I consider myself knowledgeable of Mexican and Italian cuisine as I have traveled to both countries a number of times and studied intently. With frequent exposure I am fairly well versed in French, Middle Eastern, Greek, Vietnamese and Thai cuisine as well. I have taken a cooking class to learn how to make samosas but other than that, I cannot claim to be an expert in East Indian cuisine and yet I love its complex tastes and flavours.

I have sampled the excellent dishes at Charisma of India on a number of occasions but have never had an opportunity to enjoy their lunch buffet overflowing with authentic items from the north of India. On this day the selections were: butter chicken, goat curry, tandori chicken, spicy chicken, vegetable korma, palak paneer (pureed spinach), bhindi masala (spicy okra), channa masala (spicy chickpeas), aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower), vegetable samosa, vegetable pakora (vegetable fritter), vegetable biryani (vegetable rice) and another five items that I did not make note of.

Mitesh Trivedi the sole owner/operator of Charisma of India knows that naan (flat bread) doesn’t hold well on a buffet so he has his kitchen make it fresh and his staff delivers it right to your table.  We appreciated it so that we good lap up the soft vegetables and sauces on our plates. All the sampled dishes were so tasty, that is, based on my limited appreciation of complex Indian spices.

Mr. Trivedi was trained as a civil engineer in his native land and after he garnered other restaurant experience here in Winnipeg, he opened this lushly decorated one in 2007. He had studied the neighbourhood and knew that many vegetarians resided within walking distance. Although Butter Chicken is my personal favourite, Indian cuisine was ahead of the curve with its veggie-centric fare.

Kath’s quote: “This curry was like a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that I’d once heard…..especially the last movement, with everything screaming and banging ‘Joy.’ It stunned, it made one fear great art. My father could say nothing after the meal.”-Anthony Burgess

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

The morning produced a long-lasting sunrise and glorious sky.

This was what the sky looked like as the sun rose higher. When the rays stream through the clouds like this we call them “God clouds”. D went into town for the newspaper and freshly squeezed orange juice from our favourite market stall.

When he returned we had breakfast of yogurt around the pool.

I decided to go shelling right out in front of Luna d’ Miel

and once again was pleased with my haul.

One of the many things we appreciate about staying at Luna d’ Miel is the simple yet convenient kitchenette. Why are my cupboards at home overflowing with “stuff” when all we need when we are on the island is this and a couple of small appliances?

We eat most of our simple meals out by the ocean but the “apartment” unit at Luna also has this glass dining room table. These flowers were lying on the sidewalk at the house next door so I snipped them for us to enjoy instead of being trampled upon.

The reason that we wanted to stay close to home was that friends from Winnipeg (whom we bumped into in the airport waiting area), had considered coming over from Puerto Moreles that day. The little rain storm of the morning made their decision a hard one to make. Eventually though the skies cleared, so we wandered into town to  meet them off the ferry.

We love hanging out at the ferry arrival area. It makes us feel like we live on the island permanently. But it is thirsty work so we ventured across the street to “wet our whistles”. While there, we ran into Victoria and Don. He was borrowing D’s snorkel equipment to use along the area by the Avalon bridge.

Victoria thought that I might like this conch shell that she had dug up on the little beach just south of the Naval Base. I loved everything about it except the potential extra weight in my luggage and adherence to the rule that conch shells are not to be transported out of Mexico (or is the rule that they can’t be taken into Canada?), does anyone know for sure?

Once our guests arrived, we walked Playa Norte to Fenix where we shared some small plates and called it “lunch”.

The live music made it a bit difficult to visit.

But we did enjoy it when this young one got up the gumption to serenade us.

Kath’s quote: “Win new friends but keep the old. The first are silver; the latter gold.”-author unknown

Love-that is all.

At 1100 Waverley St., Chrystal Bay Chinese Restaurant is right smack in the middle of a bustling business/industrial zone. There are very few options in this particular area of Waverley and McGillivray. With winter driving conditions upon us, it is handy to know where you can purchase an affordable lunch without having to traverse too far.

Once dubbed the Crystal Bay Steakhouse, I understand that they served half steakhouse fare and half Chinese cuisine. As their Chinese menu became increasingly popular they did away with the steakhouse options.

On the day that we visited for lunch, the place was full of hungry lunchers with some solo guests sitting all at one long communal table. Whenever a restaurant is offering the choice to order off of the menu or a buffet, it is a good idea to look around and check out what other diners are doing. In this case, everyone was going up to the buffet so we followed suit.

The busier a buffet restaurant is, the better, as it means that food has to be continuously prepared and put into the holding table, ensuring the freshness of the product. An unusual feature of this buffet is that you could choose to have it “to go”, with a proviso that you limited the inclusion of their tasty chicken wings to 10, which is very generous because the entire buffet only costs $8.95.

