Paula Liebe's Blog, page 10

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT PAULA AND HONZA’S NEW PLACE?

First of all, we have a new name with a new logo.

Second, this Sunday the 30th of November 2014 we’re hosting our 1st event. It’s a monthly Bazar, an alternative to the annual Andale Bazar, where you can rent a spot and sell old and new stuff. We’ve decided to introduce an extra Bazar on Sunday the 14th, giving people the opportunity to shop local for their Christmas presents.

Third, starting the 4th December we’ll be hosting the weekly eco-market. Every Thursday between 11 am and 1 pm you can buy local and organic products at our community center. As you can see the weekly markets have become a well-established tradition in Playa over a short period of time.

So, what else have we’ve been doing at El Jardin? Well, mostly cleaning, sorting out stuff, and taking care of the maintenance of the house. We needed to get ready for the high season. At times I felt like a construction worker, hauling and moving heavy stuff, my body achy and tired after a hard days work, but always with a big smile because there’s nothing more satisfying than shaping up your own business. The real fun part was redecorating the house, and some of you will recognize artwork and objects from Hacienda El Sol.  Here are some before and after pictures, so you get an idea what we’ve done so far.

Entrance before

Entrance now

Podium Before

Podium Now

Bridge Before

Bridge Now

House Before

House now

We still need to apply a few finishing touches to the house and then we’re going to shoot a few professional pictures, cause those tablets and phones are limited.

Is this all we’re going to do in El Jardin? Of course not! We’re continuing with the ‘vivero’ or plant nursery that the owner has set up, and in time we will expand this activity with an organic vegetable and herb garden and subsequent workshops.

And last but not least, we will soon open El Jardin as a place where you can enjoy your breakfast and lunch. You know our concept: fresh, local and organic when possible. In other words: Healthy but Tasty. We don’t have much of a kitchen yet, but this is a small start.

We’ve created a Facebook page for EL Jardin – Community Center with more up to date pictures.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/El-Jardin-community-center/1569165733319404.

We’re really happy in our new place, and we know you will too when you come and visit us.

THE KEY TO A FABULOUS HALLOWEEN COSTUME

Most of our friends, especially the ones in Playa del Carmen, are very well aware of the fact that my husband and I love to dress up for Halloween.

My very 1st encounter with Halloween began in the year 2000 when I had just moved to Playa. I had found a nice dress, which I still have, and a French make-up artist had taken care of my make-up. My friend LaVonna had turned the villa behind restaurant Da Gabi into a horror house and we all had a spooky ball. I do have pictures of that event, but that was before the digital age, so they’re all stored in my mother’s cellar. However, a few months later I was asked to organize a big birthday bash for a friend of ours on the rooftop his penthouse. Besides many musicians and performers I had also invited that French make-up artist. This time I asked him to use the same colors but less spooky. I imagined myself some sort of a sea goddess. I do have a picture of that event with my dear friend Joyous, may she rest in peace.

The Mexican festivities of the Day of the Dead are a celebration of the deceased, to honor our loved ones who have passed away. Here’s a link to a nice article about this ancient tradition.

The next Halloween event that I remember having dressed up for is the one just 5 days after hurricane Wilma in 2006. Since there was not a green leave to be found in our paradise I asked my friends to come and dress in something green. I had braces at the time (believe me, it’s totally worth it), so I placed green sparkly sequins on the metal fixtures.

The year after that my friend Malonie was living with me and we had a ball preparing our fantasy costumes. In theme with the shamanic trips we had made to Peru we had created  a deity from another world.

In the year 2007 I found myself in cold and windy Holland during Halloween. Summer love had turned into serious love, so what to do? I suggested to my little niece and her friend to go trick or treating, so off we went with our scary costumes. Of all the people who answered their door 9 out of 10 asked with complete surprise, “So, what do I do now?” I answered with a low, spooky voice, “The kids get a treat and a bottle of wine will do for me.”

The hat that I had bought that autumn in the Hague was going to be used for the following Halloween when Honza finally decided to join me in paradise. This was the 1st year I found out that Honza enjoyed dressing up.

