Young Lady, Where Have You Been?

And just what have you been eating?

Many places, and oh so many things.

Baltimore, where there were excellent crab cakes and asparagus.

And Oxford, where there was much charm and history, some fish and chips, a baguette with goat cheese, fig and honey that I remember with particular fondness, and a very fine lamb shank. And asparagus.

A swanky Philadelpha hotel where I had the double whammy of only my second room service and my first cheesesteak ever. I didn’t want to like these things. But I did. There were no asparagus.

Then across the country and back, to that place that starts to be a second home . . .

. . . where there celebrations . . .

. . . and markets . . .

. . . and sunshine and scenery. And along the way there was a lot of excellent beer and some good food and quite a bit of bad food . . .

. . . and big skies . . .

. . . and long evening shadows, and small towns and miles and miles of highway.

Once in a while, I’ve even been home, where we’ve eaten good things . . .

. . . like paella . . .

. . . and pizza . . .

. . . and pulled pork and some other good things that don’t start with p. Like Shana’s buttermilk pie and Lenny’s grilled shrimp and lots and lots of berries. Although there have been a lot of peas, as well.

But now I’m home for real, so maybe it’s time to stop being a bad blogger and to start telling you about some of this as I go along, and to feed my friends and get to know my kitchen again and revel in that farm share while it lasts. And to consider important Ann Arbor food questions like why Zanzibar is closing and where will we take fancy visitors for lunch now and will Sabor Latino really reopen or is the ominous “closed for renovations” sign a euphemism for “out of business”?

I promise not to stay out so late without calling again. It’s a nice world out there, but I’m happy to be home.

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Culinary Highlights of my Mexico Trip

Just returned last week from a much-needed vacation (9 days!) in Mexico. It’s been years since I have been on a “real” vacation (meaning no family members, as much as I love them, were with us) and I can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this relaxed.  After a relatively smooth re-entry week, I think my mind (and my tastebuds) have only halfway returned.  So, before I lose my motivation (as I did earlier this winter with my San Francisco trip) I want to share a visual tour of some the culinary high points with G3 readers.

We stayed in Puerto Morelos, a small low-key fishing village on the “Riviera Maya” (about 40 km south of Cancun), but happily, there was nothing Riviera-like about the town other than the abundant sea and sunshine. We met a lot of American expats and wanderers along with (mostly) loyal repeat visitors, mainly from Northern US, Canada and smatterings of places in Europe and South America. PM is not necessarily a foodie destination, but the local offerings were fine enough (right on the square is one of the best Chinese places we’ve tried in a while – seriously!) and we found it to be a good base for venturing  off to experience more serious Mexican culinary and historic treasures. We visited the ruins at Tulum, and luckily were able to locate the hard-to-find restaurant “Oasis” with some help from the locals and a post on Chowhound – several blocks off the main road in the town. We also ate well in Playa Del Carmen, which we once considered as a vacation spot several years back but now it is REALLY crowded and touristy – not like I imagine Cancun, but kind of – a Riviera-Maya-take on South Beach – definitely not my thing. But luckily, we had some fun shopping for beachy surfer stuff and we had an amazing lunch at a place we read about in our guidebook called La Cueva Del Chango.

In Puerto Morelos we enjoyed Rosie’s Juice Bar (even with the s-l-o-w pace – it helped get us on Mexican time!), Dona Triny’s, as well as some of the traditional/familiar offerings at a restaurant on the water called Paneros, and other fine enough local finds (e.g., Caktuz for Argentinean/amazing grilled beef, Cafe Habanero, the expat hangout, Spagettino for great pasta, El Pirata for local fare). Since Lenny speaks fluent Spanish I decided to turn my brain to zero and not try to speak at all, which helped even more with my relaxation state – but he obviously was able to engage more with the locals who don’t speak English (and sometimes not even Spanish as a lot of the locals only speak Mayan). Anyway here is his mini-take on Rosies:

Rosie is not from the Yucatan but another part of Mexico (Guerrero?), and is sometimes too overwhelmed with customers to provide quick service, but it was vacation so we relaxed. Rosie’s featured a Super Green Juice as well as other fresh fruit smoothies, but we opted for the super green which included radishes, chaya (a local plant similar in some ways to spinach), pineapple, and orange juices. It was large, inexpensive, and delicious, and set us right for the rest of the day (see the photo below).

In Valladolid, where we stopped for lunch on the way to the ruins at Chichen Itza, we had our (well, my)  favorite meal at the Meson De Marques, on the main square. It was the most typical Yucatecan fare (although definitely a more sophisticated take) we were able to try and we thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the setting.

So without further ado here is a “taste” of what we were lucky enough to experience on our trip.

Rosie’s Eggs Mexican Style

Rosie’s Magical Green Detox Drink (w/Chaya)

Dona Triny’s Tortilla Soup

Oasis Restaurant

Oasis Seafood Quesadillas

Oasis Conch Ceviche

Oasis Garlic Shrimp

Oasis Chips and Salsa

Paneras Sopa de Camarones

Cueva Del Chango – Playa del Carmen

Cueva Del Chango Poblano Soup

Cueva Del Chango – Sopes

Hotel El Meson De Marques Exterior – Valladolid

Hotel Meson Marques Cochinita Pibil

Hotel Casa Marques Queso Relleno

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