Mexican Cooking Class, in Mexico

I just returned from vacation with dear girl friends. I rarely return to the same vacation destination - there are just so many amazing places to see on God's green earth. But occasionally, a place just needs to be revisited, and for me, one of those places is Zihuatanejo, Mexico. I have been many places in Mexico, but this little fishing town is different.

Set on a beautiful bay, with sloping tropical hills rising straight up from azure waters, there are stunning views at every turn. Even simple hotels like this one, offer bay views from every room. The little town is quaint and feels lived in by locals, not just tourists. Strangely, this is actually very different from many other popular Mexican destinations, which often feel like nothing but shop after shop full of tacky souvenirs. The streets and the central market are filled with locals, shopping for the food and wares that will sustain them through the day. It is a real part of their everyday life and it is where our Mexican cooking class started, with chef Freddie as a willing tour guide.


We wandered through the fish stalls selecting from that days catch. Mahi mahi, giant prawns and red snapper made the cut. Then, off to the vegetable stalls for avocados, fresh peppers, tomatoes, herbs and more. From one of the many little food stands, I had the best tortilla of my life. It was wrapped around an unknown but delicious braised meat. The tortilla was ridiculous - so tender and soft. That tortilla was as soft as a babies bottom, that's what it was.

Back at The Tides hotel, the cooking class was set up on the beach. A cauldron grill for cooking, mocahetes for salsa and guacamole and a lovely table set on the beach where we'd sit down to our meal once we finished cooking.


The menu started with fire-roasted salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo, all incredibly fresh and flavorful. Then as we munched away at these dipping delights Freddie filleted the red snapper, we peeled the prawns and sliced mahi mahi for Tiritas. The latter is a signature local dish; thinly sliced FRESH white fish, lime juice, cilantro and red onion and the wonderful local sea salt (of which I got an 2 lb bag for 50 cents at the market!). The citrus juices cook the fish quickly. Freddie sauteed the prawns with heaps of garlic, olive oil and thinly sliced dried guahillo pepper and finally made an incredible adobo sauce to slather on the grilled red snapper.


The resulting meal was so vibrant and delicious. How could something NOT taste amazing when composed with our very own hands of perfectly fresh ingredients, not to mention the sand between our toes, the waves lapping 10 yards away and cold local beers in our hands. What a way to experience a cuisine. What a good day.

Cinnamon Roll Quest

Zack loves cinnamon rolls. He really loves cinnamon anything, but cinnamon rolls sit on a special pedestal in his pastry worldview. A fun thing to do on a Saturday morning is to go in search of a good one, a kind of rolly quest. We have yet to find a really awesome one in Seattle because he has particular standards. He likes a classic cinnamon roll, the one with the buttery white glaze and no "fillers" which are what he calls nuts and raisins. These are surprisingly hard to find out side of Cinnabon, which is totally unacceptable and just over-the-top sticky sweet.


Yesterday, we were sitting at lunch and thinking about what to do next. It's a really huge week for him and the team at The City so we decided that baking something extra nifty was in order. He immediately suggested cinnamon rolls. Not just cinnamon rolls, but rather, miniature cinnamon rolls. "Miniature" I asked? "Yes", he said, "miniature is key." He is very funny sometimes.

Home we went to get baking. The thing is, though Zack loves these gooey treats, I've baked them only 1-2 times in five years of marriage. I certainly bake many things, but for some reason, I have always considered the cinnamon roll something we should go out and find, not something I would make myself. This, as I type it, is ridiculous. I think this happens a lot in my kitchen. There are many things I am comfortable with and will make or even stretch myself to attempt, but some things seem out of bounds. I'll make any kind of bread, dessert, Italian or French dish, no matter how challenging its supposed to be, but I've never endeavored to make my own Chinese food, for instance. It always seems like something I need to buy, not something I can make myself. It's a weird culinary cage I put myself in. Maybe you can relate? But I digress...


Anyway, we made miniature cinnamon rolls. First, I searched all my favorite blogs to no avail but ended up finding a recipe that looked promising on www.epicurious.com Like I said, Zack is a purist, no added nuts or fruit in his rolls! Just perfect dough, butter, cinnamon, and sugar filling and icing. Not hard cracky icing, something smooth and creamy. I consider these rolls a good first try. The dough itself was actually wonderful. The filling, according to Zack, needed more cinnamon and texture. We've decided to continue to work on this recipe in a quest for perfection. I'll post the recipe as Zack's Ultimate Cinnamon Rolls once we've gotten there.


Meanwhile, these little treats were delightful and I'm told caused an impromptu staff meeting around the coffee pot today.

Meeting Agenda: Demolish contents of two pans of miniature cinnamon rolls.
Meeting Notes: Task accomplished in record time.