Restaurants

by

Temperature is Relative

My cousin was thrilled with the weather this week, while I found it cool during the overcast days and downright chilly in the evening. It’s amazing how quickly one adapts to a new climate!

While waiting for my hot dogs tonight, I chatted with one of the cooks. She complained about tonight’s cold weather and I told her that, considering there’s snow back home, I can’t complain! She says the coldest place she’s been is Lake Tahoe in winter and tonight was almost as bad! She was exaggerating. 🙂 I told her that I saw some pictures of this week’s snowfall in Los Angeles, which shocked her, and concluded that the world has gone crazy, which she found really funny.

(I didn’t know how to say complain, so I said ‘cannot say something bad about the weather.’ So my word of the day is quejarse!)

The lady who dresses my hot dogs was once again surprised by how little I want on them, never mind the odd, to her, combination. Next week, I will tell her about what are normal hot dog toppings where I’m from. I didn’t do it tonight because I didn’t know how to say sauerkraut (just like in French, but spelled differently, chucrut!) or sweet pickle relish (still working on that one, will probably just say minced sweet marinated cucumbers).

Speaking of relish, my cousin brought me some from Quebec. My hot dogs tonight were pretty dang perfect! I don’t miss the sauerkraut at all; the tomatoes give the acidity I need.

Some of the hot dogs are wrapped in bacon before grilling. This week, I graduated to the bacon wrapped ones. Woohoo! 🙂

Tomorrow is chicken. I missed last week. I ran into the chicken lady at Ley today and she actually commented on the fact!

by

Like a Pack Mule

My cousin and I said our goodbyes at Rico’s at about 9:30 because they needed to be in a taxi for the airport by about 10:00. I crossed the street and walked about a block to a dedicated bus stop where two older Gringas were waiting. It was really nice to see that demographic taking the bus!

This is what passes for a bus stop bench in Mexico. I was just glad to have a bench!

This is what passes for a bus stop bench in Mexico. I was just glad to have a bench!

The bus was crowded, but I still managed to score a window seat. It was quite a long drive south because there was more traffic. We eventually left the Malecón and started zigzagging through streets until I wasn’t quite certain exactly where I was. I figured that most of the bus would empty at the Mercado and waited for a huge crowd to stand up to get off, a plan that worked perfectly as that put me right at an entrance to the Mercado.

I hadn’t had breakfast and was starting to feel faint, so I made a beeline for a bakery and got a pastry stuffed with pineapple to tide me over until I could find a proper brunch. I love the pastries here in that even the sweet ones aren’t super sweet. I paid with a centavo coin for the first time!

My blood sugar stabilized, I headed to Waldo’s to get a few things and then I decided to go explore the restaurants above the Mercado. One thing I love about Mexico is that you can get ‘non-breakfast food’ for breakfast, especially at places that don’t cater to Gringos (I could have bought freshly grilled beef and onion tacos from a cart on the walk to the Malecón this morning!). Rico’s had surprisingly decent prices for breakfast, but it was all stuff like eggs, waffles, and bagels, none of which are my first choice for breakfast.

Most of the upstairs restaurants had similar menus. One lady waved me into her place and when I saw the number of Mexicans eating there, it seemed like a fine choice. She offered me a plate of fried shrimp, fries, beans, rice, and tortillas for 70 pesos. It wasn’t a special oh wow meal (although I do have to say that the shrimp were awesome, not being too heavily breaded and well seasoned), but it was hearty, savoury, not expensive, and way more than I could eat (the tortilla stack was bigger than one I get to last me three or four days!).

It’s funny how one of my biggest fears about coming to Mexico was that I would be afraid to eat at restaurants like these that would very likely fail a health inspection back home and now that I’m here, I don’t even think twice about eating at such a place!

Sated, I headed downstairs to load up on fruits and veggies. I never get everything from one vendor. I don’t know why, everybody seems to have the same stuff for the same price and quality!