Also included at the buffet table was a law horn vegetarian dish, Cantonese lo mein, dry fried mushrooms, black pepper with pork, salt and pepper pork chop, dry breaded veal, fried rice, stir fried broccoli, spring rolls AND a choice of soup.

No wonder everyone goes for the buffet! I personally favour a greater variety of stir-fried items than deep-fried ones, but the tables sitting around us had their plates heaped with the sizzled items. I stuck to the tasty law horn vegetables and the Cantonese lo mein and certainly got my monies’ worth.

Kath’s quote: “To the ruler, the people are heaven; to the people, food is heaven.”-(ancient Chinese proverb)

Love-that is all.

In spite of the fact that I have been to Brisas Grill many, many times over the years and absolutely love the food, I can never get its corrrect name into my head. Case in point: we were assembling there for sunset and a fresh seafood feed before friends returned to Canada the next morning. Brother #3 and my sis-in-law hailed a cab and headed to what once was Brisas Caribe in Colonias because of my confusion. It makes sense to me that since “Brisas” is right in the sand at the water’s edge, it would make reference to the Caribean Sea. In addition to the fact that I have never seen a “grill” at the restaurant. But I was just plain old wrong and had to apologize profusely to my sibling for my error.

Unfortunately they missed the beautiful sunset because of me. I had hoped that their dinner would make up for it.

And it did-commencing with Brisas’ lovely grilled flat bread, a basket of which is delivered to every dining table.

Brother #3 ordered the shrimp pasta

and my sis-in-law fettucine carbonara. Both were well pleased.

Don chose the fresh grouper

and Victoria something that I cannot recall the name of. They too were very happy with their selections.

D and I have tasted frutti di mare pizza and linquine on a couple of sojourns to Italy and we often declare that Brisas Grill’s version is up there with the best of them. When we order the frutti di mare linquine, we choose their white version which is concocted of white wine, butter and a white stock. Often the stock is chicken and sometimes it is too salty but this is a comment catagorized as a wee complaint. We often order both the pizza and linquine and split them between us and as is often the case, we have plenty to take home for a left over lunch the next day.

Kath’s quote: “I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.” – W.C. Fields

Live simly, laugh often, love deeply.

As our busy family was growing up, D and I took regular time away which we called our “marriage” time. Sometimes it would be for a week away to somewhere warm, other times a weekend in Toronto or Minneapolis but more often than not, it was for an overnight at a Winnipeg hotel. I think that this is a great way to do two things: strengthen your marriage (at 31 years, ours is stronger than ever) AND get a chance to see your home-town with the eyes of a visitor.

D was recently asked to be the master of ceremonies for his company’s holiday event which took place at the Winnipeg landmark Hotel Fort Garry.

D had to be at the hotel for a dress rehearsal and so we were able to check in early. While he was busy, I ordered a pot of freshly brewed coffee from room-service. The hotel doesn’t provide the typical little coffee pots in the room and so the solution for coffee lovers is to provide a complimentary pot delivered to your door. On the tray were a couple of individually wrapped biscotti. A lovely treat.

I also grabbed my camera and walked through the hotel. It may sound strange, but it is just what a tourist might do and remember I was a tourist, if only for a day.

I love the little mezzanines in the hotel that give you a birds-eye view of the rooms below.

On the seventh floor, is this exquisite salon where I cozied in to have a little read.

That evening, the hotel put on an amazing dinner for all of the corporate guests. They carved turkey, beef and pork loin which were hot, moist and tender but the real highlight were the vegetables and accompaniments: wild rice, roasted potatoes, whole roasted carrots, brussel sprouts, green beans and spaghetti squash in a mornay sauce. One person seated at our table went up for more of the latter while everyone else moved onto to dessert.

When I made arrangements for that early check in, there was a prompt on the hotel’s answering machine for Brunch reservations. We had heard that the famous brunch that the hotel prepared every Sunday was no longer, but for a moment we held onto the hope that it had not been retired. Sure enough, the sweeping and grand buffet was no longer available but we were offered a special price on the abbreviated Brunch that they served each morning in their breakfast room.

We were shown a table by a lovely deep-silled window and made our way to the omelette station.

Mine was chock full of seafood, asparagus, kale and cheese and I could not have been more content. When the server sees you sit down with your plate she orders up hot toast made from their on-premise artisan bakery. Truth is, we didn’t miss a single item that was once served from their enormous grand buffet costing considerably more than their modestly priced brunch.

Now that’s how you offer up fruit preserves with a breakfast!

The hotel does this and so many little things so cleverly: providing high end shampoo etc. in large dispensers affixed to the walls of the bath and shower, the coffee mentioned above and a trio of gourmet jams and marmalade. Not only does this save the hotel money, it reduces packaging and trash and the highest quality products are provided to the guest. And I wouldn’t have known any of this, had I not been a tourist in my own city.

Kath’s quote: “A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one’s husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.”-
Anne Spencer Morrow Lindbergh

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.