Marvelously Memorable Mexican Meals

In my opinion there are three things that can contribute to a memorable meal. There is the food of course; there are the people who share the food, and then there is the environment in which these people enjoy their meal.

In the last week Maurice and I have had two such memorable meals. The first one occurred 5 days ago. We were invited for a “surprise” dinner at Keith and Sharon’s house. Now surprise can mean many things. It can be defined as a surprise because of the food that is served, or because there is a surprise guest, pet, musician, specialty costumes...well you get the idea. Our surprise far surpassed any of the things we could have imagined. When we got to Keith and Sharon’s we looked out their front window, and there on the beach, all alone, with no one around, sat a table, umbrella and four chairs.
Since they live a mile up the beach from us, we share the same isolated stretch of playa. This evening, like always, the beach was totally empty…. except for our table and chairs. Down we all excitedly scurried, to dine, on a lovely lace table cloth, and to enjoy our first ever, dinner on the beach!! Maurice and I had talked about doing this, but we never had. Our friends gave us a wonderful surprise! The evening was spectacular and the sunset was perfect. Talk about living a dream. When we have guests at Arriba de la Roca we will certainly have to offer a special evening like this. There is nothing like dining on an isolated beach, sipping wine with good friends and watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. Nothing at all!

Marvelously Memorable Mexican Meals, part two, occurred on Saturday, when we had our next surprise. Our guys work here Tuesday through Saturday. On Saturday they usually quit about 3 so they can start the hour or more drive back to their homes. While I was out watering the palms on Saturday...our first REALLY REALLY hot day, a couple of the guys were whistling and motioning something. I yelled to Maurice that I thought they need more water pumped up since they are making a lot of cement for our terracing. When he came and saw them he decided they needed him to come up there...so he went. 10 minutes later he returned down to me and told me to grab my camera, they had a surprise.

One of the local fishermen had caught a rooster fish. It was huge! It was easily 5 feet long. Everyone was so excited it was almost like they had caught it themselves! They told Maurice the fisherman wanted 300 pesos for it, which is about $24. Maurice asked, “And what am I going to do with that???!!” So the guys said they would cook it on the spot. They proceeded to make a shopping list and sent him to the store while I finished watering the palms.





The list, which I will translate as best I can, was:



1 kilo limes FYI Kilo = 2.2 lbs
1 ½ kilo tomatoes
1/2 kilo poblano pepper
1 kilo onion
1 bote salt
2 pimentos
½ kilo ham
½ kilo cheese
2 latas of mushrooms
1 bote soy sauce
½ kilo hot peppers
2 rolls of aluminum foil
2 bags oregano
4 pound of butter
4 bags of charcoal
4 kilo of tortillas

With the exception of the foil,used to wrap the fish, the charcoal and the tortilla’s which were eaten with the fish, all the ingredients were used to stuff this huge rooster fish. It was then wrapped in foil, surrounded by re-bar and wire- kind of like a cage, and placed on top of blocks and cooked for ½ hour on each side.

The pictures tell the stories of our marvelously memorable Mexican meals. The workers did not leave until 5 on Saturday. Maurice even bought beer which was a first. It was a grand day. The left over fish, of which there was very little, was taken to someone’s house, to make soup we thought, and everyone left feeling like we all shared a very special meal together.

This is a picture of where the fishermen fish from. This photo is taken from our cliff, where the fish was being cooked. If you look at the top left corner of the picture, where the top of the ridge is, and follow the ridge down you will see a large rock in the water, after this there is a smaller rock and then a smaller one yet. If you zoom in, and cut across from this smaller rock to the base of the ridge you will see fishermen fishing. They climb all the way down the cliff to fish here. It happens daily and we love watching it. I am sure the locals have been fishing from beneath Arriba de la Roca for decades. You will all love watching it happen. Maybe we will get lucky and be able to cook a rooster fish, over some concrete blocks, for you when you are here.