Another short trip to Bahia de Kino, Sonora, Mexico

March on the beach. We love to stay in our favorite little cabin perched right on the beach.
We had come this time, to help our friend Zana prepare his puesto for the upcoming Semana Santa, Easter celebration, a very busy time in his humble beach cafe. When we found him, (accidentally) he was scouring our beloved little fishing village for banana leaves. "Are there any growing at Islandia?" he wanted to know. We set out back to the humble "resort" where we have stayed for more than 35 years to see if there were any, while he went to look elsewhere. An hour later we were at his house up north in Kino Nuevo. We came empty handed but he had done OK. We were ready to make Yucatan Tamales! We stripped the leaves from the stems and cut them to a usable, more or less plate, size while Zana worked on the masa. He had already cooked the meat mixture. He worked steadily but with some hesitance as his wife nagged.
This whole thing was being created from his rather vague childhood memories of helping his mother make the tamales. It has been a while, my friend is now 66 years old!
Masa for Yucatan style tamales is significantly different from the Sonoran style. We were
nearly as skeptical as his wife, although we didn't let on. He kept adding water and mixing
till the whole mess was liquid. He then went to the stove and cooked and stirred until the whole mess wasn't a liquid anymore. It worked! He spread a large spoonful on a banana leaf then
added some of his meat mixture. The leaf was then carefully folded round the filling and tied with strips of fiber torn from the stems. We all joined in and quickly made about a dozen of these mysterious treats. They were beautiful. The rich green and very authentic looking appearance was of that only seen in magazines or travelogues. This exotic dish was certainly not something we had thought would ever be able to experience. The Tamales were placed in a steamer for about one hour to cook. Now it's time for the test. We each sat down with a plated tamale and timidly took the first bite. Soon we all scarfed down our first tamale and went for another.
They were wonderful! They masa was light and creamy and the filling had just the right
amount of spice. The next day, I was fortunate to be asked to be "guest chef" at Mariscos Judy, on the beach in New Kino. I love this sort of bus man's holiday and enjoy the irony of being an illegal kitchen worker in Mexico. Our somewhat bizarre menu consisted of Corned Beef and Cabbage, (it was St Paddy's Day) Our Tamales Yucatan (unavailable anywhere else in town)
and later, Ceviche con Callos (fresh, fabulous Scallops) Tequila and Cervesas flowed all day long. This was going to be a good Semana Santa.

More from "the Summer of Love" Nope, we didn't go to Woodstock or San Francisco. We just Loved this Summer! In July, we were fortunate to be able to visit our friend Tom aboard his sailboat, Poco a Poco in San Diego, California. From there we embarked upon a sailing adventure to Ensenada, Mexico.
	After an overnight passage through rough and uncooperative seas, we arrived at dawn, in the spectacularly placid Bahia de Todos Santos, offshore of Ensenada, BC.
Our Skipper contacted the marina via radio and we were directed to our slip in Marina Coral. A quick shuttle ride took us to customs where all the paperwork was handled by our representative from the Marina/hotel. It was easy but long and tedious though all we did was wait.
Next came much needed showers, then we were off to town. First stop was to find the Central Fish Market we had read about online. What a wonderful place! The seafood vendor's stalls were abundantly stuffed with the day's catch. A bounty so fresh that the only smell was that of the ocean. We spent an hour drifting from stall to stall looking and sampling the fare. It was almost paradise! Arranged around the outside of the big building are many small restaurants selling seafood straight from the market within. We quickly chose our favorite which became our home away from home.	Fish tacos there, cost a dollar each, while shrimp tacos boasted a hefty price tag of $1.50. ;) Huge, raw oysters and a delicious Siete Mares (Seven Seas soup) were available too. We brought home over 20 kilos of fresh seafood. Life is good!
L.A. CETTO	Back at the marina, we made arrangements for the next day of fun. We chartered a van and driver to take us to wine country. Yes! Mexico has a wine country and it is actually just a few miles south of the U.S. border. Valle Guadalupe is home to a couple dozen vineyards and wineries, many of them very good. The oldest, and easily the largest, of these is L.A. Cetto founded in the early 20th century. We have drunk their wines many times before and were excited to tour the winery and participate in a tasting.
After a perfect night of sleep back aboard Poco, we were renewed and on our quest for food and adventure again the next morning. A shuttle ride to the far end of town brought us to our starting point to begin the day's walking tour. Self guided of course. The first order of business was breakfast. And this great taco place was perfect. It was beyond colorful and all about everything cow meat. We ordered separately and shared some of everything. After another satisfying meal, visited several amazing tourist haunts and found ourselves back more or less downtown. A few blocks east of where we had ventured before, we found it! El Rey Sol! The Sun King, our elusive French restaurant. It was beautiful, and that was just the outside! As we stood gawking, the Maitre d' appeared and asked if we would like a tour. "Of course, we would love it" we replied and he whisked us inside to some of the most lavish public and private dining rooms we have seen anywhere. The kitchen was gleaming and bustling and the walls were heavily adorned with gilt. On the sidewalk in front is a blue canopied cafe where all manner of scrumptious pastries are served with coffee. It had taken us so many meals to find this treasure that we could only vow to return another time. (we are planning that right now) Our time in Ensenada was much more than we could have hoped. I never thought I would say this (because it is not what I look for) but the town was very clean. Beyond that, it was friendly and easy going with great tasting food at especially fair prices everywhere we turned. Our trip to the wineries was a real delight and a day we hope to repeat many more times. Part of the reason for this trip was to research the Paella Festivals which are held annually at some of the wineries. We have long wanted to host a group of foodies on an excursion of excess in Baja California. We discovered that the festivals are held in May. It looks as if we have some extensive planning to do for that too! (please let us know if you might be interested) The return sail aboard Poco was grueling the first day as we battled into heavy seas and a 25 knot head wind. About 4 am we anchored among the fishing and research vessels off the coast of the Coronado Islands to sleep a few hours, at last. Morning arrived bringing another wondrous day of perfect weather and fair winds for the final 20 or so downhill miles to San Diego and home. We can never thank our good friend and hardy skipper, Tom, enough for helping make this adventure a reality. Hopefully we will do it again! CHOW!

