Cooking Tidbits from Mardi Burden, Cuisine Classique, Tucson

Biting History one meal at a time

More from our "Summer of Love"

Eating our way across town in Ensenada, Mexico

We hope you have enjoyed your summer as much
as Bob and I have enjoyed ours! I am calling it our
“Summer of Love”. No, we didn't go to Woodstock.
We simply Loved this Summer!

In July, we were fortunate to
be able to visit our friend
Tom aboard his sailboat,
Poco a Poco in
San Diego, California.
From there we embarked
upon a sailing adventure to Ensenada, Baja California,
Mexico.

After an overnight passage through rough and uncooperative seas, we arrived at dawn, in the spectacularly placid Bahia de Todos Santos, offshore
of Ensenada, BC.

Our Skipper, Tom contacted the marina
via radio and we were directed to our slip in
Marina Coral. A quick shuttle ride took us to customs
where all the paperwork was handled by our
representative from the Marina/hotel. It was easy
but long and tedious though all we did was wait.

Next came much needed showers, then we were
off to town. First
stop was to find the
Central Fish Market we
had read about online.
What a wonderful place!
The seafood vendor's stalls
were abundantly stuffed with
the day's catch. A bounty so fresh that the only smell
was that of the ocean.
We spent an hour drifting
from stall to stall looking and sampling the fare. It was
almost paradise! Arranged
around the outside of the
big building are many small restaurants selling seafood straight from the market within.
We quickly chose our favorite
which became our home away from home.

Fish tacos there, cost a
dollar each, while shrimp
tacos boasted a hefty
price tag of $1.50. ;)
Huge, raw oysters and a
delicious Siete Mares
(Seven Seas soup)
were available too.
We brought home
over 20 kilos of
fresh seafood.
Life is good!

L.A. CETTO

Back at the marina, we
made arrangements for the
next day of fun. We chartered
a van and driver to take us to
wine country. Yes! Mexico
has a wine country and it is
actually just a few miles
south of the U.S. border.
Valle Guadalupe is home
to a couple dozen vineyards
and wineries, many of them
very good. The oldest, and
easily the largest, of these is
L.A. Cetto founded in the
early 20th century. We have
drunk their wines many times
before and were excited to
tour the winery and
participate in a tasting.

In all, we visited three wonderful wineries and were able
to throw in a "bonus stop" at a small community museum
in Guadalupe. This tiny village was founded by Russian
settlers! Back at the marina, we arranged for a shuttle
to take us back into Ensenada. (man we loved this town)
Dedicated tourists, we began searching for interesting
sites and sights. There was the immense Mexican flag
flying over the malecon but visible from everywhere.
A traveling carnival caught our attention for awhile as
well as a short meander through the "plaza of big heads"
(our name, not theirs) For us, the attractions seemed
mostly to involve food and drink.
We had heard about a French restaurant somewhere
in town but were unable to find it. ("it's just right there,
on the big main street" we had been told) Supposedly
they had wonderful pastries and such. We walked and
walked and ate and drank leaving no taco stand nor
hole in the wall cafe untried. One of our favorites
was a taco cart set up near the topless bars.
He would be open all night to feed the barrachos
as they stumbled from bar to bar. We were
beginning to feel very full even though we
tried to limit our consumption at each stop.
On the next street though, we came upon El Charro.
A nice "sit down" chicken place with a rotisserie in
the front window to make any grilling fiend drool.
Flames burst at least four feet high and 5 or 6 feet wide!
We were impressed even before tasting the food.
Mardi and I were too stuffed with tacos and cervezas
but Tom seemed to have an elastic stomach and the
determination to power his way through the
discomfort and attempt just one more meal;
Admirable.
He ordered a plate of fantastic looking rotisserie
cooked chicken that merely fell off the bone
while we could only look on with envy, and groan.

After a perfect night of sleep back aboard Poco,
we were renewed and on our quest for food and
adventure again the next morning.

A shuttle ride to the far end
of town brought us to our
starting point to begin the
day's walking tour.
Self guided of course. The
first order of business was
breakfast. And this great
taco place was perfect.
It was beyond colorful and
all about everything cow meat.

