2016 | Searching4Zen

Troika Food Truck

March 20, 2016 No Comments

Our first lunch in the Valle de Guadalupe was at the food truck on the vineyard of Vena Cava called Troika.

Today’s menu at Troika

The Troika Food Truck

Grilling Tomatoes for lunch.

Walking home through the vineyards of Vena Cava

We started out with the Tacos de Cameron’s, which had a very smokey aroma and were outstanding (sorry no photos).

We then has the Tacos de Lechon which were also outstanding, very tasty and tender. They are cooked for six hours in leaves so the meat is very moist and tender.

The Lechon was cooked for six hours over a slow fire wrapped in leaves and both tacos were excellent

We then moved on the Ensalada, which was a beautiful salad although the taste was somewhat plain as the dressing was bland.

The garden salad was very tasty and enjoyable.

We then ended our meal with the Sliders de Chiquials, which were outstanding.

Amazing sliders to end our lunch

I really liked sitting outside and enjoying the weather of the Valle while eating at Troika. I rate the restaurant a 3.0 out of 5 and the prices are very reasonable. This is a definite repeat location.

Casa Mayoral

March 20, 2016 No Comments

The majority of our stay in Baja was going to be at Casa Mayoral. It is an excellent B&B with extremely friendly staff. Although it is located a little off of the main road, it is easy to find and get to.

The property has a large orchard of citrus trees which at this time of the year are in full blossom and the aromas are just wonderful.

Citrus Glaore en Casa Mayoral.

They also have a number of old farm implements which are interesting to look at.

Old Farm Equipment at Casa Mayoral

But as you can see the view of the Valle from Casa Mayoral is outstanding.

View across the Valle

During our stay there was a strong storm that blew through Baja as well as Los Angeles and San Diego. The evening of the storm it was too difficult to get out so we stayed home and were able to use the kitchen of the B&B which was very nice.

I strongly recommend Casa Mayoral and wish we had tried using their recommended chef who will prepare a dinner on site so you don’t have to drive to the restaurant.

Day One in Tijuana – Dinner at La Querencia

March 20, 2016 No Comments

As we kicked off a week long adventure of the Valle de Guadalupe. We flew from Pátzcuaro to Tijuana we spent the first evening at the Hilton Place – Tijuana. Other than the credit card machine not working properly at the car rental facility, the trip from home to the hotel was everything you want, no hassles and no problems.

Our first meal in Baja California was going to be at La Querencia and we headed off to find the restaurant. However for some reason Google Maps did not have the correct location and we knew we were close but we could not find the restaurant. So Jo Ann called the restaurant and her is something that I have never ever experienced before, the maître d’ said he would come and find us. Well about two minutes later we were greeted and had a personal guide to get us to the restaurant and to our table. Amazing.

The facilities are nice as you can see below.

La Querencia Candles and Bar area

Stuffed Animal Heads at La Querencia

As typical of Mexican restaurants, we were served a plate of various salsas.

Salsas at La Querencia

We started with two appetizers, the first was Salmon carpaccio. The plate was presented well but we found that the salmon carpaccio was light and delicate. Not too much flavor other than the capers.

Salmon carpaccio at La Querencia

The second appetizer was the Sashimi Querencia. Paper thin slices of sea scallops blanketed with black and white sesame seeds, sesame seed oil and soy sauce. Yum!

Sashimi Querencia at La Querencia

We then had a Mixed Salad with Balsamic. This salad was young escrole leaves bathed in a sprupy balsamic reduction sauce topped with blue cheese crumbles and toasted almonds. It was excellent.

Mixed Salad at La Querencia

For our main courses we decided to share two entrees, the first was the Duck Taco, which consisted of crispy slices of duck confit. It was also excellent.

Duck Breast Taco

The second of our entrees was the Grilled Salmon with Rossoto. The presentation was outstanding and the Rusoto was very tasty but the salmon was slightly overcooked. I really enjoyed the pesto sauce topping the salmon.

Salmon at La Querencia

We finished our meal with a Creme Brûlée. Smoky burnt caramel top with orange zesty topping. Very Yummy.

Creme Brûlée at La Querencia

The wine we shared that evening was from Alximia called Gaia 2013. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Tempranillo. It has a deep red color, clear and lots of legs. Started very aromatic like fresh out of the barrel but then softened quickly. After being opened for a while it’s aroma was light fruit and musty. Overall rating for the wine was a 3.0 out of 5.0.