These Callos (Scallops) are fresh!

After a particularly long run of WORK, with almost no days off since July Fourth, Bob and I decided on a much needed few days rest in Mexico. I know what you're thinking, "too damn dangerous"! Maybe so, but it was also very much worth it! After a leisurely breakfast overlooking the ocean at Manny's in Puerto Penasco, we ventured on south to el Desemboque. (one of two towns with the same name within fifty miles of one another) a tiny fishing village on the Sea of Cortez. "Our" little town is on the desolate, and spectacular, desert west coast of Sonora, our neighboring state south of Arizona. We had had a rough night before, so we went straight to our motel. It's the only one in town, very cute and clean. Our room faced the ocean and the views were spectacular! We immediately placed our reclining lawn chairs on the veranda, mixed drinks and commenced keeping a close watch over the sea. (Just in case something happened.) We were fortunate to arrive at our destination when the moon was in a quarter phase which means the tides were right for harvesting the callos. (Scallops to us) We watched, over coffee, each morning as the pangas raced to a spot about three or four miles out. We could see them well with our super binoculars as they lined up on the horizon and deployed the divers. By early afternoon the boats would come speeding back to us, laden with their catch. The shells of the scallops would be clearly visible, piled high above the sides of the pangas as they sat very low in the water. The launcheros would get busy hauling the boats from the water as fast as they could and take each one the the captain's home. Most would be slid from the trailer to a spot on the ground under a shade tree. At that point, a crowd would gather and the frenzied work of shucking would begin. Soon, the large pile of callos in the boat would become a large pile of shells on the ground. Buckets would abound with the freshly harvested, meaty adductor muscles of these delicious sea mollusks. Children would move the meat morsels around in the sand, then men would rinse them by swishing them vigorously in big tubs of sea water. The work is grueling and only finished for
the day after the last scallop has been shucked, weighed and bagged to sell. At sunrise the next morning the entire cycle begins again.
We knew we would never find fresher scallops than these, (nor pescadores who needed the income worse). Bob set out walking from boat to boat along the beach to negotiate for the delicacy. This is one of his favorite things to do. His Spanish is lousy and few of the sellers spoke English. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone. They laugh and slap each other on the shoulders and make the deal. Everyone is happy and we get to bring home some fabulous seafood from one of our favorite locales! bon appetit!

