I realized the other day that I had somehow managed to get through my adult years having never tried one of the most classic of all drinks: The Manhattan. As a cocktail enthusiast, this was an embarrassing oversight. The truth is, I’ve never much cared for whiskey and its variants; not in mixed drinks and certainly not straight (tequila is my liquor of choice followed closely by gin and rum). I strive to be well-rounded so I recently started to sample more whiskey-based drinks. It didn’t take long for me to officially become a whiskey convert! I’ve been making whiskey drinks at home the last few weekends. My timing seems off. Summer evenings are meant for refreshing Gin & Tonics and Margaritas, not wintry Maple Leafs and Tipperarys. I decided it was high time to try a Manhattan, a perfect drink anytime of year.

The Manhattan is a simple as it gets: whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters and a cherry garnish. As is the case with most classic drinks, variations abound. A Dry Manhattan uses dry vermouth instead of sweet vermouth whereas a Perfect Manhattan uses a combination of the two. Manhattans can be made using rye whiskey, blended whiskey, bourbon, etc. In place of the traditional Angostura bitters, bartenders may change things up by using orange bitters or Peychaud’s bitters. Oftentimes, bartenders will come up with their very own signature Manhattan. For my first time, I decided to stick with a Classic Manhattan using rye whiskey and sweet vermouth.

Prior to Prohibition, rye was the dominant whiskey in America. By the time Prohibition was repealed, people no longer had a taste for rye and it nearly disappeared completely. Although it can still be difficult to find, rye has been experiencing a small revival of late. Bartenders are rediscovering it for its fantastic mixability. Rye is spicier and drier than other whiskeys making it an ideal choice for mixed drinks. I realized that many of the cocktail recipes that I was anxious to try called for rye. So, I finally picked up a bottle of Old Overholt which is generally regarded as a reliable brand (and, incidentally, one of the few that survived Prohibition).

Sweet vermouth is another recent addition to my liquor cabinet. Robert bought me a bottle of Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth for my birthday and now I can’t imagine life without it. It reminds me a little bit of port but with a subtle herbal undertone. In fact, if you don’t have any sweet vermouth lying around, you can make yet another variation on the Manhattan: the Ruby Manhattan which uses port in place of the vermouth.

I had my rye, I had my sweet vermouth, and I dusted off my old bottle of Angostura bitters. Now, all I needed were the cherries. I don’t garnish every cocktail I make at home. I understand that the garnish sometimes makes the drink, but I usually can’t justify paying $1 for a lemon just for one or two twists. This time, I decided to go all out by garnishing not just with a cherry but with my very own homemade maraschino cherries! Let’s be honest - store bought maraschino cherries are pretty frightening with their fake fluorescent red color and sickly sweet taste. Homemade cherries were sure to be better. Some people macerate cherries in brandy with spices, but I decided to go a more traditional route by using maraschino liqueur. Maraschino liqueur, which hails from Croatia, is sweet with a rich cherry and almond flavor. I gently heated up the liqueur and then added some cherries that I had picked up that day at the farmer’s market. I sealed it all up in a jar, put in the fridge and two weeks later – voilà – homemade maraschino cherries!

I was finally ready to make my first Manhattan. The Manhattan is one of the easiest drinks to put together. I love that you don’t have to squeeze any citrus or sugar any glasses. You don’t even have to shake it! Simply put all of the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir, strain into a cocktail glass and top off with a cherry. Ready in mere seconds, the Manhattan is a lovely cocktail. The rye adds a nice spiciness while the vermouth adds sweet and earthy notes. My maraschino cherries were quite rich and sweet. After sitting in a Manhattan soaking up even more booze, these cherries packed a punch and were like a little decadent dessert at the end of your drink. I think they would be delicious over ice cream. I enjoyed the classic Manhattan so much that I also tried a Perfect Manhattan using both sweet and dry vermouth. Next time, perhaps I’ll try coming up with my very own signature Manhattan.

