Oh the Places I've Been... Cancun, Mexico

I am going sightseeing at The Tablescaper's on Thursday evening, won't you join me?

We went to Cancun, Mexico several years ago. And I cannot wait to go back.

Tip: Have your cell phone switched to International before you go. You can do that for a 30 day period.. It's a great way to "keep in touch"!

It was our first trip and we picked "familiar" as a place to stay. The Marriott Casa Magna. I would stay there again. The service was impeccable, the room wonderful. It helped to make our stay as fabulous as it was.

We ate well!

Lorenzillo's. Omg this was fabulous. There is a sister restaurant in Cabo also. We had wonderful service, amazing food and ambiance.

Not only was the food wonderful, but the seating on the water was perfect.

One of the walls on the walkway out was lined with plates. It really was a very cool effect.

On one of our walks, We came across this structure.

What is it?

A diving school. They can enter the water from the interior. Pretty cool.

Here is the view out of our room. January is a wonderful time to come. Warm, but not steamy. Not overrun with tourists so that the beaches are not packed and neither are the sights and restaurants.

We spent quite a bit of downtime. Right here on the Beach. See the empty chairs.. yep, that is how I like it.

La Isla cantina right  on the beach. The. best. margaritas. EVER!! No doubt.

Recipe: 1 shot Grand Marnier; 2 shots Tequila, 1 shot Triple Sec. Put ice in a glass, add the shots and pass the mix over the glass. I think their goal is to let as little as possible of the mix enter the alcohol. Be ware. That is all I'm sayin!

Walking out from the hotel to the beach.. Boy that water looks alive, doesn't it?

I can also recommend La Destileria as a fabulous p'ace to eat. It really was a dining experience. The big copper vat in the background is their own Tequila still.

They had traveling Mariachis who visited most of the tables if you wanted. Not pushy at all.

Mr. CJ got a little bit of sun. Only himself to blame. Sunscreen is meant to be lathered on with care, not left in the tube!

So much fun.. It's all in the sombero. yep, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

A sweet love song. I'm all over that.

What to see:

Source

Chichen Itza - old Mayan ruin.

Tulum, Cozumel are towns close by and worth the trip.

Deep sea fishing and snorkeling are also fabulous in this area.

Isla Mujeres is 8 miles from the shores of  Cancun. OMG. Go go go...

And on a good day, you can see Cuba, distance between the two shores is 90 miles.

Do you want to visit Cuba?

Cinco de Mayo Sunday Dinner Tablescape

Welcome to our Sunday night dinner. Viva Cinco de Mayo. These days, my 97 year old father joins us each Sunday for dinner. Mostly dinner in or sometimes dinner out.

I was determined to have Mexican food for dinner.

 

 

I was determined to have Mexican food for dinner.

 

I don't know about you, but I like my Mexican food spicy.

 

So how do you feed spicy Mexican food to a 97 year old man who thinks black pepper is spicy?

 

This is where careful planning comes in.

 

Did I mention that he has dentures and they don't fit well?

 

So no spicy food, nothing that would require a lot of chewing.

 

Menu:

Abuelo's papas con chile

Mexican pork roast

green beans

Mexican chopped salad with Honey Lime dressing

Flan

 

It worked. Great jalapeno flavor, no heat. Winner for everyone.

 

Mexican Chopped Salad with Honey Lime Dressing.

From Epicurious. Recipe HERE.

Son's plate, minus the feta cheese and the avocados.

I highly recommend that salad dressing. Can you say I would drink it straight? LOVE this dressing.

Loved the salad.

Romaine lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, corn, jicama, black beans, feta cheese and avocados.

Heaven!

 

Cast:

Guatemalen Linens (placemats & napkins - The Shop - Santa Fe, NM

Flatware - Wallace Silversmiths

Talavera dinner plates - Guadalupano Imports, Santa Fe, NM

Napkin rings - Pottery Barn

Mercury Glass candlesticks  - Jackalope, Santa Fe, NM

Etched Wine Goblets - Cielo, Santa Fe, NM

Blue goblets - Dollar Tree

Yellow-orange salad plates - BIA

 

Thanks so much for coming by. Dinner was a success and enjoyed by all.