We ordered separately and shared some of everything.
After another satisfying meal, visited several amazing tourist haunts and found ourselves back more or less downtown. A few blocks east of where we had ventured before, we found it!
El Rey Sol!
The Sun King,
our elusive French restaurant. It was beautiful, and that was
just the outside! As we stood gawking, the Maitre d' appeared
and asked if we would like a tour. "Of course, we would love it"
we replied and he whisked us inside to some of the most lavish
public and private dining rooms we have seen anywhere.

The kitchen was gleaming and bustling and the walls were
heavily adorned with gilt.

On the sidewalk in front is a blue canopied cafe where all manner of scrumptious pastries are served with coffee. It had taken
us so many meals to find this treasure that we could only
vow to return another time. (we are planning that right now)

Our time in Ensenada was much more than we could have hoped.
I never thought I would say this (because it is not what I look for)
but the town was very clean. Beyond that, it was friendly and
easy going with great tasting food at especially fair prices
everywhere we turned. Our trip to the wineries was a real
delight and a day we hope to repeat many more times.
Part of the reason for this trip was to research the Paella
Festivals which are held annually at some of the wineries.
We have long wanted to host a group of foodies on
an excursion of excess in Baja California. We discovered
that the festivals are held in May. It looks as if
we have some extensive planning to do for that too!
(please let us know if you might be interested)

The return sail aboard Poco
was grueling the first
day as we battled into
heavy seas and a 25 knot
head wind. About 4 am we
anchored among the fishing
and research vessels off
the coast of the Coronado
Islands to sleep a few hours,
at last. Morning arrived
bringing another wondrous
day of perfect weather
and fair winds for the final
20 or so downhill miles to
San Diego and home.
We can never thank
our good friend and hardy
skipper, Tom, enough for
helping make this
adventure a reality.
Hopefully we will do it again!

Please join Mardi and me, at our Open House
Friday, September 16^th from 4-6 pm
for some excellent specials and
samples of some of the foods we will
be cooking in October classes.

We have begun a terrific new series of classes;
The Basics of Italian Cooking.
We are very excited to launch this new
8 week course as Italian cooking is one of the world’s
best cuisines. The series will be on Tuesday nights
starting September 6^th and continue with 7 more sessions concluding on October 25^th. If you would like to learn to
make beautiful sauces, risottos, fresh pastas, and delicious
and unique vegetables and entrees you might consider
joining us for this series.

I hope to see you at our open house!
Chow,
Mardi

Try this
SIETE MARES!

Seven Seas Soup
We love to serve this
with a chilled Corona and lime.

GET RECIPE HERE

bon appetit!

PLEASE SUPPORT THESE LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS. BOTH
ARE SPONSORED BY SOUTHERN ARIZONA COMMUNITY
FOOD BANK. EACH OFFERS A WONDERFUL SELECTION
OF ORGANICALLY GROWN FRUITS, EGGS, MEATS AND VEGETABLES. WE BUY MANY OF OUR HERB AND
VEGETABLE PLANTS THERE TOO!

SANTA CRUZ SUMMER HOURS ARE 4 - 7 PM
THEY HAVE MOVED TO THE NEW
MERCADO SAN AGUSTIN, CONGRESS ST AND CONVENTO

Chow!
Mardi

Our Culinary Festival continues this Fall:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6
BASICS OF GOURMET COOKING > A nine week course of the fundamentals of gourmet cooking. Meets every Saturday.
Sign up now, many classes are selling out fast!

BASICS OF ITALIAN COOKING
BEGINS IN SEPTEMBER, 8 WEEKS OF GREAT ITALIAN COOKING!
MANY SEPTEMBER CLASSES ON SALE!!
Saturdays our Original Basics of Gourmet Cooking
continues! Please see our schedule for more info.

Remember, we sell most of the tools and small appliances
and those wonderful Messermeister knives we
use in class on our sister site;

www.Sharpknives.com

FABULOUS
SALE
PRICES ON
HIGH QUALITY
VIKING COOKWARE!

Give a gift to last a lifetime!

Mardi Burden
shares ownership of
Cuisine Classique School
of Good Cooking
with her husband Bob.

Mardi loves to cook
and she brings her
professional expertise
from restaurant kitchens
and large catering events
to the lessons she
teaches in her classes.
Mardi's love of cooking,
and her knowledge of food
and cooking is truly
exceptional and
she is always eager to
"share the love"!

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