Showing posts with label brenda retzlaff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brenda retzlaff. Show all posts

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Cookin' in the kitchen

Living and eating in Vallarta means you have to adapt if you want to stay sane.

Rule #1:
Not every grocery store will carry everything you need.
Rule #2:
The store that carried an item you love will probably not have it the next time you go there.
Rule #3:
If you see something you never see or rarely see in the store, buy it! as it will probably never be in stock again.
Rule #4:
When you can no longer find yellow lemons at the market, make limeade!

I love to cook.
I always have but I really enjoy cooking even more since I moved to Puerto Vallarta and I have a boyfriend to cook for.
My mom always told me the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and if he likes what he has eaten he will be like a cat and always stick around the place where he is well fed.
I guess Mom was right.
I cooked a dinner for Carlos when we first started dating and over three years later we are still going strong. Granted, he is a few kilos heavier but he now goes to the gym to work off my dinners and desserts.
I have to admit, I am a meanie. Carlos goes to the gym and I whip up his favorite dessert to greet him when he returns. The next day he is off to the gym and I am planning the next temptation. He complains but he doesn't really mean it as in the end, he wants his cake and to eat it too.

I am not a gourmet cook by any means. I am a real cook with a knack for creativity and being able to make something delish out of whatever I can get my hands on. I tend to cook without recipes and I pretty much eyeball everything unless I am baking which by chemical reaction tends to require precise measurements. Even then, I tend to adapt the recipe to my tastes or my diet. Since I am diabetic, I often try to cut the sugars and carbs in desserts and breads to make them better and I have had some great successes. On the other hand, when I am making desserts for others, I tend to go all out and a simple chocolate cake ends up a triple chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and homemade hot fudge sauce. Hey, if I have to be diabetic maybe I can convert some others to join me! ;)