Lucy's Kitchen, Akumal Mexico

I discovered a kindred spirit while we were in Akumal last week. Although I didn't have much time to talk to her while I was there due to the fact that she is running around serving people the most delicious shrimp tacos I have ever had in my life. Her name is Lucy James and I took the liberty of snooping on her through the internet before we went to Akumal. I had heard that she was from the northwest states and runs her own quaint little restaurant in Mexico for part of the year. I also heard that her food is to die for so of course I needed to check it out. And I was not disappointed. I love her attitude about food, new things, creativity and most of all, I loved the food! Here is a quote from her that I found on the internet:

"Lucy's Kitchen opened in early 2003. We served lunches for a short time, delighting (I think) locals and visitors to Akumal with selections such as Pad Thai, potstickers and sushi, among others. However we soon became known, and maybe a little famous, for our handmade ice cream. For me, cooking is an expression of creativity, and I love trying new things. I like to experiment with recipes and inspirations until they are 'just right'. At Lucy's Kitchen we're sticklers for authenticity, and if there's a shortcut to doing something, we generally don't take it!"

Kind of sounds like my mottos! I am sorry to say that I didn't try the homemade ice cream while I was there because I hear it is as good as the tacos. I tried the shrimp tacos, the baja taco, and another taco that had tempera battered salmon in it, I can't remember the name of it. We actually came back a second time for lunch because it was so good. I think she might put crack in those tacos to keep people coming back and dreaming about them when they are back in their own cold hometown. I am kidding about the crack but seriously, those tacos are so good they should be illegal. The chipolte mayo and the fresh pico de gallo go great with the steaming, hot, tempera battered shrimp. Once again, I have to curse myself for not bringing my digital camera. The disposal camera just doesn't do justice to these works of art.
In Mexico, tacos aren't the same thing as they are here in Minnesota. The word "taco" literally means "a wad of food" so you can put anything in a tortilla shell and call it a taco in Mexico. At home, we think of tacos as being the tacos we get from Taco Bell but those pale in comparison to anything I had in Mexico.

Not only does Lucy cook and manage the kitchen, she was outside waitressing both afternoons. She also seems to have a knack for languages as I heard her speaking Spanish, Italian (or was it French?) and English to different customers. She is definitely someone I could hang out with. Here is the Lucy's Kitchen website. If you are ever in Akumal, Mexico, don't miss out on this place!! Keep being a free spirit, Lucy! http://lucyskitchen.net/

Pico de Gallo in Mexico

Kevin and I just got back last week from our late honeymoon in Mexico. Yes, we have been married a year and a half now, however, we wanted to save up for our honeymoon. We went to the Riveria Maya area and stayed at the Akumal Beach Resort. It was the time of my life. You will have excuse the blurriness of some of the pictures since we didn't take our digital camera and so therefore all the pictures were taken with a disposal camera. I got a lot of strange looks when I took pictures of my plates of food, but I figured they probably thought I was just another strange American. Here is the picturesque view from our balcony. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort that had a buffet that wasn't the greatest but filled us up. There was one amazing thing on that buffet and that was the pico de gallo. Not once did I see what we call salsa anywhere, it was all the chunky, delicious, cilantro, addicting, pico de gallo and homemade chips. I lived off the pico de gallo and chips.Below is a picture of what Kevin lived off of. He quickly learned how to say "cervesa." The resort had a Mexican restaurant and an Italian restaurant. We ate at both and they were very good. I forgot to bring my camera to the Italian restaurant but here we are at the Mexican restaurant.I saw they had cerviche on the menu and I asked to try it as an appetizer. It was made with cooked grouper and had just enough sour and sweet in it. It was served with those awesome homemade chips which are nothing like Lay's tortilla chips. The picture doesn't do it justice, it was a very pretty, colorful dish.We both had the pulled pork and it was very tender. They served it to us with flour tortillas.The picture doesn't look too appetizing but it was very good and very filling. One other place we ate that was interesting and worth the trip was Senor Frog's in Playa del Carmen. I had said if I went to Mexico I would never eat at Senor Frog's because it was just a glorified American Mexican restaurant. Well, what do you do when you are given a free meal there? Because we bought two day trip tours, we were given a free meal. It was a very tasty meal and the location was beautiful. I wouldn't recommend going there normally but I have to admit the food and the drinks were good and it was well worth the day trip into Playa del Carmen.We both had beef tacos and they served it to us with little sides of cilantro and hot sauce. I had a frosty, green drink. I think it was called a "Frog." Lots of Midori in there. Yum!