Before we moved to the following Halloween there was another dress up occasion when our friend Sara celebrated her 40th birthday and asked everybody to dress up ‘80s style. Thanks to our hairdresser Doranna de Bartoli we were able to transform ourselves into ‘80s pop stars and we won 1st prize. Actually, that was the only time we won a price together, because usually by midnight we’re long gone from the party scene.

Inspired by Doranna’s talents we creatively found our next characters. The bride of Frankenstein goes porn, with her creator, the mad professor.

And then we found some wings and wigs and created the next set of characters; the fallen Angels.

Living in the Caribbean inspires to dress up like a pirate, and after the 3rd Johnny Depp ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ box office hit starring Penelope Cruz, we knew what to do. Days and weeks of sowing and hunting for the right accessories and we had a new set of characters.

It’s not a secret that Honza and I believe in the existence of a galactic space family. With the date 21-12-2012 in mind we thought it appropriate to dress up like ‘Chico & Chica Galactica’.

Last year I decided to recycle a costume. The white lace of the bride of Frankenstein had faded to a yellowish cream and was perfect for a sexy dead bride in the character of the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead.

We’re still a little short on cash, so this year we’re recycling again. Now what’s the key to a fabulous costume? Honestly, I don’t really know. I try to be creative and I go with the flow. Sometimes I start with a wig, sometimes with a dress, or another year with a specific color or theme.

But I do have the key to a fabulous place: EL JARDIN.

We’ve started with the cleaning process and have placed the property on airbnb.

We’ll keep you posted, but we can tell you that as of December we’ll start to host the weekly eco-market on Thursdays.

Happy Halloween!

PAULA AND HONZA GO RAW & GLUTEN FREE!

The 1st experience we ever had with a person on a gluten free diet wasn’t particularly a positive one. A middle-aged couple, guests at our former B&B, had requested a gluten free breakfast for the lady. She struck us as an unhappy and bitter woman who found it hard to enjoy life, and we were happy when they left. We jokingly said that her diet must have affected her state of mind; grumpy because she wasn’t allowed to eat all the yummy things in life like cakes and cookies, and bread, pasta and cereals.

Little did we know that less than 3 years later we would voluntarily embark on a gluten free diet. Now why would 2 healthy, life-enjoying people do such a thing? Sure, we eat very healthy with only local and fresh produce, but there’s always room for improvement, especially when growing older and small health issues arise. We contacted an old friend from our hometown The Hague who is a rawfood, detox and regeneration coach. Take a look at his Website. The 1st consultation is free. He was very helpful when Honza came down with Hepatitis after our road trip through Guatemala, and he was cured pure with diet and herbs. This time Ray suggested we leave out gluten containing products and create a diet that consists of 75% raw food.

As health conscious people we had become aware of the dangers of wheat, so the choice was easy. The problem is not so much wheat itself, but it’s the hybridized versions that they have been developed since the 1950s and they contain toxic components.  For example sodium azide, a known toxic. This hybridized wheat also contains new proteins that are foreign to the plant and to our body, like gliadin and glutenin. They are difficult to digest and often create an immunogenic response eventually leading to a number of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. If you want to know more I suggest you read this article.

Sometimes we miss a slice of bread from our all time favourite German baker, and we will certainly serve his bread in our new restaurant, but the switch wasn’t that hard. We live in Mexico, so corn products are easily found, like tortillas or the crunchy totopos that accompany a very tasty Mexican dish: Guacamole.

For Honza it was easy to modify one of his Czech dishes channeled by his mother; fried breaded cauliflower. Instead of frying he put them in the oven; wheat flour was replaced by corn flower; and the bread crumbs with grinned tortilla chips. Voila!

Cauliflower new style

Of course we don’t live on vegetables and fruit alone. A tasty snack should always be part of a healthy diet. So, Honza came up with a raw chocolate truffle. Ingredients: fresh coconut water, 100% pure cacao, coconut oil, almond butter (finely chopped up almonds) and dates. Rolled into balls covered with sesame seeds. Voila!

Needless to say that Honza is feeling very inspired to try out all kinds of new recipes for our restaurant. It appears that we’re taking the slogan ‘Healthy but Tasty’ to a new level.

