The Rosas-Standring Family

Well, the garden is growing very well. The herbs and some of the vegetables that I planted in the front yard I think are getting too much sun. Some of them are doing great, some are just starting to come out and I think a lot got burnt. But that is okay. The pumpkin is doing great. It is huge. And there are at least a few onions, tomatoes and radishes that are coming out.
The herbs in the back are also doing very well. And the strawberries are also growing well. The garden has defiantly been a fun project. I hope that the plants start getting bigger. At least bigger then the beasts that are trying to eat them.

This morning while watering the garden I noticed this HUGE grasshopper. I think it is a grass hopper. I am not really one for insect knowledge. I guess it could be a dragon fly. It was huge and just lying there dead in my garden. Scary stuff. maybe that garlic/habanero pepper spray killed it. :) I hope. But anyway.


The kids and I are going to make our very first home made pasta today. I think it is going to be good. We will see. I found some blue cheese (Gorgonzola no less) at my super in town. Any cheese is very hard to find all over Mexico but is really hard here in Tulum. I will post the findings on my cooking/goddess blog.

And then there is always my HUGE cat. Calvin is doing very well. She is coming up on her She is coming up on her 11th birthday. She spends most of her day lounged in the backyard, spread out all over the pavement trying to keep cool. And then there is Hobbs, our adobted cat. He was rescued by our old neighbor when he saw some other kids trying to bury this 5 day old kitten alive. They said that they were buring it because it is a girl cat. Not that it would have been okay then wither but it is ironic that Hobbs is in fact a boy. And when I got Calvin, also at a very young age (about 4 weeks) I thought that I was taking the boy cat. Funny stuff. So now we have Calvin and Hobbs and they are both doing great. Hobbs is much bigger then her original palm width and Calvin can barely be heald with 2 strong arms. (She is even famous around the neighborhood)

Okay, I am just amazed at my son's eating habits. Now I know that it has always been said that boys eat a lot and they eat all the time. But I thought that was more at 12-18. Akilean is 4 and eats soooo much. He has always eaten a lot since he was born. When I would take the kids out for a breakfast date, I would order their breakfast from the regular menu. Lena would eat the pancakes and Akilean would eat all of the eggs and sausage.

He has always avoided carbs and is much more of a protein person. He will eat all of his veggies, meat, eggs, fruits while pushing all of his carbs to the side. He will have a bite or 2 but would much rather eat the proteins. He is sooo skinny. I wish I ate like that.


This kid wakes up every morning by 8 and within the first 10 minutes of his being awake... "mommy, I'm hungry." So first thing I get up and make him some eggs and ham and fruit, then about 10:00 he wants a snack, then we eat lunch around 11:30, while we walk to town they split a piece of sweet bread or some fruit. (I have to bribe them a little- it is a really really long walk to their classes) Then after their class we go straight home and make dinner. After about 2 hours, he wants more dinner and then it is off to bed.


It is just amazing to me. And he is sooooo skinny. I am telling you that he is going to push our food budget to the max.

These past few days have been very interesting. We have had a spot of rainy and humid weather these past few days. This has been okay though because we have been making more comfort food then anything. I must say that I am really enjoying cooking so much more. It is nice to have the time to do it. On Saturday I took the kids the beach as promised.
But the wind was making it very difficult to eat our food. It was getting covered with sand. We decided to head home and try the beach another day. I really needed to get a number of things at the store in order to make ANY sort of meal so we headed off to town. We ate at this really cute little french bistro. There are 4 restaurants in a row here that all open up to a courtyard in the middle of the block- completely surrounded.
When we first got to Tulum we ate at the Italian place. Very small and incredibly good food. I cannot remember the name right now but I will get it and report back. I also want to take pictures of the front of the building because all of the restaurants have done a somewhat similar paint decor on the wall but each in the colors that match the theme of the place.

So in a row is a stunning Italian spot, a sushi place, a french bistro and about to open is a fusion cafe called elements.

The kitchens in each place are the same size as any home kitchen in the US - so the food is not super fast. But everything is made fresh to order. And what is very cool- is that you can order from more then one and sit anywhere. The feel is very elegant but as relaxed chic as only this town could be. The Sushi place has been in town for a while but was just moved to that location in November. Le Bistro has only been open for a few weeks and the cafe should be open soon.


They have done a great job with the decor in the courtyard and still more work is being done. The brown chairs are from Le Bistro, the red and black are from Sushill-Out and they are working all over the courtyard. I really hope that Tulum continues to grow in this direction. Small, family owned and operated but chic places. We also have beautiful linen and stunning beachwear stores that have opened lately. The town really has a chance to become a very cool area. But with investors like Donald Trump in the area I guess we will see which way it will go. Either way. It is turning into a very cool little town.


At Le Bistro Ruben and I shared a flank steak with a wonderful blue cheese sauce, a salad with goat cheese and the kids split a croquet Madam. At first I was not sure what this was going to be- it turned out to be a ham, cheese with a bechamel sauce sandwich with a fried egg on it. It was great. There was some sort of seasoning in that sauce that I can't figure out. And it was only $45 pesos. It was a great deal. At the end we all shared a chocolate cake with sauce. Again, everything is made to order so it was a longer meal but that was great.

I also learned some thing interesting. First I thought it was strange that the election was on a Sunday. I mean here more so then back in the USA - everything is closed on Sunday. But also during the election process the stores and restaurants in the whole town stop serving alcohol. The day before and the day of the election there is no alcohol served anywhere in town. Our dinner would have been a little better with a glass of red wine but it was still amazing. But finally the election is over. And now we will not here the bike or car drive by screaming political ads up and down the roads all day and all night. Yeah!

I am going to try to make the kids dish some morning. I will put the recipe on my cooking blog.