MaryIsobel

Wasn't terribly inspired tonight and still adjusting to our exhorbitant produce prices, so "egg roll in a bowl" with a scoop of brown rice. It filled the void and wasn't terrible. How's that for a glowing reccomendation?

I too make individual pavlovas - they do last a while. More often, I scramble them and give them to our dog as a special breakfast..

The dental work was absolutely fantastic. My husband is super happy with his new smile and ability to chew. The only restriction is no nuts for anything too sticky for the next 4 months. All the staff were truly lovely people and they even gave us a (1 hour) ride to the airport!

My posts kind of fizzled out due to a loss of wifi and ongoing dental work. We still enjoyed our holiday but due to the large amount of dental work, we did not eat like we usually do on holiday. We are home to the cold and damp today after a very long travel day yesterday. Yesterday was crappy, overpriced airport food, not picture worthy. It is good to be home and in our own bed and we are having soup from the freezer tonight. We'll be going back in 6 months to a year for my husband's permanent bottom implants. Think we'll stay in Puerto Aventuras for that trip.

I've used puttanseca for a variety of proteins because we both really like the flavour. It goes really well with a lot of things other than pasta.

On my own for lunch today, trying to use up some bits and bobs. A tostada with refried black beans, avacodo, tomato, some manchego cheese and a tomatillo salsa. Some sweet and delicious watermelon and equally sweet and delicious pineapple.

My husband had a late dentist appointment yesterday so I had dinner with our non-Mexican-food friend. I had grilled chicken skewers. Must have been grilled over wood - it was really tasty. Our friend insisted on paying so I helped out by asking if he really meant to leave a $40.00 tip on a 35.00 bill😆. Got that sorted. We usually have breakfast at home but my husband was ravenous this morning so we went across the street to Papa Charly's. Cheese omlette with potatoes, beans and a fruit cup for him and pancakes, bacon, a fruit cup and a mocha for me.

That looks really scrumptious. I haven't bought a magazine in years but my Mom had a subscription to Chatelaine (and Good Housekeeping) for many years and they did have some good recipes.

Looks fabulous. My go to recipe for butter chicken.

A friend of my husband arrived in Playa del Carmen last night. He is down here for 2 months but is not a fan of Mexican food🤨. We had lunch together today at Fuego Santo. I had a HUGE grilled chicken sandwich, it was great and I brought half home. Gave my husband the fries. Our friend had a hamburger and the Toothless One had spinach and ricotta ravioli with a rose sauce. Everyone was happy. Hopefully my husband's appointment tomorrow will give him back his ability to chew.

We went back to the food park truck tonight as there is a fried chicken truck, run by a woman from the southern US, which offers mac & cheese which the Toothless One thought he could manage, as his mouth is a bit swollen and sore today. It was amazing. The mac and cheese was so rich and cheesy, I could only eat half of the small (1 cup or so) portion. Husband gladly polished off the rest. The fried chicken was the best I've ever had. I'm not a connoisseurby any means; fried chicken is not a big thing in the Pacific Northwest. My mother never made it, I've never made it so my experience is limited to KFC et al and more recently Popeyes. It had a very thin, very crispy coating and was perfectly seasoned. I had a breast and it was moist and juicy. The woman's name is B (https://www.tripadvisor.com.mx/Restaurant_Review-g150812-d24177990-Reviews-B_s_Frito_Pollo-Playa_del_Carmen_Yucatan_Peninsula.html) and I predict great things for her should she choose to expand her business.

Much better dinner tonight at Buzo - https://buzos-restaurant-bar.negocio.site/ Lime marg for husband and a passion fruit marg for me. Chips and two salsas when we sat down and a small cup of seafood broth on the house. Seafood broth was delicious; well spiced but not terribly hot. Husband had "medallion" of red snapper. We would call it a steak. Our waiter spoke English so we were able to convey the information that husband didn't want too spicy and it wasn't, but very flavouful. I had the coconut shrimp, perfectly cooked, crispy and not over done. The sauce was mango with a tiny bit of heat. Worth a second visit for sure.

