Sopa de Lima

This is one of my favorite dishes in the world, and way at the top of my list of recommended regional Yucatan meals. The ultimate soup, with a perfect balance of flavours and textures. I made it this week and it was a big hit. My friend Manon calls it the Mexican pho. and I guess it’s a good way to describe it. But better yet – here is the recipe!
Sopa de lima (serves 8)
Prepare the chicken stock by boiling 2 litres of water with 300g of chicken breast, 1 clove of garlic, a pinch of dried origano, one branch of fresh coriander (cilantro), and salt. Remove the chicken and put aside to cool.
In a frying pan, sauté one big white onion, one green pepper, and 2 roma tomatoes finely chopped – until well softened. Add this to the chicken stock, with the juice of 4 to 5 limes (to taste), and concentrated chicken stock if needed. Let it boil for 10to 15 minutes, and filter the stock through a sieve (I also press with a spoon to get the most of the flavourful liquid).

With a fork or just with your fingers, carefully shred the chicken breasts in fine long strings, keep warm with some stock. Cut the corn tortillas in wide juliennes, and fry them in vegetable oil, put aside. Steam the carrots, turnips and zucchini.
While the vegetables are steaming, cut one lime in thin slices, and slice one avocado length wise.

In each bowl, put a good amount of stringed chicken and cover with hot stock. Garnish with a mound of steamed veggies in the centre of the bowl, top with one or 2 slices of avocadoes, and sprinkle the crisp corn tortillas around the veggies, and one slice of lime. Enjoy!

December 30 - Chichen Itza and Cenote Ik Kil

Dec.30 - Bonne fête Claire et Céline! xoxoxo
Woke up at 6am to prepare a big breakfast for everyone - scrambled eggs with all the fixings, bacon and all, and a delicious cantalope. Manon and Richard packed a lunch for everyone, and the gang was ready to go by 7:15am. We left for our big day in Chichen Itza at 7:30m. A one hour drive - so we arrived well before the swarm of tour busses from Cancun and the so called Riviera Maya - perfect!
I remember going to Chichen Itza for the first time in 1986. Climbing on all the structures was allowed back then, and my Cancun friends and I even went in the passage under the pyramid. A dark passage with narrow stairs, leading up to a sacred room with the painting of a jaguar on the wall. The access to that passage was closed in 1990 I believe. I also remember climbing the pyramid a few times over the years – no longer possible. It is a very steep and dangerous flight of stairs, and it’s probably much better this way. Except for the multiplication of the crafts merchants on the site, it has not changed of course : ) Chichen Itza used to be such a great multicultural metropolis for such a very long time, very interesting to try to imagine what is was like to live there. We saw all the main structures and the cenote, and the kids were great all along.
By 11am we got back to the cars and went to eat our picnic lunch in the central square the nearby town of Piste. We had planned to go to the cenote Ik Il for a swim, and by then we were tired and reconsidering… but it was so hot that we decided to give it a shot. Glad we did, it was amazing! We all jumped in the pristine clear blue water of the cenote, and the kids had a blast jumping in from the high platforms – what a great afternoon we had!
Drove back to the ranch, the kids played in the pool, decorated for new year’s eve, while the adults drank cold beer. A very good day in Yucatan!

We've got Company!

Manon, Richard, Leo and Camille arrived at the ranch on Monday morning - yay!
The children are happy to have friends to play with, and we are delighted to have excellent company. We made plans for a great week, in Izamal today - tour of the market, the Convent, lunch, and back at the ranch very soon. Tomorrow will be their horse back riding family adventure, and Thursday we are all going to Chichen Itza.
They are amazing, this is a very long way out of the beaten path... It's good to have crazy friends!

I will be making sopa de lima tomorrow, stay tuned!

