breath-taking extravagantly painted and decorated prayer rooms for the priests. This was my final visit to the many cathedrals and monasteries of Spain.

St. Paul's in London

Almost upon arriving in London, I was sitting in a packed St. Paul’s Cathedral for an Advent service. Most of the service was provided by separate choirs of young boys and men, both of which have traditions dating back to 1127. My favorite was the boys’ choir – angelic faces framed by the ruffled white collars and voices that truly do sound like angels. During the service I was able to admire the cathedral, an incredible masterpiece that was originally built in 1675. Although destroyed in the great fire of London, services have been held there since 1697. Attending a service there with the choirs of all male voices is like living a bit of history.

Fast forward to my return to the US and thanks to my husband for booking tickets to a Candle Light Christmas Carol concert.  So now I find myself sitting in St. Anne’s Church in the middle of Annapolis which was started in 1696. The concert included star performances by a well-known violinist and a vocalist member of the Celtic Women group. Also providing piano accompaniment was a gentleman who was the pianist at the White House. The concert featured several renaissance pieces and was a very surprisingly pleasurable concert that put us in the Christmas mood.

This past week we attended a much smaller and intimate concert of lute and guitar music. This was in a Cape May B&B that was built in 1863. Not as old as the other venues but still with a lot of history.

So, thanks to my visits to the cathedrals and monasteries and attending concerts, I’ve passed through histories of the early building of the churches and the changes in the music from early litanies to the modern music that is played today. Unfortunately, in the US, modern Christmas music starts in the stores, on the radio and in TV adverts far too early, and by the time Christmas arrives they are grating on your nerves. When that happens, try remembering that the early music was actually carols that were a part of a tribute to Christmas and were sung only during church services or for special occasions. Regardless of your favorite Christmas music, whether traditional or modern, it goes hand-in-hand with the traditions of the season and it’s usually one that we’ve enjoyed since childhood. So, enjoy your Christmas music of choice and have a wonderful holiday!

 

 

 

Spanish Tortilla and Paella -- Cooking in Madrid

Chef Julia

While staying in Madrid for a week, I was looking for something a bit different than sightseeing and found a cooking school. Since I’d had so much fun with various cooking classes in Mexico and a couple of unusual classes at home, I immediately booked a class at La Opipara run by Chef Julia.

Based in a gorgeous indoor market, Mercado Torrijos, just a short distance from a metro stop and very easy to find and get to, Julia’s school is perfectly located. Mercado Torrijos is made up of the most beautiful and pristine stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables on the first floor and outside of Japan, it’s the most beautiful and immaculate that I’ve ever seen. The enormous size, color and quality of vegetables and fruits were stunning!

Perfect Pears and Oranges

Meat and fish stalls were all located on the second floor and each stall had its’ own specialty. Many fresh pollo (chicken), carne de res (beef) stalls and countless pescado (fish) stalls were established side by side. Both floors had numerous stalls for people to choose from and each owner took such pride in his produce and was ready to give personal advice as to what was his “best of the day”. Many people in Madrid come quite a distance for their personal service. Julia’s cooking school was in a corner on the second floor so I had to pass by these stalls on my way to my class.

After my introduction with Chef Julia, she told me I would be her only student for the class – yeah!! We discussed the menu, as in please no mussels or squid for the paella, then set off into the market to purchase our garden-fresh veggies and fruits, pollo and pescado. Julia made me order from the stall owners in Spanish, which was not only a challenge but a really good laugh – not just for Julia but for the stall owner as well. She couldn’t have me just order a pear – it had to be a pear, ripe to perfection. I couldn’t just order an orange – it had to be an orange that was exquisite and tomato, large and ripe but not too ripe. You get the picture. I completely murdered the Spanish language and I was hoping that I didn’t do the same to our dishes.

Pears in Wine Sauce

Julia had planned a few traditional dishes such as Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelet), Orange and Cod Malaga Salad, Paella (traditional but without the mussels and squid!) and Pears in Wine with Greek Yogurt.

My first job was to peel a pear and begin poaching it in a young Rioja wine. Julia explained that the wine had to be no more than a year old so that it would be very acidic. It’s not a wine that you’d want to drink on its’ own but it’s used in cooking. After we put the pears to cooking she gave me a taste of the wine and she was right – very acidic and sour!

As the pears were happily bubbling away, I pealed the potatoes and began to slice them for the tortilla.  Because the potatoes have to be sliced nearly paper thin, Julia showed me two ways to wield the knife. I’ve been trying to take a “knife class” (learning to use a knife as chefs do) at home but I’ve registered three times and three times it has been canceled. Maybe someone out there doesn’t want me to know too much about using a knife!

Potatoes sliced just right

It took me forever to slice the potatoes and when I didn’t get them thin enough, Julia showed me a trick to get the thin pieces needed. She sliced the onion for me since I was taking ages with the potatoes. We then put them into a pan and covered them with LOADS of olive oil and salt. It’s important to use only the best olive oil! We had to cook them on a high heat without burning them of course.

As the potatoes and onion were drowning in bubbling olive oil, we began preparing the ingredients for the paella.  Olive oil was poured to a pan and heated before adding 4 cloves of garlic with the skin still on, supposedly this gives it flavor without overkill. While those were cooking, I washed and dried 4 shrimp and then cooked them (heads and all) in the oil until they were a delicate pink.

Beautiful Pink Shrimp

My next job was to finely chop a red pepper but I wasn’t nearly as slow with it and then I grated a tomato. I’ve never grated a tomato before! Next task was to brown the chicken (Julia insisted on fish and meat) and then added the red pepper and spices being very careful not to burn the saffron. The tomato was added to keep the saffron from burning. The two spices important to a good paella are smoked paprika and saffron. Although saffron is an expensive spice, it’s well worth using it. She also said to steer clear of eating yellow paella in restaurants because artificial coloring has been added to it rather than using saffron. The rice was added next but it has to be a very special rice – short and plump grains; then the chicken stock and of course quite a lot of salt.

A Perfect Flip Onto the Plate!

The potatoes and onions were now done so it was time to drain them; mix them with beaten eggs and put them into a small pan. A tortilla de patatas has to be flipped twice and there’s a special skill in the first flip because the eggs have only set on the bottom so the tortilla can easily slide off. Julia very deftly did the first flip showing me how it should be done and I managed the second one without the tortilla ending up on the floor. In fact, I was quite proud that it ended up in the center of the plate.

Somewhere in all of this we had made the Orange and cod Malaga salad so I was ready to begin eating the salad and the tortilla while the paella finished cooking. To complement the food, Julia furnished a beautiful Rioja from Madrid that was sooo smooth and lovely.

Smoooth and Very Tasty

While I was sitting there enjoying my wonderful meal and sipping the lovely wine, Julia was cleaning up. I did feel guilty and offered to help her but she refused. Yes, I had noticed the presentation before I dug in (pictures prove this) and I was noticing the tastes of all the food but also throughout the class, the smells that came from cooking the tortilla and paella were heavenly!

If ever in Madrid, I’d highly recommend booking a class with Chef Julia. You can find her at www.escuela-opipara.com or contact her on info@escuela-opipara.com. Not only will you leave with a full tummy, you’ll have wonderful memories as well. Be sure to take your camera!

Barriga llena, corazón content or in English, “A full belly and a happy heart”

Chef Julia and Glenda