So, how’s that going, our new restaurant? Well, pretty good actually. We’ve covered pretty much all the details with the owner and we are ready to sign the contract, but there’s still one thing missing; a little starting capital.

MATTHEW 7:7  ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE

We asked here and there.

You’ve got to put your heart into it. Pray!

And we asked our guardian angels and the Universe for help.

Maybe this will work!

Anyway, so far no luck. This morning one of my yoga students (71) made the wise remark that help might come from a very unexpected place (…) Then on the other hand, if the Universe has other plans for our future, we’ll soon find out!

PAULA AND HONZA GO GLUTEN FREE!

The 1st experience we ever had with a person on a gluten free diet wasn’t particularly a positive one. A middle-aged couple, guests at our former B&B, had requested a gluten free breakfast for the lady. She struck us as an unhappy and bitter woman who found it hard to enjoy life, and we were happy when they left. We jokingly said that her diet must have affected her state of mind; grumpy because she wasn’t allowed to eat all the yummy things in life like cakes and cookies, and bread, pasta and cereals.

Little did we know that less than 3 years later we would voluntarily embark on a gluten free diet. Now why would 2 healthy, life-enjoying people do such a thing? Sure, we eat very healthy with only local and fresh produce, but there’s always room for improvement, especially when growing older and small health issues arise. We contacted an old friend from our hometown The Hague who is a rawfood, detox and regeneration coach. Take a look at his Website. The 1st consultation is free. He was very helpful when Honza came down with Hepatitis after our road trip through Guatemala, and he was cured pure with diet and herbs. This time Ray suggested we leave out gluten containing products and create a diet that consists of 75% raw food.

As health conscious people we had become aware of the dangers of wheat, so the choice was easy. The problem is not so much wheat itself, but it’s the hybridized versions that they have been developed since the 1950s and they contain toxic components.  For example sodium azide, a known toxic. This hybridized wheat also contains new proteins that are foreign to the plant and to our body, like gliadin and glutenin. They are difficult to digest and often create an immunogenic response eventually leading to a number of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. If you want to know more I suggest you read this article.

Sometimes we miss a slice of bread from our all time favourite German baker, and we will certainly serve his bread in our new restaurant, but the switch wasn’t that hard. We live in Mexico, so corn products are easily found, like tortillas or the crunchy totopos that accompany a very tasty Mexican dish: Guacamole.

For Honza it was easy to modify one of his Czech dishes channeled by his mother; fried breaded cauliflower. Instead of frying he put them in the oven; wheat flour was replaced by corn flower; and the bread crumbs with grinned tortilla chips. Voila!

Cauliflower new style

Of course we don’t live on vegetables and fruit alone. A tasty snack should always be part of a healthy diet. So, Honza came up with a raw chocolate truffle. Ingredients: fresh coconut water, 100% pure cacao, coconut oil, almond butter (finely chopped up almonds) and dates. Rolled into balls covered with sesame seeds. Voila!

Needless to say that Honza is feeling very inspired to try out all kinds of new recipes for our restaurant. It appears that we’re taking the slogan ‘Healthy but Tasty’ to a new level.

So, how’s that going, our new restaurant? Well, pretty good actually. We’ve covered pretty much all the details with the owner and we are ready to sign the contract, but there’s still one thing missing; a little starting capital.

MATTHEW 7:7  ASK AND YOU WILL RECEIVE

We asked here and there.

You’ve got to put your heart into it. Pray!

And we asked our guardian angels and the Universe for help.

Maybe this will work!

Anyway, so far no luck. This morning one of my yoga students (71) made the wise remark that help might come from a very unexpected place (…) Then on the other hand, if the Universe has other plans for our future, we’ll soon find out!

WHEN I’M SIXTY FOUR – THEN WHAT?

Finally! We’re free!!!

Don’t get me wrong; we’ve been more than grateful for having found a little peace and quiet amid the whirlwind of events that have taken place in our lives. Nevertheless, carrying the responsibility of two big dogs and a recently renovated house – including the obvious electrical and water teething problems that such a refurbished structure will present – is no small thing, even for a seasoned property manager. After two months we are more than happy to leave these daily – and sometimes stressing – duties behind.