Wednesday night, we attended FareStart’s 6th Annual Guest Chef on the Waterfront – a food & wine extravaganza in support of FareStart. FareStart is a non-profit organization in Seattle whose mission is to help homeless and disadvantaged men and women obtain the skills necessary to find employment in the food service industry. Their intensive 16-week culinary program combines on-the-job training with classroom instruction and job placement services. FareStart provides meals to childcare centers and homeless shelters around the Seattle area every day of the year, an endeavor that provides students with valuable training opportunities. Hands-on training also occurs at the FareStart Restaurant located at 7th & Virginia in downtown Seattle. The FareStart Restaurant offers students the chance to prepare meals for hungry workers and downtown shoppers. The restaurant is open every weekday for lunch. On Thursday evenings, the restaurant hosts Guest Chef Night where one of Seattle’s premier chefs heads into the FareStart kitchen and works directly with the students to produce a delicious meal for a restaurant full of diners. The wait staff on Guest Chef Night is comprised of volunteers from local businesses (my company participated in this twice and had a blast each time). Guest Chef Night is a popular event; reservations are strongly recommended.

Another highly anticipated FareStart event is their annual Guest Chef on the Waterfront, a celebration featuring the local chefs and restaurants that support them throughout the year. Some have referred to it as the foodie event of the summer. Guest Chef at the Waterfront brings together over 70 of the region’s best chefs, breweries and wineries. This year’s participating restaurants included relative newcomers Tilikum Place Cafe, Urbane and Cantinetta as well as old Seattle standbys such as Ivar’s and Salty’s on Alki. Beverage purveyors ranged from Caffé Vita Coffee Roasting Co. to DrySoda to Georgetown Brewing Company. Of course, there was also wine. Lots and lots of wine courtesy of the Rhone Rangers, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting American Rhone varietal wines. As with the FareStart restaurant, all proceeds from Guest Chef on the Waterfront directly benefit FareStart’s job training and placement programs. Helping the community with delicious food and drink is a cause I can get behind!

Guest Chef on the Waterfront is held on Seattle’s Pier 66. The weather was absolutely perfect this year; it was so nice just to be on the pier looking out over the water and mountains. The best part of all, however, was the wonderful food and wine! Food and beverage stands were set up in long rows inside Bell Harbor’s Elliott Hall with even more stands located outside on the sunny pier. Upon entering the building, you are given a tray and an empty wine glass and are set free to start eating and drinking. The place was packed! It was pretty challenging getting to some of the food. There was very little room to move, and people were bumping into each other right and left. I’m pretty sure everyone in attendance either spilled food or was spilled upon at some point during the night. After a while, things seemed to ease up, and I was able to sit back and enjoy some delicious nibbles.

Food was served in small portions - just a few perfect bites allowing you to sample many different things. This being Seattle, the dishes were weighted heavily towards seafood. Ceviche was a popular choice. I sampled two: a spicy Moroccan-inspired scallop ceviche and a mixed seafood ceviche in a bloody mary marinade (complete with bloody mary style garnishes of olives and spicy peppers). Lemongrass-scented salmon vichyssoise, halibut cheeks with corn salsa and swordfish with kimchi were among the other seafood dishes I tried. Robert particularly enjoyed 2100 Bistro’s miniature lamb patty served atop Vietnamese rice noodles. Urbane’s corn dog also received high praise from our group. Like the food, wine was served in tiny samples. I excitedly tried several varietals I hadn’t had before including Marsanne, Mourvedre and Roussanne. After filling up on dinner and drinks, it was time for dessert. I don’t normally do dessert, but there was no way I was going to pass up fried-to-order nutella-stuffed beignets. The line for beignets was long but worth it. They were incredible! Guest Chef at the Waterfront may be over for this year, but I encourage you to check out lunch or Guest Chef Night at FareStart – it’s good for the students, the community, and your belly!

Have you ever tried natto? If so, then you are most likely doing one of two things right now: salivating or plugging your nose and reaching to close your browser. Natto is one of those polarizing foods like cilantro and okra. People who have tried it tend to have extremely strong feelings about it. Natto is a traditional Japanese food consisting of soybeans that have been fermented with the bacteria, Bacillus subtilis. It is stinky in the same manner as some pungent cheeses (think Limburger). It is also known for its slimy, sticky texture. When stirred, natto develops lots of long, gooey strings. People go on and on about the smell, but I think it’s the unusual texture that really gets to folks. Don’t you want to try it now?

I saw “natto gnocchi” on a restaurant menu recently, and it got me thinking about natto. My mom used to eat natto when I was a kid. Of course, back then I thought it was the worst thing ever. I would run out of the kitchen in horror every time she opened up a package. As an adult, I have grown to love all kinds of fermented foods. Kimchi, fish sauce, stinky cheeses – the riper and moldier it is, the better! I decided it was time to give natto another shot.

