Feliz Ano Nuevo

This morning Viv pulverized to perfection a mango, tangerines, collard greens (I think), Sun Warrior raw protein powder, and spirulina.

Yesterday we made a successful crossing of Zihuatanejo Bay in TH's alpacka raft.  It was a bit bouncy and unstable but we made it to Paty's just in time for Happy Hour. 

Random Zihua scenes:

P.S.  If you ever make it to Paty's for Happy Hour, I advise just saying no to a fourth round.  Otherwise you may find yourself peeing in random bushes on the way home, chasing kitties (who apparently don't want to be petted), and trying to persuade your spouse to enter a local ranchero dance contest.  Ay carumba!  

I Heart Dolphins

What a lovely view from our window this morning.

We walked to town for breakfast today, as we were running low on fruits for smoothies.  I ordered fresh squeezed orange juice and a giant plate of fruit.  Most enjoyable.

Photo shoot at the market!








What a gorgeous lobster.

Yesterday we hired a boat to take Tom fishing.  The highlight of the day was a giant pod of dolphins that surrounded our boat.  Our guide turned off the motor and we were engulfed by a sea of hundreds of dolphins, jumping, diving, cavorting around us.  What an amazing show!  

Question:  Anyone know what these things are?  

Feliz Navidad

Happy Holidays!  We spent yesterday at the beach, reading, playing in the water, napping, people watching and feeling grateful.

One of the things I love about Zihua is the giant market, a series of vegetable, fruit, meat and fish stalls.  Our friends Stacy and Keri brought us here on a former trip.  I love it even though it's sweltering inside and the hanging dried beef strips will smack you in the face if you're not careful.

Check out all this bootie I bought for just over $3:

I've been making salads on the days we are home for lunch:

If you can actually find a salad on a menu in town, the base is usually iceberg lettuce. I miss my dark leafy greens!  

I've been taking in plenty of green in the form of guacamole.  This is a once a day event for me:

If cheese comes sprinkled on top TH eats the top layer and then I break out my raw corn chips.  Between the chips and my food photo shoots, I don't know how anyone can bear to have dinner with me.  TH is such a good sport.  

I've also been enjoying a lot of raw fish, in the form of ceviche or tiritas.  Tiritas are skinny strips of fish "cooked" in the acidity of lime.  I love them with avocados and a hearty dose of hot sauce. 

Question:  How did you spend Christmas?  Did you enjoy any traditional foods?  

Salsified

We have been busy spicing it up lately.  When eating out at a new place (or a place where you don’t really understand the menu), it is exciting to see the “extras” that are served pre meal.  I’ve been really digging on these pickled jalapenos.  Not too spicy, and just the right amount of pickled tang. 

Last night, after the sunset,

we tried out Papa Locas.  The place was packed, cheap, noisy, and the grilled concoctions were manned by an eight (?) year old standing on a plastic crate.  The extras were the best to date.

Of course, at a place like this it is nearly impossible to order a raw plate.  It’s a good thing that when I’m on vacation I don’t hold myself to any sort of rules.  I ordered un plato vegetariano sin queso, and cleared my nasal passages when I added bits of all the salsas. 

TH enjoyed a meaty, cheesy mess that he stuffed into tortillas and filled with extras.

The other night was my bday and I was craving a salad.  We’ve only found two places in town that serve salads, and both locales are way more upscale than we feel comfortable with.  However, one of those places (Caprichos) had been recommended to us and so we decided to do it up right.

The courtyard dining area was gorgeous.  It instantly reminded us of one our favorite places, Granada, Nicaragua.

I ordered ceviche to start, which was marinated in a soy/lime sauce, as opposed to the lime/tomato sauce that I’m accustomed to.  It was very tasty and I barely shared.  TH would be embarrassed if I told you that I whipped out my raw corn chips.  I did. 

I followed that with a gorgeous salad, covered in avocado, hearts of palm, cukes, tomatoes and a light, house vinaigrette. 

TH loved his poblano pepper stuffed with shrimp and cheese, served with a black bean sauce.  He wished it was bigger.

The funny thing is, Caprichos is only pricy for Zihua standards.  The whole meal, including a little brew, bubbly, and tip was the equivalent of $60.  It just feels extravagant when we can easily find dinner for two for just over $10 a night.  