Considering aforementioned situation and other business related duties, it took a little effort to get into the mood to celebrate Honza’s 64th birthday. Still, after lunch I was able to secure us a spot at a beauty salon where we both could be serviced at the same time. For his birthday Honza wanted to receive a pedicure from a sweet Mayan girl, something he never had experienced before in his life, and he wanted turquoise nail polish on his toe-nails.

No private pool as a birthday present this time.

No $X$ Jeep as a birthday present this time.

 

This year it was simply a pedicure at a salon where the big boss had ordered the girls to play music from Tiesto, and Tiesto only. We personally prefer Armin van Buren, but they’re both Dutch, so what to say?

That same afternoon, right after that aesthetic and fashionable splurge – and one that may even start a new trend – we headed to the address where we are about to open our new restaurant. Indeed we have found the perfect spot to start a new adventure and continue to live our dream. It’s a beautiful garden in downtown Playa del Carmen that every Playa peep knows as the Garden of Eating.

Stay tuned, because we’ll open soon! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life after Amarte – What’s next?

Let me be blunt. Moving all your personal belongings in one single day and storing them in 3 different locations is not an easy thing. The details over why it was crucial to move everything in one single day I will divulge in my next book. And then, moving our tired selves to 3 different house sitting addresses over the next 3 weeks wasn’t effortless either, and that’s putting it mild.

But finally we’ve found a temporary sanctuary of peace and tranquility for two entire months. As dog lovers we were even more thrilled when we found out that this safe haven came with 2 gorgeous canines; a white King Poodle and a brown mix of some undetermined race. The owners of the house – old Playa friends – had recently renovated their home-to-be, but for the summer they had planned to spend some fun time their 2 young children in Canada, visiting family and summer camps, so for the both of us it was a win-win situation.

This is Jelly. She likes to pose, as you can see.

This is Ritva. As soon as I took the picture she tried to pose like Jelly.

After one week the pressure pump broke down, so the faucets and showerheads produced nothing more than a few drops of water. Since the owner had insisted that we use his maintenance guy (and we are the kind of people who respect those wishes), we hopefully waited 3 weeks before we finally decided it was due time for our own Star Condos guy to buy $51 Pesos (some 4 dollars) worth of material and fix the problem temporarily.

Sure, we used the garden hose to wash ourselves, because it was connected to the street and had normal pressure. It actually made us feel as if we were vacationing on a camping site. A refreshing shower next to a banana tree while waving to your friendly Mexican neighbours, I think there are worse things in life.

Our temporary shower under the banana tree.

We moved into this house on the famous day that went into the Mexican history as: “No era Penal.” If you don’t care about soccer, like us, you have no idea what that phrase stands for, but for some reason we had been caught by the World Cup fever this one year, so this is what it was about. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28082629

That morning we went dressed in orange pants and green shirts to watch the game. It was close to 11 o’clock in the morning.

Dressed for the Mexican Dutch soccer game. May the best win!

Three minutes before the game started a police officer screwed of the plates of my Beetle that was parked perfectly in front of the Dirty Martini, but nevertheless along an illegal yellow curb and gave me a ticket. No matter how much I pleaded and proudly showed my green Mexican shirt, it was to no use. How could I expect anything else from a female cop? In fumes I drove home and changed my shirt to an orange one. Guess what? We won!

We Won! That will teach them to give me a ticket!

Party at Zenzi!

As an author I’m always looking for a good story, and when you see the humor in any given situation it gives enough juice for a funny twist on any chapter. Honza and I thought of a couple of funny before and after pictures.

Pool Before

Pool After

The road to our home Before

The road to our home After

So now, after one month of relative rest, it looks like we’re getting our life back on track.

We’re teaching the morning yoga classes at Palapa Suuk from Monday to Friday 10.30 to 11.30.

Catching up with one of my old students.

We’ve been able to score ourselves a regular gig at La Cantina 38; every Tuesday I sing my favourite Mexican Boleros.

