D and I are empty nesters for a couple of weeks while Daughter #2 is in Nicaragua on a study trip with the Canada Food Grains Bank.  She is not much of a meat eater.  So, when we don’t have to take her preferences into consideration, we have meat, primarily beef at most evening meals.  Our favourite treat to have with a steak is a fleshy/steamy baked potato with the “works”, as we learned to write it on our orders, when we both worked at The Keg Restaurant.  The “works” means both butter and sour cream and chopped green onions and real pieces of bacon.  Mushrooms are another favourite to have with a steak.  I saute slices in a hot skillet with butter and garlic.

This week though, I changed things up a bit and seared a couple of thin New York steaks and then sliced them up to have over a salad of mixed micro greens with a fig and balsamic dressing.  I found that corn on the cob is now in at Sobey’s so I steamed up a couple of cobs and placed a loaf of bread into the oven to bake.  I typically make my own dough in a break-maker, but I recently found frozen bread dough (also at Sobey’s) that I used to buy, before I received my bread machine.  It is the easiest thing in the world to place a frozen loaf under a tea towel on a prepared pan and throw it into the oven at the last minute.  And what a treat-bread so hot that the butter just disappeared into its pores!

The steaks this week were the excuse I needed to try Earl’s Signature Steak Wet Rub that I received as a gift when I could not attend the preview of their spring menu event.  The rub is made with olive oil, soya, garlic, lemon juice, porcini mushrooms and cayenne pepper. To this, roughly chopped fresh basil, rosemary and parsley is added.  The wet rub tenderized our steaks and added such a depth of flavours.  I had never enjoyed the taste of lemon on beef before-brilliant.

Of course the only archived steak photo that I have, depicts it smothered in barbeque sauce….

D started his career behind the broiler bar at The Keg and prepares a perfect steak.  We are typically purists and only season a steak with Montreal Steak Spice which we enjoy on a variety of foods as well.  I think that the exact ingredients are a closely guarded secret but our best guess is that it contains (in addition to coarse salt and pepper and dehydrated onion and garlic), paprika, crushed red pepper, caraway, dill and coriander seeds and perhaps some mustard.

With D’s flare (no pun intended) for steaks, he often pulls out all the stops for celebrations like birthday dinners.  I recall one year when he offered up two choices of “toppers”.  One was sauteed garlic shrimp and Bearnaise sauce and the other was a balsamic tomato salsa and goat cheese.  Both were divine and it was impossible to choose between the two, so most of us had a nibble of each.

It has been a very long winter on the Canadian prairies but spring has finally arrived.  D has his special tongs polished up and the barbeque has been moved into position.  Let the grilling season begin!

Kath’s quote: “It is a very beautiful day. The woman looks around and thinks: ‘there cannot ever have been a spring more beautiful than this. I did not know until now that clouds could be like this. I did not know that the sky is the sea and that clouds are the souls of happy ships, sunk long ago. I did not know that the wind could be tender, like hands as they caress – what did I know – until now?” – Unica Zürn

Love-that is all.

D and I do not do the “brunch” thing very often for two reasons:

1) we usually have the house to ourselves on Saturday morning and we like to schlep around in our jammies and drink coffee and read the paper (the real physical newspaper, printed on newsprint) and while the morning away.  The first one that gets motivated to check emails or unload the dishwasher is a dirty rat because they have changed the mood and the other invariably feels guilty and joins in.

2) we attend our neighbourhood church every Sunday morning.  I suppose we could go out to eat afterwards (many people that we know, do) but we typically know what we want to prepare about half way through the sermon.  I find that eggs are the easy ingredient to whip up quickly and taste like you went to an awful lot of trouble.  The more cheese, butter and bacon (!) that you add to them, the better the whole brunch experience becomes.

This past Saturday, we broke with tradition and stopped in at a family owned place that we heard does a good job with serving up old school, “tastes just like home” cooking.  The décor is a bit on the “old-school” side as well and not in a funky/retro way, but in a “we haven’t had to reno since we opened in the 1980’s” kind of way.

D chose a “Skillet” because he likes to eat right from the frying-pan on an ongoing basis.  His eggs, peppers and cheese were a gooey concoction served over home fried potatoes.  Like I said above, pretty hard to get it wrong.

I, on the other hand, being more sophisticated and refined than my husband, selected a two-egg omelet and added diced smoked ham and mushrooms.  Truth is, I ordered from the Senior’s Menu and they believe that if you are over 55 you prefer smaller portions, which I do, in fact.  So my brunch was a great deal and just the right quantity to boot.

I can see why this place is popular with the locals.  Friendly waitresses walk through the room constantly to inquire “How ya doin Hon?” and pour a continuous stream of coffee.  We met the owner at the door.  He loves his business and taking care of his friends and neighbours.  I guess that is what serving up comfort food is all about.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall at 35 Lakewood Blvd.  It is the kind of place that Moms and families are comfortable at.  The kids can make a ruckus and no one would mind.  Might be a good spot to go for Mother’s Day if you live in the south end of Winnipeg.

Kath’s quote: “Be content that those who can make omelets properly can do nothing else.”-
Hilaire Belloc

Love-that is all.

We are into our Isla routine of waking up with the sun.  We are rewarded over and over again with incredible colours and play of light and water.