Our Mexican Christmas

Christmas eve was excellent, Christmas day was just perfect. The kids woke up with the roosters (yes, that's before 6am...) and were very excited to discover that Santa had found us here in Mexico. Quite a guy that Mister Claus! The magic of Christmas is in their hearts, no matter where they are. Stockings filled with goodies, and a coconut instead of the usual orange (although it is orange season here in Yucatan, but we don't want to ask too amny tricky questions...).
Had breakfast, opened presents, and went for a horse ride. It was pretty mellow, until Tim's horse took off runnning... and I mean Grand Gallop! Tim was screaming 'wo, Wo, WOOOO' as the horse ran faster and faster - it was sooo funny! Then the horse turned onto a path and we could not see him anymore (but we could hear Tim!), and it was not so funny anymore. Victoriano tied the boys horses to a nearby fense and ran to catch up to Tim. Thankfully, he came back nice and slow, with Tim behind him. He was fine. Pale and quiet, but fine. (the running scene still makes me crack up though...).
A simple Christmas dinner, roasted chicken and mashed potatoes with carrots, and gravy. I baked a 'renverse a l'ananas' for dessert, yummy. It was a beautiful Christmas, Amen.

Tried and True Guacamole

Back at the ranch on Tuesday afternoon, organised the food situation (freezer is full!). The kids were very excited to wrap presents on Wednesday morning. They also had fun filling the piñata with all kinds of candies, and I hung it in the kitchen, it will stay there until New Year’s eve (up high and much safer!).
In lieu of a Christmas tree the kids have chosen one of the outdoor plant, and decorated it. It looks pretty good, and they carefully placed the presents under it. The magic of Christmas is in there heart, no matter where we are!

Late afternoon on Thursday, time to prepare dinner and the boys have enjoyed contributing from time to time. Dylan is an expert at making guacamole now, I thought him when we were in Xcalak. It’s the way I learned to make it when I lived in Cancun, and to me the ultimate guac is made like this :

Mash 3 avocados with a fork (or the good old fashion way… with your hands!), squeeze in the juice of half a lime, add about ¼ cup of each white onion and roma tomato very finely chopped – and salt to taste. You may add cilantro and finely chopped hot peppers to taste if you wish (I don’t).
My golden rule about guac – which I have verified many times with different people in different areas of Mexico is… No garlic please!
The best chips to enjoy a good guac are ‘totopos’, a brand very well known here, not sure if they are available in Toronto. They are basically unsalted deep fried corn tortillas, the ultimate corn chips.

We are enjoying some market food now, and one yummy finding to me are the local ‘salbutes’. It’s a thick hand made corn tortilla, topped with some salsa, grilled meat (usually turckey), shaved raw cabbage and pickled red onions. A typical market fair, and oh so delicious!!! The hand made tortillas make all the difference. On the food front, I am still on the lookout for the best sopa de lima, and I think that I may have found the perfect concoction in a Merida restaurant last Monday. I will try to make it, and share the recipe if I am successful.

Christmas eve already… Happy Christmas to all !!!!

More catching-up

DECEMBER 21
We went horseback riding a couple of days ago - first time for the kids, and first time in many years for Tim and I. Victoriano, our guide and one of the rancheros who helps around the house - also Daniela's dad and Samuel"s brother - took us for a short one hour tour. No instructions... which made it a bit tricky for me as my fellow riders were not always close enough for me to share what Victoriano was telling me. Dylan's horse was stalling, and we later discovered that he did not move because Dylan was giving his horse the signal to stop instead of going... Also, Tim's horse almost took him to the cow's field... they do have BIG horns and were all looking at Tim. So bow that we have learned the basics, the next ride will be longer and probably better - looking forward to it!

We are now in Merida, arrived yesterday and spent the night. This is our Christmas holiday shopping expedition, and let me tell you that shopping in the downtown Merida public market could very well qualify as an extreme sport... After that, the Eaton Centre on December 23 pushing a stroller, carrying a bouquet of balloons and a pair of skis would be a breeze! We found some interesting things, it was a fun and memorable experience. This morning I took the boys to a piñata store - what a great place! There should be one of these in Toronto... is there? The ceiling filled with beautiful colorful piñatas, and aisles of sweets, candies of all kinds, and little loot bag surprises, it was great. We have a beautiful piñata for our new year celebration with Manon, Richard and their kids - it will be fun! They will land in Cancun on December 26, and arrive at the ranch on December 27.

Tim went walking around town on his own while I was out with the boys, and when he come back tot he hotel we will head back to the ranch, stopping at a mega grocery store on the way - also stocking up on food for our merry guests.