I picked up a package of organic natto at Uwajimaya. In order to experience the true taste of natto my first time out, I decided to keep things simple by serving it over rice with soy sauce and a touch of spicy mustard. This is one of the most common ways of eating natto; so common, in fact, that most boxes of natto come with tiny packets of soy sauce and mustard inside. I can’t say that I loved it, but it certainly wasn’t terrible. It was surprisingly mild: stinky, yes, but not as much as certain cheeses. The beans themselves were quite bland. I think I enjoyed it less for its flavor and more for the thrill that comes with eating something others wince at. Plus, it is really fun to stir the natto and watch its crazy stringy texture develop. People typically either love natto or hate it, but strangely enough, I fall somewhere in the middle.

Today, I was feeling experimental. I had some extra odds and ends in my pantry, and I thought, “why not mix them all together with some spaghetti and natto?” In a small bowl, I whipped the natto into a stringy, bubbling frenzy. Then I stirred in spicy mustard, tamari and a raw egg. I tossed this with hot spaghetti until it thickened into a sauce and coated all of the noodles. Then I added some edamame and chopped kimchi (because the natto wasn’t quite stinky enough for me). A drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds completed the dish. It may sound horrific, but it was actually pretty tasty. It reminded me a little bit of sesame noodles, albeit with a slimier texture and a flavor only a natto fan could love. If you like unusual foods, I dare urge you to try natto!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or possibly down in a Dharma hatch) you’ve no doubt heard the news that Lost is ending tonight. People are hosting Lost parties all across the country in celebration of the series finale. I’ve been a fan of the show since the very beginning so I decided to do it justice in my own way: by preparing a Lost-inspired dinner. There are many routes one could take when planning a Lost-themed meal. The most appropriate choice would probably be wild boar cooked over a campfire. You could also do Korean food in honor of Jin and Sun. Or how about Mr. Cluck’s Chicken or Dharma issue ranch dressing for Hurley? Since the show is filmed in Hawaii, I decided to I decided to whip up a bunch of Hawaiian snacks. No Hawaiian snack tray would be complete without Hawaii’s famous surfer treat: Spam Musubi. Sushi rice topped with fried Spam - what’s not to love there? In addition, I chose to make Ahi Poke and Okinawan Sweet Potatoes with Miso-Tahini Dip. Rounding out the ensemble cast were steamed edamame and wedges of fresh mango. To drink, we kept it simple with Dharma-brand micro brews (OK, these weren’t real Dharma beers - Robert made some Dharma labels and slapped them on a couple of Ninkasi IPAs!) It is unlikely that the Lost finale will live up to everyone’s expectations. Regardless of what happens, at least I’ll have a delicious meal to look back on!

I often daydream about what it would be like to have every possible ethnicity is represented in my neighborhood’s restaurant scene. That may never happen, but we just got one step closer with the grand opening of Guanaco’s Pupuseria on Broadway. I love pupusas so this news is quite exciting. Pupusas are El Salvador’s most notable dish. They are thick handmade tortillas stuffed with a variety of fillings ranging from chicharrón (ground pork) to refried beans to cheese with loroco (a tropical vine flower). Most commonly, pupusas are made using corn masa although some regions in El Salvador use rice flour. They are traditionally served with curtido, a lightly fermented cabbage slaw. I personally love having them for breakfast with refried beans, scrambled eggs, hot sauce and sour cream.

My primary experience with pupusas thus far has been at Salvadorean Bakery in Seattle’s White Center neighborhood. Their pupusas are dense and hearty. By contrast, the pupusas at Guanaco’s are very soft and practically overflowing with fillings. The thin, slightly charred exterior of the tortilla is just strong enough to hold in the soft, melty center. While I prefer the denser pupusas at Salvadorean Bakery, Guanaco’s pupusas are tasty and I’m certainly not going to complain about cheap pupusas a few blocks from my apartment! In addition to pupusas, there are plenty of other tempting items on the menu including fried plantains, yucca fritters, baby corn tamales, dessert empanadas and pastelitos (fried corn flour pockets filled with beef, onion and carrot). Everything at Guanaco’s is super cheap so there is no excuse not to try something new with each visit.

