Snorkeling video...

I was checking out my favorite blogs and saw that Amber (Puerto Morelos Blog) posted a little video on snorkeling at the Puerto Morelos Reef National Park. Very cool, because it's actually what I saw when I snorkeled there, so it was like a brief visit back. You can see it here. By the way, this photo isn't mine, but I thought it would put you in the snorkeling mood. Puerto Morelos is definitely worth a visit because of their very protected coral reefs.

The Little Mexican Cooking School

One of the main reasons I decided on Puerto Morelos for my Spring break getaway was The Little Mexican Cooking School. I had read about it on-line and since I love to cook, I thought it would be fun. It was. I signed up for a one-day class and here's a little bit about it.

This is it from the outside...

And this was the table set for us when we went inside...but that's for after we're all finished with the cooking.

And this is the chef, Claudia Garcia Ramos de Celis. Normally the school has from 10 to 14 students, but our class only consisted of three. This was good for us because it became more of a hands-on experience rather than just watching and learning. (By the way, the two girls behind Claudia are her very skilled assistants. I will talk about them later.)

First of all, she told us all about the different chiles...

From the medium and mild...

To the ones you don't even want to consider...

Next, we started making tamales. Since I've been living near San Antonio for the past six years, tamales to me consist of a very brown coarse mealy texture and I have never liked them. These were very different.


This is Sue and Tom. Our tamales consisted of a corn mixture, oaxaca cheese and a strip of a jalapeno pepper.

We wrapped the mixture into corn husks, folded the husk in half and tied the bundle together with a very thin strip of a dried corn husk. You'll see the finished product at the end of this post.

All the tamales were then put into a big pot where they cooked for the next few hours.

Then we started on homemade tortillas. After mixing the ingredients, Claudia put a golf ball-sized piece of masa onto the tortilla press...

And, voila! Tortillas ready to be cooked on a hot dry skillet.

We also got to try this out, too...

We were also shown how to cook a tortilla so that an air pocket forms in the middle, making a pita-like tortilla. You have to press down on the tortilla as it's cooking and an air bubble rises in the middle. These ladies were doing it with their hands on the hot grill....OUCH!

Getting roasted tomatoes ready for Salsa Roja...

Claudia told us she's had the mortar and pestle on the right in her family for many years. (I saw one like the one on the left at the Cancun airport when I was leaving and would have bought it if it hadn't weighed about 100 pounds. Didn't feel like carrying that on the plane. I'll have to look for one here at home.)

She mashed the tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos and onion in the bowl. One thing she did mention was that Mexican dishes don't use that much garlic.

We got to mash, too...

Here's the first round of munchies we got to taste...

Delicious! (By the way, that's Patti Murphy in the background...another member of the cooking school.)

Having fun while you're cooking is an important ingredient!

We got to sample this while we were snacking. It's xtabentun...a Mayan liqueur made in the Yucatan. Very smooth.

Claudia also made this little snack which is a quick fix. It's raw jicama with a little bit of chile pepper sprinkled on top. It was good...kind of a different taste which was unfamiliar to me.

Also on the menu was Mole del Olla. Although classified under "soups," it is really a stew served as a main course. Claudia already had all the veggies cup up for this (which is a LOT), and tossed them...

...into this which already had the broth inside. She told us about using these big clay pots for soup, and gave instructions on how to cure them before using them for cooking.

Here's the Mole de Olla cooking away...

Which also contains rice...

And when it's combined with this lovely colored pepper mixture...

It comes out looking like this. We were finally able to sit down and sample everything we had made. This Mole de Olla was absolutely wonderful. Such a rich, warm flavor...it would be great in the winter with all the veggies and would warm anybody up.

Here are the tamales we made. They were SOOOO different than any tamale I had ever had and I actually loved these. They had kind of a salty/sweet flavor and not nearly as heavy as the ones I'm familiary with.

Although we didn't help make the dessert, at least we got to eat it! A brownie made with chiles. What a wonderful little "bite" it had. You could definitely taste the chile, but it was very subtle...and the whipped cream was a great complement to it. Muy bueno!

Here are Daisy and Lucy...Claudia's assistants. These ladies movied gracefully around the kitchen, quietly doing all the chopping, blending and prep work so that Claudia could present the menu. They were definitely a great team and helped to make everything come together.

And here's Sue and me with Claudia at the end to prove I was actually there. I had a great time, learned a lot, and enjoyed talking with Claudia about all the great places there are to visit in Mexico. Thank you, ladies, for a wonderful time!

