My culinary memories of summers at Grand Beach include waiting for the bakery door to open to purchase just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns or tasting gravy served on French fries for my very first time, at a bright orange wooden stand called Jo-Anne’s.  Perhaps Lanky’s was the place that you loved or maybe a little place that was fittingly called the Blueberry Patch.  As we vacation in the Grand Beach area every summer and have done so for decades, we have seen many places come and go.  Our favourite in recent years is a place called Ty’s Café at the Sandbar Motor Hotel.  We’ve enjoyed their Friday night Steak Dinner features and their hearty breakfast skillets.  There was a time when they would feature all-you-can-eat pickerel and fries but had to put a kybosh on that when it became enormously popular.  Now the only pickerel appearance is their fish sandwich at lunch time.

We found ourselves seeking out a cool refuge on what turned out to be the hottest day of the summer.  Good thing J2 and I were overheating and hungry too.

She ordered a colossal burger dubbed the Big Kahuna when she spied that it was garnished with grilled pineapple and back bacon.

I lost my head and selected the Meat-Lovers.

What was I thinking? Mine was topped with no less than ham, bacon and sausage!  Needless to say, I could only make my way through a small potion.  These were burgers like you might see on a Food Network show.  You know the kind where the host can hardly fit his mouth around it.  Maybe you thought that burgers this size were an exaggeration.  I am here to say, they are not.  It took an enormous effort to squish mine down to biting size.

Perhaps my appetite for a gigantic burger was negated by the heat and sun. In truth, it was because I had started to nibble on a “few” of the hand-cut shoe string French fries and low and behold, the fries were gone before I even attempted my first bite of burger.

Years from now, when I reminisce about the summer of 2013, I will remember Ty’s two-fisted burgers eaten in that blessed air-conditioned café.

Kath’s quote: “I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of food.”-Erma Bombeck

Love-that is all.

We opted to keep our golf cart for another day.  This gave D an excuse to hop into the cart and go and scare up some breakfast.

He found the juice man and then made his way to Café Aluxe.  D had met the baker the night before at Limon’s.  He had spent the entire long day previous baking and by the time D got there, he was almost sold out.  We did manage to get a couple of wedges of coconut-encrusted banana bread which was packed with flavour and beautifully moist.

We decided to check out Da Luisa at Casa Louis Ixchel.  We were considering the restaurant for the progressive dinner we were planning for the following evening.  Our son and daughter-in-law had celebrated their wedding anniversary there and thought that we might like it as well.  We were encouraged to look around and thought that it was a gorgeous spot.

After toodling around for the morning, we came upon Oscars Grill and we had built up a hunger and a thirst.  D opted for the shrimp tacos and I a fish sandwich.  Both were pretty good but the truth is, we had eaten so much amazing food over the two weeks, that we were quite used to pretty good.

We think that we might have happened upon the Oscar of Oscar’s.  Can anyone verify this?

I dropped D off at Little Garrafon for an afternoon of snorkeling as I spent the time shelling, shopping, writing and reading.  At happy hour, I met up with the gang at Casa de los Suenos.  After visiting the island once or twice a year since 2006, this is another place that I had never been.  We were delighted with the atmosphere and the décor of the open bar.  

But it was pretty obvious what we were there for….the food!

We ordered and shared tastes of a variety of their offerings including: Tortilla soup,

Chiles Relleno,

Chicken Nachos,

Fish Tacos,

Crab Cakes,

Calamari,

and Caesar Salad.

We were serenaded

and then treated to another stunning sunset.

Our happy hour treats turned out to be our supper and so we whiled away the evening with a whole lot of nothing which is exactly what we love to do on Isla.

Later that evening though, we were getting a little bit peckish and realized that we had not indulged in desert yet so we hopped back onto the cart and headed into Centro.  We knew exactly what we wanted and who would be serving it.

