After months of craving the cuisine of Isla Mujeres, I surprize even myself when I get a hankering for a hotdog or crispy bacon or hot buttered toast like home.  Three days into my last trip, when we were settled in to watch the Oscars on a big screen TV at Brisa’s Mexicana on Hidalgo-I went and ordered a burger for supper!  Somehow James Franco and Ann Hathaway inspired me to do so.  Of course, it was not the restaurant’s forte and I looked longingly at V’s Chiles Relleno and Sister #3’s Shrimp Tacos.

Barlito Bakery & Market Cafe is right on a sunny corner of Hidalgo & Abasolo and is the perfect place to run into friends, people watch or when you get a craving for back home baking.  I found myself joining tables of people that I knew on a couple of occasions and heard the oohs and ahs while freshly squeezed oj and steamy mugs of coffee were consumed.

One morning after one of D’s solo morning walks he arrived back at our place with piping hot biscuits filled with cheese and egg.  We split two, three ways and they were a satisfying breakfast.

I understand that the biscuit recipe is one that has been acquired from an aunt or uncle of the owners Tiffany and Brad Wareing.  I breifly got to make their acquaintance but they were very busy at “command central” behind the counter.  I look forward to doing so again and trying their White Lasagna or Carolina pulled pork next time.

Kath’s quote:  “In the Virginia of the olden time no breakfast or tea-table was thought to be properly furnished without a plate of these indispensable biscuits…..Let one spend the night at some gentleman-farmer’s home, and the first sound heard in the morning, after the crowing of the cock, was the heavy, regular fall of the cook’s axe, as she beat and beat her biscuit dough…..Nowadays beaten biscuits are a rarity, found here and there, but soda and modern institutions have caused them to be sadly out of vogue.”-‘Virginia Cookery Book’ (1885)

Until recently, I understood that a cazuela was a baked omelet that I have sampled over the years at M&J’s various locations.  I now know that the restaurant is so named for the little terra cotta baking dish that the egg blend is poured into for the cooking stage.  I have also learned that because of the special high heat that the clay dishes endure, they take on special properties and your food continues to cook for an additional 5-10 minutes after the cazuela is removed from the oven.  So when I have been disappointed that my eggs weren’t cooked to my desired doneness (with no “jigglies” as one of my 3 bros likes to say), it was actually because I was being an impatient tourista and consuming my brunch dish too soon! 

There was a vendor set up for the locals for carnival a couple of weeks ago and I wish that I had purchased a stack of these affordable casseroles for home.  They would have been great for the serving of our staggered breakfasts at the lake.

M&J’s original location at the unrenovated Roca Mar hotel had a magical charm. (When I peaked in on this trip there was a bride receiving a spa treatment).  Tables were set out on the sidewalk at a busy curve of the route into Centro and you could look down the slope to the west shore and the Bay of Cancun while experiencing the roar of the crashing waves of the Caribbean just feet away.

M&J’s new home at the corner of Guerrero and Abasolo has a lovely, cozy feel.  We sat under a trellis that allowed the dappled morning light to fall across our table.

And the Holbox Cazuela of tortillas, eggs, beans and salsa topped with fried bananas was cooked to perfection (or perhaps after all this time, I am learning the patience of the Mayan people who I so love, and didn’t dig in too soon).

V and I also shared a Crepa Amanecer- a delicate crepe surrounding ham, asparagus, herbs and that wonderfully rich Mexican cheese.  The crepas are served with M&J’s potato casserole (a recipe I have tried to unpack for years).  The coffee was wonderful and the freshly squeezed orange juice even better. 

Marco and Julie-your new spot is a gem and I predict much continued success.  My only regret is that I didn’t finally get to meet the infamous Julie who so many of my Isla friends speak of so fondly. 

Kath’s quote:  “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home.”-James Michener

Whenever we come home from a vacation, we try to keep the memories alive by maintaining holiday routines and eating and drinking favourite treats from the trip.  In all honesty, we even do this when we come home from an extended time at the cottage.  When we arrived from Italy, D went out to pick up some milk and fruit but found himself in De Luca’s -throwing salami, olives and capers into his shopping basket.

We asked Daughter #1 whom accompanied us to Isla Mujeres, what she was missing most.  We were expecting the warmth, the turquoise ocean or the friendly Mayan people, but true to form, her reply was-the food!  So when we assembled for mandatory Sunday supper I did my best to recreate the flavours.

D put big thick pork chops onto the barbeque flavoured with mango/chipolte seasoning.  It wasn’t the same as eating Fredy’s prok chops on the sidewalk on Hidalgo-but they were really good.  We are completely out of groceries but I did find a bag of cole slaw in the fridge that was the basis for an Isla Slaw with a sour cream/orange & lime juice dressing.  But the big hit was Mexican Rice.  On Isla, a version of this is even served at “fast food” windows like Tino’s Ribs and Rotisserie Chicken.

Last family trip to Isla

I found this in “Cocina Islena” a fund-raising cook book for PEACE(Protection, Education, Animals, Culture & Environment) -a name for people interested in working together for a better Isla Mujeres. 