Raw in Mexico

Airplane muchies:

It's been a challenge to find a place that will let me log on to a wifi network and blog, but I wanted to share a few images from Mexico.

View from our room in Zijuatanejo

I enjoyed a little jugo verde at a restaurant the other day (pineapple, celery, parsley).  It was actually pretty tasty.

The local markets do not carry any greens, so I made TH walk an hour to a supermarket with me the other day, sure that I could at least find spinach to make morning smoothies.  No luck.  Not a spinach, kale or collard leaf in sight.  Thankfully, I brought a baggie of spirulina to blend with bananas, coconut, and tangerines.  Pretty tasty. 

Good news:  my precious corn chips were successfully smuggled into the country, hiding inside Vivian. So far I've paired them with ceviche, guacamole and fresh salsa.  And of course a few of these guys:

Smuggling Corn Chips

A little 3:30 p.m. sunset action:

I am such a nerd.  We leave for Mexico in two days, and what did I spend my evening doing?  Packing? No.  Wrapping Christmas presents?  No.  Grading finals?  No.  Instead of doing everything I should have done, I made a large batch of raw corn chips from Raw Food Real World so that I would have something healthy to eat with my vacation guacamole.  I will be very upset if I have to throw these friends away in customs.   

Even the batter (?) dough (?) was tasty.  I ate quite a bit of it while spreading it out on the D trays.  I'm glad it worked out because I had to make a few recipe substitutions:  

• green pepper instead of red pepper
• lemon juice instead of lime
• cayenne instead of jalapenos

I also made some dates stuffed with almond butter and dipped in chocolate sauce (idea from Delightfully Raw) for a few healthy friends.

Is it wrong that I thought about moonie pies about 761 times today?  

Recipe from Sweetly Raw 

Question:  Do you have a favorite food item that you insist on taking with you on trips?  

Crispy Sunchokes

After a lunch of veggies dipped in hemp dressing (Delightfully Raw),

I was ready to try a moonie pie from Sweetly Raw.  TH's friends had devoured them last night, but I'd been too full (from licking the blender/food processor blades) to eat one myself.  Wowsers.  These things are awesome.  I didn't have cacao butter so I substituted a chocolate coating made of:

1 cup melted coconut oil
1 cup cacao powder
1/3 cup maple syrup (or to taste)
splash of vanilla

The chocolate coating worked great, hardening instantly when the cold moonies were immersed in it.

I'm not gonna lie, these suckers were time consuming to make.  However, they taste incredible and the recipe makes a huge batch.  

I couldn't find an intriguing recipe for raw sunchokes, so I tossed them with olive oil, garlic, salt and a little cayenne and then roasted them with Brussels at 400 degrees until the edges were caramelized and crispy.  Now, I can imagine that even toe jam would taste good roasted in olive oil and salt, but these puppies were sure tasty.  My sunchokes, a nice Malbec and another moonie pie and I blissfully chased away the Sunday night blues. 

Brussels and Sunchokes 

Gremlins

I had a little bit of a Saturday high today, filled with an overwhelming sense that life is so good.  The only thing that popped my happy bubble the tiniest bit was opening up the red and white envelope that arrived in the mail.  So, I swear that I have Netflix gremlins.  I am consistently confused upon discovery of some artsy, foreign, LeFilm Festival winner in my PO box.  Said movies sit on our shelf night after night, sadly listening to our evening conversation.

Me:  Want to watch a movie?
TH:  What do we have?
Me:  "The Brave Little Toaster".
TH:  Ummm, forget it.  I'm too tired to read subtitles.

Wtf?  Where do these mystery movies come from?  I have to admit that NPR reviews and I might play some small part in this.  My memory has been a bit faulty lately.  TH says I have successfully killed any former Netflix excitement he used to harbor.  I think he should blame the Gremlins.

Post Kenpo workout snack:

buckwheaties

frozen blackberries smooshed with honey and lemon

almond milk

For lunch I blended up another batch of curry sauce from Delightfully Raw.  It is so fantastically delicious.  Last week I used it to make kale chips, a kelp noodle dish and dipped veggies in the leftover sauce.  I needed to make more to pour over veggies and warm up in the D.

I'm in the process of putting together my first Moonie Pies from Sweetly Raw.  All the separate parts were quite tasty, so I'm expecting heaven when I put everything together.

Question:  Anyone made any yummy raw recipes with sunchokes?