What's for dinner?

[Joe Bass]

@PLau I'm in the same boat as you -- the 3qt is too small for my family as well.
I'm pretty good at drying out chicken myself.

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[Joe Bass]

Ok. Made the chicken and dumplings in the slow cooker. @Bishop was bang on when he said that some people would not like the consistency of the dumplings. I liked it. The family only liked the chicken.

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[nobbie48]

Ok. Made the chicken and dumplings in the slow cooker. @Bishop was bang on when he said that some people would not like the consistency of the dumplings. I liked it. The family only liked the chicken.p [/URL]

Dumplings should look like little clouds.

 

[Joe Bass]

Dumplings should look like little clouds.

I think the other issue was that I put too much in. You can see that the ones that raised on the top turned out like I think they should have.
The ones under, that stayed submerged in the broth, seem to be a little undercooked. Or at the very least, they didn't puff as expected.
All in all, even though it didn't work out, I'm happy to be trying new things.

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[kwtoxman]

Been quiet here.

JB, that Farfalle pasta in white sauce looks great. And kudos on trying new stuff. It's the only way forward. Those dumplings are what one gets using biscuit dough the way you did. It does the job for many people, others not so much.

Thx Bishop on the kalbi. Such an easy and tasty meal.

Plau, great feedback on the Instant pot. I hope to see more IP cooks here from others. Most people overcook chicken, and it is easy to do. The Instant pot makes great moist chicken by its very design. Though I'll bang the drum again and say that a high end grill like a Weber Summit can make great chicken. TThe Weber Summit Rotisserie makes it no-brainer easy with a probe thermometer. hrough many years and much experience I now grill chicken parts awesome. A mix of sear and then indirect lower and slower. One of my best friends finds my chicken too "undercooked" now. It isn't "undercooked" at all (never undercook chicken), it's just not nearly as overcooked as he is used to.



I was away but am back and posting, went on vacation to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Awesome as ever. I went AO AI (adults only all inclusive) to a very solid, higher end resort. The food was amazing. Never trust anyone who says that AIs don't have good food. I have a ton of food pictures that should impress. I'll start sharing for the foodies here.

The food pictures will be from The Royal Playa del Carmen resort in Playa del Carmen for those interested. One of the best resort in the entire Riviera Maya in my opinion. But there are lots of great resorts in the area. I'm a repeat guest and know the ins and outs. This visit I did a lot of food ordering off-menu. I am a big seafood fan and try to order it often on my trips to the Caribbean.

To kick things off awesomely, enjoy the fresh grilled octopus and squid (calamari, unbreaded) ordered off-menu for lunch at the RPDC resort. OMFG good :agave: and cooked perfectly. Squeeze that fresh lime onto the plate and enjoy! The fresh cherry tomatoes and greens with the seafood really complemented the meal. High resolution pictures so click on it to see all the glorious details.

 

[kwtoxman]

Octopus may be foodie territory for some people, but it's amazing. Definitely try it. When cooked well ocotpus makes chicken breast feel tough. I got others into it this trip. Here are some more octopus and calamari meals at The Royal Playa del Carmen. High resolution so click and zoom in to see all the great details. Bring on the seafood! :toothy10:

Squeeze the fresh lime onto the seafood and enjoy! :agave:

The side was lemon risotto, and it was so excellent; a great accompaniment :agave:

Cheers

 

[Joe Bass]

It looks amazing!

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[kwtoxman]

Thx JB! Tasted even better . Here are more pictures to share. Super hi-res again so zoom in and see all the details.


Another sign of a great place for food (and RPDC has great food) is that the chefs would change up the details of these custom off-menu food orders day to day. You can see what I mean in the pictures and descriptions I'm posting. This variety really sets up great meals to enjoy again and again throughout a vacation.


So much greatness here. Fresh avocado, cherry tomatoes, radish and couscous in this dish. :agave:

The mashed potatoes and fresh vegetable sides were excellent and worked perfectly with the meal. :agave:

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Just got back from Costa Rica (Secrets - AI/AO). Food was high end at every meal. Had lunch with the boss in charge of their restaurants and met their on-site wine expert. Had two 6-course dinners with vintage wines paired for each dish.
The octopus there was excellent but lobster was a bit overcooked. Still, the food was exceptional.

 

[Joe Bass]

Made a little chicken/ veggie/ rice dish. Not sure if it would be considered a stir-fry as I didn't cook them together. (the little guy likes white rice/ chicken/ broccoli)
Added the low sodium soy sauce after it was plated and picture taken.
Love the colours of the veggies while cooking!