Just got home from our worst meal to date. We chose the place because it had great reviews on Trip Advisor, was steps from our lodging; it has been pouring rain most of the day and they had fish and chips which my husband felt he could manage. (He is not supposed to have anything crunchy or chewy or spicy or fibrous for the time being.) All the reviews raved about the empanadas there, so I ordered a chicken one and a Caesar salad. Empanada was pale, not the least bit crispy and was dripping oil. I ate the filling. My caesar salad was warmer than room temperature and had chicken in it which was not mentioned on the menu. I was kind of afraid to eat it so I just ate the croutons. Husbands chips were good but the fish must have been fried in the same not-hot-enough oil as my empanada and had no discernible seasoning. He was starving so he ate it. I will be leaving my own review! Fortunately I bought ice cream yesterday so we're about to have chocolate ice cream with a sliced banana. (No pictures because I forgot my phone.) Edited to add: The restaurant was called Cafe Orange and after a few minutes of arriving, we were the only people in the restaurant.

Dinner tonight was supposed to be soup but my husband kept saying "more pasta" so it is basically a very brothy pasta. I wanted to chop carrots in very fine dice but the knives available to me would have made that an arduous task. I used the old trick of doing them in the blender with a bit of water then draining. The broth was very concentrated but flavouful. I did chop some celery leaves very finely. It was good, if a bit unusal, neither soup nor pasta but it hit the spot and husband is satiated yet again.

This restaurant is very big on smears sprinkled with green stuff. No plates were licked at our table.

There are plenty of egg here in Playa del Carmen. I just bought a dozen large eggs "libre de juala" - cage free for 38 pesos which is about 2.70 Canadian or 2.02 US.

Back to Papa Charly's last night. We were served a basket of bread with our drinks. Corona for my husband and a vodka tonic for me. The bread was accompanied by a thin pesto type sauce which was very cilantro forward with a fair amount of heat, it was addictive. Fetuccine carbonara for my husband, gnocchi puttanesca for me. Husband devoured his, I took half of mine home. The carbonara was made with bacon but very tasty. My gnocchi were light and fluffy and the sauce was spot on. We shared the flan for dessert which was accompanied by a dish of dolche de leche. The flan itself was not overly sweet and was perfect with the dolche de leche. Another several hours of dental work today so while he is gone I will make the chicken soup that I made the stock for the other day.

Last night was rather mundane but suitable for dental work. My husband felt the need for "more than soup." Thankfully I had bought a package of Knorr Swiss Mac & Cheese. It is different than KD in that you cook it in 2.5 cups of water, then add butter and milk. I also added some extra cheese and I had pico de gallo with mine. It satiated us and actually, I liked it better than the KD of my memory and it wasn't fluorescent orange. Tonight we are going to go across the street to Papa Charly's again, as my husband feels that pasta is about the most he can do chewing-wise. One of the things in his post-procedure instructions was "no spicy food." I intend to get my Mexican fix at lunch tomorrow while he is at his next dental appointment.

Oh, that I have seen - I didn't realize that it is the same thing. Thanks

I don't recall seeing side pork anywhere. Do you buy it at a chain grocer or a butcher?

Thanks Shelby - lots of good ideas. I wonder if I can pull off rissotto here. I didn't take a close look at the rice section, but I will tomorrow.

Thank you. His bottom teeth will be replaced by a one piece implant. A temporary one for now. They said he could come back for the permanent one in 6 months but that would have put us in Mexico in July/August. Not ideal. He asked if we could postpone until the fall and they said that would be fine, so that's the plan. He is also getting his upper teeth capped. His teeth just started to disintegrate. He is a terrible grinder which is a contributing factor.

Here is my "stockpot" with a banana for scale. It will certainly be a concentrated broth, not a bad thing at all. I also bought the Caldo de tomate con condiments which translates to Tomato Flavor Bouillon with Seasonings. Not sure if I will need it. Once the broth is strained, I will add finely diced carrots and cook them to mush and eventually the pastina. Hopefully this will provide the old boy with some sustanence without chewing. I dont think he will feel like eating anything tonight so will likely just let the broth simmer away for the rest of the day and finish it off when he feels like eating.

The mustache is certainly similar!

You and me both! He had a Rx for pain killers filled. When I sent the name of it to my RN daughter, she said it is basically like very strong Advil but it works well for pain. Fingers crossed.