Posted on

A Triumph of Simplicity

Malt flour, water, yeast, sugar .  These are the ingredients in the bagels known as Montreal style found at Myer’s Bagels in Burlington, VT.  Unlike most Montreal style bagels, Myer’s uses no salt, eggs or preservatives.  The ingredients are mixed into a dough, hand cut, hand rolled, boiled in honey water which makes the sesames, poppy seeds, etc. adhere to them and gives the bagels a sheen.  Then they are baked in a wood burning oven. They’re smaller, less bready and it’s easy to eat more than one (less calories too!).  Get them plain or with sesame, poppy seed, garlic, onion and the best, Montreal Spice. Continue reading “A Triumph of Simplicity”

Posted on

Final Thoughts on Mexico

Well, we loved Mexico. It’s not like we’ve never been there before.  But we hadn’t been to Mexico City and Zihau.  We were blown away by Mexico City’s beauty, the art everywhere you look, the history, the sophistication of it, the friendliness of the people and the great restaurants!  As I’ve said before we have a history with the country.  We got married there and have a soft spot for it. Continue reading “Final Thoughts on Mexico”

Posted on

La Barra de Potosi

What’ s the worst sound you want to hear when you’re on vacation in a beach town?  Rain on the roof!  I woke up on our last day in Zihau to pounding rain along with thunder and lightning.  The lights flickered, went out for a few minutes and came back on.  Rain is basically unheard of in Zihua at this time of year but like everywhere else on the planet the weather is weird.  I went out onto the patio; it was heavily overcast and showering with no sign of a sunrise. Continue reading “La Barra de Potosi”

Posted on

Downtown Zihau

There’s nothing like a Mercado (market).  It’s the heartbeat of a city.  In Zihau the market takes up blocks.  Inside the market, stall after stall, packed tight selling anything you can imagine, from flowers to kitchen utensils and everything in between.  People shop and stop to eat at their favorite food stall.  Everyone has their favorite vendors.  Everything is fresh.  There are no chickens in plastic styrofoam cartons.  No shrink wrapped cheese.  You can smell the tomatoes and squeeze the melons.  Outside on the streets surrounding the Mercado there are more vendors selling everything from cheeses to chickens.   Continue reading “Downtown Zihau”

Posted on

Zihau

Ixtapa/Zihautenjo share an airport.  That’s where the similarity ends.  Ixtapa is a resort designed by the Mexican government, think Cancun.  Big hotels, manicured boulevards, shopping malls, restaurants, secure condominums.  Zihautenejo or Zihau as it’s called is a which grew from 8,000 to 80,000 when people came to work at the Ixtapa hotels and restaurants.  It was just a sleepy fishing village and the fisherman still bring their catch in every day.  It’s got personality and the most beautiful beach Playa Ropa.  This is where we spent the last few days of our vacation.

Continue reading “Zihau”

Posted on

Back at the Bar

Well we’re 2 at the bar again. It’s interesting that the Sunday Boston Globe Magazine’s cover story from a few weeks ago was called “Eat At The Bar”.  We must be on to something!!

I’ve been published!  My response to the Boston Globe Magazine’s article “Caribbean on the Fly” was ridiculous and so I responded.  It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like that and last Sunday there’s my letter to the editor!

For those of you reading our travel adventures, unfortunately there’s no big trips until February when we’ll go to Mexico – Mexico City and Zihautanejo on the Pacific coast.  There’ll be lots to write about then.  We’ve been to Mexico so many times.  It’s where Roy and I were married almost 25 years ago and I have a love-hate relationship with it.  There are things that bother me, especially the stray dogs everywhere.  But it’s full of color and great folk art which is reflected all over our house; and, oh yeah, the food’s good!  So stay tuned; we’ll be ready for it.  Until then, we’re 2 at the bar in Boston.  We’ve been to some great restaurants and we’re always up to something.

Continue reading “Back at the Bar”

Posted on

The Proper Shave…Turkish Style

Well, I couldn’t end my Turkey stories without telling you about the shave.

Roy wanted a real Turkish shave and he hadn’t shaved for a few days so that he could properly enjoy one.  We asked Captain Mehmet who the best barber was in Kalkan and he told us.  So on our last night we went into town.  We hadn’t really explored Kalkan because we’d been so busy.  That’s not usual for us.  We love towns but on this trip there was too much to do.

We found Elit Barber on a busy street with music blasting and lit up like a carnival.  Like I told you before, Turkish towns are alive.  We asked for the barber and were told he was not in the shop but would come right away.  Mind you, it was 10PM but not a problem apparently.

Continue reading “The Proper Shave…Turkish Style”

Posted on

The Fish Market

Chapter 5 – The Fish Market

We wanted fish.  Well I wanted fish; Roy’s allergic but he loves seafood.  We were told the only place to go was The Fish Market in Fethiye.  So after spending the day by the pool at Villa Mandarin, we hopped in the car for a drive.  Fethiye is the largest town in the area,  a small city actually and we wanted to see it and explore a little.  Once we took the exit we were immediately lost.  Being Sunday nothing was open but we found a gas station and were able to get directions.  Everyone knows the Fish Market.  We drove to the waterfront and parked the car.  The promenade along the harbor is beautiful and since it’s Sunday people are walking, talking and having leisurely lunches at restaurants dotted along the way.  There are lots of boats docked; fishing boats and gulet boats available for charter.  Fethiye is a point of departure for the famous gulet trips.  We had to ask people where the fish market was and finally found it.  Not where we thought it would be, along the water, but on a side street a few blocks in.

Continue reading “The Fish Market”

Posted on

Cruising the Turquoise Coast

Chapter 4…A Day on The Hazal

On our “must do” list while in Kalkan was to spend a day cruising the Turquoise Coast. Kalkan is a hub for cruising.  When we arrived at the Villa Mahal, we asked the staff to arrange for a private boat. “Not a problem, be at the dock tomorrow between 10-10:15AM”.

We didn’t know quite what to expect in the way of a boat.  Kalkan’s a busy little harbor and we saw boats of every size and type coming and going.  So there we were waiting at the dock and out of the distance came the Hazal.  It pulled up and we boarded for a day that would be one of the best experiences of our trip and by the end of the day Captain Mehmet and his first mate would be like family.

Continue reading “Cruising the Turquoise Coast”