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[kwtoxman]

The resolution and detail on the above two pictures is pretty amazing considering its from a cell phone camera. Mind you it's one of the best cameras on a relatively recent flagship phone. And both were cropped from the original images which were even larger. Check it out.

Just got back from Costa Rica (Secrets - AI/AO). Food was high end at every meal. Had lunch with the boss in charge of their restaurants and met their on-site wine expert. Had two 6-course dinners with vintage wines paired for each dish.
The octopus there was excellent but lobster was a bit overcooked. Still, the food was exceptional.

I'm no warm water lobster fan. Cold water Canadian lobster is where its at for me. Sounds like a great resort. I'm not very familiar with Costa Rica AIs. What is the name of the resort? I want to check it out. Secrets typically have great resorts. I've always wanted to visit Costa Rica and plan to. It's amazing the service that is available out there in the Caribbean for the dollar.

Made a little chicken/ veggie/ rice dish. Not sure if it would be considered a stir-fry as I didn't cook them together. (the little guy likes white rice/ chicken/ broccoli)
Added the low sodium soy sauce after it was plated and picture taken.
Love the colours of the veggies while cooking!

Looks great. I know what you mean on colours in stir-frys .




A few more octopus and calamari shots. Here the octopus is done tostada style (and cold). Very excellent! :agave:

This was my first attempt at ordering the octopus and calamari dishes. The top left dish is a coarsely breaded calamari (squid) dish with a tartar seafood sauce. The bottom left is grilled calamari with fresh lime, vegetables and lemon risotto. The top right is excellent tortilla chips with in-house-made Pico de gallo and guacamole. The bottom right is diced grilled octopus.

It was great but being more specific in my ordering quickly got me to the rest of the meals you've seen (and what I enjoy most).

 

[Hardwrkr13]

The resolution and detail on the above two pictures is pretty amazing considering its from a cell phone camera. Mind you it's one of the best cameras on a relatively recent flagship phone. And both were cropped from the original images which were even larger. Check it out.


I'm no warm water lobster fan. Cold water Canadian lobster is where its at for me. Sounds like a great resort. I'm not very familiar with Costa Rica AIs. What is the name of the resort? I want to check it out. Secrets typically have great resorts. I've always wanted to visit Costa Rica and plan to. It's amazing the service that is available out there in the Caribbean for the dollar.


Looks great. I know what you mean on colours in stir-frys .




A few more octopus and calamari shots. Here the octopus is done tostada style (and cold). Very excellent! :agave:

This was my first attempt at ordering the octopus and calamari dishes. The top left dish is a coarsely breaded calamari (squid) dish with a tartar seafood sauce. The bottom left is grilled calamari with fresh lime, vegetables and lemon risotto. The top right is excellent tortilla chips with in-house-made Pico de gallo and guacamole. The bottom right is diced grilled octopus.

It was great but being more specific in my ordering quickly got me to the rest of the meals you've seen (and what I enjoy most).

Secrets Papagayo. Not a party resort but very relaxing. Mostly honeymoons and business trips. While there I also met the guy in charge of I.T. at all the Secrets owned resorts worldwide. Good convos over drinks three days in a row and he said they're building a new one in Cartegena (Columbia). I loved Cartegena and would return. Actually I met a few good contacts there (prob stay with AO resorts from now on).

 

[Mina]

I need high protein vegan recipes for the next couple of months. Tips?

 

[Joe Bass]

I need high protein vegan recipes for the next couple of months. Tips?

Paging @shanekingsley

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[kwtoxman]

Secrets Papagayo. Not a party resort but very relaxing. Mostly honeymoons and business trips. While there I also met the guy in charge of I.T. at all the Secrets owned resorts worldwide. Good convos over drinks three days in a row and he said they're building a new one in Cartegena (Columbia). I loved Cartegena and would return. Actually I met a few good contacts there (prob stay with AO resorts from now on).

Thx! I'll be checking it out. Columbia is intriguing as well; I'll keep an eye on that too.

AO AI resorts are amazing and I always recommend people try them. All this recent food is from an AO AI resort, The Royal Playa del Carmen. I have found the best value and food in the Caribbean to be in Mexico. Since they are part of NA (and a large country; their GDP is higher than Canada) and not on an island they can get much more food variety and at very good prices. The resort and food value is amazing.

I need high protein vegan recipes for the next couple of months. Tips?

Baked beans recipes can be done vegan and may be an option. And lots of chick pea cooks are very tasty, especially the caribbean roti style meals. GL!

