Sunday, February 15 -- back in the groove

fluffy morning clouds

We all slept well, and awoke to a beautiful day with fluffy clouds and pleasant temperatures.  We'd made our reservations a bit later than usual, and wound up with a room facing the mountains rather than an ocean view.  We might put in a bid to change that if a suitable suite opens up, but the change is not unpleasant.

Our breakfast task was to enjoy the last Stollen of the holiday season, and we accomplished that efficiently with no complaints.  Our roses had fit nicely into an empty wine bottle, and we were thrilled that they stayed straight and healthy despite their sojourn on our dinner table last night.

We'd gotten all the produce soaked in the sanitizing solution yesterday, so today I planned to get a good deal of prep completed to make the next few days' menus easy to execute.  And a good thing that idea was, as the dining room table was still overrun with vegetables!

Mexican Rice Supper

Tonight we'll enjoy a "Mexican Rice Supper" with rice simmered in a fresh salsa and enough broth, spiked with chorizo and flanked by the fabulous pickled red onions we so enjoyed last year.  Meanwhile, I've simmered/cleaned/pulled apart the pork chunks for Pork Tinga tomorrow, we'll start with a jicama salad appetizer and have some refried beans beside the pork.


Finally, poached chicken breasts for a chicken with green pepita sauce for dinner Tuesday; we'll have pork tacos using some of the leftover Tinga for lunch.  No one's going home hungry!



Now that we're somewhat settled, we will be looking over the tour opportunities and making plans to re-visit some favorite places from last year ... a fabulous handcrafts shop, a cafe in the old town and a fish place with ingredients so fresh they almost seem to still be moving.  It's Carneval here, so we're a little inclined to avoid the Big Dance ... last year we were coming home from a sunset cruise and getting through downtown was an adventure.  Lots of energy and, of course, lots of boozed-up celebrants.  Fun to experience once, say I   :)



Meanwhile, we got a smile when we found our first Towel Origami of the visit, peeking out of the bathroom sink.  No eggs were laid by this fine feathered friend.