Guanaco’s is located at 219 Broadway E. Suite 14 (inside the Alley Mall).

After enjoying so many delicious dishes at Leaky Palapa in Xcalak, I was relaxed and in the mood for something mellow to sip on. Owner Linda must have been reading my mind because a moment later she delivered a sample of Agavero to our table. It was a perfect liqueur for the occasion: sweet, smooth and bursting with flavors of tequila and caramel. I wasn’t ready to jump through all the hoops required to bring a souvenir bottle home. Luckily, Agavero is more readily available than I expected, and I was able to pick some up at my local liquor store. Agavero is a blend of reposado and añejo tequilas mixed with essence of Damiana flower. Damiana is indigenous to Jalisco, the same region where tequila is made. Mexican folklore claims that Damiana was used in the original margarita. Damiana has a reputation as an aphrodisiac, and the makers of Agavero really play this up in their marketing. If you can look past the cheesy references to love and romance on the packaging, you might enjoy this sipping liqueur. Agavero has more bite than other liqueurs, and the tequila flavor is quite pronounced. It would be foolish to think of this as tequila however. It is very sweet and would never be mistaken for anything other than a liqueur. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth so I can’t picture myself drinking Agavero straight very often. It does make one fine margarita though. I simply replaced the triple sec in my standard margarita recipe with Agavero. The resulting margarita had a subtle floral aroma and a richer tequila flavor. I’m sure there are countless other cocktails that could benefit from a splash of Agavero. I went to Mexico expecting to try lots of different tequilas; I did not expect to discover a delicious tequila liqueur!

After a few days in Tulum, Robert and I headed south to the sleepy village of Xcalak. Just north of the Belize border, Xcalak is slowly being discovered as an ecological tourist destination. The second largest barrier reef in the world sits just offshore making Xcalak an ideal spot for fishing, scuba diving and snorkeling. This pristine area has been designated a Mexican national park. Despite its beauty and recreation opportunities, environmental restrictions limit development in this area so it is unlikely Xcalak will ever experience the large scale tourism of such places as Playa del Carmen and Tulum. There also isn’t much beach in Xcalak (the barrier reef keeps the waters around Xcalak fairly still). If you like long, sandy beaches and crashing waves, stick with the more populous northern Yucatan. If, on the other hand, your idea of fun includes chilling out in a hammock surrounded by unspoiled wilderness and the clearest turquoise water you’ve ever seen, then Xcalak might just be the place for you! It takes about three hours to get from Tulum to Xcalak. The drive is long, but enjoyable. At times, it feels as if you are in the middle of nowhere; nothing but green jungle for miles and miles. We even spotted a jaguar with cubs on the side of the road!

We stayed at a cute, four-room hotel called Casa Carolina. The owners, Bob and Caroline, are lots of fun. Caroline makes delicious muffins for breakfast every day, and Bob will entertain you with stories and his magical margaritas in the afternoons. They are very helpful in arranging any tours or activities you may be interested in. We took a boat tour one day to Chetumal Bay and Bird Island, home to a wide variety of nesting birds. We snorkeled among the coral heads near the reef, kayaked, biked and spent plenty of time relaxing. We also met the most wonderful group of people during our trip. We became fast friends with the other guests staying at Casa Carolina and would meet up with them for breakfast in the morning and again for drinks in the afternoon. It was like summer camp. Another surprise was all of the fantastic food! Unlikely as it seems, a small foodie movement is sprouting in Xcalak. Delicious food in the middle of the jungle – could there be a more perfect vacation for me?

The biggest surprise was Porfirio’s Clubhouse. I do plenty of restaurant research before any vacation, but this place did not show up on my radar. The Clubhouse highlights organic, locally sourced ingredients. It is open Sunday through Tuesday only and is located 9 kilometers up the beach road from Xcalak (look for the sign with the skull and cross bones). The Clubhouse has a great ambiance. It is dark and intimate with only five tables and a few more seats at the bar. It seems fancy at first, but this is Xcalak so of course there was a dog running around the restaurant and another perched on top of the bar. We started off with the Tortilla Española and a delicious heirloom tomato and goat cheese napoleon. For our entrée, we split the Paella Yucateca, a delectable dish of rice and locally caught shrimp. Delicious food aside, the most exciting part of the meal was the mescal tasting! The owners, Jamison and Jennifer, have collected a variety of fine mescals from the Oaxaca Valley. I was served three samples. First up, tobalá: a small batch mescal made from wild agave that is distilled as soon as it’s picked to preserve its fresh flavor. It tasted like new bicycle tires, in a good way. Next, I sampled a pechuga. This unusual mescal is distilled with fruit and a raw turkey breast. Yep, raw turkey breast (hey, it’s better than a worm…I think). The turkey breast is said to give the mescal a richer mouth feel. We joked with Jamison that it tasted like Thanksgiving. Finally, I tried an añejo which had been aged for seven years. I liked this one the best; it tasted like a fine scotch. I’m going on the record with a prediction that mescal is going to be the next big thing.

