A Source of Cooking Inspiration

[Troble]

34 minutes ago, tekobo said:

What an inspiration.  I can feel a Californian road trip coming on when all of this COVID stuff is over.  

Do it! Just remember this is in Mexico 90 minutes south of San Diego. But there are 10-12 restaurants down there on this level. It is my source of cooking inspiration and my wife and I usually make the pilgrimage at least every fall and occasionally in spring to sample.

when you get ready to plan I have a full on OCD itinerary I put together for my 40th birthday last year I’ll share with you 

[tekobo]

9 hours ago, Troble said:

when you get ready to plan I have a full on OCD itinerary I put together for my 40th birthday last year I’ll share with you 

That sounds great Troble, i will call on you for that. It is lovely to have something to dream about.  When I was a kid we lived in Palo Alto.  We have stayed in touch over the years and have a few family friends to visit in the Bay area.  We might manage to stop in Carmel on the way down and one of my husband's ex-Royal Navy friends is based in San Diego so we will definitely make it to your town.  Valle de Guadalupe sounds like a great place to end our journey.  Just waiting for The Husband to wake up so that I can persuade him that this is a great idea.  

[RokDok]

11 hours ago, Troble said:

11 hours ago, tekobo said:

What an inspiration.  I can feel a Californian road trip coming on when all of this COVID stuff is over.  

Do it! Just remember this is in Mexico 90 minutes south of San Diego. But there are 10-12 restaurants down there on this level. It is my source of cooking inspiration and my wife and I usually make the pilgrimage at least every fall and occasionally in spring to sample.

when you get ready to plan I have a full on OCD itinerary I put together for my 40th birthday last year I’ll share with you

A candle at the end of the tunnel !

Mrs RD & I spent a month backpacking around Ecuador at the beginning of the year - I've shared @Troble fabulous pictures with her.

So, we've done an eco trio , maybe we can do a gastro trip.

Now considering maybe backpacking in Mexico for a month or so and coming up to that corner as a finale.

We'd naturally come up to San Diego - would need to try that beer that @tony b has recommended.

We were in SD twelve years ago on a family trip - memorable seafood on the quay.

Yes, looks a brighter day today....

 

[tekobo]

15 minutes ago, RokDok said:

We'd naturally come up to San Diego - would need to try that beer that @tony b has recommended.

 

1 hour ago, tekobo said:

one of my husband's ex-Royal Navy friends is based in San Diego so we will definitely make it to your town

Tee hee.  Poor @Troble.  The English (and a British Nigerian) are coming!

Hey RokDok.  It feels like some elements of our lives intersect.  I have not been backpacking but The Husband spent a couple of years working in South America and I got to visit Chile, Brazil and Argentina as a result.  Actually, that is a bit of a stretch, those countries are not much like Ecuador and Mexico.  I guess the first challenge is getting out of this tier system and making a connection in Ye Olde England.  Using @Braai-Q's nomenclature, we are still in a pints-with-chips tier.  Hopeful that we can soon move into the pints without food tier so that friends visit indoors.  Baby steps, and a vaccine, will get us across the Atlantic ocean eventually.  

[Troble]

@tekobo @RokDok all sounds good to me I love to travel and that what got me into cooking really. At the end of 2006 I sold all my possessions (including my house before the market  tanked) and I bought a one way ticket around the world 

my ticket took me from San Diego to Rio de Janiero, Buenos Aires. Auckland, Sydney, Bangkok, Paris & finally NYC. I spent 11 months traveling around the world by myself when I was 27 years old. I’d generally stay in an country a month abs tahr trains and busses all around surrounding areas and if usually know someone in that country that I’d stay with for a week to give me a lay of the land. To say thank you for hosting me I always cooked a last meal for my hosts, people would want “American Food” but we dk t really have that outside BBQ. So I would cook “Mexican food”, I’d get skirt steak and make a carne asada marinade, and if research a place to buy tortillas and beans abs I’d make refreshing beans, and somehow would find a package of tortillas somewhere in the city I was in, but the hot was always guacamole. Everyone in the world had avocados usually but they had not experienced guacamole which was my speciality, so it was always a hit 