1 1/2 c rice

1/3 c oil (I used butter)

1 large chopped tomato (8 oz.)

4 oz. chopped onion

1 chopped garlic clove

3 1/2 c chicken broth

Heat oil in rice pot.  Stir in rice until all grains are well covered, then saute, stirring constantly,  until a light golden colour.  This should take about 5-10 minutes. 

In a blender, blend the tomato, onion and garlic until smooth.  Add to the rice and continue to cook while stirring and scraping the bottom until the mixture is dry.  Add the broth and reduce to a medium heat, uncovered until the liquid has absorbed and small air holes appear in the rice.  Remove from heat and cover tightly, so that no steam can escape, for about 20 minutes and the rice continues to cook in its own steam. I wanted to visit my guests so I put a lid on after I added the chicken stock and simmered on a low heat for 20 minutes.

Kath’s quote: “Rice is a beautiful food.  It is beautiful when it grows, precision rows of sparkling green stalks shooting up to reach the hot summer sun. It is beautiful when harvested, autumn gold sheaves piled on diked, patchwork paddies. It is beautiful when, once threshed, it enters granary bins like a (flood) of tiny seed-pearls. It is beautiful when cooked by a practiced hand.”-Shizuo Tsuji

We showed Daughter #1 the sites of the south end of the island including places we’ve stayed, eaten at and visited before.  D was in charge of finding us a place for a lunch break.  We can’t tell you the name of the fabulous spot where we stopped-not because we are trying to keep it a scret but because it appraently did not have a name.  This is what we love most about eating in Colonia’s -it feels as if someone has simply opened their living room window to the street and is serving you what they would also be serving their family.  We can tell you that the place was next to the stationery store and across from the motorcycle repair shop, at the northern edge of town. 

Three of us gobbled up giant toasted sandwiches: one with polo mole, another with chirozo sausage and a third “especiale” with both the above and ham as well.  D parked the cart for a breathtaking view of the crashing waves on the east side of the island just around the corner from the shop and we ate in the shade of the cart.  The 3 sandwiches were a total of 750 pesos ($2.50 each). 

We zoomed home (or as fast as you can zoom in a golf cart) for showers and siestas and our next adventure.  Sister #2 and hubbie always stay on the south west side of the island so that M can launch the inflatable kayak that he brings with him every year.  In the mean time D shuttled back and forth into town to pick up the rest of the gang.  We spent the late afternoon on the beach with pina coladas, peanuts and Maria’s pepitas.

Dinner would have been lovely on the beach but the mosquitoes sometime  become pests after dark, so a long table was set up at the end of the bed and 3 siblings and an honourary sister sat there-it was like banguette seating in the best of restaurants.  The rest of us pulled up an assortment of chairs for grilled chicken with mango salsa, herb tomato rice, carrots and toasted buns.  All made on the bbq and a one burner hot plate.  Sister # 2 is truly amazing.  Sister #3 brought along a cole slaw which included sticks of jicama, tossed in a lime mayo and topped with more of Maria’s pepitas-oh baby!

For dessert, M had found out that the family that lives in the “Dalmatian” (painted white with black spots) house in Colonias runs a bakery and we had two amazing cakes.  The chocolate was savoury and light at the same time, with custard cream seperating the layers and crushed oreo cookies on top.

Another perfect day on Isla-celebrating family, new and life long friends and the sweetness of life with food!

Kath’s quote: “My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.” –Orson Welles

Once an Isla holiday we rent a golf cart to scoot around the entire length of the island (5 miles).  When we don’t have a cart, we walk and take inexpensive cabs; often times when the cabbie is actually driving a family member to work -you just hop in.  When you think about it, it is really a very efficient way to run a business and better for the environment too.  Sometimes we walk home after a particularly filling meal in Colonia, which is the less touristy town about a third of the way up the island.  We did this the night before last after an amazing Jamaican barbecue at Mango Cafe.

There is construction on the main street of Medina so we wound around the through the streets of Centro before heading south.  Our first stop was at our dear friend Hortenzia’s to buy some more beautiful bowls for Veektooria (as the Islanders love to say her name) already departed for the frozen tundra.  

Next stop was the new liquado shop across from the graveyard.  D declared that his Spanish was so good when he ordered Daughter #1’s fav drink, that the local behind the counter started up a conversation with him (I guess that didn’t last long).  While the chocolate banana shake was being assembled -Maria the pepita lady walked by! 

Maria is one of our favourite beach vendors-she sells roasted pepitas from her beautiful turquoise tray which she serves with a wedge of lime.  We tucked them away for later but not before we kissed and hugged this precious lady.  She told us that she would use her tip to buy herself a coca-cola.  We found out later than she tells everyone the same thing-she must drink a few colas in a day!

We zoomed off again-to be continued……..

Kath’s quote: “The economy of the kitchen is only a counterpart, in its simplicity or complication, its rudeness or luxury, of the economy of the State. The perfectibility of cookery indicates the perfectibility of society. The progress of cookery is the progress of civilisation.”-Frederick W. Hackwood