I think August is about our most miserable month. It is hot as hell and the monsoons are upon us. Humidity is UP and patience is down. On the days we have one of our wondrous thunderstorms, we are reminded of one of the many reasons we live here. Other days it is merely a blast furnace with humidity. Not something we desert rats enjoy! But....
The gardens! I am being shown how good an idea it was to really cram everything close together. I do have to search many times, for the tasty booty hidden within, but I am convinced that by crowding it creates a micro climate that benefits the plants. One plant shades another and they all shade the ground beneath. I still have to water everyday or the plants become wilted and stressed. I am discovering though, that good and diligent care through these roughest of times will pay off in the fall. While many gardener's tomato plants are dried and crispy, never to see another fruit, mine are hanging in there and will be producing again soon. In fact, I am beginning to find some tomatoes here and there already! As our weather cools over the next few months the tomatoes and peppers will flourish once again! The onions have all matured and it's time to plant more of them. I am readying another little garden space on the west side of the yard and plan to plant artichokes and some other "winter" crops there. Wish me luck.
The amount of water used to keep everything alive has been significant. But given the quality of produce we have gotten (with no fears of any dreaded diseases brought on by contamination) we are ready to continue planting year round. We love the opportunity to provide fresh, wholesome veggies and herbs in our cooking classes and we are convinced the health benefit and value of the increased flavor and freshness of the produce is priceless for ourselves and our students .
Chow!

Have your landscape (and eat it too!)

Here it is, mid June. Gardening in Tucson is soon to become a sort of hell. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean it isn't worth it. This simply means, with our heat, you fight with the devil himself for your plants! Right now, our gardens are really vigorous. Fruit is ripening everywhere. Just a few minutes ago I picked some cherry tomatoes, a huge Japanese Eggplant and a beautiful yellow Banana Pepper. I simply ate the one strawberry I found without bothering to take it into the house. Our plants are just beginning to mature and the rewards are just around the corner! Chiles! We have about eight or ten different varieties from the "World's Hottest" to some nice tasty but mild ones. I can't wait for the fresh salsa. I am sure we will can or freeze a lot of our harvest for later use. Tomatoes! Wow, we planted probably a dozen varieties of them. Lots of the usual kinds, just to make sure we have plenty of wonderful, tasty, REAL, tomatoes. I picked a few of our first Celebrity tomatoes from our vines the other day. They absolutely blasted us with flavor! The Early Girl vines are loaded with nice big green, orbs that are tantalizingly close becoming ingredients in our cooking class recipes. Our Roma tomatoes will be mostly used for paste and are coming along little later than the others. We also planted a number of endangered heirloom tomato plants. These are mostly indigenous to the desert southwest and Mexico. I even was able to acquire and plant some heirloom tomatoes from France given by a friend who "discovered some seeds had somehow become stowaways and made the trip home with him." Several of the heirloom plants are a little happier than others but we have some great looking fruit on some of those too. I am really excited to taste these and see which we like best. Of course, those will be chosen as candidates for next year's gardens. There are many other choices while browsing among our plants; onions, (I've been grilling them and they are fantastic!) baby carrots, fennel, and so many different herbs, it's hard to mention them all. There are squash and cucumbers and artichokes and Leeks. I let some of the onions go to seed so their beautiful puffball flowers stand sentry over the other plants. About that title.... Here is the bottom line; we live in the desert and it is very tempting to grow some grass, plant some wonderful looking, water guzzling, leafy landscape plants and have a beautiful yard. Just like back home. You will work your butt off to admire something that just does not belong here. One other alternative is Xeriscape. A sort of water miser, barren, cactus studded.......area. UGH! Don't take this the wrong way. I know, I know, our water is precious and in short supply...and expensive. I just think there is a wonderful compromise. In fact I think this is better than a compromise for a number of reasons. So, if you want to have beautiful landscaping (and eat it too)... Here is what you do. Plant a garden! Go to your favorite nursery or Home Depot, Lowes, hell.. even Wal-Mart and buy some plants you would like to eat. Prepare your area. ( it doesn't have to be very big) You are not starting a farm, you're only planting some stuff you like. Three feet by eight feet of space will grow a lot of veggies. I have about five different spaces this size arranged around our yard. This is a manageable size and you will be able to reach in to the middle to harvest. You can plant directly in the ground or create raised beds. I have both. Dig down about six to ten inches and turn the soil. Take your time and enjoy, you don't even have to do this all at once. Use some of the soil to build little berms around your garden space. This will help keep your watering where it belongs. Add some dry composted horse or cow manure (usually free on Craig's list, I got six cubic yards delivered for free!) and some garden compost to your existing soil mixture and turn it to mix evenly. I use about one third of each. Now, among your veggies, plant a few colorful flowers. Petunias and marigolds are great. They look pretty and chase off pests. You can add stock or daisies for a little height. It's a win, win. Your garden will naturally use more water than the arid type landscapes we see here so often. But, you are now growing edibles and not just grass and decorative plants. Hey, someone somewhere is growing, and watering the veggies you eat anyway. And, God only knows what chemicals they are putting on their crops, (your food) but you will know exactly what went on yours, won't you? No longer will you be paying a fortune for "hothouse grown" "vine ripened" tasteless tomatoes. Yours will be bursting with flavor and healthy vitamins and all that other good stuff. Walk out the door and pull a few onions for tonight's spaghetti sauce from your own garden. Snip some homegrown oregano and a little thyme. Wow! You are going to feast! Many of the herbs will grow year round here and most of the other things will need to be replaced with your next crop. With a little planning, and not a lot of work, (honest) you will have a beautiful, edible, landscape. This time of year you may have to water everyday or even twice if it's windy. But. You won't need to worry about e-coli or any of those other pesky critters that can make people sick, or can even kill us. The water you use will have been used somewhere on your food anyway but now you will reap the rewards of wonderful, tasty and wholesome vegetables and herbs. Go ahead.......eat your landscape! From our Newsletter; BiteMe on www.CuisineClassique.com