Unfortunately we do not have internet access at the ranch, we have to go to Izamal in one of the internet cafes there - there is no wi-fi in Izamal. However there is a spot by the pool at the ranch where there is cell phone reception and I can get my email once in awhile using my iphone (I don't want to know how much this will cost....). This allows me to check for important emails and assess our need to go to town to connect. Better than nothing!

Happy Christmas preparations to all of our dear friends in Toronto - we miss you!

Catching-up - December 16

We made our way from Playa del Carmen to the ranch in the little Yucatan community of Sudzal yesterday. 40 minutes from Playa to Tulum and turn inland towards Coba. 40 minutes from Tulum to Coba, stopped on that road to buy a couple of pieces of pottery - there is a roadside shop with an impressive inventory of glazed ceramics, you just can't miss it, and whenever I visit the area I make sure to stop there. Then another 40 minutes from Coba to Valladolid, a beautiful colonial town and it was nice to see their Christmas decorations. From Valladolid to Sudzal was about one hour, going through some great little pueblos with beautiful old colonial churches. Each turn we had to make was onto a smaller road, in the beautiful Yucatan countryside - farm land and cattle country. Once again we were pressed by the looming sunset, wanting to get to destination before dark. When we finally found the dirt road to the ranch - the gate was locked! Luckyly, the ranchero across the road has a key and kindly opened it for us, and locked it after we passed... Did I say we were in the middle of nowhere in Xcalak? Well, I take it back. 2km on that little dirt road with the gate locked behind us... hoping it was leading to where we wanted to go and... yes! There was the house. Phew, and a half!!! (Tim had lost his glimpse of adventurous spirit by then...). Samuel and Daniela greated us, and we came in to see the permises. It's soooo BIG... our giggles of awe echoed through the house, which made me giggle even more!

Shortly after we unloaded the car the owners came to welcome us. There was Carlos - whom I was in touch with via email to rent the house, and both his parents. They seem to be a very respectable family, they carry themselves with the typical grace and formality of Mexican upper class - with the warmth of Yucatan folks. They live in Merida, and based on the old photos on the walls here at the ranch house, they are probably one of the Yucatan families that have enjoyed the golden age of this Mexican state.

Yucatan was once one the wealthiest state on the planet, with a booming economy based on the heniquen (also called sisal) plantations. This is a plant that resembles a giant aloe vera, and yields a strong fibre similar to cotton - but much stronger. In the 30's, the striving Yucatan economy was killed by the raising popularity of a new fibre : nylon. The beautiful haciendas that we see throughout the Yucatan countryside are mostly abandoned, and the land is used to grow other crops and raise cattle. Some haciendas have been restored and turned into exclusive little hotels. One of these is the Hacienda San Antonio (google it!), which is next door to the ranch house we are renting.

We had a great night of sleep, despite the big dead scorpion we found in our bedroom... and woke up with the sound of the roosters, the birds, and Samuel the cowboy taking the herd out. I got up and Dylan was right behind me. He looked at me and said 'hey, did you hear that horse?' So we look out the kitchen window and there was Indio, one of the horses, running on the little road in front of our house - looking beautiful and happy, saddle free. We had a moment of perfect happiness - high fived each other and hugged. Later today on that same road, Samuel brought back the herd of cows, and another farmer took out is herd of goats.

The kids jumped in the pool, which is bigger than I thought, and to Tim's delight we will be able to swim lenghts in there. The boys already played a few games of billiard too - in the huge dining room. And Tim discovered the beautiful reverb with the violin and the guitar, and he already wrote a new piece this morning. This place is... beyond words!

We are now in Merida with a wireless connection - More catching-up coming soon...

Goodbye Xcalak

We left Xcalak at 9:30 this morning, and arrived in Playa del Carmen at 2:30. A long drive, uneventful thank God.
We had a wonderful last day in Xcalak yesterday, and visited Jane and Greg down the coast. We went for a snorkel, and had a snack (my pineapple cake) and Greg, Jane's husband, gave us an elaborate tour of their beautiful beach house. Ho-Le-Dream-House! Greg hired 2 architects and supervised the building work for one year! But that's only after he came countelss times to find the perfect lot... it is his dream house and he put a lot of love and mind... and money into it. The result is jaw dropping, all build by hand (no power tools), and life there is with rain water and solar power. We will keep in touch, they wouldlike to visit us at the ranch.

