Italian in Mexico

The night before we left for Mexico I made burritos. "Mexican? Seriously? Before we go to Mexico?" Was Martin's first comment when he entered the kitchen. And ya, when he put it that way it did seem a little ridiculous, but I was just trying to find a way to use up ingredients in the fridge. As it turns out, we ate very little Mexican food in Mexico. Unless you count margaritas. Which I don't. While Puerto Vallarta is a very easy town to vacation in (which is exactly what we were looking for), and while the food there is really quite wonderful overall, very little of what is authentic is vegetarian. Or even close. I knew this going down, but I hadn't really absorbed the reality of it. And so, because I can not bring myself to eat at overly cheesy (in all possible senses of that word) tex-mex style tourista locales (which were the only places offering Mexican with anything resembling a veggie option) we ate a lot of Italian. Quite a lot actually. And it was really pretty good. Turns out there's a heck of a lot of Italian food in Puerto Vallarta, some of it made by expat Italians who have capitalized on the availability of awesome fresh local staples like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants (most of which are grown for export up here in the winter months) to make some really decent Italian food, including homemade pasta and gnocchi that was nearly as good as dishes I've had in Italy. It all made me feel a bit mixed up and did nothing to help my bad habit of confusing Spanish and Italian vocabulary -- for some reason I have the most trouble with numbers and again found myself in the back of a cab trying to give an address with a "5" in it as cinque instead of cinco, this has happened before but in a French version -- but still the eating was good. This isn't to say we abandoned Mexican food altogether. We partook in some awesome street corn (much like this kind Heidi Swanson includes in her cookbook), had some beautiful veggie enchilladas made specially in one restaurant, and in the kitchen in our room we partook in gorgeous avocados, tomatillos, fresh juicy limes and delicate corn tortillas.

Overall, the trip was a success. Which is to say, we did very little, and other than the overabundance of pasta/pizza I have very little to report. It was easy. I read two books from front to back. We did the NY Times crossword. We napped in chairs perched in front of the ocean. And, just to round out the Mexican experience we had one day, now known as Tequilla Wednesday, where we overdid it just a bit.
It's lovely to be home though. Spring is all over the place in my garden, with daffodils even blooming in sunny corner! Now I need to set about getting the house in order for the week, and planning some groceries to ensure that we don't eat a spec of pasta for the next week or so.

Comments

[Aimee]

Sounds like a wonderful holiday! And thanks for the heads up too, at least I know now what to expect there. :)

[Jennifer]

SOunds like an awesome trip! NOthing better than doing nothing.

[jennie]

God, I love Mexico, Mexican food, Mexican drinks, Mexican beaches. I'm planning to finagle a weekend trip soon. I, too, have had Italian in Mexico when I was a vegetarian, but it wasn't that good!

[Sarah]

Oh that reminds me...I have baked ziti to eat for lunch today! I for one can never have enough pasta. :)

[Puerto Vallarta Condos]

Cool blog, I spend a lot of time in Puerto Vallarta and live there part time. I always do a Google search for all the blogs about Puerto Vallarta so I can keep up with what is going on when I am not there. Have a great day. pvkid