I tried to make that addicting pico de gallo at home but I haven't succeeded yet. I will let you know when I do, because you know I will try until I do! It was a relaxing and interesting week. I love exploring and I love different cultures. We can't wait to go back!

St. Patrick's Day shepherd pie

If you can't tell from my complexion and my hair, I am Irish. Oh sure, there are a few other strange things thrown in there, like Czech and maybe some German but there are quite a few Irish good-for-nothings in my ancestoral line.

I love the story my grandma tells about my great-great grandmother who came over to the United States from Tipperary on a boat. Her name was Alice Ryan and it sounds like she was a feisty one. She divorced a husband in the late 1800's when it just wasn't really cool to do that and not only did she divorce him, she hit him on the head with a cast iron skillet. I don't know if he had brain damage afterward. She must have really been mad at that man, and I am sure all the women out there can sympathize at some point or another. I went through a stage when I was married to my ex-husband where I threw dishes at him on a regular basis. But then I went to dish-thowers anonymous and broke the family cycle and Kevin has only had one dish thrown at him in the six years we have been together. Yes, I had a little set-back that day. Because I love that story and because I identify with that crazy great-great-grandmother, I begged my grandma to let me have the trunk Crazy Alice brought over from Ireland. It now sits proudly in our downstairs bedroom and is so large I could easily stuff a body in there. When my mom and I moved it, we thought it was funny when the neighbors were outside to hit the trunk several times and tell the "person" in there to "shut-up!" The apple probably doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to crazy.

Yeah, yeah, I am getting to the food part! I made an easy shepherd's pie and irish soda bread in honor of Crazy Alice and St. Patrick's day. Here is a really simple way to make shepherd's pie. Start with a layer of vegetables in a pie pan or casserole dish.Brown hamburgers and onions in a skillet and that is your next layer. Pour a couple of cups of brown gravy on top of your hamburger.The next layer is a couple of cups of garlic mashed potatos. The last layer is cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Have a Guiness or six while you are waiting.

Kevin and Miss Chocoholic really liked this dish, although I saw Miss Chocoholic picking through her vegetables and sliding some of them in the garbage can. It was really good microwaved the next day, too.

I'll leave you tonight with an Irish blessing:

"May those who love us, love us; and those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping."

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Bellisio's In Duluth

A trip to Duluth, MN is never complete without stopping at Bellisio's. It is one of my favorite classic Italian restaurants. Last week I took Wednesday off so Nancy and I could take a little road trip to Duluth to see the show "Riverdance." Nancy has worked in the same office with Kevin for a long time and I call her the "dorm mom" of his office. She hadn't been to Duluth in years so I asked her if she wanted to stop at Bellisio's for lunch.

The atmosphere is Bellesio's is always warm and inviting and the staff are friendly and helpful. The menu will make you salivate and the wine menu can be intimidating. I have read novels that are smaller than that wine list. I love the racks and racks of wine bottles that line the walls in the restaurant.It's very Italian.

I talked Nancy into trying a glass of moscato which she loved. A lot of women I know love that wine because it is so light, sweet, sparkling and doesn't have a bit of dryness in it at all. Even Kevin's mom will drink it and she doesn't drink much wine. There are many different kinds of moscato and they all taste pretty similiar. So if you like a sweeter, lighter white wine, try it! If you can't remember the name of it, I told Nancy I remembered it this way when I was first introduced to it. Tomayto, tomahto, mosquito, moscahto. Hey, whatever works! I'll write another post on just moscato wines some other time because I could go on and on about moscato. It is one of my favorites.

Nancy and I started out with the seafood bisque. It was rich and creamy with chunks of crabmeat. The bread that came with it was rustic and buttery.

Here is Nancy laughing at me for whipping my digital camera out to take pictures of my plate.

We both decided to have the lobster broth-infused risotto with shrimp and aspargus. The dish was good, it was clean and simple and the shrimp were cooked to perfection.However, I have a little problem. I am always looking for a dish that as I told Nancy..."blows me away." It is probably like a high that a drug addict looks for, whenever I find a dish that is extraordinary, it is a high for me. When lunch is over thirty dollars I expect to find that high and sometimes I am disappointed. But don't let my little problem stop you from eating at Bellisio's. While the food wasn't something that made my knees quiver, it was still good and the tastes were very simple and not muddled. That is probably good for a lot of people, for me I am looking for the thing that makes me say, "Wow!"
Trust me, I will be back and next time I will have the fettuccini which is always a "wow" dish at Bellisio's. (And the show "Riverdance" was amazing!)