We have a number of local Isla friends that we miss when we don’t get to see them and we had not yet run into our friend Jose until earlier that day.  We had whizzed by him on our golf cart when we heard a shout “Hola! My friends!”.  We turned the cart around and there was Jose with his big grin and winning ways.  We had not seen him since he had taken such good care of us two seasons previously at Hotel Pariso.  How he recognized us, we will never know.  We stood in the street to get caught up and he shared with us that one of his jobs was selling baking for his friends. When we stayed a couple of years at Pariso and he acting as co-host he would do anything for us.  We asked him each evening as we headed out for dinner, if we could bring anything back for him.  He would sheepishly suggest diet coke and when we would stock him up, you would think that we had given him the most amazing gift in the world.  Jose is one of the many reasons why we love Isla and the islanders so very much.

Jose recommended the peach pie and we could not get the anticipated taste out of our head!

So we started our day with a sweet and ended it with another but then again, every day spent on Isla is sweet.

Kath’s quote: “An apple is an excellent thing — until you have tried a peach.”-George du Maurier

Love-that is all.

We can never get enough of Ziggy and even though we had dined at Monchi’s the night before, we saw him at our next meal at Café Cito in the morning.

D chose the fresh fruit and Mexican eggs and I once again had the scrambled eggs and sautéed potatoes.

The piece de resistance at Café Cito is the toast (or buns) and the coconut/pear jam.  I can’t get enough of it.

This was the day that we rented a golf cart and so we boogied around before we settled in for our primary task of the day.

We were pleased to host a special happy hour that evening in celebration of Sister #2 and Brother #3’s birthday (yes-they are twins).  The preparation made us feel as if we were locals.  I even picked flowers.  Isobel, who’s family owns Luna D’Miel was such a huge help with our preparations.  She is an extraordinary hostess and I would shout her accolades from the mountaintop (except that I am selfish and want to ensure that we can always get our room there).

Just as our guests started to trickle in, I captured another couple of gorgeous sunset pics.

Our niece had arrived by this time and even though many of the guests that we had invited did not attend in the end, it was our gang, Jean, Rich, Jan, Bruce and Pollo made an impromptu appearance.  As we had not decided where to go for the evening, we asked Pollo what he would suggest.  He called Sergio over at Limon and low and behold, there was room for us!

From the outside, I had no idea that the interior would be so sleek and luxurious.  But as gorgeous as the décor was, the food was even better.  We were the last table to arrive that evening and  we knew that we were low persons on the totem pole with the kitchen.  Sergio not only circulates through the dining, he personally oversees everything that comes  out of the kitchen and we know that good food is worth waiting for.

We were content to catch up with Richelle and imbibe with the red wine that had been poured out at the table.

After a couple of caprese salad

and tortilla soups were consumed at our table,

the staff surmised that we would be more comfortable if we moved out to the gazebo in the garden.  The breeze was lovely and by this time Sergio himself had an opportunity to join us at the table.

Richelle and I shared the fruita de mare fettuccine-with conch, shrimp and clams.  Tossed in a rich cream sauce, Richelle declared that it was “moan worthy”.

Doug  tick ‘n chix.

Donna avocado salad,

Michael fettuccine bolognaise,

Kim and Sue hibiscus tacos.  Of the many amazing restaurants on Isla, Limon is now on my “must visit” list for future holidays.

It had been a long day and we were weary.  We decided to grab a cab instead of walking home.  The thing about spending time on Isla is that I am never disappointed when a fabulous days ends because I know that another amazing day awaits…..

Kath’s quote: “This dish is “moan” worthy”. -niece Richelle

Love-that is all.

For the past couple of years, I have spent an extended period of time in Thompson, Manitoba.  I loved the setting as it reminded me of lake country.  I was conveniently located within walking distance to the mall, a wine store and a place to watch the Jets games with other travelers.

My room was flooded with evening light

and was filled with other ambient light so I felt warm and cozy.

In fact, the entire hotel had cozy little places to meet with a friend or snuggle up with a book or magazine.  Also important to a single, female traveler: I always felt very safe.