It didn’t take long for our next surprise to arrive. While we were relaxing and enjoying our ocean view, Caroline came running up the steps announcing, “The tamale truck is here! Fresh, homemade chicken tamales for 12 pesos each!” I knew there was a grocery truck that came by several times a week, but I did not expect a tamale truck! There was also a dessert truck later that same day which lead me to wonder what other trucks there might be (A shrimp ceviche truck, perhaps? Oooh, or how about a fresh coconut ice cream truck?) We picked up four tamales and a little baggie of homemade salsa. Although we wanted to devour them on the spot, we actually saved our tamales for the lunch the following day. I steamed the tamales and then served them with the salsa and an avocado I had brought with me from Tulum. Golden masa filled with moist shredded chicken all wrapped up in a banana leaf – simple and delicious! Robert has always said that tamales are the perfect food. In this case, I think he was right.

The foremost foodie restaurant in Xcalak has got to be Leaky Palapa. I had heard wonderful things about this place before our visit so I knew I wanted to check it out. In fact, I made sure to plan our trip so that we would be in Xcalak during the days that Leaky Palapa is open (Thursday - Sunday). Two of the other couples staying at Casa Carolina were planning on going to Leaky Palapa the same night we were, and Caroline called to merge our reservations with theirs so that we could all eat together. This worked out perfectly! Since there were six of us, we basically ordered everything on the menu and shared it all. Robert loves eating family-style, and I love getting to try as many different dishes as possible! Leaky Palapa’s menu rotates depending on what is fresh that week. Not surprisingly, the menu relies heavily on seafood and tropical ingredients. We started off with appetizers and a Caesar salad that was served attractively in a baked Parmesan cheese ring. Our entrées ranged from pork tenderloin crusted with huitlacoche to grouper with a tequila-lime glaze to “seafood a la nage” (mixed seafood simmered in a rich coconut broth). We finished the meal with bread pudding, mango and lime sorbet and a Oaxacan chocolate torte. Everything was very fresh and expertly prepared. The food all went so amazingly together that I really can’t name a single standout dish. Prices at Leaky Palapa aren’t particularly cheap, but sharing fantastic food with such great people made it worth every penny!

On our last night in Xcalak, a bunch of us piled into a car and headed to Toby’s Restaurant for taco night! Toby’s taco night occurs every Friday and is a popular event in Xcalak. Toby is a friendly local who will come over to your table to introduce himself, tell a few jokes and explain how taco night works. It is simple: you have a choice between homemade flour or corn tortillas and a variety of fillings including beef, pork, chicken, fish and shrimp. If you can’t make up your mind, order mixto: one of each. Once you get your tacos, be sure to visit Toby’s salsa bar which offers up many different salsas as well as fresh sliced radishes and roasted onions. I ordered two shrimp tacos and two fish tacos. The food was all very tasty. The fish in particular was incredible; moist and super fresh. We had a blast at Toby’s. Not wanting the fun to end there, we decided to pick up some extra cervezas to take back to Casa Carolina with us. We sat out on the dock for hours, drinking beers with our new friends and watching the bioluminescent glow worms sparkle in the water below us. It was a perfect final night in Xcalak!

Robert and I just returned from a week in the Yucatan Peninsula. The first stop on our itinerary was Tulum. Located approximately two hours south of Cancun, Tulum is known primarily for its striking pre-Columbian Mayan ruins. Tulum’s ruins are smaller than other Maya sites in the vicinity, but it is the setting – high upon a cliff overlooking the turquoise blue sea – that sets these ruins apart. Tulum also has beautiful white sand beaches making it an ideal destination for tourists. Long-time visitors will tell you how much Tulum has grown over the years. That may be true, but we still managed to find plenty of small town charm in the form of friendly locals, quaint sidewalk cafes and an unhurried pace.