 

[kwtoxman]

Anyone like fresh ceviche? Amazing and awesome food. The best I've had is on trips to the Caribbean, and this trip did not disappoint. I ate it daily and could easily make it very routine. More food pictures from my AO AI resort, and off-menu ceviche meals. More high resolution pictures that you can zoom in and see tons of detail.

Fresh fish ceviche (pescado) with greens, lime, pico de gallo, and avocado :agave:. And a lime chili salt on the outside of the plate. Great presentation!

Two plates of fresh fish ceviche (pescado) with lime, pico de gallo, avocado and cucumber. :agave:Each with a different presentation.

Cheers!

 

[jc100]

Fresh ceviche is amazing. One of my favourites when in Central America and an easy dish to prepare at home if you can access really fresh/good quality fish. The carribbean lobster is usually spiny lobster and I’m not a big fan of that compared to the Canadian cold water lobster we get here.

I haven’t stayed at an all inclusive for years since I’ve been booking VRBOs (you end up with more privacy and way more space doing this) but that food looks pretty good. Staying away from the hotels means you get to see all the markets though which is what I like. Buying fish from the local seafood market or the fishermen themselves is pretty neat and haggling over the price of guavas or tomatoes is part of the vacation for me. The last place I stayed in the gardener brought us oranges picked straight from the trees. I couldn’t reach them but I watched him climb up.

I've stayed in the Papagayo area of Costa Rica several times and driven around there a ton. There’s some lovely places to visit and if you go a bit off the beaten track (well, paved track) there’s some really undeveloped beach villages/towns to stay in. If you’re interested then PM me and I can send on details of car hire companies etc. One place we stayed in was $100 a night, house with private pool and views over the jungle down to the sea. Monkeys would wake you up and send you to sleep. 15 mins drive to a major surfing beach which you’d have mostly to yourself. Only catch was you needed a 4x4 to get there.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

I need high protein vegan recipes for the next couple of months. Tips?

My friend is vegan and fitness trainer and I'm sure she has some great recipe resources. She's in Cost Rica until Monday so fire me a txt start of the week to remind me and I'll ask her.

 

[kwtoxman]

Fresh ceviche is amazing. One of my favourites when in Central America and an easy dish to prepare at home if you can access really fresh/good quality fish. The carribbean lobster is usually spiny lobster and I’m not a big fan of that compared to the Canadian cold water lobster we get here.

I haven’t stayed at an all inclusive for years since I’ve been booking VRBOs (you end up with more privacy and way more space doing this) but that food looks pretty good. Staying away from the hotels means you get to see all the markets though which is what I like. Buying fish from the local seafood market or the fishermen themselves is pretty neat and haggling over the price of guavas or tomatoes is part of the vacation for me. The last place I stayed in the gardener brought us oranges picked straight from the trees. I couldn’t reach them but I watched him climb up.

I've stayed in the Papagayo area of Costa Rica several times and driven around there a ton. There’s some lovely places to visit and if you go a bit off the beaten track (well, paved track) there’s some really undeveloped beach villages/towns to stay in. If you’re interested then PM me and I can send on details of car hire companies etc. One place we stayed in was $100 a night, house with private pool and views over the jungle down to the sea. Monkeys would wake you up and send you to sleep. 15 mins drive to a major surfing beach which you’d have mostly to yourself. Only catch was you needed a 4x4 to get there.

Cheers! I have never tried ceviche at home, but I enjoy it so much I'm going to have to do it. It's too good to wait for a trip or an opportunity for it.

Lots of people like and do rentals for vacations. I'm open to both, but I love great food and drink and service and I've crunched the budget many times and if I compare apples to apples I tend to find AIs better value for me and usually do them. But I'm always into learning about good rental options so by all means share/pm advice and/or places that worked well, plus any related information.

I will say that these meals posted are from an upper level AO AI resort, the average AIs don't do food this well. And if you ever get interested again, many of these higher end AI resorts will happily take fresh fish from you and cook it in a meal. One can go fishing or to the market and bring the food to the resort and ask for a meal from it. No problems. Amazing service.

 

[kwtoxman]

More great ceviche pictures! And beautiful presentation! High resolution again so zoom in and around to see the great details.

Fresh fish and shrimp ceviche! Served with various greens, lettuce, radish and pico de gallo. :agave:

Fresh fish ceviche served with lettuce, tomato, onions, jalapenos, avocado, and more of that excellent lime chili sea salt. :agave:

Again, all of these ceviche meal pictures show chefs doing variety in the other ingredients from meal to meal. It's excellent to see the chefs at RPDC change up details with these off-menu food orders. The variety really sets up great meals to enjoy again and again throughout the vacation.

That lime chili sea salt is so tasty.

Cheers!