gulfporter

Seared tuna over corn salad.

Buying lamb is a crapshoot here---often too lean and tough as cowhide. Got lucky today with the most tender rack we've had ever--including in the US when we bbught NZ racks at Costco years ago. Sundays we eat our comida as midday main meal. Grilled up nicely, served with corn and black bean salad and a chipotle-cherry dipping sauce. I used traditional marinade of lemon, rosemary, garlic, Dijon and olive oil, overnight.

Easy, quick and tasty. Spicy Italian sausage in a red wine sauce over angel hair with fried peppers and onions, topped with goat cheese and arugula.

I use ground pork for burgers here; personal preference. Bun it on toasted Bimbo rolls (think Wonder bread), with a squeeze of gochujang (I stock up in US or pay the piper here when I see it). A local organic shop stocks locally made kimchi which we mound on top of the grilled burgers.

Kimchi burgers are planned, but since it's not a holiday here in MX, I have workers scheduled for Monday and if they are working near the grill, we'll switch to something indoors, but nothing specific in mind.

Grilled Chicken Vindaloo (boneless thighs) with raita and my own lime pickle. In the past few months I've converted 3 chicken recipes that are usually prepared by sauteing and simmering, into grilled chicken recipes with the sauce on the side. Grilled chicken makes them more of a summer dish. Previous meals were Jerk Chicken and Red Curry Chicken. I make the sauces with less liquid and use stick blender to puree. Use 1/4 of mixture as the marinade and the rest I boil down and serve on the side.

Been disappointed by beef for past 20 years even at high-end places. We've even switched our burgers to ground pork--makes an exceptional kimchi burger, our fave. When we dine out we often get octopus grilled over real wood charcoal (pulpo al carbón)...tastes exactly like the fatty end slice of steak.

Grilled blackened salmon with mango salad and chipotle mayo.

Grew up dirt-poor. Sardines were cheap. Many a lunch as a kid was an open tin of sardines (always in oil) which we partially drained then added red wine vinegar. Eaten straight out of the can with a slice of white bread to sop up the liquid. About 5 years ago at a secondhand store here at Lake Chapala we bought this painting for 200p (about 10 bucks). Mi esposo said he thought the woman looked like me (he is a kind soul). I just liked the subject matter. I realize the can is for squid but Gitana also sells canned sardines. Hangs in our dining room.

Light lunch; grilled shrimp with couscous salad with toasted pecans, plumped dried cranberries, shallot and cilantro, dressed with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Dollops of chipotle-cherry sauce and spicy tamarind mayo.

EZ lunch: fettucine with grilled shrimp in a jarred sauce (Filippo Ricotta and Tomato), topped with some capers as the sauce is on the sweet side. Garlic bread.

Blackened salmon over arugula and fresh corn/black bean salad.

Shrimp and Grits.

2nd banana plant in bloom. Just noticed it today, may be edible by late August?? The other plant has a much larger bunch and we **think** they may be edible in early July.

We live in Jalisco and I've never seen this brand.

Room temperature garbanzo salad topped with grilled shrimp. Room temperature here is about 85 😎

Reminds me of my childhood in NE PA. I looked for them in SW FL when we lived there in the mid 2000's; no one had them even in the Jewish delis with bakeries.

Hotter than it should be here, so salad makes sense for dinner. Salmon over arugula with a fewleftover roasted new potatoes, Kalamatas and hard-boiled egg. Not quite a Nicoise since the green bean sellers were not out and about. Dressing: lemon, Dijon, garlic. Not the prettiest salad, but nice and light for this weather.

No...never knew that was a thing. We let ripen, eat a few days, make one banana dessert, then give the rest to gardener's family and neighbors.

After a one year hiatus, Yes! We Have Some Bananas! Noticed them the other day; my gardener Jose' says 100 dais, mas o menos. Looks like a bumper crop.

My no-bake peanut butter/cream cheese pie is in fridge setting up. After firm and chilled I will schmear it with melted chocolate. Once years ago I tried to 'upscale' the standard recipe by substituting real whipped cream for the Cool Whip. That experiment resulted in a weeping pie almost immediately. And it really didn't improve the flavor profile. I never made this pie in Mexico before because there is no Cool Whip. I mentioned this First World problem to a friend who pointed me to what she said is an acceptable Cool Whip sub. Oddly, not sold frozen, but in the refrigerated section. Less sweet (a good thing IMO) but the same hydrogenated oil. Oh...discovered I didn't have any powdered sugar after I started making it. Honestly you cannot tell it's missing. Simple recipe...1 small jar peanut butter, 1 8 oz (more or less) cream cheese, 1 container Chantilly (Cool Whip substitute). I bought a pre-made cookie crust for base. It won't win any baking titles but mi esposo will love it!

Friends in northern CA told me that one local pizza shop on Pi Day will sell small pizzas for $3.14 with unlimited toppings.

Our last home in the US was near St. Petersburg, FL. Their regional airport carries the airport code of PIE. On Pi Day the local Chamber of Commerce handed out mini-pies to arriving passengers.

Grilled salmon over arugula and (leftover) corn/black bean salad. Dressing: Dijon, lemon juice and olive oil. Surrounded by a few roasted potatoes.