Yummy Easy Apple Cake
2 cups diced apples (small cubes)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1 cup flour
1tsp baking soda
1/4 sp salt
Cinnamon and vanilla to taste
Mix the diced apples with the sugar and let sit for 30 min. Add oil and egg, cinnamon and vanilla and mix, add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a prepared 8'' or 9'' pan, bake at 350F for 40 to 45 min. To add a special touch after it cooled a bit, I poked the top with a fork and drizzled maple sirup on it. Yummy yummy! I will definitely make it again!
Somewhere between Izamal and Sudzal, Yucatan.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Driving to Xcalak - what you should know
It occurred to me that as I was preparing for this trip I did not find much information about driving - so for the folks who are looking for such details, I will take a moment to share what we have learned.
First - if you land in Cancun I highly recommend that you spend the first night somewhere on the coast between Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen. The drive will be a little over four hours from Playa del Carmen, and it's better to avoid driving after sunset.
Second - Plan on leaving sufficient room in your car to pack the food supplies you will buy. In our case, we are a family of 4 so we purchased a rooftop bag (roofbag.com - good price and fast delivery) to store our clothing luggage. We also carry a banjo, a mandolin, a violin and a guitar, so the bag was absolutely necessary. Playa del Carmen has a few super stores, we went to Chedraui, but you could also go to Sam's - they are both very easy to find on the East side of the 307 in Playa del Carmen. We bought 2 styrofoam coolers, lines them with a garbage bag (the coolers may leak over time), and 2 bags of ice to store meat and dairy products. This type of cooler is not too big and gettin two is easier to place in your trunk than one big cooler.
Third - Get cash, there are no banks in Xcalak and the closest ATM is in Majahual (60km).
Fourth - fill-up you gas tank in Tulum, and when you get on the road to Majahual, fill it up again at the gas station located about 5km before arriving in Majahual (the only gas station here...).
Fifth - The turn off to Xcalak is just before the gas station, so you will have to go back on the road and turn left on to the Xcalak road and you should arrive in Xcalak in about 40 min. Thist is the only road going that way but there are no big signs, just a bunch of small ones. This is the ONLY road to Xcalak at this time (mid-November 2010). There used to be access from Majahual to Xcalak along the beach road, but one bridge has collapsed and has not yet been rebuilt.
FINALLY! You should know that the tortilla guy drives down the road every single day, a package of fresh warm corn tortillas cost $150 pesos. A food truck comes by twice a week, on Tuesdays and and Fridays. They have plenty of fruit and ) veggies, and meat (chicken, beef and pork). The beer truck also comes by twice a week, also on Tuesday and Friday.
The people who liv here are mostly Mayans, and they are honest, kind and simple people. And last for not least - Enjoy you stay!!!
NEXT POST : Yummy and simple apple cake recipe!
First - if you land in Cancun I highly recommend that you spend the first night somewhere on the coast between Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen. The drive will be a little over four hours from Playa del Carmen, and it's better to avoid driving after sunset.
Second - Plan on leaving sufficient room in your car to pack the food supplies you will buy. In our case, we are a family of 4 so we purchased a rooftop bag (roofbag.com - good price and fast delivery) to store our clothing luggage. We also carry a banjo, a mandolin, a violin and a guitar, so the bag was absolutely necessary. Playa del Carmen has a few super stores, we went to Chedraui, but you could also go to Sam's - they are both very easy to find on the East side of the 307 in Playa del Carmen. We bought 2 styrofoam coolers, lines them with a garbage bag (the coolers may leak over time), and 2 bags of ice to store meat and dairy products. This type of cooler is not too big and gettin two is easier to place in your trunk than one big cooler.
Third - Get cash, there are no banks in Xcalak and the closest ATM is in Majahual (60km).
Fourth - fill-up you gas tank in Tulum, and when you get on the road to Majahual, fill it up again at the gas station located about 5km before arriving in Majahual (the only gas station here...).
Fifth - The turn off to Xcalak is just before the gas station, so you will have to go back on the road and turn left on to the Xcalak road and you should arrive in Xcalak in about 40 min. Thist is the only road going that way but there are no big signs, just a bunch of small ones. This is the ONLY road to Xcalak at this time (mid-November 2010). There used to be access from Majahual to Xcalak along the beach road, but one bridge has collapsed and has not yet been rebuilt.