I’ve since realized how much I show my affection abs appreciation for people through serving them food. 
 

when I discovered this region that’s so close to my house abs this place Bruma that is so serene it was the first time I had that feeling of being in a magical far away land, but conveniently it’s only 90 minutes from my house so now we go every year. They say Valle de Guadalupe is like Napa in the 70’s or 80’s, up and coming but the locals are already starting to complain about how crowded it’s getting 

its being written up in NY Times, Conde Naste etc and the restaurant that’s on site at Bruma called Fauna (which is absolutely amazing but indoors and dark/not great for photo taking) was recently listed on the Latin America 50 best restaurants lists in the world this week. So the region is getting wide acclaim. It’s a very special place that I firmly believe is one of the true special regions of the world, based on my travels. I would love to share it with you. I’ll will dig up my itinerary and post it when the wife wakes up 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Troble

[Troble]

[Braai-Q]

6 hours ago, tekobo said:

 Using @Braai-Q's nomenclature, we are still in a pints-with-chips tier.  Hopeful that we can soon move into the pints without food tier so that friends visit indoors.  Baby steps, and a vaccine, will get us across the Atlantic ocean eventually.  

I should clarify that the pints-n-chips reference is not original. Currently stalled on the 'is a Scotch Egg a meal' chip substitution debate. 

For those wondering what the hell I'm on about, the British press were trying to clarify the rules in what constituted a 'substantial meal'. Pub snacks - pork scratchings, crisps, nuts with a pint are not a substantial meal. But then there are hot bar snacks - chips, scotch eggs and so on. Then a public debate ensued over the ambiguity. I think I tuned out when the size of the egg that was used to make the Scotch egg was being debated.

[Braai-Q]

1 hour ago, Troble said:

lot of pictures of great food and location

 

Geez @Troble.. You might have put a little warning on those pictures. I'm now walking around hungry trying to approximate some of that in my next meal. You live 90 mins away?

[Braai-Q]

On 12/4/2020 at 12:45 PM, Troble said:

Always wanted to share this place with this group but never sure of the right place. Found this corner of the forum today so figured this would be a good spot 

I live in San Diego and about 90 minutes south of me and approximately 13 miles north of Ensenada is one of the most magical places I’ve ever experienced in all my travels around the world. It’s called Valle de Guadalupe and it’s an incredible region that has over 150 wineries abs some truly world class dining. The cuisine actually has its own name called “Baja-Mrs”. Mexican food meets Mediterranean. The wine valley is about 8 miles east of the beach so you get incredibly fresh seafood along with incredible local produce. It’s absolutely magical and is the source for all my cooking inspiration. My favorite restaurants cook primarily outdoor over fire using local oak wood, it’s what the region is known for 

one of the best places is called Deckmans El Mogor. Here are some photos of the restaurant. They recently opened a Japanese Omakase bar on site as well that I will post done pictures of. 
 

https://www.deckmans.com

https://bajaomakase.com

 

Thanks for posting. Looks absolutely fantastic. 

[Troble]

57 minutes ago, Braai-Q said:

 

Geez @Troble.. You might have put a little warning on those pictures. I'm now walking around hungry trying to approximate some of that in my next meal. You live 90 mins away?