La Cantina 38

Singing Besame Mucho

Honza filmed everything and I’m in the process of creating a video for my YouTube channel, but iMovie received an update, so this will take me some time.

AND… We’re preparing ourselves to open a restaurant!

Where…? What…? How…?

Next time!

WHAT HAPPENED AT AMARTE?

Indeed, what happened at Amarte? Why did we return to Playa within 3 months, instead of bringing Amarte back to life over a period of many years? Why was this dream so shortly lived? Believe me, we are still trying to wrap our minds around the whirlwind of events that has changed our lives so drastically. So, what did happen? Honestly, we don’t really know, and I wonder if we’ll ever find out. But we do have a few theories and rest assured that in my next book I will elaborate extensively about all the juicy details and interesting conversations that have taken place. I did find a video on YouTube a few weeks ago about Amarte, and when the credits appeared – around 6.40 minutes – a piece of information emerged that we had not been aware of before; there’s a secret boss…

As much as we would like to say that we’ve found ourselves in a classic Shakespearean drama, it was nothing but an ugly Mexican telenovela, a soap opera we didn’t think we signed up for.

It all went so incredibly fast. Imagine we didn’t even have a decent working Internet for the 1st 3 weeks. The 1st month we focused on opening beach club Lolita until the owner told us it was sold. We didn’t see that one coming. Let me tell you that it took a flexible mind to refocus on the opening of the restaurant Amarte, something the owner insisted on, despite the fact that high season had just ended and May is considered one of the slowest months of the year. Nevertheless, we pulled it of. The grand opening of Hacienda Amarte was a smashing success with close to 100 hundred guests – all personal friends – eating ‘a la carte’ and enjoying an incredible show with Jazz, boleros, opera and pop. And that was that. End of story. They had kicked us out. We didn’t see that one coming either. We produced and delivered, more than was asked for or expected from us, but it wasn’t sufficient and never would have been.

Opening Night

How awkward that this is the only photo we have of that evening. As if it never happened.

Honza said: “We’ve been had. And it was without Vaseline!”

Then I said: “Fuck it!” And then I cried. It was a relief.

But still, I’m Miss Practical, so the 1st question we asked ourselves was: what did we learn from this? Well, for starters, we never thought that we were capable of successfully running such a large enterprise. Anything else that comes our way will seem like peanuts after this, and it looks like a great opportunity indeed is crossing our path, something we never imagined we would do in our lives. In that way we needed this experience. And we learned that we will never ever work for somebody else again. What was I thinking? The walls of incompetency were ridiculously frustrating. I experienced first hand what it felt like to work in a hostile macho environment, where the authority of a foreign woman is simply not tolerated and outright boycotted. I do not wish to ever have to experience that again. It was rather unpleasant.

It’s a time of change. Change is good. Although the dream was shortly lived, we still lived it.

Here’s the full version of the promotional video we produced. It’s gorgeous!

It’s so sad to see such an incredible opportunity go to waste because of sickeningly inflated egos. These people need help. Be kind to unkind people; they need it the most.

Singing in the choir of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar was the beginning of my musical career. There was a line I couldn’t get out of my head: “Empezar de nuevo…” Start all over again. So, that’s what we’ll do.  I pick myself up, dust myself of, and start all over again. Yes, I’m going to add that song to my repertoire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of my stay – The Spirit of Amarte

Before Honza and I could recuperate from an extremely successful grand opening of Hacienda Amarte, our next guests arrived. Holly had recently made the permanent move from Canada to Merida with her 2 Labradors, Kiefer and Buddy, and she would be attending a wedding with her son Adam, so she was very happy to have found not only a dog friendly hotel, but also one with dog lovers who could babysit them for the day.

Honza walking Kiefer and Buddy.

As soon as they had arrived we found out that Adam is a professional singer and has a deep baritone voice. We decided to have lunch at restaurant Hacienda Amarte the following day and after lunch we would create an improvised concert with Adam behind the grand piano. They would bring 3 relatives who had attended the wedding as well. Together with the 4 Czech friends of Honza who were visiting Playa we would have a nice lunch table under the palapa; a familiar situation for Honza and me, but a new one now working at Hacienda Amarte, because they were all paying customers.