FINALLY! You should know that the tortilla guy drives down the road every single day, a package of fresh warm corn tortillas cost $150 pesos. A food truck comes by twice a week, on Tuesdays and and Fridays. They have plenty of fruit and ) veggies, and meat (chicken, beef and pork). The beer truck also comes by twice a week, also on Tuesday and Friday.
The people who liv here are mostly Mayans, and they are honest, kind and simple people. And last for not least - Enjoy you stay!!!
NEXT POST : Yummy and simple apple cake recipe!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Xcalak, Quintana Roo - Mexico
We arrived just after sunset on November 17, and it has been overcast and rainy since then - we are told that it's the first rain in about 15 days. It's fine - not too hot and just enough rain breaks to go and enjoy our surroundings. We went swimming in the sea this morning - lovely and warm, and a lot of life above and below water. So many big conch shells that Leo actually took for mission to take the ones on the beach and put them back in the water, saving them.
We realise that although we did by a fair amount of food, we will need to get fresh fruit and veggies regularly. So after chatting with Gabriel, our property care giver, I found out that there is a pretty good food supply system along this little secluded beach road. First, the tortilla guy goes down the road every day on his motorcycle with a cooler filled with fresh warm corn tortillas (I LOVE the smell of warm tortillas), then the produce and meat guy comes twice a week - Tuesday and Friday - just like the beer truck. I actually bought some fruit today, and beer too - it's just too funny to wave the beer truck and buy a 24 !
I also inquired about gas for the car, and we have just enough to get back to the gas station in Majahual, 68km from our little beach house. There used to be access to Majahual from the beach road, but the bridge collapsed so currently we can only get there with the jungle road - about 45 min. drive. I have leared that there is a good general store there and we will be able to buy some paper supplies, beach toys and other things we will need in the coming month.
Breakfasts and lunches are pretty simple, and an afternoon snack in needed since we tend to eat smaller meals here. Dinner is the bigger meal - I made a pasta sauce yesterday, cooked black beans which we eat every day as dip or in rice or any other way one can eat black beans! I am cooking chicken legs tonight, and will use the bones to make sopa de lima (my favorite soup!). I will share the recipe later this week. Tonight I will also bake a simple apple cake, and share that recipe as well as soon as I know if it works... you never know.
Schooling is going well so far, we have a shift in the morning and another one in the afternoon. For Leo's hme work, I took photos of each completed page with my iPhone, and emailed them to his teacher. She is supposed to email me his new home work today - and I will print it on our fine and dandy HP portable printer. It's amazing to be so far away from everything, with only solar power, and be able to communicate and skype with the satellite connection on this property. Awsome!
Over and out for today - I must go and chop some apples!
We realise that although we did by a fair amount of food, we will need to get fresh fruit and veggies regularly. So after chatting with Gabriel, our property care giver, I found out that there is a pretty good food supply system along this little secluded beach road. First, the tortilla guy goes down the road every day on his motorcycle with a cooler filled with fresh warm corn tortillas (I LOVE the smell of warm tortillas), then the produce and meat guy comes twice a week - Tuesday and Friday - just like the beer truck. I actually bought some fruit today, and beer too - it's just too funny to wave the beer truck and buy a 24 !
I also inquired about gas for the car, and we have just enough to get back to the gas station in Majahual, 68km from our little beach house. There used to be access to Majahual from the beach road, but the bridge collapsed so currently we can only get there with the jungle road - about 45 min. drive. I have leared that there is a good general store there and we will be able to buy some paper supplies, beach toys and other things we will need in the coming month.
Breakfasts and lunches are pretty simple, and an afternoon snack in needed since we tend to eat smaller meals here. Dinner is the bigger meal - I made a pasta sauce yesterday, cooked black beans which we eat every day as dip or in rice or any other way one can eat black beans! I am cooking chicken legs tonight, and will use the bones to make sopa de lima (my favorite soup!). I will share the recipe later this week. Tonight I will also bake a simple apple cake, and share that recipe as well as soon as I know if it works... you never know.
Schooling is going well so far, we have a shift in the morning and another one in the afternoon. For Leo's hme work, I took photos of each completed page with my iPhone, and emailed them to his teacher. She is supposed to email me his new home work today - and I will print it on our fine and dandy HP portable printer. It's amazing to be so far away from everything, with only solar power, and be able to communicate and skype with the satellite connection on this property. Awsome!