Yes sir. 90 minutes and across the border. I’ve done day trips there before where I dropped my kids off at school drove down for a 1pm lunch then back to pick the kids up from school but usually my wife and I go there abs stay a night or two, during the weekday and we literally have the place to ourselves. It’s magic. Truly, the only other place I’ve found in the work like it was Cape Town where I could do wineries, beaches and mountains all in a day 

[Braai-Q]

6 minutes ago, Troble said:

Yes sir. 90 minutes and across the border. I’ve done day trips there before where I dropped my kids off at school drove down for a 1pm lunch then back to pick the kids up from school but usually my wife and I go there abs stay a night or two, during the weekday and we literally have the place to ourselves. It’s magic. Truly, the only other place I’ve found in the work like it was Cape Town where I could do wineries, beaches and mountains all in a day 

Sounds pretty ideal. I showed my wife and I think we'll be visiting post pandemic. 😁

Being a petrolhead, I frequently find excuses to 'nip out for milk' and that's about the length of a good milk run. 

[Troble]

1 hour ago, Braai-Q said:

Sounds pretty ideal. I showed my wife and I think we'll be visiting post pandemic. 😁

Being a petrolhead, I frequently find excuses to 'nip out for milk' and that's about the length of a good milk run. 

Yes the wildcard is the border crossing coming back. It takes 90 minutes to get there but it can take hours coming back. It’s not uncommon to wait 4 hours at the border on a Sunday to come back to the US. If you have Global Entry it can be a 15 minute thing (provided you find the right lane) but it’s also dependent on how much Trump has offended Mexico that week. When he says something derogatory about Mexico border wait times go way up. With the pandemic confusion there have been wait times of up to 12 hours on a Sunday to cross back. Hence why we have not gone this year, but weekday or timing it right it’s no issue 

I actually had an office in Tijuana for 2 years and I would drive down to the border, park on the US side, walk across take an Uber to my office and do all that in 35-40 minutes. There are also services in San Diego that will pick you up at the airport and drive you from the airport to the Valle 

the proper way to do it though is to stop in Tijuana for $1.50 TJ tacos on the way home so you get the best high end food in Mexico as well as the world famous Tijuana tacos

everything you see me cook here is basically stuff I’ve seen in Mexico 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Troble

[Troble]

Here are the last two itineraries I made for our trip in 2018 and for my 40th in 2019. My wife likes to know where we are going so she can look up the places on her phone to see the pictures of the food so I started making these the last two trips. These couple pages represent many hours of research so please enjoy. You literally cannot go wrong if you utilize these

Valle de Guadelupe 2018.docx Troy’s 40th Itinerary_2019.docx

[Troble]

Here some more reading material 
 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/foodies-can-find-mexican-culinary-oasis-just-south-border-n788116

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/travel/travel-mexico-baja-california-wine-country.html
 

and Anthony Bourdain visited in 2012

https://www.travelchannel.com/shows/anthony-bourdain/episodes/baja

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by Troble

[tony b]

To quote the movie Sandlot - "Yer Killin' Me, Smalls!" 

[Troble]

@tony b I thought you’d be happy to have something to sink your teeth into, a good distraction from this crazy world we’re in right now 

the Anthony bourdain episode is worth watching. I looked for it on YouTube and couldn’t find it but it’s on the Apple store for $2.99. Worth investing in that episode prior to planning a cross country or international trip

[Braai-Q]

3 hours ago, Troble said:

Yes the wildcard is the border crossing coming back. It takes 90 minutes to get there but it can take hours coming back. It’s not uncommon to wait 4 hours at the border on a Sunday to come back to the US. If you have Global Entry it can be a 15 minute thing (provided you find the right lane) but it’s also dependent on how much Trump has offended Mexico that week. When he says something derogatory about Mexico border wait times go way up. With the pandemic confusion there have been wait times of up to 12 hours on a Sunday to cross back. Hence why we have not gone this year, but weekday or timing it right it’s no issue 

I actually had an office in Tijuana for 2 years and I would drive down to the border, park on the US side, walk across take an Uber to my office and do all that in 35-40 minutes. There are also services in San Diego that will pick you up at the airport and drive you from the airport to the Valle 

the proper way to do it though is to stop in Tijuana for $1.50 TJ tacos on the way home so you get the best high end food in Mexico as well as the world famous Tijuana tacos

everything you see me cook here is basically stuff I’ve seen in Mexico 

Our politician morons are just as bad. The UK is going to be a disaster getting into Europe with Brexit and I expect 12h will be light compared to what's coming with the Channel Tunnel. It was only today that it was revealed that COVID vaccines are coming in through military routes to circumvent the expected delays at ports. I've often driven over to Europe for a long weekend and we cancelled our pre-Brexit trips due to the pandemic. Equivalent trips to yours. 

