MaryIsobel

They were my mother's and now they are my favourite for pies too.

Yes, they were so small. There was only a bite or two from each body. I'm sure they added flavour though. I certainly won't miss this humidity.

Reminds me of our poor old Gravenstein. It's at least 60 years old and has been badly pruned more than once.An ice storm a few years ago amputated several of it's limbs. It still produces a paltry amount of apples but I have a sentimental attachment to it.

Our last night here. Shuttle picks us up and noon and we fly out at 4:15 (fingers crossed!) The humidity has been really hard on us, so we have been eating lightly, at our condo a lot of the time. None of the restaurants here are air-conditioned, so makes it hard to enjoy a meal. Our condo has AC so we keep retreating to it. Tonight we went to La Caleta. My husband had octopus, my daughter had cocnut shrimp which oddly was served with mashed potatoes, but the tamarind mango dipping sauce was really delicious. Sweet and sour with a little bit of heat. I had seafood soup which was great, shrimp, mussels, crab, octopus and fish in a zesty broth, with diced raw onion, cilantro, lime and a habenero served on the side. I passed on the habenero but added every thing else. The crab were tiny so the only meat worth working for was in the body.

Thanks @BonVivant Your user name is certainly accurate. You have taken me to places that I will likely never see - the beauty of virtual connections.

Lame loaf aesthetics? Sir, I aspire to make a loaf that looks like that. Too hot right now for me to bake bread (I don't get up at 3 am like AnnT does!) Once we get fall temps, I'll get back at it and will definitely put this one on my list. I am invisioning it with smoked salmon and cream cheese.

My husband has a lte afternoon dentist appointment so since dinner plans are up in the air, we went for brunch. We went to Tradewinds http://tradewindsbydimelopa.weebly.com/menu.html A michelada for me, iced coffee for my daughter, Coronoa for my husband. I had a scrambled egg and cheese burrito which I foolishly assumed would be smaller than a dinner burrito - it was not. I managed half. Husband had posole and our daughter had a BLT (she had the other half in her hand when I took the photo. Everything was great and once again, very reasonable.

Low key dinner tonight. My husband grilled some sausages, not the variety that we were hoping for but really good. I sauteed some onions and poblano peppers. Subbed pico de gallo for relish, a bit of dijon which was 6.50 Cdn for a jar that was 175ml. Served on bolillo. The sausages were labelled (in Spanish) picante pork. They were nicely seasoned and not picante at all.

My husband uses a pellet smoker all the time with no issues. Could it be the brand of pellets? He's sleeping right now but I will ask him in the morning what brand of pellets he buys.

I need to get a new paella pan. I used to make it fairly often but my pan didn't work when bought an induction stove top and it sort of fell off my radar. Yours looks perfect.

On our last trip to Chedraui - the nearest large grocery store, there was a big bin of tamarind pods and a lot of locals picking through them. I had thought that I would just buy the paste but will research what to do with the pods. Not sure they would pass through Customs, will have to check it out.

My husband left for the dentist at 1:30 and it is now 8:00 and no sign of him. My daughter's fiance had to go home today, daughter is staying for another week with us. She and I went and did some shopping in the kind of stores that the boys had no interest in, then stopped for a bite. Mango marg for me, strawberry marg for her. We split at shrimp quesadilla. I'm glad we shared it - I barely managed half. It was delicious but very rich with a lot of shrimp and a lot of cheese. Full moon view from our balcony is pretty tonight. ETA - sorry for the goofy pictures my phone and laptop still aren't getting along.

I'd like to give that a try. I still have my Mom's old meat grinder that clamps on the edge of the counter. I have been perusing the dried peppers here and plan to replenish my stock at home and then some. The only one I don't recall seeing was the cascabel. I just look it up and apparently it is also called chile bola, so I'll look for that.

It's likely the last day he will be able to, that was part of his decision.

Went back to the Nauti Burro as they have a locals jam session on Sunday. It was obvious that some of the people had played together before. It was very enjoyable, mainly classic rock. I had a tamarind margarita, husband had lime. I had shrimp ceviche, he had nachos. We've had the same waiter every time we've gone there and tonight he when we left he hugged me. A young guy from Cuba whose dream is to visit Canada.