Heirloom Tomatoes in Tucson

Last week I came upon a post on Craig's List. It was for organically grown Heirloom Tomato plants! Of course, I was excited, since I try to grow most of our veggies and nearly all our herbs for our cooking classes. Heirlooms! These are not only part of our heritage and many times indigenous to one's local area, they also have not been ruined by genetic messing. Here they are, natural, and real. Real flavor, real seasons, and.....real seeds to keep your plants growing year after year. Their website link is: http://www.aravaipa.com
The actual farm is north of Tucson but you can order your starts online to be picked up either in Oracle, Arizona in early March, or at the Santa Cruz River Farmers' Market on Speedway in Tucson.
I can't wait to order a selection for my gardens. I plan to get about six varieties (they have 33!) choosing from the ones that have a local connection or are great producers. I love the idea of having pieces of history growing in my gardens. Being able to eat the results, priceless!

The Truth About "Organic" Food Labels

ORGANIC

We have all seen this designation on the foods we purchase.

Often, this is a determining factor in choosing one product

over another.

Well, "Not so fast my friend!".

The ubiquitous USDA "ORGANIC"seal so prominently

displayed on many products, WITHOUT the words,

"100% ORGANIC" only means; at least 95% of the

content, by weight, is organic. Oh, (excluding water

and salt). The remaining five percent of ingredients

is on an approved list of non-agricultural products

not available in organic form. Products are certified

(usually by a third party) and, here is the good news,

may not include using methods such as sewage sludge

and ionizing radiation.

WARNING THIS IS GRAPHIC!

YUCK

To be truly organically grown (and minimally processed),

our food must have been produced without conventional

pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, sewer sludge,

ionizing radiation, genetic engineering, or food additives.

Sweet!

To be certified as organic, livestock cannot be grown with

the use of growth hormones nor the routine use of antibiotics.

There is a lot more information beneath this surface layer

I am providing. The process to have one's produce

or animals CERTIFIED as "ORGANIC" has become so

expensive that it is prohibitive to many small farms.

HMMMM.... interesting.

Now, this does not mean theese small farms are not producing

perfectly wholesome food. On the contrary, most small family

farms do care about their products and cultivate in a responsible

way. They just cannot SAY it is "ORGANIC" because they

didn't pay the (sometimes $10,000) fee to have it certified by

USDA. When shopping, we try to look for other "codewords"

such as naturally grown, etc. It is also helpful to shop when you

can, at local farmer's markets. There, you will be able to meet

and talk to the actual grower. Join a CSA. It hardly matters

where you live, you will be able to find small family owned

farms and gardens that are eager to share their bounty!

Of course, you're not going to drop dead from eating less

than 100% organic food all the time. But, given the (real)

choice, you may want to eat in as natural and wholesome

way as you can. The bottom line is this: In the supermarkets

etc, it isn't really organic unless it says "100% ORGANIC".

We call the rest of that stuff "Organish"

Chow!

Monsoons and Prickly Pears

Last Saturday, Mardi and her sister Marci decided to make Prickly Pear jelly (and whatever other goodies they could devise from the delicious fruit) Marci stopped on her way down to our place and spent about an hour picking the fruit. Our monsoon rains have loaded the desert with fat ripe fruit! It's truly a crime not to use it if you can. I loved her description of how she chose the fruits. "I left the high ones for the birds and the low ones for the lizards and other little critters. So, if you see a patch of cactus with a band picked clean around the middle.........those are mine!"
She arrived with two, nearly full, five gallon buckets of cactus fruit, ripe and ready. By now, Mardi had called our good friends Marika and Sandy partly as reinforcements and mostly to just join in the fun. In no time, they had pots and cauldrons boiling on the big commercial stove in the outdoor kitchen. It Was Hot as Hell, even with the cooler "blasting". (so we work in our swimming suits, a quick dip in the pool now and then really helps)