One of my favourites is heading into Paris to Caractère de Cochon. Solo (picture below) always supplies us with incredible smoked ham and it was a Christmas tradition of ours to head over and stock on a few things and have a few days of good food to warm up for more good food over Christmas. You can probably see in the mirror, some of the extent of  the ham he does. We shall miss him this year.  

I've found that a well positioned sticker declaring your love for a country or location goes down a treat. Having kept a car in central London, they suffer damage from bad driving and just mindless drunken vandalism. I had a black car. Not quite murdered out but it did have a slight drug dealer vibe so I put a Jamaican flag over the parcel shelf. Nobody would dare touch a Yardie's car. Funny how these things make a difference. Perhaps a 'I left my heart in Tijuana' sticker will help... 

[RokDok]

It does seem as though love of travel and love of food go hand in hand.

@Troble - your year of RTW sounds a great experience - what a brave thing to do to sell your house- fate was on your side though. Thanks so much for those itineraries - it is very helpful to get recommendations of where to go and what to see rather than having to rely on guide books. I've been looking up fights towards the end of next year already - that will have to wait until the mist clears.

Your food pictures remind me of our honeymoon - a long time ago - I had a Morgan in those days and we basically spent two weeks eating our way around France - using the Michelin to find places to eat and the Logis guide for places to stay.

@tekobo - Backpacking - maybe you should give it a try ? It's a great way to see and feel a country. A couple of years ago we spent 5 weeks in S. India. We had to pre-book the train journeys ( 12 I think ), but just had the first couple of night's accommodation booked and away we went took the occasional long distance taxi, but the busses were much more fun. Travel VERY light - we had a very small pack each - not much bigger than a day pack - rinse your things out overnight. The train arrived in Bangalore at dawn one morning - the botanical garden was open though and very beautiful so we walked round there until Muvali's opened for breakfast. As for the amazing food .....

@Braai-Q - Those trips will resume - the wait is going to make them more savoury, just hope that the resumption is sooner rather than later. 

 

[Braai-Q]

2 minutes ago, RokDok said:

 

@Braai-Q - Those trips will resume - the wait is going to make them more savoury, just hope that the resumption is sooner rather than later. 

Yeah, I know. I have very little confidence in an 'orderly transition' though. From someone who grew up with a passport that didn't afford freedom of movement (without long queues and unreasonably invasive eligibility checks), I place great value on it. That said, I saw a friend post on Twitter that The Times (who supported Brexit) are offering helpful advice. I frequently have to check that I'm not reading satire.  

[Troble]

@RokDok the food is nice looking but it’s not a setting like fancy restaurants. It’s more outdoor, more communal but still high quality. That’s what I like about it abs truth he told if I go to a nice dinner with my wife in San Diego I’m spending $100 with food abs wine. For a little bit more abs a drive south I can have a mini vacation and dine world class

@Braai-Q I also believe that travel will be restrictive when things open up. People will have to show vaccination cards etc potentially. My wife is Peruvian and we had a trip schedule for March 26 of this year to go to Peru and we were gonna get married there civilly so I could get a Peruvian passport, but that got cancelled (airline still hasn’t give me my money back either) and I had reservations at the worlds number 5 & 10 restaurants in Lima that also got cancelled 

Central https://www.centralrestaurante.com.pe

Maido 

https://maido.pe

https://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50

https://www.theworlds50best.com/latinamerica/en/list/1-50

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by Troble