Island Moosie ... Snorkeling, Eating, and Drinking her way through the islands

Reality go take a break!  Hook and I are still in Cozumel… at least in our minds and palates. 

Since arriving home late last week, we have sought out various Mexican foods to at least keep that vacation vibe going.  So far we’ve managed to sample some horrible churros from a restaurant with the word “Churro” in its name no less, and what supposedly are the best tacos al pastor in the area which turned out to be nothing but overpriced tacos at $3.50 a pop that bore no resemblance to the real tacos al pastor that we tried in Coz.  I figured it couldn’t be authentic when everyone at the restaurant — diners and all the servers — were all gringos (no offense… just sayin’…)

Eager to practice our new-found cooking skills (yeah, me included… I am trying to get in touch with my inner chef… humor me here) and desperate to satisfy our cravings for some authentic Mexican food, we set about re-creating the dishes that we learned in Josefina’s cooking class from last week. 

We are fortunate to live in an area where there are mega ethnic supermarkets that carry all sorts of ingredients from around the globe.  Fresh nopales leaves?  No problemo.  They come in a pack and barely cost 2 bucks.  Media crema for the guacamole?  Aisle numero uno!  Achiote paste?  Ok, we did run into a challenge finding this, so we had to settle for achiote seeds instead and grinding it ourselves.  But only because I didn’t feel like schlepping to another market to find the paste kind.

Bounty from the ethnic supermarket

But wait!  We don’t have a molcajete (say it, I know you want to… mol-cah-heh-teh… mol-cah-heh-teh!).  No worries Senor Hook! as I whip out my $10 off birthday coupon from World Market.  Sure enough, World Market to the rescue.  Not only did they have an authentic stone molcajete, but it was a big one too, and not bad for 20 bucks.  Seriously a better deal than lugging one back home from Coz.  No, mister TSA Officer sir, I don’t believe my 15 pound solid stone molcajete with its 5 pound solid stone pestle could be used as a weapon in flight.  Ummm, yeah, you just go ahead and try to sneak that one in your carryon luggage.

Hook pointed out that we needed to start no later than 4pm, so we could have a fighting chance of eating by at least 8pm, what with all the prep work that had to be done.  And that, folks, is exactly how we spent the rest of our Sunday afternoon…. chopping…slicing…grinding… and squeezing various vegetables, fruits, and spices. 

Chefs-in-training

Ok, it was interspersed with a lot of silliness and posing for the camera, so it was a fun afternoon. 

Serious chopping and dicing here

Hook being silly

 

Showing off the tortilla-making moves

The glasses of cold, smooth mojitos helped a bunch.  😉  And all the freshly made food were yummylicious! 

Ta da!

Grab a cold one and chill!