Fireworks for New Year's Eve

Cole and Cass are really getting excited about tonight because they get to let off their fireworks.  The dulceria (candy store) in La Penita doesn't just sell all sorts of candy, they also sell all sorts of fireworks.











Fireworks and giant sparklers are also sold on every street corner down here between Christmas and New Years.

Cass and Cole have accumulated quite the stash of Fireworks over the past few days.

 

 

We woke to drizzling rain this morning, and the forecast is for thunderstorms, showers and rain for the next five days.

 

But knowing these kids, a little rain won't bother them one little bit.

 

Tomorrow we take Cory, Jen, Cass and Cole into PV  to catch their plane, so tonight's fireworks celebration will be the grand finale to this year's vacation.

 

A Look at Christmas Week In Guayabitos

Once again the beach is packed with Mexicans and there are still more arriving everyday.

I'll bet Cole wishes he'd been the one who reeled in this giant Marlin yesterday.





Early Morning Fishing Trip

Yesterday, we headed out for a day on the water.

Marcos and Miguel were here bright and early at 6:30 am, just as the sun was rising over the hills.

It didn't take all of us long to hop into the boat and head for the open seas.  We scooted out to about 15 miles from shore to an area where Marcos thought we might catch a Dorado or Sailfish.

As Marcos got closer to his destination, he lowered the speed on the motor and set out 4 lines;  one for Cory, one for Jen, one for Cass and one for Cole.

Within a few minutes Cory was reeling in a small Chula and then before we knew it, Cass and Cole each had one on  their lines.

 Everyone was pretty happy with their catch.



We finally reached the area where the real fish were, and we all agreed that Cory could bring in the first fish.

 

Once again it didn't take long for Cory to get a couple of strikes.   The third strike stuck, and we knew he had a dorado on the line because we could see it's spectacular colours as it jumped and pulled at the line.

 

Cory was really excited this time and was hooting and hollering the whole time he was bringing in his line.   The beautiful doraddo that he'd snagged, looked to be about 18 lbs.   Then, as the fish neared the boat, it quickly darted away.  Obviously the dorada wasn't well hooked. 

 

Not long after Cory lost his precious fish,  Cole managed to bring aboard a nice 12 lb Dorado.

 

And Cole was gracious enough to allow Cory to have his photo taken with Cole's fish.

 

 

After six hours of fishing in the hot sun, it was time to head to shore.   Cory got a few more strikes, but didn't manage to get any more fish in the boat.

 

Before we neared shore, Marcos filleted the Dorado for us, but we gave him the caviar from the fish's belly.

 

We also  decided to give Marcos and Miguel the three Chulas.   Cole insisted on being the one to hand over the fish, and before he handed over the third fish, he held it up and gave it a big kiss goodbye.

 

For tonight's dinner, Cass and I prepared parchment packages containing a small fillet of dorado, very thin strips of green onion, celery, carrot & zucchini, and a drizzle of homemade teriyaki sauce.

 

We are serving the fish parcels with veggie studded quinoa, sauteed onion & zucchini, grilled asparagus spears with whole almonds and a drizzle of oyster sauce. 

 

Our appetizer course will be spicy chili sauced prawn, pineapple & cilantro kebabs.

 

This course will be followed by a broccoli, cauliflower, slivered onion & toasted pecan salad.

 

We are  also serving heated slices of bolillos dipped in Chumichurri sauce.

 

We had a fabulous day out on the water.  We not only caught a few fish, but also saw some humongous whales, leaping dolphins and some very large turtles.

Chorizo Fried Rice

The other night we had steamed rice with our dinner and there was lots leftover, so the next morning Cass made a batch of fried rice.

After Cass chopped some onion and celery, she sauteed the mixture 'til it was soft.   Then she added some chopped chorizo to the pan.

When everything was nicely browned, Cass added the rice to the pan.

And then it was time to add some soy sauce and finally some green peas.

After a few minutes of stirring and frying the mixture, Cass seasoned the rice with a bit of pepper and then it was ready to serve.

Cass and Cole are really very good at doing jobs and helping with meals while they are here.  They both learn a lot about cooking and get to take home new recipes, new ideas and new cooking tips.

We served Cass's delicious fried rice with breaded dorado (a type of white fish) and a sour cream, crushed garlic and salsa verde sauce (green salsa made with tomatillos).   The sauce had a nice tang to it and complemented the fish beautifully.