Over all rating for the entire experience was a 4.0 out of 5 with a price tag of $$$.

Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor

March 16, 2016 No Comments

Last night Jo Ann and I dined in one of our favorite restaurants in Morelia, Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor. We had our usually good meal, which we will show below, but we had a couple of concerns that arose last night that we hope the management will quickly address.

The first item that we noticed was that the music was playing very loud and not at all the type of music you would expect at a restaurant of this quality. When we asked to have the music turned down all they did was to turn the nearest speaker to use away from us. It was not like the restaurant was full and could absorb the loudness, but the restaurant was only about half full mainly with tables of two quietly talking to each other.

The second concern we had was that the wine list has not changed since we first started coming to Tata over 1 ½ years ago. Some of the wines that we use to order last year are no longer available but nothing has been added to replace them nor has the wine list been reprinted. This concerns us about their commitment to maintaining an outstanding carta de vinos. I hope to discuss this with someone soon.

We did order a bottle of Tinto-Anónimo Mescal de Tinto, which was served at the right temperature and was very enjoyable. Tinto-Anónimo is a wine produced with grapes from the Valle de Guadalupe but is blended by Pablo Alonzo Pérez a local wine maker who is now working on another project in Aguascalientes which we hope he will have great success.

We started our meal by sharing two entrees a plate of Taquitos de camarón

Taquitos de camarón

and the Ensalada de lechugas orgánicas

Ensalada de lechugas orgánicas

Both of these entrees were outstanding. Fresh local vegetables in the salad and the Taquitos de camarón were awesome.

We then on to our main courses. Jo Ann started with the Salmón a la plancha which she said was excellent. It must have been as she did not offer to share any of it with me.

Salmón a la plancha

My principal plate was the duck confit, which I have had previously. The duck confit was excellent as was the styling of the plate, however the major disappointment was that the mole sauce and the plate were not warm and this created a very disappointing culinary experience. It was like they warmed the plate and placed the mole long before completing the plate and serving it. Just something that should not happen at a nice restaurant.

Pato confit

We ended our meal with the dessert of Cremes de Xocolate, which was also excellent. The candied orange peals provide a wonderful contrast to the rich chocolate of the dessert.

Cremoso de Xocolate

We will return but if the concerns we raised are not properly addressed we may have to rethink about our commitment to returning to Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor.

Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor

Bartolomé de las Casas No. 511, Centro Histórico, Morelia Michoacán.

www.tatazezcaleria.com

Culinary y Vino Conquistadors Conquer Turkey

March 14, 2016 No Comments

This past Sunday we had our monthly meeting of the Culinary y Vino Conquistadors at Eileen and Luis’ home. The focus of this month’s gathering was to prepare recipes of Turkish origin, focusing mainly on two blogs “Almost Turkish Recipes” and “Ozlem’s Turkish Table”

As anticipated the event was an outstanding success and all of the recipes were delicious!

This was our menu for Sunday, 13th March:

Jo Ann & Jon:

Black Olive Bread

Black Olive Cake

Zucchini Moussaka with Garbanzo Beans

Jennifer:

Vegetarian Dolma (stuffed peppers).

Vegetarian Dolma (Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers)

Joel & Brenda:

Turkish Potato Salad

Deidre & Jason:

Fasulye Pilaki (White Beans cooked in Olive Oil with Vegetables)

Eileen & Luis:

Turkistani Pilaf (Lamb, Carrots, Basmati Rice)

Cacik (Yoghurt, Dip with Cucumber and Garlic)

Cacik (Yoghurt Dip with Cucumber & Garlic)

Rita & Ellis:

Baklava

The conversation seemed to quiet down once the meal was served.

Before Dinner Starts Everyone Catching Up

The pond area at Eileen and Luis’ house

¡Searching for Culinary and Vino Adventures in la Valle de Guadalupe!

March 4, 2016 No Comments

For the next week we will be exploring the Valle de Guadalupe searching out new wineries and restaurants throughout the Valle as well as in Tijuana. Our research of the area shows that it has totally blossomed into a major culinary and wine mecca that any true foodie needs to experience.