I walked around a bit looking for a cheese vendor I was told about, but failed, so I exited on Leandro Valle and headed to the Ley. There, I loaded up on dairy products, bacon, and a few other things that were on sale (including a two for one deal on baked tostadas). I’m going to Soriana with Dale next week, so I only got what I needed to get me through the weekend.

One important thing I picked up was powdered milk, which is what I use for my coffee. I bought some in the States and must have gotten a bad batch because it absolutely refused to turn creamy with the addition of hot water, which is another thing that made my coffee situation so bad here. A bag that would have cost me about 12CAD was on sale for only 33 pesos! This stuff was Carnation brand and was perfect in my Rico’s coffee!

Back outside, I balanced my load as best as I could and debated taking Zaragoza or Leandro Valle to get to the embarcadero. The latter is hilly and the former had more chances of my being tempted by a pulmonía, so I obviously picked the harder option, grateful that this was the first time I’ve come out of Ley to a complete lack of pulmonías!

By the time I got to the panga, I was pretty tired, but my work wasn’t done. The dock was quite low, but the water level high, so it was a huge step into the boat. I was wearing capris, so the guys weren’t eager to help me with my bags (I tend to get help if I’m in a skirt or dress, amusingly enough).

When I got back to Isla, I popped into the City Deli to pick up an eight-pack of beer and that was my absolute limit as to what I could carry! And it was a bit much; I was really eager to get home. I ran into Dale partway, so I had an excuse to take a short break. Yes, I could have taken a pulmonía on this side, but I need the exercise!

I can’t believe I’ve been in Mazatlán just shy of two months and am already so comfortable making my way around the city. The last step will be figuring out the buses that go to Walmart and Soriana, something Dale is looking forward to trying.

by

Good Coffee at Long Last

Rico’s Cafe is just a couple of block’s from my cousin’s hotel and is run by an American. My cousin is even more of a coffee snob than I am and raved about the coffee and all the beans she was bringing home, so I was eager try it out! Coffee was one place I was not too snobby or cheap to deal with in Gringoland because Mexicans just don’t have a coffee culture.

She had a 16 oz drip coffee with a shot of espresso and I went for just the drip coffee. They make it in a manner similar to a French press, so you get a mouthful of grinds at the end if you’re not careful, something I’m used since I’ve been doing French press coffee for so long.

The coffee wasn’t fantastic, but it was still the best coffee I’ve had since finishing up my Canadian coffee way back in October! It had so much potential, but there was a bit of a soapy taste to it, for lack of a better description, probably something to do with how they wash their cups. Not enough to be off putting or to stop me from enjoying it, but it wasn’t the perfect cup of coffee I’d been expecting this morning.  Still, it was a huge step above anything I’ve had in months and I savoured every mouthful!

IMG_0389 IMG_0392

I then put in an order for beans, with my cousin recommending Veracruz dark roast. I got half a pound for about 68 pesos and had them grind them for me. The smell of the beans through the bag was divine. I couldn’t stop smelling it all the way home!

I’m enjoying a cup of it now and trying not to weep with joy. 🙂 Oh, real coffee at very long last. I hope that what I get at the more convenient Olas Altas café I was recommended will be just as good, but at least now I know that, worst case, I can get coffee for 28 pesos round trip! 🙂

Oh, and two giant coffees (one with a shot of espresso) and a bag of beans was just 142 pesos! I used to pay almost 20CAD for an equivalent amount of beans in Gatineau!

by

Low Key New Year’s in Mazatlán

My cousin and I were planning to go to a gala for New Year’s tonight and had our outfits all ready, but a series of events made those plans fall through. I wasn’t disappointed since a late night of boozing and drinking and dancing isn’t really my thing (no, I didn’t get old, I’ve always been boring!).

Instead, we decided to meet up at their hotel and find something to do. I suggested we head down to the Plazuela Machado and see what was what. Neither one of us was particularly keen on being out to midnight, which suited me just fine because the panga home jumps from 8 pesos to 60 after midnight! I would have overnighted at the hotel had we done the gala, but that plan didn’t make sense if we were in the Olas Altas area.

