Food Musings

A Winnipeg blog about the joy of preparing food for loved ones and the shared joy that travel & dining brings to life.

Isla Mujeres 2018 Trip Report-Day 1

April17

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I set the alarm for 6 am, dressed quickly and walked to the malecon to watch my first sunrise. I could tell by the darkness that sunrise was still some time away so I crossed the island and went to 7-11 to purchase a coffee. It made the wait for more enjoyable. I savoured my second cup that morning from the communal pot in the lobby of the hotel.

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When I arrived home this assembly was going on across the street.

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It had been pre-dertemined that our little gang was going to meet at Fredy’s that morning to sample Ana’s breakfast (see link here).

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After breakfast I joined Bro#3 and L on Playa Norte waving hello to many friends in their typical spots on the beach. It was hot (even under the umbrella)!  I was in and out of the water many times to cool down. Time on the sand was spent reading and journalling.

When I couldn’t stand myself any longer I went home for a cool shower.

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This was the view from the balcony earlier that day.

We had a lovely Happy Hour in the little balcony at the front of the hotel.

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We split up for dinner with half the gang going to Angelo’s and Bro #3, L and I off to Fenix’s (see link here) new location on Playa Sol.

On the way home, I ran into friends from PEI. We had originally met when we were all staying at Luna D’ Miel a previous year. We promised to catch up further in the upcoming days.

Kath’s quote: “News is like food: it is the cooking and serving that makes it acceptable, not the material itself.”-Rose McCaulay, English writer

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Love never fails.

Fenix, Isla Mujeres 2018

March13

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In all my years visiting Isla Mujeres (since 2005), I had only had the pleasure of eating at Fenix, one previous time. Here is that post. With their move to Playa Sol and my love of both that location and their food, I was excited to dine again. They had the perfect table reserved for my brother, his wife and I (my husband D was not yet on the island).

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The first order of business was to sit back and enjoy an Isla sunset (with all the other folks who think that Fenix’s location is the perfect sunset viewing spot on the island).

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Since we are family and well accustomed to sharing our plates and our food, we chose a number of smalls plates. First up were enormous garlic shrimp with toasted baguette. These were perfectly cooked so that the flesh didn’t shrink and become too dense.

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We loved the Verde fish ceviche on tostados. Cucumber replaced the typical chopped tomato which made for a sparkling version of one of my favourite island treats. These were particularly “limey” enhanced by plenty of cilantro.

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We were so enamored with the goat cheese stuffed red peppers that I attempted to recreate them for a fiesta later in the week. The smokey peppers had been roasted and skinned and then served on crostini. The pungent cheese offset the sweet pepper beautifully.

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Coconut shrimp were presented on a skewer which made them easy to eat. Instead of tamarind or salsa these were served alongside a mango chutney. A lovely switch up.

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Tempura grouper skewers with wasabi mayo arrived last. Once again the bamboo skewer made them tidier to eat. The tempura batter was absolutely greaseless allowing the subtle tastes of the grouper to shine through.

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As we lingered and appreciated the extensive layout of the restaurant, we decided that it would be the perfect spot for a wedding or other special event.

Kath’s quote: “Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?’ ‘Hmm . . . What do you think, Harry?’ said Luna, looking thoughtful. ‘What? Isn’t there just a password?’ ‘Oh no, you’ve got to answer a question,’ said Luna. ‘What if you get it wrong?’‘Well, you have to wait for somebody who gets it right,’ said Luna. ‘That way you learn, you see?’ ‘Yeah . . . Trouble is, we can’t really afford to wait for anyone else, Luna.’‘No, I see what you mean,’ said Luna seriously. ‘Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning.’‘Well reasoned,’ said the voice, and the door swung open.” –JK Rowling, Harry Potter

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Love never fails.

Isla Mujeres 2015 Trip Report-Day Seven, Part One

December3

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

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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.

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

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

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and once again was pleased with my haul.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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

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The live music made it a bit difficult to visit.

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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

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Love-that is all.

Fenix Isla Mujeres

November23

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Fenix is a place on Isla Mujeres that I had watched with interest on message boards when it opened and then garnered its fair share of fans. Until this past spring, I had never visited. In fact, I didn’t even know where it was. When we met friends from Puerto Moreles who came over by ferry to spend an afternon with us, we walked along Playa Sol and then rounded the corner to Play Norte. When I thought that we were almost out of beach (and a place to share some lunch), there it was. We immediately ordered a round of cold ones and a couple of small plates to share. Since there were four of us and only three of these tempura shrimp with curry dip, we ordered a second plate and each had 1 1/2 skews. Delish.

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The goat cheese stuffed chilies on crostini hit the spot especially with the pesto drizzle that circled the plate.

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These were not the best Patata Bravas I had ever tasted (that honour goes to Segovia in Winnipeg) but they were tasty enough.

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The ceviche of the day was this lovely green one; the result of tossing the veggies and seafood in pesto.

Service was fairly prompt and the banos clean and well stocked, even though they were quite a distance from where we were seated. We could have done without the afternoon’s entertainment of live music as we were trying to get to know our guests a bit better but the music did add to the atmosphere.

Overall a very pleasant experience.

Kath’s quote: “It is a curious thing, but as one travels the world getting older and older, it appears that happiness is easier to get used to than despair. The second time you have a root beer float, for instance, your happiness at sipping the delicious concoction may not be quite as enormous as when you first had a root beer float, and the twelfth time your happiness may be still less enormous, until root beer floats begin to offer you very little happiness at all, because you have become used to the taste of vanilla ice cream and root beer mixed together. However, the second time you find a thumbtack in your root beer float, your despair is much greater than the first time, when you dismissed the thumbtack as a freak accident rather than part of the scheme of a soda jerk, a phrase which here means “ice cream shop employee who is trying to injure your tongue,” and by the twelfth time you find a thumbtack, your despair is even greater still, until you can hardly utter the phrase “root beer float” without bursting into tears. It is almost as if happiness is an acquired taste, like coconut cordial or ceviche, to which you can eventually become accustomed, but despair is something surprising each time you encounter it.” ― Lemony Snicket

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Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.