Over and out for today - I must go and chop some apples!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
DAYS 1 TO 5
Yeepee - we're here!
Our flights were on time and painless, we had a quick connection in Charlotte, North Carolina, and thank God our luggage made it!
No problem through customs, and finlly got picked-up by our car rental company to get to the car. Another unforeseen expense which I should have researched : liability insurance. Very important here in Mexico - for us it's an additional $800 for 3 months. Okay... now for adding my name as a driver? The guy says at least $500, but he can do it for $100 cash (HA!). While I'm talking Tim is looking at the contract and sees very clearly that spouse can drive under this agreement. So I told the guy that Tim would drive, we're just fine thank you very much : )
Got to our hotel at about 1:30 or 2pm - Occidental Allegro Playacar - beautiful place and very friendly staff, perfect beach. We got in our swim suits and the four of us ran together in the Caribbean. The boys were over the moon with all the perks of the all inclusive (especially the buffet 3 times a day) and as we were walking around Leo and Dylan were chatting and saying 'wow, what more can there be around here?'... that's when we got to the giant chess board and they both stopped and exclaimed 'GIANT CHESS!!!!!' We had a good laugh. I think the guys thanked me one hundred times on that first day. Leo did his homework, and we Skyped with his school tutor on Monday as scheduled.
I thought I had done a great job packing - I usually think of everything and more... but this time to my dismay I realised that the boys had no underwear... another good laugh! So we went to Playa del Carmen to shop, got what we had on our list including a new guitar for Dylan - made in Paracho, Mexico, just like my mandolin. Paracho is famous for its string instruments, mostly guitars. $80 with the case, perfect!
On November 17 we packed our bags after breakfast, installed and loaded the rooftop bag, checked out and hit the road to go grocery shopping. It took about 2 hours. We have 2 styrofoam coolers which we filled with ice together with the meat and other cold food, and we had just enough room in the car to pack the food we bought. Finally... we left to get to our next destination : Xcalak.
It was a 5 hour trip, including one pit stop to eat lunch. Of that 5 hour drive, about 4 is literrally in the middle of nowhere. From the highway we turn on to a road going west (towards the sea) and drive for about 45 minutes, then turn right on to the road to Xcalak for one hour - and it seems like the jungle is taking over the pavement pretty much all along. We finally got to the village as the sun was setting. Great... now we had to find the house in the dark! Got on to the dirt road along the sea shore and about 8km from the village - finally arrived at Casa Caracola. Good thing, we only have 1/4 of tank of gas left in the car! No gas station in town... Oh well, we'll take care of that somehow. We're here for one month!
Settling in, it rained A LOT overnight, today is overcast and we're exploring the permises.
Over and out!
xoxo
Our flights were on time and painless, we had a quick connection in Charlotte, North Carolina, and thank God our luggage made it!
No problem through customs, and finlly got picked-up by our car rental company to get to the car. Another unforeseen expense which I should have researched : liability insurance. Very important here in Mexico - for us it's an additional $800 for 3 months. Okay... now for adding my name as a driver? The guy says at least $500, but he can do it for $100 cash (HA!). While I'm talking Tim is looking at the contract and sees very clearly that spouse can drive under this agreement. So I told the guy that Tim would drive, we're just fine thank you very much : )
Got to our hotel at about 1:30 or 2pm - Occidental Allegro Playacar - beautiful place and very friendly staff, perfect beach. We got in our swim suits and the four of us ran together in the Caribbean. The boys were over the moon with all the perks of the all inclusive (especially the buffet 3 times a day) and as we were walking around Leo and Dylan were chatting and saying 'wow, what more can there be around here?'... that's when we got to the giant chess board and they both stopped and exclaimed 'GIANT CHESS!!!!!' We had a good laugh. I think the guys thanked me one hundred times on that first day. Leo did his homework, and we Skyped with his school tutor on Monday as scheduled.
I thought I had done a great job packing - I usually think of everything and more... but this time to my dismay I realised that the boys had no underwear... another good laugh! So we went to Playa del Carmen to shop, got what we had on our list including a new guitar for Dylan - made in Paracho, Mexico, just like my mandolin. Paracho is famous for its string instruments, mostly guitars. $80 with the case, perfect!