And here's their website if you want more information: The Little Mexican Cooking School

Hey!!

No one told me it was daylight savings time!! I didn't hear a word about it while I was in Mexico. Of course, time is definitely different down there than it is up here north of the border. Personally, I prefer the Mexican definition of time better.

But I digress. Back to Puerto Morelos. These are just some miscellaneous shots I took around the town. When I was deciding where to go in Mexico, I asked a friend who's an avid Mexico traveler what he thought of PM. He said he thought it was a "dumpy little town." Unless it's been a long time since he's been there, or maybe he went to the PM across Highway 307 where most of the natives live...but I would definitely not say that PM is "dumpy." On a side note, I'm sorry I didn't get to the other side of PM...I would want to do that if/when I go there again.

This is the start of the very short malecon they have next to the water. The only boats you see on the beach or at the piers are very small fishing and snorkeling boats. They are extremely protective of the waters here because of the coral reefs. They don't let any large boats inside this area.

And this is where the malecon ends...about a block away from where it starts.

The zocalao in the middle of town with the nice playground...

In the middle...

From the zocalo looking to the sea...

The Alma Libre Bookstore is a well-known landmark here. Unfortunately, I never happened to be on the square when it was open...

This place looked nice, but I never made it there, either...

Another street on the zocalo. The restaurant on the far left end where the red car is parked is where I had...

...these vegetarian enchiladas. Very, very good. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but I would definitely recommend it. A very small place with only about six tables.

I stopped here one night and had...

...lettuce wraps because I wasn't that hungry and wanted something different. These were really good, too. It was a pork filling and was very flavorful.

It took me three days to find a placed that served Huevos Motulenos. I know, I know...I'm anal about Huevos Motulenos...what can I say?

They were absolutely excellent...probably the best I've ever had.

And a shrimp cocktail at one of the places that sit right off the beach. It didn't have little bits of cilantro and onions like I like, but the sauce tasted great nonetheless.

This lovely lady was cooking chickens as I walked by one morning. Boy, did they smell great!

Here is the artisan's market about a block or south south of the zocalo...

Even though I said I wasn't going to compare PM with Isla, there was one big difference. There are only a couple of restaurants/bars that furnish umbrellas and/or chairs on the beach who will bring drinks down to tourists. You're pretty much on your own when you go to the beach. Everyone brings their own chairs and umbrellas and food/drinks. There's no schlepping of big fancy drinks up and down this beach! Also, there are no natives selling their wares up and down the beach...not one! (Well, at least during my trip.) Here's one of the restaurants that does furnish umbrellas...

And here's a view of the beach from that restaurant. By the way, see those white-caps way off the shoreline in the distance? That's where the coral reefs are and some of them are very close to the surface, so that's why there are waves way out there.

Other differences: There are only a couple places that have tables on the sand. Most restaurants have open patio areas, but nothing like Picus where you feel like you're almost sitting in the water. Also, there are almost no trees on the beach where you can sit under. The few trees they do have are too small for shade and are pretty far back on the beach.

Wasn't it nice of these guys to line up so evenly for this shot?

They were working on this crazy place which is RIGHT next door to where I was staying. They would be hammering up a storm at 7:00 in the morning. I don't know what it was before, but the hotel manager said it's going to be a restaurant. I thought it was really neat and wish I could have seen them finish it.

Crazy windows...

And look at this stairway going up the outside of the building. I'm hoping they don't eventually serve drinks up there, because they might have a few accidents with people trying to maneuver that stairway on the way down! Anyway, I think it would be worth another trip there just to find out how this place looks when it's finished.

There aren't a whole lot of places that look like this on the shore side of PM. I took a walk on the south side of the zocalo where there were some smaller homes.

A fixer-upper...

Local eatery...

A "small load" laundry day...

I thought this place was cute...

An interesting hotel for sale...

A cutie in one of the shops...

These guys roam around the town entertaining everyone...

Gulls on boat study...

I wish I could have been there for the bazaar they were having on the Saturday I left. Apparently, it's a yearly thing.

This planter was sitting in my hotel lobby. I swore the flowers were fake, but when I was standing next to it one day, I saw that it was a real plant. Wow...beautiful!

This is something I only saw once on this trip...the Mayan ladies with their embroidered dresses.

I still want to do a post on the north side of PM...as well as the Little Mexican Cooking School class I took last Tuesday, so stay tuned. So, I'll end with this shot of a wall that is across the street from my hotel.

Happy daylight savings time, everyone!