The weather on this trip was not what you would expect from a Mexican beach resort: except for the last two days it was overcast and a little cool (relatively), with occasional rain showers. On Tuesday, January 30, we had breakfast on the terrace. Breakfast at Cinco22 is always pretty much the same. You have eggs made to order by the kitchen ladies, along with toast, fruit, cereal, yogurt, etc.
We had ordered a taxi the night before, to take us to Marina Vallarta, about a half-hour ride. There, after some misadventures (I had gotten the address wrong) we connected with Mavi Graf, a Mexican married to an American, and rode off in her old car, Doña Inez (Mary Joy is not the only person to give her cars names), to visit various markets to pick up ingredients for her cooking class. We were the only students. Her classes are for two to six at a time. More wouldn't fit in the kitchen or at the table on the balcony of her nice condo overlooking the marina. It was one of the best cooking classes we have had in our travels to Europe and Mexico. She made a wonderful tamarind margarita, and then we made guacamole and two appetizers: ceviche and her own recipe for shrimp tacos al pastor. Then we made the main dish, a birria. Birria is a classic dish from that area, Jalisco state, a spicy stew usually made with goat meat. We used pork shoulder instead. To save time, Mavi had made some ahead: ours would serve as her dinner.
It was all wonderful, and relatively simple. Mavi is a good teacher, correcting our chopping technique. Our late afternoon lunch (we had done some snacking along the way) filled us enough that we didn't need to have a real dinner that evening.
Mavi's husband hailed us a cab back to el Centro, and we spent the evening quietly.
We had ordered a taxi the night before, to take us to Marina Vallarta, about a half-hour ride. There, after some misadventures (I had gotten the address wrong) we connected with Mavi Graf, a Mexican married to an American, and rode off in her old car, Doña Inez (Mary Joy is not the only person to give her cars names), to visit various markets to pick up ingredients for her cooking class. We were the only students. Her classes are for two to six at a time. More wouldn't fit in the kitchen or at the table on the balcony of her nice condo overlooking the marina. It was one of the best cooking classes we have had in our travels to Europe and Mexico. She made a wonderful tamarind margarita, and then we made guacamole and two appetizers: ceviche and her own recipe for shrimp tacos al pastor. Then we made the main dish, a birria. Birria is a classic dish from that area, Jalisco state, a spicy stew usually made with goat meat. We used pork shoulder instead. To save time, Mavi had made some ahead: ours would serve as her dinner.
It was all wonderful, and relatively simple. Mavi is a good teacher, correcting our chopping technique. Our late afternoon lunch (we had done some snacking along the way) filled us enough that we didn't need to have a real dinner that evening.
Mavi's husband hailed us a cab back to el Centro, and we spent the evening quietly.
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