On November 17 we packed our bags after breakfast, installed and loaded the rooftop bag, checked out and hit the road to go grocery shopping. It took about 2 hours. We have 2 styrofoam coolers which we filled with ice together with the meat and other cold food, and we had just enough room in the car to pack the food we bought. Finally... we left to get to our next destination : Xcalak.
It was a 5 hour trip, including one pit stop to eat lunch. Of that 5 hour drive, about 4 is literrally in the middle of nowhere. From the highway we turn on to a road going west (towards the sea) and drive for about 45 minutes, then turn right on to the road to Xcalak for one hour - and it seems like the jungle is taking over the pavement pretty much all along. We finally got to the village as the sun was setting. Great... now we had to find the house in the dark! Got on to the dirt road along the sea shore and about 8km from the village - finally arrived at Casa Caracola. Good thing, we only have 1/4 of tank of gas left in the car! No gas station in town... Oh well, we'll take care of that somehow. We're here for one month!
Settling in, it rained A LOT overnight, today is overcast and we're exploring the permises.
Over and out!
xoxo
Thursday, November 11, 2010
3 DAYS TO DEPARTURE
It's actually 2 days since we are leaving home at about 4am on Sunday morning. I finished packing and weight our bags - we are allowed up to 50lb per bag, otherwise we will have an insane surcharge. And we do have 50lb per bag - yeah baby!
We're busy with last minute errands like banking, copying house keys, leaving photocopies of our passports and legal documents with our emergency contact, Tim is reviewing our insurance coverage, I finalised a bunch of winter schedules and invoices, the cleaning lady just came to do the ground floor, I cleaned the dining room windows, etc. It's certainly looking like we're moving out!
I am beginning to relax and let go now. The house will be ready, and so will we! : )
We're busy with last minute errands like banking, copying house keys, leaving photocopies of our passports and legal documents with our emergency contact, Tim is reviewing our insurance coverage, I finalised a bunch of winter schedules and invoices, the cleaning lady just came to do the ground floor, I cleaned the dining room windows, etc. It's certainly looking like we're moving out!
I am beginning to relax and let go now. The house will be ready, and so will we! : )
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
5 Days to departure
Well, I'm so wired that I'm not sure how to define how I feel - excited, stressed, scared, anxious, stressed, happy, exhausted, stressed... I think that 'freaky' is a pretty good word actually. Sitting down and taking the time to write is pulling me out of the madness for a few minutes - so I indulge.
I went to my dentist today, I was supposed to get a small surgery which had been re-scheduled twice (by him). I like my dentist. He is a crazy, creative and unconventional individual. He takes his entire team to Haïti once a year to offer free treatment to hundreds of people there. It's his home land. So today, he kept telling me how this intervention is a piece of cake, that would be out of there in half an hour, etc. and once everything was set-up he sat down and looked at me and said - 'you know, there is another way to do this. It's harder for me, but better for you - so that's what we'll do' His assistant rolled her eyes, and changed the entire set-up for the change of plan. It took 2 hours, and he worked hard. When it was all done he said 'if you have trouble with this tooth again when you get to Mexico, here is my number. I'll be in Playa del Carmen on Monday'. He is too much! And best of all, I have no pain - not even the slightest tenderness around the tooth he fixed. I think it's worth at least one margarita!
I came home and I packed some Christmas items. Some familiar objects for our tropical Holiday season. Snowman and icicles in Yucatan!
I went to my dentist today, I was supposed to get a small surgery which had been re-scheduled twice (by him). I like my dentist. He is a crazy, creative and unconventional individual. He takes his entire team to Haïti once a year to offer free treatment to hundreds of people there. It's his home land. So today, he kept telling me how this intervention is a piece of cake, that would be out of there in half an hour, etc. and once everything was set-up he sat down and looked at me and said - 'you know, there is another way to do this. It's harder for me, but better for you - so that's what we'll do' His assistant rolled her eyes, and changed the entire set-up for the change of plan. It took 2 hours, and he worked hard. When it was all done he said 'if you have trouble with this tooth again when you get to Mexico, here is my number. I'll be in Playa del Carmen on Monday'. He is too much! And best of all, I have no pain - not even the slightest tenderness around the tooth he fixed. I think it's worth at least one margarita!