So I headed out to the hotel early this afternoon. In a bid to get some exercise and to save money, I chose to walk from the embarcadero, a distance of 7.5km. If I have time, I don’t think twice about walking up to 10km in good conditions. These were ideal, a slightly cool and overcast day and I knew that I would be safe going through the bit from the embarcadero to the malecón.

Big cruise ships today!

Big cruise ships today!

The trip took me 2 hours door to door, and that included a detour to get a pastry to munch on!

Lamps shaped like seahorses.

Lamps shaped like seahorses.

Seahorse detail in a door.

Seahorse detail in a door.

Not sure what this coliseum is going to be...

Not sure what this coliseum is going to be…

My few minutes in the Golden Zone were enough to last a lifetime. That area is not for me, YUCK! It was teeming with Gringos, filled with NOB stores, and I kept getting harassed (in English, no less) to buy stuff. It was just as bad as being in a border town! Sure the downtown bit I walked through to get to Olas Altas wasn’t as shiny and pretty and there were no big name stores, but people only spoke to me to say hi, I was left to wander in peace and quiet, and the architecture was a lot more interesting!

Welcome to the Golden Zone! Don't worry, we have McDonald's!

Welcome to the Golden Zone! Don’t worry, we have McDonald’s!

Yes, that's a fully operational Blockbuster video store! LOL!!!

Yes, that’s a fully operational Blockbuster video store! LOL!!!

From the hotel, we took a pulmonía down to Plazuela Machado, 120 pesos, non-negotiable! We walked around there a bit, but it was early so restaurants were only starting to get set up. We headed back to Olas Altas, where several restaurants were already doing brisk business.

After perusing menus, we decided to try the quiet Copa de leche restaurant, which had good variety and reasonable prices. The boy had steak with a baked potato, my cousin picked a shrimp dish, I opted for enchiladas with a mole sauce, and we split an order of beef (carne asada) tacos.

Dinner was a Copa de leche, with a lovely view of the water and comfortable chairs!

Dinner was at Copa de leche, with a lovely view of the water and comfortable chairs!

I’d never had mole sauce before and had no idea what I was getting into. Turns out that it is a savoury cocoa sauce! Yes, chocolate! The enchiladas were filled with chicken, tomatoes, and onions, and absolutely smothered in the sauce. Really, there was too much sauce. So thank goodness I also got a basket of corn tortillas to mop up every last bit! 🙂 It was crazy good and I really appreciated the sprinkle of sesame seeds over top, a flavour I have been missing. My taste buds were thrilled to try something new.

The other dishes were apparently equally satisfactory. The steak plate was particularly impressive, with a huge steak topped with mushrooms, a loaded baked potato (bacon and crema), rice, and salad. The tacos were yummy, coming with avocado and a side of refried beans and fried onions.

Total bill, for the food plus two limonadas, one soda, a coffee, and a tip, about 500 pesos, or 167 per person. My meal was only 110 pesos (85 for the food and 25 for the limonada) and the steak was the most expensive item at only 120 pesos, plus 20 for the soda.

After dinner, we headed back towards Plazuela Machado. My cousin confessed that her sandals were rubbing her the wrong way and that she needed ideally both a change of shoes and a bandaid. I didn’t know what would be open at that time of night, but thought that if anything would, it would be around the mercado area.

We headed there, enjoying all the lights at the cathedral, and found an open shoe store! She found a cute and comfortable pair of slip on shoes that matched her outfit for only 79 pesos! I asked the gal at the till if she knew of a pharmacy that would still be open and was directed to one just past the Waldo’s, which I knew was in the middle of the next block.

So that was our next stop and I learned that you have to ask at the counter for bandaids in at least some pharmacies in Mexico! The first request didn’t go so well as we were brought tensor bandages, so I found a picture of a bandaid on my phone and that brought what we needed. I would have preferred to have been able to pick as I would have selected something bigger and sturdier, but my pleas for bigger ones fell on deaf ears and my cousin said she could make do.