Leaving was difficult, it hit me when we started driving the little Xcalak coast road - I had a good cry. I want to go back, so if anyone is interested - the next trip might be adults only.

So here we are - in a city! Tim is hungry for some town vibe, so we will go walk around tonight. The weather is cool (sort of sweat shirt kind of cool) and instead of jumping in the pool, Tim and Dylan went to play tennis - while Leo was keen on spending some time at the Kids Club. And I... grabbed the computer and ran to the lobby for some alone time online!

Cheers!

The Gringo Community

Inspiration started to flow and I have been working on my book of French children's songs and rhymes lately. I had written only the lyrics in my note book and have been using them in my classes for a long time, and finally I have charted 15 of them so far. I wrote a new rhyme, for a back tickle. At my last class in Majahual the kids and I danced with light scarves and it inspired me to write a little Spanish song - called pañoleta - I like this word, it's my new word of the week. I will let the words and the notes flow out, it seems that the first 4 weeks are being processed...

Yesterday was a very good day. Dylan finished his presentation on the Maya Civilisation - a very good paper! We had a great lunch, tostadas with leftovers inspired by Tio George. Then Philippe took the boys fishing on the lagoon dock - hoping to catch their first barracuda (they didn't, but they had a great time), and while they did that Tim and I went for a snorkel together. It was so nice to hold hands and swim through the biggest school of fish we ever saw - there must have been hundreds! I was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.
At about 4pm Gisèle and Philippe had a little piñata gathering, with Gabriel and Martha and their little daughter Yolanda, and Gabriel's brother and his little family - they have a baby boy. It was Yolanda's first piñata, and her first candy too. She is only 18 months old, and she is adorable. It was fun.
Then Gisèle and Philippe suggested that we go out to dinner at a local eatery called 'Toby's'. It was Judy's birthday and many local gringos were to gather there. For the occasion, Toby made a special menu - 3 tacos of your choice served with guacamole, a home made limonade, and flan for dessert. It was perfect. We had the opportunity to meet some local gringos, and it turns out that the group of people we met are actually most of the private home owners of the Xcalak coast. There must be a dozen of private homes, and 8 owners were there. Most of them live here half the year, and they are all pretty laid back and friendly, hippy boomers. Tim might go jam with Nick today, a retired drummer who is known as the only musician in the community. He does drumming circles regularly, and his house is supposed to be quite something - with a big round music room full of drums. We also got to meet Toby himself (the restaurant owner), a very friendly guy, and a Xcalak native. His father is a fisherman here, and a few years ago Toby went to work as a waiter down the coast in Majahual - that's how he learned English. He came back to town and opened his little restaurant two years ago, and it quickly became a local favorite. Jane was at Toby's last night as well, and we will be going to visit her tomorrow. I baked a pineapple cake, and we will bring our snorkeling gear. She is Gisèle's best friend here, and like her and Philippe, she loves the sea.

Tim and I went snorkeling again today, and Gisèle came with us. She showed us some of her favorite spots - pretty amazing. We saw our first parrot fish - so big and colourful! A huge snapper, about 4 feet long. More French Anglefish, and so many other colourful ones - yellow, orange, red, and many shades of blue - some striped, some purple and yellow, it's a beautiful show. As we swam to shore by the end, just in front of the house where it's shallow and warmer, we swim through thousands of baby fish and came upon a couple of lobsters. I lifted my head and we were about 10 steps to shore. This place is very special, did I say that I love it here?

The Big Picture

Friday, December 10. Gisèle and Philippe - the owners of the house - have planned a little pinata gathering for the children today. Philippe is a fun guy, very light spirited and chatty, he loves to express his feelings and philosophical thoughts. He has become Leo's fishing pal. Gisèle is a bit more reserved, she seems to be more business driven and down to earth. She knows everybody's name in the community, and knows the names of all the fish and creatures we see.
The back of the property is on the lagoon, and they just finished building the dock. It seems to be Philippe's little heaven, and to him it's just as marvelous as the beautiful Caribbean in front of the house. They both love the water, and when they go out snorkeling they are gone for 3 to 4 hours. They swim out to the other side of the reef barrier, and go way out about 2km - to a small reef formation located straight out from their house. Philippe leaves with a couple of harpoons and a mesh bag, and a good knife. He always comes back about one hour after Gisèle, with some snapper in his bag, and the odd lion fish. They must eat fish every day. If not from the sea, it's the catch of the day from the lagoon. This is their home, and they only go back to France to work for a couple months about twice a year.

