An Oyster and Beer Monday

Yesterday was all about Oysters and Soft Shell Crab "Po'Boys".

A friend dropped off a case of oysters. Most of them are "doubles- you open and eat one oyster- then flip it over and do it again. Makes a nice little stand to make a photo easier too. The topping is my specialty: bacon, onion, sweet red peppers, garlic, jalapeno, vinegar, red chiles, honey and garlic.

I made some baked stuffed clams and a tres leches cake. The Tres Leches cake will get it's own post... maybe manana.

It became apparent around noon today I wasn't going to get much done around the house. Our two-day-a-week painter Alberto- did one green wall outdoors and then saw the remaining oysters. My nephew Emilio started the day with a piece of the tres leches cake and then moved onto the oysters. Geeesh. So today it's Baja leftovers- Ice cold oysters and whatever beer is left in the house. Alonzo's still in bed (it's only 2:30 pm on a Monday after all) so we called another nephew over to finish off everything before the house smells like a Rhode Island clam bog and wakes Alonzo up. No point wasting fresh oysters. (They were killer fried yesterday too).

Enjoy your Monday! We are. (Thanks again for the case of oysters Andy-buddy!)

The Sunday BBQ turns to Baked Clams, Ceviche and Monsters.

I needed a break from making the Sunday BBQ about serving up the gringo Burgers and Ribs in Baja- so we are making a switch for a few weeks to enjoy the fruits of our local fishing village - Popotla. It's only five minutes southm the house. The fishing pangas are used as much for smuggling people across to San Diego as they are for fishing. People pay $5000 each to get a white-knuckle boat ride. There is isn't anyone in my family you could pay $5000 to take that death trip, let alone pay for it. Popotla is just behind the huge water tank they used for the movie Titanic at the Fox Baja Studios. It's a locals place- the tourists go to the Lobster Village next to it called Puerto Nuevo.

My nephew Emilio and I headed over there early last Sunday to greet the fishing boats as they returned. I was sure we could get the fresh Talapia for the ceviche and a few dozen "chocolate" clams I could stuff

and bake like my Dad used to.

What I wasn't sure about was this talk about the "monstros" as they call them. When my nephew described them to me- al lI could think of was Crab. SCORE! Most people only see crab legs a bright red because they are always cooked and frozen right on board the crab boats. These were alive and blue in color and most Mexicans are scared to death of them. Lucky for us. This day they only had two small ones... $5 for both. You gotta wonder why people pay $25 for a deep fried lobster tail in Puerto Nuevo when you can eat King Crab for $5. We aren't going to tell anyone... We do need to go back and get some big ones these little guys are not even 'prince crabs". They only get a few of the big ones on each boat.

We made two ceviches- the one on the left is the traditional fish, the one of the left is called Agua Chiles (raw shrimp marinated in lime juice blender with Habenero peppers). You start with a Tostada, spread a little Mayo on top (yes mayo) of the tostada and then add the Ceviche or Shrimp Agua Chile, some diced avocado and a bottled hot sauce salsa.

Tomorrows BBQ is all about Oysters and Soft Shell crab. We have friends bringing six dozen oysters over and I have the soft shell crabs in the freezer. We'll do them New Orleans style fried as PorBoy sandwiches, make some Oysters Rockefeller and maybe do some grilled ones.

I have a tres leches cake in the oven (takes a day to absorb all the milks) and made some Chocolate and Pistaccio topped English Toffee. Yes, It's all about food and family. (Dana- we are enjoying your birthday cake here! Happy 30th!)

Reviving The Long Stagnant Blog

(picture: "Marley" had nothing on our 9 month old Junior. A mix of menace and amazement. Wicked smart and does things our other dogs have never done- like just swim around and hang out on the pool edge.)

Yeah, I know. It's been almost a year since I posted. I really admire my blogger-friends who get to it every single day or at least twice a week even. I am pathetic when it comes to this. Truly. But I hate paying for something I don't use anymore. Don't we all. So I'm going to give it a shot again.

It's not going to be all fun and cheery- not that life anywhere these days is. I think I am safer here being focused on my surroundings from a security perspective than being complacent about my safety stateside. You have to keep your head up here. Throw in the bad economy and lack of tourists here and some people get desperate and property crimes are way up. Baja is almost twice as expensive than mainland Mexico- everything costs more. That's only fine when you are making more to offset it. No one is making it here right now and funny thing- it is much safer than two years ago. Much. It's really too bad for the people- but the people don't expect much from their government and Mexico doesn't disappoint.

You take a CT Yankee and stick him into third-world Mexico retirement and there's bound to be some value-based conflicts. Ya think? But life in Mexico is never about what happens to you outside of the home. No one talks about their jobs or even what they do down here. It's just not important. Families are very private down here. We lived here six years and never saw one neighbor until the 7.2 earthquake on easter shook and everyone went outside. Even still we didn't talk with them- just a wave. So life here is about what happens with your family and friends behind your locked doors and gates. The other stuff doesn't really matter much.

Like most Latin American countries, people keep their houses very plain on the outside with little hint of what lifestyle lays beyond the door. I remember walking around Amsterdam and everyone has their window curtains open so people on the street down below can enjoy the decorations. That's considered window-shopping down here. We don't even have any first floor windows- once you put bars on them you feel like the one in jail. No thanks. We made it a walled compound so we could relax inside- the labs, the birds, the nieces and nephews swimming with the labs in the pool. Our house is a lot like an Italian house on Weekends- everyone comes over for food and the beach- OK it's for the food. The beach is clean, safe and free, food down here is cheap enough and it's great to see my family relax and enjoy a day with us here. Alonzo has 13 brothers and sisters so there's no shortage of relatives who drop by and that's why the two of us built such a big house. I was raised in a small family and the huge family thing is great. We've been together 15 years and it's been great watching all the kids grow up and start their own families. Most of men in Alonzo's family work for the railroad in Torreon Mexico with the help of a family member in the head office. The ladies def do more of the travelling and visiting. Hopping on a bus to visit a relative here (18 hours) is no big deal to them at all and they do it all the time- loaded with kids clothing to exchange.