I came home and I packed some Christmas items. Some familiar objects for our tropical Holiday season. Snowman and icicles in Yucatan!
Saturday, November 6, 2010
ONE WEEK TO DEPARTURE!
I am completely overwhelmed and trying to keep my focus clear on the priorities - there are many...
I found a cleaning lady and the plan is to have her come 3 times before we leave - once for each floor, beginning with the basement at 2:30 today. We are still discarding items as we are cleaning, organising and packing, and Tim will probably do a trip to Value Village today or tomorrow.
I met with the boys teachers last Wednesday, and we have a good plan for the schooling front. Leo's will require much more work than Dylan's, and it will be a great opportunity to be creative and make fun projects together. We will explore Canada's first Nations and the first French settlements, and we are encouraged to note differences and similarities with those of Mexico. In Science, we will study the world of plants, their structure and their use - and the timing happens to work with our stay at the farm!
Dylan will have to keep a weekly journal, and prepare a presentation on Mayan civilisation. He will also have to keep-up with his math. The books represent a heavy load - I packed them in a separate bag.
I made the poster for the classes I will offer in Majahual, 3 family circles for accompanied children up to 4 years olds, and 3 classes for unaccompanied 4 to 7 year olds. It will take place at the little Montessori school of Majahual. I will arrange my teaching in the village of Xcalak once we get to our first house. I have a lot of small instruments to donate - it feels amazing to give songs and games and instruments to children, and know that they will keep playing after I'm gone.
For Le Petit Atelier, I met with my biggest client last Wednesday morning and everything is fine and dandy. Happy client, happy teacher, happy kids - I couldn't ask for better. I will be meeting with 2 other big clients this week and fine-tune the schedules for the next trimester, and then everything will be lined-up until April 1 inclusively.
For The Little Workshop, all the schedules are finally settled. This was the most challenging part as Tim is a very popular teacher and his absence is being felt. However everyone is continuing - and our 3 teachers are well booked and ready for the upcoming months. Because our hard drive died about 2 weeks ago, I had to re-enter all our email addresses and phone numbers. This is actually a good exercise because I now have the info on my iPhone as well, and we are leaving with an updated address book in our computer.
This all sounds so dry and serious and boring... it is the unavoidable organisational phase which is not so much fun. But that's how we can pull this off - I can't wait to lighten-up!
I found a cleaning lady and the plan is to have her come 3 times before we leave - once for each floor, beginning with the basement at 2:30 today. We are still discarding items as we are cleaning, organising and packing, and Tim will probably do a trip to Value Village today or tomorrow.
I met with the boys teachers last Wednesday, and we have a good plan for the schooling front. Leo's will require much more work than Dylan's, and it will be a great opportunity to be creative and make fun projects together. We will explore Canada's first Nations and the first French settlements, and we are encouraged to note differences and similarities with those of Mexico. In Science, we will study the world of plants, their structure and their use - and the timing happens to work with our stay at the farm!
Dylan will have to keep a weekly journal, and prepare a presentation on Mayan civilisation. He will also have to keep-up with his math. The books represent a heavy load - I packed them in a separate bag.
I made the poster for the classes I will offer in Majahual, 3 family circles for accompanied children up to 4 years olds, and 3 classes for unaccompanied 4 to 7 year olds. It will take place at the little Montessori school of Majahual. I will arrange my teaching in the village of Xcalak once we get to our first house. I have a lot of small instruments to donate - it feels amazing to give songs and games and instruments to children, and know that they will keep playing after I'm gone.
For Le Petit Atelier, I met with my biggest client last Wednesday morning and everything is fine and dandy. Happy client, happy teacher, happy kids - I couldn't ask for better. I will be meeting with 2 other big clients this week and fine-tune the schedules for the next trimester, and then everything will be lined-up until April 1 inclusively.
For The Little Workshop, all the schedules are finally settled. This was the most challenging part as Tim is a very popular teacher and his absence is being felt. However everyone is continuing - and our 3 teachers are well booked and ready for the upcoming months. Because our hard drive died about 2 weeks ago, I had to re-enter all our email addresses and phone numbers. This is actually a good exercise because I now have the info on my iPhone as well, and we are leaving with an updated address book in our computer.
This all sounds so dry and serious and boring... it is the unavoidable organisational phase which is not so much fun. But that's how we can pull this off - I can't wait to lighten-up!
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