But I got the biggest kick out of their breakfast buffet.  I challenged myself to eat as healthily as possible while there (I have a tendency to eat, to keep my self company).  I was so pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to do so.  I enhanced my selections with a couple of little fresh treats from the mall that I fit perfectly into the apartment sized fridge that is in every guest suite.

Bran muffin, peanut butter, yoghurt.

I made up a packet of hot oatmeal that I sliced fresh apple into.  The cashews were left over from one of those salads in a bag that I had the previous day for lunch.  The flax crackers were one of my evening treats.

This invention became my new favourite: half a toasted bagel, covered cream cheese and crowned with sliced strawberries-oh yum.

A granola bar crumbled over strawberry yoghurt and a sliced banana.

They always had hard-cooked eggs, so one morning I made an open-faced egg salad sandwich.

I successfully avoided indulging in their waffles and sausages and felt energized for the day.

I would highly recommend the Lakeview Suites in Thompson- my home away from home.

Kath’s quote: “The keynote to happiness within the four walls that make any home is plain, wholesome, well cooked food, attractively served.”-Louis P. De Gouy

Love-that is all.

Well, it is official.  Unfortunately, we did not hit our minimum enrollment target to make our sojourn to Tuscany a reality.  The vistas of purple hued rolling hills and golden valleys will still be there when we plan our next trip to Italy.  Of course I was already dreaming about and tasting the fine wines and the mind-blowing food! But the vinters and the chefs will also wait for us.

As is often the case for D and I, we consoled ourselves very successfully.  We spent this weekend celebrating our recent wedding anniversary.  We sat in cozy beach chairs and consumed a lovely bottle of Riesling while surveying the sunset on Friday evening.  We ate mussels poached in coconut milk, garlic and cilantro while watching the last couple of episodes of House of Cards.  The night was warm and clear, so we pulled cushions out onto the deck and gazed at the northern sky for hours, guessing which lights were planets or satellites and shouting out when we saw falling stars.  The next day, after D kept his weekend tennis date, we walked to a secluded area of the beach that we share only with very special people.  We basked in the sun and did the crossword puzzle together.  We walked along many kms of almost empty, glorious sandy beach until we came upon a huge group of kite board surfers.  After perching in the sand and marveling at their antics, we headed back in the other direction.

True to form, we started discussing and planning our next trips.  We have decided to take in Canadian wine country and will spend some time in Niagara on the Lake, one of the homes of Jackson Triggs, which my good friends know is my favourite Merlot.  We will look up old friends that own and run a successful restaurant in the area.  Our intention is also to head to Stratford, where another set of long-time friends run a B&B.  We intend to take in a couple of plays of the Stratford Festival and the chances are very good that we will drink and sup well there too.

Most excitingly, we are planning our next trip to Europe to coincide with next year’s anniversary-our 30th.  We have great fun discussing our options.  Perhaps we will include Praque and Poland where my Dad and his family were from.  Perhaps Greece and Sicily so that we can visit again with good friends and explore the east side of the island.  Perhaps the Isle of Skye and the Isle of Man, where my Mom’s family originated.  One thing that we know for sure.  We will fly through London.  We were astonished by how affordable airfare is (especially when compared to Canadian fares), once you are in Europe and departing from one of their air hubs.  So London will definitely be part of our itinerary.

We think that the research that you do before a major trip is a great part of the fun.  We get out our laptops together and start poking around in order to sketch out an itinerary.  We also love getting deals on hotels.  Luxury is not important to us as we literally only sleep and shower there, but location is very key.  When we travel, we love to live like locals, not tourists, and so a residential neighbourhood amidst local shops, pubs and cafes is our preference.  We have been having fun searching through London Hotels.  We can refer to maps of the city and the various neighbourhoods of London.  We can even limit our search by budget which will come in handy.

Will we make it to Tuscany eventually?  Oh, I am sure that we will.  But in the mean while, our next adventure awaits.

Kath’s quote: “Oh, the places you’ll go!” -Dr. Seuss

Love-that is all.