We stayed at Cabanas Copal which is probably best described as one step above camping. Copal’s rustic huts don’t have electricity and are very open to the elements. If the idea of finding a crab hiding out in your bathroom or bats sleeping in the thatches above you isn’t your idea of fun, you should probably look elsewhere. What Copal lacks in creature comforts (human creatures, that is) they more than make up for with their beautiful surroundings. Our cabana was located on a small cliff above a lovely, secluded beach. Imagine falling asleep to the sound of the surf and waking up to a beautiful Caribbean sunrise each day. Copal’s bar, set right above the beach, proved to be the perfect spot for sipping margaritas and Leon’s (Robert’s new favorite Mexican beer). I would skip the food, though; they offer pretty typical, uninspired beach cuisine. Fortunately, for us, there were plenty of delicious restaurants nearby.

We ate breakfast twice at Trece Lunas, a little coffeeshop/art gallery located not far down the beach road from our cabana. It is a friendly, laid back place that is quite popular with tourists in the area. Although they serve lunch and dinner, breakfast seems to be the name of the game here. Breakfasts at Trece Lunas are tasty, wholesome and reasonably priced. I enjoyed the tropical fruit with yogurt and granola one day and eggs poached in “Trece Lunas sauce” (a spicy tomato sauce) another day. Robert had the chorizo scramble his first day and followed that up with French toast the next day. Their sandwich board boasts “the best coffee on the beach.” I didn’t try all of the coffee in Tulum, but I can report that the coffee at Trece Lunas was pretty darn good. If you are looking for a nice, relaxing place to start your day, Trece Lunas is a great choice. I’d recommend getting there early as we watched it fill to capacity on both our visits.

Antojitos Dona Tere is a small sidewalk stand in Tulum Pueblo that specializes in masa-related snacks (antojitos means snacks in Spanish). Sopes, tacos, tostadas; they have it all. This place is popular with the locals so you may have to wait for a table (there are only three). Our waiter didn’t speak any English, and our Spanish is embarrassingly minimal, so we ordered by pointing at what the people next to us were eating. I later learned that what we had are called huaraches. Huaraches are flat, oval masa cakes that are grilled and then topped with various ingredients. They are named after the popular Mexican sandals that they resemble. At Antojitos Dona Tere, the huaraches come topped with refried black beans, cheese and your choice of one or two toppings. Robert ordered puerco (pork) and I had the nopal (cactus). I also ordered an agua de Jamaica (hibiscus tea). What a delicious meal! The grilled masa had an amazing toasted corn flavor, and the toppings were hearty and delicious. The accompanying salsa was very spicy; luckily they serve plenty of sour cream on the side which helps to cool the burn. The only downside was that the huaraches were a little tough to eat. I had a hard time getting my knife through the crispy bottom layer of masa. Something smaller that could be picked up, such as a sope, would have made things easier. Still, it was hard to find fault with this scrumptious meal.

We stopped by El Mariachi for a beer one night and decided to return for lunch after hearing such wonderful things about their chicken tacos. Like Antojitos Dona Tere, El Mariachi is located in Tulum Pueblo. Eating in town, far away from the touristy beach zone, you get a better mix of locals and tourists. El Mariachi is a fairly large restaurant with an open kitchen where you can watch your food being prepared. The menu is extensive and features many typical Mexican dishes as well as a few surprises. Robert, naturally, ordered the chicken tacos. I opted for the tostadas de camaron: crisp corn tortillas topped with guacamole and fresh shrimp ceviche. The ceviche was very light and refreshing. With a chilled Mexican lager, the tostadas de camaron made for a near-perfect lunch.