The last day in Majahual was nice, we went to Miriam's husband's restaurant (Miriam is the owner of the Montessori school) - a road side taco joint. It was fabulous! He showed us the many fillings to choose from and explained the ingredients, all very local (cactus, pork skin, etc.) and all very delicious. We all had seconds. The funny thing is that he is located right on the corner of the main road into town - you can't miss him. And all the tourist tour busses from the cruise ships go right by, but they never stop. He said that he doesn't expect to have tourists there. What he has is local food for local folks, and that's the way he wants it. Eating there was one great highlight of our adventure so far. Gracias Tio George! After lunch the boys and I went to the school, and I gave my last class. It was fun, and it's satisfying to see that the kids know the new songs I have been teaching them. They will continue to sing them, and knowing that is the great joy I take back with me to Canada. I left about 20 maracas and bells for the school. I also gave a bunch of scarves that I made from fabric I bought in Chetumal. It was in the left over bin at the entrance of the fabric store, and alltogether it cost me $1.50. I made 18 light scarves with it, for the children to dance with - which we merrily did today. Miriam was very happy.

I emailed Jane to find out if we can drop by her house this weekend. She has invited us but time flew and with only a couple of days left, I think that it would be a shame to not take the time to get to know her better. She has a great energy, very warm and very interesting. I hope we can make it happen.
It seems unlikely now that we will go to the Chinchorro, it's too bad, but I think that it might be a bit much for the kids and for Tim. It's a two hour ride out to sea to get there. This one will remain on my 'lifetime to do list', so I might come back. Maybe with friends, for an all adult vacation? I would be in for that of course. But while we're still here in Xcalak, It would be nice to get on a boat at least once, I'll see what we can do. Maybe this weekend?

Tim and I were discussing the big picture about this trip. What are we going to gain from this? Are the kids realising how special this is? And so on... It's funny how I feel it's so clear to me, and how Tim struggles with finding a purpose to it all. It is mainly my project I guess, so for me the questioning phase was done long before we left. Now I am just enjoying the great ride. I believe that in the big picture, the boys will learn that they must stick their neck out, take some calculated risks, and overcome some fears to discover new, enriching and exciting things. This was certainly true for the snorkeling. At first they did not want to try, and were scared of going out on the kayak - probably because they know that there are sharks in the sea. So we practiced with the gear on here in front of the house, and they saw tiny striped black and yellow fish, and many others, and they saw their first lion fish and their first barracuda. Then we went on the kayaks, to a small reef about 100 meters off shore. They were blown away, and were hooked from that point on. Now they want to explore farther. The fear is gone, replaced by the knowledge of what is there for them to enjoy. And that's a wonderful gift. Now that we have demystified the sea, we will move on and experience life on a farm, and ride horses! But I must say that leaving the sea will be difficult, I love it here.

The End of the Road

Yesterday we went to the end of the road, where the bridge has been burned. We also got the full story about the bridge - On the North side of the bridge, a Mexican official was given a beautiful big piece of land as a retirement present, and decided to build a small eco resort on it. On the South side of the bridge, another Mexican man had purchased a big piece of land and had the same eco resort idea. The one on the South side, who had made a pretty investment no doubt, probably decided to cut the road access to the other guy's resort, leaving prospect patrons to drive an extra hour around the Xcalak peninsula to get to destination. We went to the end of the road and spent a few hours in the abandoned resort. A beautiful place! Only the maintenance guy and his dog. He keeps cleaning the beach every day, as the place looks very tidy. It's for sale, apparently asking 4 million but would settle for 2. Hard to imagine what could be done with the place, it's a 6 hour drive from the Cancun airport, and 2 1/2 hour drive to the town of Chetumal.

Today is my last class at the Majahual Montessori school. We are invited to have lunch at the little taco restaurant to the entrance of the town, the owner is Miriam's husband (Miriam is the owner of the school). It will be sad to leave at the end of the day, these kids are great!

We are leaving this house on the morning of December 13, and since the drive is about 6 to 7 hours to the ranch, we wanted to spend one night somewhere along the coast. I looked online and after some research, we decided to go back to the all inclusive resort for 2 nights. $100 per night for the four of us, all inclusive, can't beat that price!