She then spent a couple of minutes on a stool applying several bandaids to get the coverage and adhesion she needed. It was a rather absurd situation that we found rather funny. It’s just stuff that happens. I had a hard time with sore feet when I first got here, with the sand rubbing them raw, but my feet have thankfully hardened.

From the pharmacy, we headed across the street to a juice stand. They had strawberry and banana licuados (like a smoothie) while I opted for fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. It was incredibly filling since a small had the juice of THREE grapefruits with a little pulp, but it was very refreshing and tolerably sweet. I really enjoyed it. At just 17 pesos, I think that could be a treat when I go to mercado.

We then returned to Olas Altas to sit on the wall, listen to the waves, and make plans for the next couple of days. They were thinking of heading back to my place tomorrow, but the boy has been ill and they are both exhausted. It makes more sense for them to enjoy the resort for their last full day. I will head out to the hotel first thing Friday to meet my cousin for coffee (she found a roasting house with good coffee, so I plan to come home with some!) and then they’ll be off to the airport around 10:00.

Plans made, it was time for them to head home as they were just wiped. I got them into a pulmonía (again, a non-negotiable 120 pesos) and then walked back to Plazuela Machado to soak in a little New Year’s ambiance. It was just past nine and the partying was starting, with lots of loud music and full restaurants. Really not my scene. I was surprised that there weren’t more vendors.

I flagged down a pulmonía ready to argue that I wasn’t going to pay more than 60 pesos to get to the embarcadero and almost fainted when the driver said 40! Wow!!! I’m pretty sure that’s my cheapest ride ever from Plazuela Machado!

A panga was leaving the dock as I arrived at the embarcadero. The pilot saw me and redocked while I bought my ticket.

It was a quick ride over and then I was on Isla, which was thrumming with activity, with lots of music and some fireworks. Many ‘Feliz año’s were exchanged on my 10-minute walk home, making me glad that I took the time to Google how to say ‘happy new year’ in Spanish.

The neighbours across the street are having a loud party, so ear plugs will be in order for tonight. I just honestly don’t have a desire to be out partying, preferring small quiet gatherings.

Happy new year to all my lovely readers!

by

Dinner at Miguel’s

My cousin came over to Isla this evening so we could hang out together and have dinner. I wrote down the destination instructions for the pulmonía and she had no trouble getting to the embarcadero, although she did get a lecture from the driver, who wanted to make sure that she knew where she was going and that she wasn’t going to wander around the docks by herself. This is a gal who is a seasoned traveler and spends a lot of time in Panama so I had spared her that speech, but she got it anyway!

We decided to go to dinner at Miguel’s, the only proper sit down restaurant that is open in the evenings here. I’d heard a lot of good things about it. Contessa, Colin, Juan, and Chris were finishing up a meal as we arrived.

The menu is painted onto the wall and there are no prices listed. My cousin asked about a dish that, of course, the name escapes me now after I spent time repeating it! Dang. Oh, possibly chorreada! That’s a real word from the verb ‘to drip’ and the meal was drippy, so maybe that’s it! At any rate, the ingredients that stuck out were pork (which I know as carne de cerdo, but the cook called puerco), chihuahua cheese, and salsa fresca. My cousin ordered that. I went for a shrimp burrito.

Our meals came with just a little salad, but no other sides. We sampled each other’s dish. OMG. The burrito was a flour tortilla with sweet shrimp and cheese then fried in a pan (not deep fried). The pork dish was incredibly flavourful, with marinated meat and browned cheese over a thick corn tortilla, made even better with the addition of avocado sauce! The food was so good and we were so hungry that we ordered another round, reversing our orders!

My cousin also ordered a limonada and it was HUGE. We had brought beer, so I didn’t order anything to drink. The limonada was tasty, but too sweet for me anyway.

The total bill was absurd. Two shrimp burritos, two of the pork things, and a limonada came to 150 pesos (my treat). Let’s just say I’m no longer splurging on the very odd lunch on the beach and will instead go more often to Miguel’s in the evening! I want to work my way through the entire menu!!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I’ll have to go back and get some at a later date. 🙂