Meanwhile, they had all put their heads together and devised a rather elaborate straining system using about everything we have. Cactus fruit has small stickers on it (no big deal) but there are also these almost microscopic little buggers which can really cause havoc. They are so fine, they will get inhaled! The final stage was to pour through several layers of muslin and a paper coffee filter. The bounty from all this was about eight gallons of prickly pear cactus juice. Nectar of the desert! We poured several gallons into ice cube trays to freeze for later use.

Sunday, Mardi and Marci began making the actual jelly. Recipes abound for this process but none of them seem to be complete or they are contradictory with each other. You just have to read between the lines and be a little creative. After a couple of false starts, the jelly was piling up like a real canning line.

It tasted wonderful! I took some of the juice and blended it with my Hummingbird mix.

They love it too!

Marci arrived Monday morning with her "Cordial Maker" a kind of odd little machine that looks to be a cross between an ice cream maker and a yogurt machine. What the Hell, let's try it. You simply take about half cactus juice, half vodka and some sugar and pour it into this contraption. Set the dial and wait a few hours. Voila! You have Prickly Pear Cordial! Simple as that. Hmmmmmmm...I think we may be onto something here. Sweet, thick, and it packs a kick! It looks as if we may need a few liters of this stuff just to make it through the winter.

The next plan is to devote a few gallons of juice to cactus wine. We have most of the stuff already and the fruit is ready to pick! I'll let you know how it turns out, in a few months.

Chow!

It might have been a wake, but the food...................!!

Our cousin's mom passed a few days ago. The funeral was yesterday with a wake afterward. We volunteered to cook the food because, that's what we do. Our cousins were overwhelmed by out-of-town guests and preparations. The last thing they needed was to try to feed 60 or 70 people.

As luck would have it, I had just installed my new grill on Sunday. I gave it a quick trial with a few brats and decided that it would be ok. It's not like my old clunker but I will get used to it. Besides, this one is a whole lot fancier! The real test came Tuesday. I first, grilled an 11 pound pork shoulder roast. The seasoning wasn't too involved as we were going to make pulled pork BBQ with it. I used the indirect grilling method on my trusty broiler pan @ about 275.

I left it on the grill for just over five hours and basted it regularly with its own juices. After about two hours, I tented it with a piece of foil. I think this helps keep in the moisture while not allowing things to get too dark.
As the pork roast cooked, I prepared a 12 pound beef brisket. This one got a wonderful sugar and chile powder based dry rub. Nothing particularly exotic, just add a little extra zippy enhancement without overpowering the wonderful beef flavor. When the pork roast came off the grill, the brisket went on. I kept the temp the same and followed the ironclad rule: NO looking for two hours! After that, I basted the brisket with its own juices. KISS cooking at its best. 6 hours later I turned off the heat and removed the beef, wrapped it with foil and let it rest for about another hour. Wednesday morning I sliced it thinly and poured some of the left over juice right back over the meat. Oh, I almost forgot, I also baked a big ham in the oven of our outside kitchen while all this other stuff went on. It was wonderful! but..............................

back to the brisket. We managed to get all the food to the wake by about one in the afternoon. everyone was really hungry from all the crying and the pressure was on. In no time at all and with a lot of help, we had a fabulous spread! We used an electric roaster for a makeshift steam table and put the pulled pork and beef brisket in it to stay hot. I was a little nervous as I had never cooked a brisket before. To add to my anxiousness, this is one of my favorite things to eat and it is always made to seem almost impossible to do right. (unless you have a $10,000 trailer mounted smoker, a keg of beer and a half dozen rednecks to keep you up all night cooking, tending and drinking) Now, I am as much a redneck as the next guy, and I am willing to do all that other stuff. If I have a couple of days to recuperate. Time just did not permit that much fun.

The first indication that maybe the beef was ok, was when I noticed one of the guests bragging about how everything but the brisket was fantastic! While talking up all the other food, he was loading his plate with brisket! Several times. At last, he confided, it was the best brisket he had ever eaten. This was a cool thing. Over and over, people raved about our food. Mardi had made a ton of other stuff all while teaching a class. We are so fortunate that an event like this is pretty easy for us to pull off now.

For us to be able to provide a wonderful meal and help lessen the grief of all the guests is truly a gift we are very thankful for. The rest of the day was spent telling stories, drinking and eating. I think everyone went home feeling just a little better, and a lot fuller.