I couldn't agree more. It is my favourite fish but like you, I don't buy it as often as I would like due to the cost. My husband used to fish on the west coast of the Island so we would have lots of halibut but lately with the ferry cost and gas for the boat - it certainly wouldn't ba any cheaper than buying it from the fish market!

I don't like lamb. There, I've said it. We raised sheep when I was a kid and to me lamb tastes like sheep smell. I've tried it over and over because everyone I know loves it, but it just doesn't work for me.

I find the portions surprisingly large here - perhaps they are following the lead of Canada and the States. Also I find rice and beans together very filling.

We have been eating but not a lot. Grazing has been the MO. It is quite hot, which we expected but the humidity is laying us low. We've been eating lots of mango and pineapple, cheese and crackers, avacado toast - that sort of thing. We will be going out for octopus at least onceI have also been having problems with my phone not syncing with my laptop so photos are a bit of a pain. We spent a long time in the Chedraui grocery store as it is air conditioned and I love perusing grocery stores that are not familar to me. I have never seen green sesame seeds for sale at home. The chicirones are bigger than my head, I was a bit leary of the pastor, but the cuts are on a slab of ice - just not too sure about the meat on the spit. We bought enough for a taste and if we suffer no ill effects from that, we'll get more. Bought a couple of kinds of sausage to grill and some poblanos and onions to go with. Unfortunately they didn't have the bright green cilantro sausage that I was looking for but there is a smaller grocery near by so I'll check there. Last night we went for a late dinner, I had a pastor burrito which was great but very filling.L

I'm going to pass your ideas along to my daughter. She is 5'6" and her fiance is 6'7". She works on the counter and he works on the island but says he wishes it were a couple of inches higher.

That looks fabulous! What are the green spheres? Tomatillos?

Tamarind is a new to me flavour. I know of it's existence but had never tasted it. The tamarind/chili/salt rim was a great foil to the sweet mango marg. I appreciated that the entire glass wasn't rimmed, as it allows one to not partake on every sip.

Well, the best laid plans...We have been eating but it has either been a spontaneous decision while out walking or really not picture worthy. Last night we went looking for somewhere for dinner. We found a great place but the table was outside and not very well lit for photos. Daughter's fiance and I had chicken caesars as we both felt the need for veggies. My daughter had a shrimp burrito which she said was really good. My husband, fresh from the dentist had Azteca Soup which was a spicy tomato base to which one could add diced avacado, cojita cheese, fried tortilla strips and crema, all served on the side. It was a good dinner. Another dental appointment today for my husband so I went out for breakfast which ended up to be a Funky Monkey smoothie; banana, peanut butter (almond butter was an option) and almond milk (regular milk was also an option.) It was delicious, not too sweet and very filling. However, it was a murky beige colour in a plastic cup so not very photogenic. Tonight we went to Happy Hour at the Nauti Burro for drinks and chips and pico de gallo and guac for snacks. I had a frozen mango margarita. The rim is tamarind and chilis and salt. I'll definitely pick up some tamarind. Dinner tonight is chicken and cheese quesadillas which will be made by my husband. Sliced avacados, mangos and tomatoes to go with. He is the king of cooking hot and fast but I've warned him. We shall see. It's a beautiful spot and I spent the morning on a hanging bed, reading poolside.

We also have access to this BBQ area. The two tables are pushed together in the photo as there was a big fiesta de familia there tonight. We are going to have a grilled sausage tasting for dinner one night soon. Various grilled sausage (each of the four of us will pick one kind) grilled peppers and onions... should be fun.

Husband came home with his entire lower impalnt removed, just the "steel studs" left. He does have all his upper teeth so can chew soft things. I made him a cheese and ham quesadilla for lunch and he managed fine with that. I made pico de gallo and cut up a really lucious pineapple. It looks brownish in the photo but it wasn't. I'm going to freeze half to make frozen pineapple jalapeno margaritas. Not sure what's for dinner, we are just tossing around ideas at the moment. The cilantro that I bought for the pico is so incredibly green and fresh and fragrant that if I could get it at home, I would buy bunches for bouquets in the kitchen. The kitchen here is great - huge and very well equipped. And sharp knives! Almost unheard of in Air BnB's in my experience.