We spent a lovely morning on the Caribe side of our little room and the delightful street patio.

D is really content this year to just stay put in the mornings.  I did some beach-combing while D read and sunned in the hammock.  He is learning how to truly relax and lap up the pleasures that the island has to offer.

In the late morning, we walked to the north Colonias to explore together. As much as I love Centro, the “neighbourhoods” offer a charm all their own.

And the people are just as gorgeous as the brightly coloured buildings.

I spot a place that I absolutely cannot resist capturing with my camera.  It has a familiar feel and then I realize that it is Lolo Lorena’s.  I have dined there only once and it was dark when I arrived and so I did not recognize it in the brilliant sunshine.

Lorena is across the street from a house where a person creates shell hangings that are illuminated.  I got a gorgeous one for our gazebo back home.  At $30 for a work of art, I was thrilled.

We found this little place for lunch only to find that they weren’t yet serving lunch.  We always seem to want to eat earlier than islanders.

So we stopped  (for our very first visit) at Iguana’s at Marina Pariso.  You might say that Iguana’s is appropriately named.   The lunch area is a shady spot under a canopy of leaves with beautiful lanterns adorning the boughs.

We shared lunch of fish and chips (fabulous fried fish and ok fries) and a simple but absolutely delicious onion and potato omelet.

With 2 icy cold coronas to wash it down and a beautiful setting, it was a great lunch.

We strolled down to the marina before winding our way back through the Colonias and our way home.

We actually wore ourselves out with the long walk home, so we had to rest up before we ventured out for the evening.

Kath’s quote: “Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired.” -Jules Renard

Love-that is all.

You know that friend? Talking to them makes you feel like you just put on your favorite, cozy, old cardigan sweater. Well this was a night out with THAT friend.  And stepping into Deer + Almond felt equally as comfortable and familiar, even though it was my first visit.  The atmosphere is casual, yet funky enough to be special. The service was attentive but left my friend and I lots of room for our intense conversation. And the food, well, let me tell you about the food!

The fixed menu is on the small side, something that I appreciate as I have a tough time narrowing down my selection.  I also prefer to see a restaurant do less, but do it really well. There are also a number of featured items that are not on the menu.  This coincides with chef owner Mandel Hitzer’s philosophy of serving local, fresh food.  The menu is made up of small plates, meant for sharing.  My very favorite way to eat!

We started out with the arancini. Yummy little balls of risotto, breaded and deep fried, served on a pool of perfect tomato sauce.  You can tell a lot about a chef by how tasty their tomato sauce is.

Next were the yams.  They were grilled with fresh springs of thyme, drizzled with balsamic and topped with creamy little blobs of chevre.

On to the sultry prawns! Nice juicy prawns with olives, capers, tomatoes and cilantro on a delicious sauce, so good!

The featured flatbread, pizza really, was fantastic; crispy bacon, shrimp, feta and arugula on a crisp crust with more of their perfect tomato sauce.

We were celebrating my friend’s birthday, so we just had to indulge in dessert to end the evening. There were a few options to select from and we settled on the peanut butter ice cream, served with chocolate mousse and a caramel sauce.  What can I say, it was the perfect evening.

Kath’s quote: “If you don’t mind smelling like peanut butter for two or three days, peanut butter is darn good shaving cream.”-Barry Goldwater

Love-that is all.

The truth is, I truly can’t decide which is my favourite destination between Italy and Mexico and the food is the reason why.  How do you choose between the fresh sparkling taste of cilantro when paired with chilies, tomatoes and freshly squeezed lime and the earthy tones of rosemary, garlic and red wine which transforms a tomato into something else, indeed?  Thankfully, now a days, the world is truly our oyster, so why do I just have to have one favourite?

The first time I set foot on Isla Mujeres, I knew that the little island would always be a part of my life.  We have already booked a villa on the sea for the 2014 season, when we take the entire family including “Baby”, who will be born this summer.  Getting to Mexico can be fairly affordable, if you plan carefully and start researching airfares in advance.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you choose to travel at the last minute, there are often some tremendous deals.  But, we don’t roll that way.  My readers know that the anticipation of a trip for me, is often as satisfying as the trip itself.

Italy and the rest of Europe is a special treat.  We reserve overseas travel for significant birthdays and anniversaries.  With the exception of this fall, when we are taking time in October so that I can lead a blogging workshop in Tuscany.  The vacation package includes tutelage in the kitchen by Chef Enrico, whose ancient restored estate is where the participants will reside.  That is, when we are not touring the cities and towns of Tuscany or foraging for truffles in its forests.

But in the mean time, here is a more immediate reward.  If you are interested in one of four $100. Sobey’s gift cards, create and then share your own Sobeys West Pinboard.  Copy and paste your board  URL(s) in the comments section below. How the contest works: Anyone who creates a pinboard and repins 4 pins from http://pinterest.com/sobeys, using the keyword SobeysWest, is entered to win!  You have to reside in Manitoba and west to do so.

Here’s a link to my own pinboard: http://pinterest.com/foodmusings/dream-destinations-mexico-or-italy/

So, make a cuppa tea.  Sit back and let’s dream of where we want to travel next….happy pinning!

Kath’s quote: “We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There  is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes  open.” – Jawaharial  Nehru

Love-that is all.