Chow!

Our best ribs yet!

Ok, I know we always say this - but really, I think this latest rack was the best yet! We love to cook ribs on the grill. In fact, a couple of summers ago we cooked ribs every weekend. All that practice has really paid off. I use a gas grill and indirect heat. My grill is not exotic but it works very well, especially after Mary Q "pimped it a little". We souped it up from a paltry 35k BTUs to a more manly 55,000 BTUs. Besides being able to get far more heat from it now, I also can go lower and hold the temp (at say, 300 degrees) with ease. Before, I had to prop the lid open and other embarrassing tricks.

We use pork ribs (not baby backs) as we think they have more and better flavor. First we remove the silver skin. (that tough membrane over one side of the rack) Just get under one end with a sharp boning knife and peel it up a little. Grab the flap with a paper towel and pull firmly. If you are (very) lucky, it will all come off in one piece. If not, just keep picking at it till it is gone. We then trim the excess meat off from around the bottom of the rack. (St Louis style) Cook these pieces along with the other and treat them the same. I like a dry rub that we make ourselves. I'll post the recipe on our newsletter website, BiteMe!, soon. Smear the dry rub all over the ribs and allow them to rest for at least 45 minutes. Make your mopping sauce ( I'll post a recipe for it too) and soak your wood chips. If you use a charcoal grill the chips will not be needed. For your gas grill, try this easy and non-messy trick: take a piece of foil about a foot long, place a generous handfull of wood chips in the center. (hickory, mesquite, whatever you like) bring the sides of the foil up to meet all around and fold into a pouch. Punch a bunch of holes in it and soak this whole thing in a container of water for 20-30 minutes. Drain the water off and place right on the fire of your grill. Wonderful smoky flavor will result! Simply throw the pouch away when you are done.

Meanwhile, back to our ribs. I found a broiler tray and pan from a kitchen stove at a tag sale. I love this thing! I spray both pieces with Pam then place my rack of ribs bony side up on it. You also can use one of those disposable foil baking pans with a roasting rack in it. Either one keeps the ribs from sitting in the drained fat. Heat the grill to about 300-350 degrees using one burner. Place your ribs on the unheated side. Cooking ribs is where Life in the Slow Lane is perfect. Close the lid and walk away for about 30 minutes. When you check in again, liberally baste them with your mopping sauce and tent the ribs with a piece of foil. This will help keep them moist. Keep checking and basting about every thirty minutes and cook for a total of about three hours. About halfway along, I will turn the whole pan 180 degrees to share the heating wealth. Using an instant read thermometer, and without touching a bone, bring your ribs to about 155-165 degrees. They will probably clock in at about 130-140 and you may need to raise the temp of your grill for the last thirty minutes or so to bring the ribs up to temp. A little extra cooking time only makes them better. Low and Slow, remember? When you remove them from your grill, allow them to rest for at least fifteen minutes. those wonderful juices on the top will go back into the meat. There you have it, the best mouth watering ribs ever! We like to serve them with a bbq sauce on the side with beer or a sturdy red wine. A hearty Zinfandel is my choice.

Chow!

Long Hot Summer is here!

Independence day is now passed and it's time to begin the long hot summer! All winter long, I will yearn for the hot weather, then after monsoons start, things get pretty miserable. For several years we have not used any cooling other than our swamp coolers. They really earn that name this time of year. At last we have finally cracked and gotten a high efficiency AC to replace the antique at the end of the house. Hopefully our tech will be here to hook it up soon. I almost never wish for the "winter". I really hate the cold. Much more time is spent daydreaming about beaches in Mexico, the Caribbean or Meditteranean. Thoughts of tropical beaches and Mardi and me on sailing boat, plying the gentle waves from happy hour to happy hour consumes too much of my time now. This island today, another island tomorrow........hey.....it's gotta be five o'clock somewhere.
It's been a couple of weeks now since we began teaching in the new kitchen. We love it and we are sure our students do too! There is so much more room to work and Mardi can demonstrate ideas and techniques much better. The first real stress test was to put nine little girls around the new work island to make pasta and raviolis. What fun! And, our big, new work area passed the test with flying colors.

I am really excited as we have had quite a bit of interest in our Mexico cooking vacations. I love our destination, Kino Bay, Sonora, so any chance we get to go there, I'll be the first in the car. It looks as if our next group trip will be in October. We are very close to filling that one already!