So we will let the food supplies go down in the next few days, and slowly start packing our bags again. Moving on!

Boo-ooo

Nights are cooler these days, about 18 degrees, and the cool breeze is lovely - especially in early morning when I get up and make coffee. Yesterday the sea was very calm and the tide was very low, so the four of us went out for a snorkel witht he intention to make it to the barrier. There is so much reef between the shore and the barrier that we never make it, and we didn't make it there yesterday either. Every time we go snorkeling we see something new. Yesterday we saw 3 beautiful French Angelfish - they are big and graceful, and they don't seem disturbed by our presence. Tim and Dylan saw a Green Moray - the biggest of the Morays - and it was about 8 feet long! I take the time to show Léo all the vegetation and now he shows me interesting corals, not only fish. Big Brain Coral, lots of purple Sea Fans, Black Sea Rod, and a lot of Anemones, and hundreds of Queen Conch. Dylan and Léo are both inspired by what they see underwater, and make drawings when we get back to the house. Tim goes snorkeling every day in the afternoon, it's part of his routine now. It's the first time in his life that he enjoys swimming with the gear on - he loves it. To enjoy snorkeling one must be able to relax and float around while observing the life forms all around - it's a very serene state of mind.

Today the boys and I were supposed to go to the Xcalak elementary school, but we decided to skip it. It's Jane and Judy's new ESL program and I just got the line-up last night. I wanted to prepare this morning but a rather upsetting discovery turned off all my enthusiasm for a couple of hours. All the little sea treasures that we had gathered in the last 3 weeks have been thrown to... the garbage! While we were in Chetumal last weekend, the owner of the house decided to come up and take a look at the upper unit. Hey, this is her house after all! But she decided to tidy-up a little... not sure why - Martha had cleaned the place very well. Upon our return I noticed that a couple of things were moved around, but nothing strange really - a chair in a different place, the ashtrays put away, etc. Then this morning Tim asked me if I know where our little treasures went. We had a collection lined-up on the wide railing, and Tim had put the smaller ones in a glass container on our bedside table. All gone. A sad mistake, she feels bad of course. She offered to take some from her husband's collection - but this was a collection of little treasures we had found along our first 3 weeks here, nothing can really replace them. And the memories of the reaction of the kid's finding their first piece of coral, or choch shell, etc, you know... So I took 4 plastic bags and the four of us went for a long walk on the beach - hunting for interesting treasures again. I was upset and so was Tim. We did find cool things, but it's not the same.

We got back and had lunch, and worked on our song. It's inspired by the sea, and our goal is to record it before we leave Xcalak.

Chetumal

We are spending the weekend in Chetumal, capital city of the state of Quintana Roo, on the border to Belize. We came here partly to go to the Museum of Mayan Civilisation as Dylan is sending his school paper on the Mayan culture next week, and partly to replenish our food supplies. Chetumal is one of my favorite Mexican cities, maybe even my favorite now. I love Merida as well, but it has become much more touristic in the past 10 years. Chetumal is too far out of the way for main stream tourism, a great border city, and an important commercial point for the South East region. The city is in a festive mode this weekend, Christmas lights are up everywhere and we enjoyed a fun evening at the Zocalo (main square) last night. Giant Christmas tree in the centre, people lighting their fireworks, big slide, and the usual fleet of mini electric cars for the kids (10 pesos for 5 minutes...that's about 80 cents!). Léo had a grand time, Dylan is too big for the slide and the cars now but he enjoyed watching his brother.

Although Xcalak is across the bay, it's a 3 hour drive to make the giant 'u' on land back to our little house. Longer than the 2 hour boat ride there, but there is no car ferry operating between Chetumal and Xcalak. We will leave Chetumal after lunch, and begin our last week in Xcalak. Already. Time flies!

Banana Cream Pie!

Since there is no bakery in the village of Xcalak, the special treats I make are desserts. By the way - I tried the Apple Cake recipe with pineapple instead of apples, and it was delicious. I suspect it would be great with other fruit as well, it's such a simple recipe and it requires so little ingredients that it's a keeper for me. I already know it by heart.

Moving on to a little more complex concoction... but oh so delicious!

