Looking to plan your next vacation or just need a destination to daydream about? Las Bahías de Huatulco is the place!
Last year for La Navidad, our family spent a week in Huatulco relaxing and enjoying the nature, the food and the local culture. It was one of my favorite vacations we’ve ever taken. Watch the video to get a little taste to whet your appetite.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xfTwU9cMJw[/youtube]…
I’ve written several times about our trip to Huatulco last year when we spent our Christmas vacation in Mexico. Lots of you have written to say you loved the photos and the stories, and even the video I took from the beach. Huatulco is, hands down, one of the most beautiful, peaceful places we’ve been in Mexico.
Now you have a chance to win a 3 day/2 night stay at the brand new Secrets Huatulco Resort & Spa!Mexico Today is hosting a giveaway on their Facebook fan page for a trip for two that includes airfare, hotel accommodations and spending money for you to enjoy and discover Las Bahías de Huatulco. You must be a fan of the Mexico Today page to enter. You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of the U.S. or Canada in order to be eligible to win. The sweepstakes ends July 20 at 6 p.m. PDT. See the official rules and more information at the Mexico Today Facebook fan page….
Give me a limonada and sunshine and I’m happy! I took this photo oceanside under a palapa in Huatulco last year.
If you’re a frequent visitor here or on our Facebook fan page, then you probably already know that I’m completamente loca about bugambilias. In English, they’re called bougainvilleas, and they’re one of my favorite species of flowers. These particular flowers were photographed on our family trip to Huatulco in December 2010. The bright pink color just stirs my soul.
When we were vacationing in Huatulco this past December, we found our hotel had another kind of guest… It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this iguana was rather large and lived in a little sinkhole between the grass and the concrete along the path to our room.
Each morning, the hotel staff set fruits and vegetables by the opening to the iguana’s little cave. José tried to bribe his sister with $200 USD to stick her fingers into the cave but her answer was “¡ni de chiste!” and rightly so.
Still, we were all fascinated with this iguana – who seemed to be molting quite a bit and the end of his tail was bare, which really gave me the willies when I saw him crawling around – and he was a topic of daily discussion during our visit.
Today in some parts of the world, it’s Valentine’s Day. But in Mexico, it’s called Día del Amor y la Amistad. While Valentine’s Day is mostly a celebration of romantic love, Día del Amor y la Amistad encompasses love and friendship.
We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day in our house, and in fact, this past weekend we sort of forgot about the fact that all the restaurants were going to be full of people celebrating Valentine’s Day when we called to see if we could get last-minute reservations at one of our favorite places. Of course, we couldn’t get a table, so instead we cooked dinner together at home. If you ask me, as much as I love eating at restaurants, there’s something special about cooking together that makes a meal truly enjoyable.
And as any of my friends and family will tell you: a home-cooked meal is how I show my love best. Whether it’s rajas con crema for José, salsa de tres chiles (video recipe coming soon!) for my mom or Crock-Pot cochinita pibil for my best girlfriends, I love cooking for the special people in my life.
Take a few minutes today to remind your friends and family how much you love them. Whether it’s a hug in person, a phone call, an email or a big ol’ batch of Mexican comfort food like papas gratinadas to go with dinner, there’s no better feeling than to know how much others care about you, so don’t forget to spread the love as liberally as you’d add queso to those papas!
If you’ve got escuincles, check out these adorable print-and-color valentine cards from our friends at Spanglish Baby and Viva Greetings.
And head over to our Facebook fan page if you have a chance – today we’ll be talking about the foods we love – including non-Mexican foods, just for one day – including linky love to recipes from some of our favorite food blogs.
From our home to yours, ¡Feliz Día del Amor y la Amistad a todos! We’ll be celebrating by reminiscing about our recent trip to the beach in Oaxaca (pictured above) over a home-cooked meal.
When we were in Huatulco, José had his mind set on finding one kind of marine life: percebes. Known as goose or gooseneck barnacles in English, these crustaceans are filter-feeders. They’re a well-known and widely-consumed shellfish, particularly in Portugal and Spain since they’re commercially harvested off the northern coast of Spain near Galicia.
They’re also imported from Canada, and there’s actually a percebes fishery on West Vancouver Island that operates under sustainability guidelines.
If you go looking for this gourmet delight, though, it’ll cost you. I’ve seen them being sold by a few different gourmet food purveyors on the internet for about $15 USD per ounce, sold in a 5.3 ounce can that holds between 15-20 percebes each. So imagine finding these little barnacles in nature – José said it was like finding gold!
Being that I’m allergic to shellfish, I can’t eat these little guys but I sure did enjoy watching José and his dad scouring the rocks in the ocean in Huatulco looking for them. This photo was taken on the second to last day of our trip and when they spotted the percebes, they were unable to contain their excitement!
Check out this post from Eating With Jack on the proper way to eat percebes.
Today we’re headed back to Chicago and la vida diaria, but so we don’t skip a beat while traveling, we’ve prepared a few lists, based on you, the readers, and what you loved most on The Other Side of The Tortilla in 2010. Click on the photos below to visit each recipe or story.
And don’t forget, for more homemade Tortilla goodness, a glimpse at what’s cooking in the Tortilla Test Kitchen and exclusive giveaways for fans, LIKE us on Facebook!
TOP 3 BEVERAGES/BEBIDAS
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TOP 3 RECIPES/RECETAS
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TOP 3 TRAVEL STORIES/CUENTOS DE VIAJE
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TOP 3 VIDEOS
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Snorkeleando in Huatulco with my new friend, travel and food writer Cynthia Fuertes, who is a friend of my cuñada‘s. Obviously, we had plenty to talk about! (And in case you’re wondering, yes, the verb ‘to snorkel’ is ‘snorkelear’ in Spanish.) We saw an amazing variety of colorful fish and other sea life; it was so stunning! It was Cynthia’s first time snorkeleando and she loved it, and my cuñada and I had fun showing her the ropes. Stay tuned for some underwater photos and video from our excursion soon.
As my regalito to you, I bring you the sounds of the ocean …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TRv4Psl04o[/youtube]…