On our last night in Tulum, we headed out to El Tabano for a more “upscale” meal (upscale in Tulum terms meaning wear your nicer flip flops). El Tabano is located across from the Hemingway resort, a couple of kilometers down the beach road. The foodies on Chowhound rave about this place so of course I had to check it out. Despite being right next to the road, it has a very romantic, intimate atmosphere. The majority of tables are set in an outdoor garden. Twinkly lights and candles provide ambiance. The chalkboard menu is written in Spanish and features unique dishes inspired by Mexican ingredients. The staff are more than happy to discuss the menu and to help you choose your dish (which is a good thing since the menu is in a rather awkward location behind a couple of tables – to read it, you basically have to hover over some poor souls trying to enjoy their meals). We started off by sharing potato croquettes and a mixed vegetable salad. Robert had the pork in achiote: slow-cooked pork served in a rich, deep red sauce seasoned with just a hint of cinnamon. He described it as a cross between New Mexican carne adovada and a Moroccan pork stew. I ordered the camaron havanero: seared prawns on a bed of caramelized onions and tomatoes topped with a large dollop of some sort of spice paste. I have no idea what was in the spice paste, but its complex, sweet, spicy flavor complemented the juicy prawns perfectly. It was a delicious meal overall and a fantastic way to close out the Tulum portion of our trip!

I’ve always enjoyed the Olympics. This year’s games are even more exciting because they are being held just up the road from me in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia! To celebrate opening ceremonies, I wanted to make a special cocktail appropriate for the occasion. What could I make? A quick internet search revealed a whole slew of ideas. Bars across Canada have been whipping up Olympics-themed cocktails right and left in honor of the games. Though inspiring, the majority of these drinks just weren’t practical for me to make at home. Most required tricky preparations or obscure Canadian ingredients. I’m too chicken to light a drink on fire in imitation of the Olympic torch, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have any smoked buffalo-infused vodka in my liquor cabinet.

Instead, I decided to keep it simple with a Maple Leaf Cocktail. A variant of the classic whiskey sour, the Maple Leaf blends bourbon, lemon juice and maple syrup (Canadian maple syrup, of course). Since it was a special occasion, I used Booker’s bourbon. Despite being a jaw-dropping 126.9 proof, Bookers is incredibly smooth. It’s great on its own and makes for one mighty nice Maple Leaf Cocktail. The maple syrup plays off the bourbon really well in this drink, and there is just enough lemon juice to brighten things up. The Maple Leaf Cocktail isn’t a Canadian drink per se, but sipping one while watching the mounted police carry the Canadian flag into BC Place, it seemed like the perfect choice!

Maple Leaf Cocktail

1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce pure maple syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Makes one drink.

After my success on the first night, I was on the hunt for something to make in celebration of the first full day of competition. When I stumbled across a drink called The Canadian Cocktail, it was settled. Once again, it was so simple and seemed to fall right in line with my cocktail preferences. The Canadian Cocktail features Canadian whiskey mixed with Triple Sec, simple syrup and bitters. It was a bit sweeter than I like but was still very tasty. I used Pendleton whiskey which is fairly sweet on its own; knowing that, I could have dialed back on the simple syrup. Next time, I will try it with less simple syrup and a high quality orange liqueur such as Cointreau.

Canadian Cocktail

1 1/2 ounces Canadian whiskey
1 1/2 teaspoons Triple Sec (or other orange liqueur)
1 dash bitters
1 teaspoon simple syrup

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Makes one drink.

I was looking for a way to ring in Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics; what I found were two simple, tasty cocktails that can be enjoyed anytime. Next up, London 2012 (gin and tonic with a scotch egg, perhaps)?

My parents called me at work the other day and said excitedly, “We’re downstairs! At that waffle place!” Huh? Oh yeah, that waffle place. The one right below my office that I walk past nearly every day. Sweet Iron Waffles has been open for several months now but, for whatever reason, I had never thought to check it out. Today, I decided to remedy that. Sweet Iron serves what are known as Liège Waffles, a type of Belgian Waffle. Liège Waffles are richer, denser and sweeter than the Belgian Waffle most Americans are familiar with. They are made from a brioche-like dough and contain chunks of pearl sugar which caramelizes on the outside of the waffle while it cooks. Liège Waffles are sold by street vendors all over Belgium. I opted for a plain waffle my first time out in order to get the purest sense of what a Liège Waffle truly tastes like. It reminded me more of a sticky bun, than a waffle. It was yummy but very sweet. So sweet, in fact, that I really can’t imagine getting one topped with anything sweet (the bacon-topped waffle, on the other hand…) Sweet Iron’s waffle toppings range from the expected - chocolate, strawberries, etc. - to the more unusual such as bananas brûlée with caramel or brie and basil. They also offer seasonal waffles; current choices include cranberry-orange and date-blue cheese. The date-blue cheese waffle sounds awfully tempting. I might need to convince a co-worker to split one with me as an after lunch snack!