Banana Cream Pie

3/4 cup white sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
4 bananas, sliced
In a saucepan, combine the sugar, flour, and salt. Add milk in gradually while stirring gently. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is bubbly. Keep stirring and cook for about 2 more minutes, and then remove from the burner. Stir a small quantity of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolks (to warm them up), and immediately add egg yolk mixture to the rest of the hot mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes; remember to keep stirring. Remove the mixture from the stove, and add butter and vanilla. Stir until the whole thing has a smooth consistency. Slice bananas into the cooled baked pastry shell. Top with pudding mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes. Chill for an hour.

Trouble in paradise...

We came upon a couple of unfortunate events when we went to Majahual yesterday.
First - we always go directly to the gas station (the only one...) to fill-up the car, and pulling out of there we saw a police officer on his little motocycle, driving away from town (there is only one road). So we hit the road, the town is only 4km from the gas station. Suddenly Tim notices that the cop is making his way back, and is about to pass up on the right shoulder... okay, hello officer! He signals to pull over... bummer. He asks for Tim's lisense, and as he contemplates it, he casually asks where we're going (one road... only one possible destination... this is ridiculous) I politely answer his questions, and he explains that this is a 50km zone and that we were going quite fast. He will have to write a ticket, and keep our lisense - and we will have to go settle this in Chetumal (the capital city of the state - a 3 hour drive). So I try to get out of this, telling him that there is no way we can make it to Chetumal on Friday. He just repeats the whole thing... not rude, just plain sleazy. So I pull out my wallet and ask him if we can settle this, handing out a 200 pesos bill ($20). 'I don't want problems later' he tells me. I answer 'There is no problem here'. He smiles and discretely takes the bill, and tells me to mind the speed limit. Goodbye officer!

We went to town and had lunch, explored a bit since it was a rainy day, and then I went to school to give my class (great turnout - 20 kids!). We split immediately after to catch as much daylight as possible for the road home. Not quite half way to Xcalak, on the road in the middle of nowhere - a flat tire. About 30 minutes of daylight left... we never changed a tire. Get the spare out, try to figure out how to work the crank and where the heck we should put it to jack the car... this is not good! Oh, a car is coming! Get he kids off the road, make sure that they see us... they stop and ask if we need help. Thank God! Father and son from a little town I can not pronounce, kindly get to work and change our tire in 10 minutes. When they're done they wish us a safe trip and go back to their truck - feeling good about helping a little family of gringos. They were such nice guys, Tim gave them a CD - not sure if they will listen to it but it's exciting to think that they will - in their little town which has a name with no vowels whatsoever. We were very lucky.

With that we got home later than expected, tired and concerned. We want to go spend the weekend in Chetumal, and we do have to get that tire fixed (or replaced...), and the muffler of our car is about to fall off and the road here is... hummmm... very punctuated! It appears that we can take care of the tire here in town today, Good Gabriel will help us.

On to better things... Banana Cream Pie recipe coming later today!




http://www.maplandia.com/mexico/quintana-roo/othon-p-blanco/xcalak/

It's been 18 days since our arrival in Mexico, and after 15 days here in Xcalak I can already feel how time flies. I love it here. Most of my time is spent on basic things like getting food and preparing it, washing clothes by hand and hanging it to dry, schooling the boys, go swimming or snorkeling with them, and a couple of hours of business work every day, and a little bit of class prep every week. All that between 6am when I get up with the sun, and about 9pm when I go to bed at night, tired. I love it here.

I love to compose with limited supplies, I find that it's a great way to be creative. I see opportunities to explore new ways, it's most definitely in my nature. The boys have already adapted to eating things they never wanted to try at home, like guacamole and onions. They are more open to trying different things, and they also compose with what's available of course - with a good attitude. I'm proud of them. There are so many delicious fruit here, and Léo likes to come to the truck with me to choose the best ones. Mangoes, cantalope, papaya, bananas, apples, mandarines, pineapples, pears, grapes, and they are all so perfect and delicious!

I tried a new recipe last night - a Banana cream pie. It got the thumbs up, so I will share it with my blog followers sometime this week. I like trying recipes that require the basic local food, and I know that it's all available in Toronto as well so maybe we can share the flavours despite the distance - that, and the starry night sky!