It was a long time ago that Honza and I had waited tables, but within this relaxed atmosphere it was actually fun. Different cultures met, many different languages were spoken, and many loud laughs were shared; exactly the spirit we had in mind for lunches under this little palapa.

A lunch table with 3 different nationalities and languages.

Chef Mex and Chef Canek were applauded for their talent to touch our guests’ taste buts in such exquisite way. Before we moved inside the restaurant, they all received a tour of our holistic spa and temple Itzamara and they were in complete awe.  With this emotion we ended our tour in the restaurant so Adam and I could touch their ear buts. I was completely blown away by Adam’s warm, deep voice. What a talent!

 I sang my favorite 3 Mexican Boleros, and Adam applauded with most passion.

Paula being filmed while singing for our guests.

And then he played and sang a little more and then I sang my favorite Sister song. Even Adam’s mother knew the origins of that song!

 

We had to break off the concert, because some of our guests had to return to their hotel to babysit grand children, else we would have continued for a while longer. We were all so delighted with this outburst of creative energy; it was simply so heart warming to witness our dream come true: creating a cultural and spiritual center.

 “This was the highlight of my trip!”

Honza and I have heard this sentence before during our professional career as innkeepers of Hacienda El Sol, but this was the 1st time we heard it while working for ‘El Arcitecto’ at Hacienda Amarte.

We received the most beautiful review from them.

HEALTHY BUT TASTY – PREPARING THE MENU FOR HACIENDA AMARTE

I’ve always said: “Never, ever in my life will I run a restaurant.” I grew up in one and I know what it takes; you are married to your restaurant. My father owned 3 successful restaurants, so I am quite familiar with the business.  I know what I’m talking about.

Restaurant Charcoal

Restaurant Bajazzo

Playa peeps have gotten to know Honza’s cuisine over the past five years and often have said: “You should start your own restaurant.” Then we would look at each other and delicately smile, meaning: “No way!” Honza too has had his own bar/restaurant, and subsequently managed 5 grand café’s/restaurants/ bars with 118 employees, for nearly 20 years at the downtown hotspot of our hometown The Hague; The Grote Markt.

Grote Markt Den Haag

Well guess what? We’re opening a restaurant! Not because we have to, but because we want to with all our heart. Hacienda Amarte; the eco boutique hotel and holistic retreat center we are bringing to life includes a large restaurant that can easily hold 100 seats. Pfff!

Rehearsal with Professor Mary Grogan

Our vision is to create an haute cuisine menu with a Mexican-Mediterranean flavour, and the ingredients will all be fresh, local, and organic if available. Healthy but Tasty, is the slogan Honza came up with. Of course we’ll add a few of Honza’s famous specialties to the menu. ChecMex food! The idea is to produce a few products ourselves, like tomatoes and cilantro. We already have been using the fresh herbs from our garden for our menu.

The herbal garden behind the restaurant.

Eventually we want to set up connections with local Mayan farms that will supply us with their fresh and organic products, like chickens and eggs, but also supplies of pork and beef. Just because we offer you organic ingredients and a variety of vegetarian dishes doesn’t mean that we won’t serve you a good pork roast. Let’s be clear about that!

One of the biggest gifts we have received from the owner of Hacienda Amarte – who we will call ‘El Arcitecto’ from now on  - is chef Mex, a simpatico Mayan man in his early thirties from a little village near Chichen Itza.  For many years he has worked with the French chef Guillaume of the restaurant ‘Pavo Real by the Sea’, also owned by ‘El Arcitecto’. Check it out, it’s pretty good.

Restaurant Pavo Real by the Sea

Chef Mex has learned the trades of the ‘haute cuisine’ by years of experience. I like that. I may be entitled to call myself an environmental Engineer (got the diplomas), but all the other stuff I’ve learned by practice, just like our chef Mex. And then chef Mex called for an assistant. A bright Mayan boy called Canek from the colonial city of Valladolid joined our team. He is in his early twenties, and even had all the appropriate diplomas.