We will be starting our first day in Tijuana as our flight does not arrive until late in the afternoon. It has been almost 40 years since I last visited Tijuana and I know it is going to have changed traumatically.

We hope you will enjoy following our culinary adventures as we explore this wonderful area of México and that you will be able to come to experience it in your near future.

Flying from Morelia to Tijuana

Grilled Duck Breast With Charred Greens, Grapes, And Celery From Slow Fires

February 27, 2016 No Comments

The finished product – Grilled Duck Breast with Charred Greens, Grapes and Celery

We recently purchased a new cookbook called “Slow Fires” by Justin Smille, chef of Upland. In reading the summary and the comments about the book on Amazon, we thought it would be a challenging but very wonderful cookbook.

Slow Fires by Justin Smille

Well if the first meal we prepared from this cookbook is an indicator of what is to come, it may surpass our Boulevard cookbook as one of my favorite cookbooks. The recipe took two days to prepare but the resulting meal was unbelievably favorable.

The meal is a combination of three separate recipes:

Grilled Duck Breast With Charred Greens, Grapes, And Celery
Garlic And Pine Nut Emulsion
Charred Greens With Green Grapes And Celery

How to Plan The Meal

1 day before: Rub duck and soak pine nuts.
90 minutes before: Make garlic and pine nut emulsion.
1 hour before: Temper duck and set up grill.
30 minutes before: Grill duck and greens. Prepare charred greens salad. Arrange platter.

This meal is really worth the time and effort and if you follow the detailed instructions, it is a can’t miss dinner. Serve it with a full bodied red wine to maximize the experience.

¡Buon appetito!

Salade Lyonnaise

February 23, 2016 No Comments

Last night we prepared an excellent Salade Lyonnaise, which was timely as Jo Ann has lots of frisée in her garden.

Salade Lyonnaise from Mark Bittman of the New York Times

The mixture of the bacon and shallots with the tangy frisée was outstanding. This recipe came via the NY Times Monday food email and totally changed our menu plan for the day. I am so happy that it did!

Poaching the eggs

The Bacon diced and ready to cook

The shallots and bacon are just about ready for the salade

The Culinary Conquistadors Do Simply Ming

February 22, 2016 No Comments

The Basis for the February 2016 meeting of the Culinary Conquistadors

The February 2016 meeting of the Culinary Conquistadors was held at Jo Ann’s and my casa yesterday and the group had a great time.

The menu consisted of the following:

Appetizers

Shrimp Spring Rolls by Brenda and Joel
Fresh Fruit and Brie Cheese by Jo Ann

Of course we had lots of different wines as well as coffee latte or espresso afterward.

Photos

Here are a sampling of the various dishes prepared. Sorry but since I was having to take care of all the Asian Mango Salsa with Grilled Shrimp which came together at the last minute, I had no time or chance to do any food styling of these images. They are as they were served.

I hope you enjoyed the event and if you were not at this gathering but would like to join the group at one of our upcoming monthly meetings, please send me an email.

Lemongrass Coconut Soup

The Layered Salad Already Tossed

Marinating the Shrimp Prior to Grilling

The Shrimp Ready to Serve

Mango Salsa

Asian Mole After Cutting With Chicken Stock

Asian Mole with Chicken

Bacon-Cilantro Fried Rice

Jennifer’s Shortbread Cookies

Cleaning and Polishing Stemware

February 7, 2016 No Comments

Great video from Maximilian Riedel on Tips for Cleaning Wine Stemware.

I have broken too many great wine glasses trying to get them cleaned and this finally showed me what I was doing wrong.

Year: 2016

Troika Food Truck

Casa Mayoral

Day One in Tijuana – Dinner at La Querencia

Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor

Tata Mezcaleria + cocina de autor

Culinary y Vino Conquistadors Conquer Turkey

Jo Ann & Jon:

Jennifer:

Joel & Brenda:

Deidre & Jason:

Eileen & Luis:

Rita & Ellis:

¡Searching for Culinary and Vino Adventures in la Valle de Guadalupe!

Grilled Duck Breast With Charred Greens, Grapes, And Celery From Slow Fires

How to Plan The Meal

Salade Lyonnaise

The Culinary Conquistadors Do Simply Ming

Appetizers

Soup

Salad

Main Courses

Desserts

Photos

Cleaning and Polishing Stemware

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