Our next project is to replace our bbq grill and expand the outdoor kitchen. I am really excited to start on that one. I am going to move part of the north wall about eight feet out to give us far more room in the grilling area. We then, will move the fridge to that portion and install a 3 bay stainless sink. It should give us more prep room for about two more students (and a lot more room to maneuver around the backsides in that skinny space!)

Chow!

The new kitchen......at last!!

We could hardly wait to get started! Our cooking classes are our lifeblood and a favorite part of our lives. Because of this, it was with some reluctance that we gave up classes for two weeks.
At the same time, the excitment had built to a near frenzy! Saturday morning two weeks ago now, I began the demolition. The plan was in place with any changes only to be dictated by unforeseen surprises I might uncover. It didn't take long! A "smile" that had developed over the years in a soffit, turned out to be my worst fear. A little bitty wall that had been removed years ago, turned out to be a bearing wall. The entire ceiling and roof was sagging! Damn, what to do about that? After some thought and consternation and consultation, the decision was made to shore up the roof/ceiling with some recycled and ancient beams that had been salvaged from a job downtown. What a perfect solution! We were able to reuse some great historic lumber, free, and support the construction while creating a beautiful appearance. I love it when a "plan" comes together. Day after day, there would be setbacks, changes and interruptions. To add to the stress, my real job would rear its ugly head and get in the way too. Such audacity! It seemed every day we would delete or defer some portion of the job, It became just like a real construction job. Finally we agreed to break the entire project into seperate pieces. This would allow us to complete the most important elements while holding back on some others. Saturday, June 14, we are ready to paint. It is just about one week late but I think we will be ready for Kid's Camp Monday morning. A couple of planned things are still on the back burner but all in all, it will be beautiful and a huge improvement. Our space is now almost doubled. The floor is tiled to replace that despicable carpet. (who put that stuff there anyway?!!) Next week's "spare" time will be devoted to building a new work island. Of course, that work will be sandwiched between five days of Cooking Camp and five evening classes. We can do it!! The next project will be to re-do the existing countertop and install our new gas cooktop, and then, the wall oven.

We are very excited to begin teaching in the new facility and show it off during our
Grand Re-Opening Party, Sunday June 22. We hope you are able to join us in the celebration. We will have refreshments, prizes and sample food from upcoming classes. Come and take advantage of discounts on future classes and register for our newsletter; BiteMe!
There is plenty of information on our website; http://www.cuisineclassique.com/

Monday the 16th will be a day for rejoicing! Our classes will start again and to add to the fun,
the first ones up will be the kids! Hope we see you in class!

Chow

Dinner at Dawn, again

Good morning...I think. It seems to have come awfully quickly! Our "Basics" class ended late last night and of course, we stayed up till midnight cleaning up and getting ready for this morning's adventure.
Periodically, Mardi is asked to appear on our local CBS Morning Show to prepare a dish live with Co-anchor, Jenny Anchondo. This morning we arrived at the studio at 5 to make a wonderful, healthy and easy Southwestern Capreze Salad with a Lime Vinaigrette. Everything went really well until Jenny, while shaking the bottle of vinaigrette, slung a trail of oil across the studio. She didn't realize that she needed to put her finger over the spout. Hopefully she didn't ruin her beautiful suit!
We left enough portions of the Capreze Salad and some fantastic Cake with Ganache for the crew to assure they will invite us back again.
(actually, Mardi is scheduled to appear again June 18)
Chow!

We must be having fun!

This has been such a busy week! We have had full classes
every day and some of them last pretty late. It's good we
love what we do. We taught a Team Building class for a
large local business on Monday afternoon. It was a lot of
fun and I think our guests had a great time and learned
something new about each other. Our Team Building classes
are very rewarding for us as we have the opportunity to
affect and help a fairly large group of people each time.
We research new team building methods all the time and see
how some of them might apply to our own team. Then, if we like
the results, we can offer the new "menu items" to our clients!
Cooking together is such a remarkable and effective way to
establish cooperation and get everyone pulling in the same
direction. And........we all get a terrific meal too!
We added a new member to our Tuesday night Basics of Cooking
Course this week so that fun group should be even funner.
Mardi and I have been working on our new schedule for the summer
and how exciting! The new classes we are offering (from Low Fat
and Fast, to the Thrill of the Grill! will be so fun and helpful
that we can hardly wait to start.

There's a lizard in my kitchen!