The colonial city Valladolid

 Honza and I explained our visions; fresh and local produce, and organic when available. The chefs prepared a menu and we picked a few dishes we thought would offer a good presentation for the grand opening. On Wednesday we went to the weekly organic market in Puerto Morelos and got our supplies of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Chef Canek & Chef Mex

Choosing produce at the organic market in Puerto Morelos

 We consulted with the local fisherman coop. Then we crossed the highway and got the rest of our supplies in the other part of Puerto Morelos. Chicken and eggs and lomo.

Chicken ‘recien matado’.

Ordering fresh lomo.

We have received the contacts of the ranchos that supply these little stores and we intend to visit these farms and verify if they are Amarte worthy, and we’ll keep you posted on the proceedings.

And then the yummy part started: tasting after tasting of exquisite food preparations. The presentation was an absolute art. This was so much more than we could have hoped for.

For the 1st tasting we had chosen the cucumber gazpacho with tomato compote, Hierba Buena sorbet and roasted almonds, followed by Grouper filet served on Hoja Santa, accompanied with Jasmine rise, spinach and a variety of local organic vegetables.

Cucumber Gazpacho

Fresh Grouper on Hoja Santa

For the 2nd tasting we had chosen the melon soup with mint, and roasted chicken breast with rosemary potatoes and a variety of local organic vegetables. Let me tell you that Mary Grogan, who I lovingly have introduced as the Opera Diva the moment she entered the lobby of Hacienda Amarte, was very impressed.

Melon Soup with mint

Grilled Chicken Breast

For the next tasting we had chosen the Amarte salad and lomo filet with coffee sauce, and the crème brûlée.

Amarte Salad

Grilled Pork loin with mushroom potatoes

Creme Brûlée

Then there were 2 more menu options left that we needed to try out for the grand opening menu, and that was the fish ceviche with mango and the Eggplant Gratin, our vegetarian option. We had no doubt whatsoever that these dishes would be just as tasty as all the previous ones and we were right.

Fish ceviche with mango and crispy bananas

Eggplant gratin

I can tell you that everything we’ve tasted is far beyond we could ever have hoped for. We can write history with these 2 Mayan chefs!

Tomorrow is the grand opening of Hacienda Amarte. I don’t even know how I found the time to write this blog, but I needed to share this food porn with you. I gotta run. See you mañana!

Receiving the Speaker of the Year Award

Between all the preparations for the grand opening of our restaurant Amarte next month, applying the final touches of our holistic spa, and of course the day to day business of running an eco boutique hotel and retreat center, it was time to write a blog. Fortunately I have some note worthy news.

On this day, – exactly one year ago – I officially launched ‘The Queens Trilogy’. The 3 autobiographical books that I had worked on over a period of 13 years were for sale on all the official channels like Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  The local Rotary Club had invited me to do a presentation of my books. A year ago that was the last Dutch Queens day, the 30th of April, as our queen Beatrix has passed the thrown to her son Willem Alexander.

Queen Beatrix and her son Crown-Prince Willem-Alexander

A presentation of ‘The Queen’s Trilogy’ on the Dutch Queen’s Day was a sweet synchronicity I had not really planned.

Maybe I was a little bit nervous over the explicit content of my talk in front of such a conservative group, but the presentation was so successful that I received The Speaker of the Year Award, handed to me by the president of The Rotary Club.

Receiving the Speaker of the Year award from Bob Hyde.

A year later I can report to you that I’ve sold 3147 books, both paper books and electronic versions for your Kindle or iPad. But more importantly, I’ve received 36 beautiful reviews on Amazon. Truthfully, you can find a 1 and 2 star review – too much information – but they add to your credibility so I’m glad they are there. Reviews are the little gems that give us authors the visibility and exposure we need to make it in the big world.

I’ve started writing the 4th book in the series, as our adventures continue, but I estimate another 3 to 4 years before that one will be finished.

If you haven’t had a chance to download the 1st book in the series, which is absolutely free, here’s a link to the Queen’s Escape.

Here’s a video with a short compilation of the presentation at the Rotary Club, last year during the last Queens Day. Please, enjoy!