Lemon Curry Chicken

Chef and Company started a cooking club this year and I was very excited to be around people who are as passionate about food as I am. We had our second meeting last week and it was so fun. We cooked lemon curry chicken with mango basmati rice salad.

I learned a few things that night. First of all, curry is from India. It actually means "gravy" not the powder in the spice jar that you and I are thinking of and see on the grocery store shelf. When the British were over in India, they wanted to take back the tastes of India, so they put together the spices that reminded them of that country. Curry in a spice jar is actually a combination of a bunch of different spices. Someday, I will have to find a place that has actual "gravy" curry or try to make it myself.

Second, basmati rice is also from India. I had never heard of it before. The name means "fragrant" and I have to admit it does have a nice aroma. Basmati rice is the most expensive and sought-after rice in the world. I found a box of it in the rice section of Cub Foods. It came with a packet of seasoning that I didn't use.

I have never cooked with ginger before, so that was different. But different is good! I love to try and find a new taste that I like. I bought a ginger root and I learned that you can grate the ginger, peel and all, and if you want to keep the rest, put it in a baggie in the freezer and it will keep for a long time. The next time you need some, just take it out and start grating, you don't even need to thaw it. So I went home and recreated the recipe. Here are a lot of the ingredients. Yes, my kitchen was a mess.
I have the rice cooling on a cookie sheet.And here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken part:

-3 chicken breasts (I marinaded mine)

-2 cups of plain yogurt

-2 tablespoons of curry powder

-grated zest and juice of a lemon

-1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

-salt and pepper

Stir together yogurt, curry powder, lemon zest and juice, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add chicken and toss gently to coat with the yogurt marinade. You can either roast the chicken in the oven or put it on the grill. I grilled mine but we roasted it at the cooking class.

Mango basmati rice salad

-1 cup basmati rice

-1 inch piece of grated ginger

-1/2 pound of green beans

-1 small red onion

-1/4 cup cashews

-1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

-1 fresh mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

-juice of 1/2 lemon

-salt and pepper to taste

Put rice with ginger in 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to simmer over medium heat. Give rice a stir and turn hear to low, cover and cook for 12 minutes without lifting the lid. Spread cooked rice out on baking sheet and let cool to room temperature. Par cooked green beans and drop into ice water bath to keep the bright green color. Drain, cut beans in half. Chop the onion, cashews and mint leaves coarsely. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. Taste for seasoning. Serve the chicken breast over the rice salad.

Shrimp Po' Boys with Angry Mayo

My mom came to see me this weekend and I wanted to make her a good supper so I decided to make shrimp po' boys with angry mayo. I like to say "angry mayo, I think it sounds funny. I happened to see this recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ and make it once in awhile. About six years ago I went to New Orleans and I wish I would have known about these then; I would have made an effort to try an authentic shrimp po' boy. Instead my friend, Carrie and I came back with twenty punds of beads between the two of us. Crazy girls! We did go to Cafe du Monde for the bengiettes so we managed to sneak a little culture into our partying.

I started out by chopping up some basil and cilantro putting it in a skillet with half a cup of olive oil. Then I chopped up a serrano chili pepper and added that and some garlic and lemon zest to the skillet. Once the basil and cilantro started browning, I pulled the oil mixture off and put it in a bowl in the refrigerator to cool. I added a cup of mayo and and a tablespoon of lemon juice to the oil and mixed it together once the oil mixture was cool. The mayo wasn't too angry tonight. How can you be angry on a weekend anyway? Usually I make it hotter but my mom isn't too crazy about spicy stuff and neither is Miss Chocoholic. You could add two peppers if you wanted the mayo to be angrier. (Did I mention I like to say "angry mayo?")I thawed and peeled a pound of shrimp and rolled it in a cup of flour and cayenne pepper. I pan fried the shrimp in the skillet I used to make the angry mayo. Shrimp, like most seafood, cooks fast so don't overcook it or the shrimp will be rubbery. I split open the bread and piled on lettuce, cheese, angry mayo and shrimp.Here's to a fun, relaxing weekend!