I'm sharing this table with Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish on Wednesday evening

and with Susan for Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

I hope to see you there!

If you want to check out some previous Mexican inspired tables,

click HERE, HERE,or HERE.

Oh the Places I've been - this week!

 

 

Oh Boy! The places I've been. This week. And none of them were what I planned to show. :-(

Who recognizes the first picture?

 

Pinterest. Addicting. A great repository of all the pretty things on the web. I was a bit shocked at the number of pins. And the number of boards. Boards are like file folders. And you save pictures into the folders. Yours, from followers, from those you are following, from the web, yep.

 

 

I try to keep my folders in alphabetical order. It's that a-type personality disorder.

 

These are just some of the things I "pinned" today. Notice the mailbox pictures at the top? Why mailboxes???? I won one today!!! Yippee. I'll have to do a before and after shot of that change. We never changed the one that was here when we moved it. It will be a shocker. I promise.

 

Oh, and then there is Ebay. A box got delivered today. On Mr. CJ's afternoon off. Of course he wanted to know what was in it. Guess!

 

We are also relaying brick in the back yard. That was the queenly we. Not me personally. Being the only female in the house has it's benefits. When I say "We need to....", the men folk know it doesn't involve me! This is really much easier than it looks, if you have the skills. We have sons. They have skills.

 

And we went to watch our youngest perform. His genre of music is so different than ours. But it was fun.

 

And last, but not least, I was in the studio this week. I'll share this cute remake later. Getting ready for a table setting. Soon. I hope your week was a bit more exciting than ours! Next week, we'll travel to France, or maybe Mexico!

 

 

Linking to The Tablescaper's new Friday (Thursday evening) party - the places I've been - posts about places we've seen.. I hope you will join us!

 

Sunday is for Seafood Tablescape

Welcome to Sunday dinner. Yep, we are having seafood. A bit of salmon, grilled with a touch of Tangelo - yummy.

I pulled out my plates with the seashell edges, fish flatware, the trusty ferns that haven't croaked are still thriving, some candles and put this together while the grill masters were watching the salmon with an eagle eye!

I like using a charger just because it gives a nice finish to the plates. When using a tablecloth, they are almost a necessity to preserving its pristine condition. Usually when I use chargers, I can reuse a tablecloth with at most a minimal spot cleaning.

I should have taken a picture with the candles lit. But by that time, I was deep into dessert and assemblying the crepes filled with marscapone/Tuaca cream and strawberries, overwhich was drizzled a few dashes of Nutella. Trust me on this one.. YUM!!

I had picked up the seashells at CTS on one of my trips to Dallas. I'm not quite as lucky as the Tablescaper and the rest of the CTS queens, I miss those fabulous bargains they come across. But I do love these!

I have had these dishes for a decade at least. Love the shell edges.

This is my one big score! I was in Savers a long while back. And there hanging on the peg hooks were 3 packages of these bamboo looking rings. All clamped together. $1.99 for them all. I have 21 of those rings. The package said Curtain Ring. I said Napkin Ring! They sure look great with the Tommy Bahama napkins, don't they?

Both the hurricane and the wine glasses have a luscious blue tint and a delightful wrapped stem. Found at our local grocery store - sorry no markings.

The pale green salads were a great accent that picked up the green in the napkins and lived well with the ferns that were on the table. The fish flatware was a gift from my mother decades ago, from WMF.

I do love how the rattan and bamboo pieces blend together so favorably. If an element is repeated more than once, it gives purpose to using it.

Cast:

Chargers - World Market

Dinner Plates - TJ Maxx - San Marco, Made In Italy

Salad Plates - TJ Maxx

Napkings - Tommy Bahama via Stein Mart

Napkin Rings - Curtain rings from Savers

Flatware - WMF

Glasses and Hurricane - United Market Street

Seashell Votives - Christmas Tree Shop, Dallas

Ferns - alive by the grace of God

I'm joining Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish Wednesday evening and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.