Ok, we live in the desert so I guess that exclamation point after the title is more hype than truth. The fact is, lizards in our kitchen are not that rare. Besides, I am talking about our outside kitchen so the lizard is more welcome than an intrusion. For the last few years, we have had what seems to be one lizard who likes to hang out near our atrium and one that stays around the outside kitchen.
Hmmmm. I hate to say it but, they all look alike. Only the distance assures us they are not the same reptile in each place.
These aren't your little old skinny lizards that run away at first sight. Ours are those big fat Mountain Bloomers (both with stumpy tails this year) that merely lumber out of the way when we go near them. The kitchen lizard is especially funny because he does seem to get startled once in a while and "peels out" on the concrete floor to run under the stove or out the open door. He looks like one of those cartoon critters, making his getaway while the bongos play as they take off!
While some of you may be very distressed at a lizard cavorting around your kitchen floor, somehow ours seem kind of comforting to us and a constant stream of entertainment.

Wow! Has it been this long?

Geez, we have been so busy with all our pursuits the past year that I just have not taken time to write anything. That is changing right now! There is so much to tell about food and cooking, and we are busting at the seams to spread the word.
We discovered a few days ago that our only real competition in town is closing their doors May 1st. That is too bad as we think some friendly rivalry is a good thing. Before the word came out that they were closing, we had made the decision to just about double our class offerings. We are so excited about the opportunities to share all our great cooking ideas and recipes that two or three classes each week just didn't cut it anymore.
I think our best idea lately was to add our Basics of Cooking course. We have been kicking the idea around for a long time but just hadn't been able to formulate exactly how we wanted to present the information. We are now running two sessions of this class each week and we are having a blast!
I have just finished a little remodel in our outside kitchen. I removed the large sink and its counter then installed a new cabinet a with a larger countertop to give us more prep area. So far, it is wonderful! Now I need to go to the next step which will be enlarging that part of the kitchen so I can install my commercial stainless sinks and move the fridge to that area. Then we will have a lot more room in the main part of the outdoor kitchen.
Last night we taught Four Pastas and Four Sauces. Our class had a lot of fun preparing these great recipes and the food was out of this world! I think it was the best we have cooked in a while. After cleanup, Mardi and i enjoyed a nice glass of Shiraz on the patio to wind down before bed.
Saturday we have a group of "bigs and littles" from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization. Mardi and I are really excited to host this class. The kids should be a real hoot.
Chow!

We arrived home Sunday night, tired but still excited from another wonderful trip to Kino Bay. Our guests all had a great time and some of them are ready to go again in October! We had a few days of uninvited wind and had to teach some of our classes indoors. Kind of a bummer but everyone took it like grownups. (even me) Our day trip to Hermosillo was so interesting and fun, again. I wasn't sure I could easily find every place we wanted to visit but there were no problems. Violetta conducted our tour of the Governor's Palace again. She is so cute and fun because her english is pretty good but far from perfect. A good time is always had trying to fill in the words she doesn't know. (or some we don't know, it goes both ways) Mardi and I always love going to the old traditional Central Market. It is in the heart of old Hermosillo and was built in 1912. Sort of a permanent farmer's market with everything from freshly slaughtered meat to coffee and small restaurants. All variety of Mexican meals are served, cabeza (head) soups and tacos, Menudo, fresh carrot juice, seafood and on and on. From there we always must go to Zazuetas, a kind of restaurant supply, florist supply, curandero supply, pinata store, dime store, ............you get the picture. It is great! After spending a couple of hours downtown, we drove to Mariachisimo, a mexican steakhouse(ish) featuring a 10 piece mariachi band. The food is to die for and the meat will melt in your mouth.
The last night in Kino, we all went to Zanahoria's restaurant, Mariscos Judy. He cooked shrimp and fish and Mardi and I took our big double burner, paella pans and all the "fixins" and cooked Paella in the beach restaurant. Wow! What a meal that was! The girls had fixed a table for us, all beautiful with a white tablecloth and a flower centerpiece. Some other gringos who eat there often, mistook our table to be for them and sat down. Our hosts never blinked and neither did I. When Mardi arrived with our guests we had another table set up just the same and only a little bit in the sun. No one knew any different and of course, we had a wonderful time.

Today we are just 6 days away from our next Mexico road trip. This will be one of our smaller groups but the intimacy will be fun and we will be able to provide more individual attention to our eager cooks! I am really excited since we are going to back Kino Bay on the ocean in Sonora which is one of my favorite places! Along with being able to share many of our best seafood recipes with our guests, we can introduce them to some of our favorite people. My "buen amigo" Zana and I have been friends for 35 years. It is always good when we get to share time together. He has a small restaurant on the beach so we are very fortunate to be able to involve him and his place in some of our cooking classes there.