10,000 Calorie Fudge

Here is the fudge recipe I tried this year for my Mexican family. None of them had ever had fudge before and they all seemed to really like it ESPECIALLY Mariana. The only thing that I added was a few packages of chocolate mint candies because I love Choco mint stuff. I mixed two bags in when the fudge mixture was still warm so the mint flavor had time to permeate, and then they last package I sprinkled on top.

I like my fudge a bit chewy and so I always go for a recipe with marshmallows or marshmallow creme. Here it is! Let me know what you think!

Microwave Fudge Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups miniature marshmallows
14 oz. can condensed milk
1 dash Salt
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
1. In 2 qt. glass measure, combine marshmallows, milk, and salt. Microcook on HIGH 3-4 minutes. Stir until marshmallows melt and mixture is smooth.
2. Add chips and stir until melted. Stir in nuts (may use up to 1 cup) and vanilla.
3. Line 8 or 9 inch square pan with wax paper. Spread fudge evenly in pan. Chill 2 hours, until firm.
4. Turn on to cutting board, peel off paper and cut into squares. Serves 32.

http://www.momswhothink.com/fudge-recipes/microwave-fudge-recipes.html

Edgar told me to buy "La Lechera" brand condensed milk. He said that was the best :-) Thanks honey. Additionally, if you have what the Shuster family likes to call a "Cook-o Dog" to help watch over you as you cook, it can be very helpful for the success of any recipe. Please see Exhibit A.

                                                                      EXHIBIT A

JOHN GRAY'S DOWNTOWN

Restaurant Name: John Gray’s Downtown

Date Visited: December 20^th 2010 7pm-10pm (!)

Address and Phone Number: Av Xpuhil (Right next to Maracame) SM19 MZ 2. Cancun Downtown. 998-889-9800

Restaurant/Menu Link: http://www.johngrayrestaurantgroup.com/

What We Ate:

-          Drinks:

o   Limonada: Regular

o   Wine: Lovely wine list. A few selections available by the glass. Had a great cab at 62 pesos for the glass. A good deal. Bring someone who knows more about wine than I do..like Andrea or Edgar.

-          Appetizer:

o   Classic Steak Tartar: Thanks to Andrea for forcing me to try this. Sooo tasty and pretty oniony. I had never tried this before so I don’t really have anything to compare it too. I would order it again.

-          Salad:

o   Iceburg Lettuce with Roquefort dressing: A few of us ordered this. Excellent! The dressing was creamy and the nuts and everything else really added. Soo good. The perfect combinations of textures and flavors. Oh, and the lettuce was chilled…COLD, perfect.

o   Mixed Salad: Miss Jennifer got the mixed salad. It looked good too. I didn’t ask her for a bite because I was too busy enjoying my own salad. MMMMM!

-          Main Course

o   Salmon filet wrapped in crispy potatoes w/ chile spiced lentils: Wow. Hands down, best salmon I have had here in Cancun. It was perfectly cooked and tender, covered with a thin layer or flash-fried, crunchy potatoes. All this was placed on a bed of spicy lentils..but not too spicy to take away from the mild flavor of the salmon+potato. It was a lot, I could have definitely split it with Alexis (who ordered the same thing) but ate the WHOLE thing myself.

o   Filet Mignon w/ Mashed: Classic. Miss Jennifer got this, Polished it off. Cooked well, mashed looked tasty.

o   The Duck: Well thanks Lord Andrea ordered this one. (She cheated and looked at the menu before we arrived and was apparently talking about it the whole cab ride over.) And thanks Lord it was great because I would have felt really bad for her after she got her hopes up. I had never had duck but I am aware that you must be careful when you cook it so that it does not turn out too tough or too dry. Andrea gave me a bite and it was awesome. A strong taste for the unaware, but Andrea said it was awesome, and this woman KNOWS what she is talking about.

-          Dessert

o   Coffee Crème Brulee: Even though I was stuffed-and-full, Andrea conned me into eating this with her. It was served with some berries which we poured on the top of the crème brulee. Wow, 10, too bad we couldn’t have tried a few more of the desert collection…next time…

Service: Awesome service. We sat through three normal place settings, gabbed, ordered in bad Spanish, dropped silverware, laughed ourselves to tears (it was girls night out ok) and kept changing our minds about desert. The service was great. Minimalistic, no folksy buddy approach here. Though at first he forgot to bring Alexis the wine menu, but that was the only mistake all night. We were also not rushed, and at one point there was even quite a wait as the restaurant got busy and there were no more available tables. (We thought we were going to be more people and we sat at a 6 top, even though we were only four, and still, they did not rush us. Top Marks!)

Ambiance (Décor, lighting, music, seating): Very bistro style. Small. Minimalistic. Sort of dark. There is a huge tree that they built the restaurant around and you can see it through the glass walls that surround it. Cool. Classy tables, cute mini-patio (directly behind the valet parking lot…hm), lovely bar, small back room.  Wish I would have checked out the bathrooms, bet they were cool too.

Crowd: Whoa! VIP crowd. I felt a bit casual. I was definitely the poorest one there, but that is ok. I would dress up a bit more the next time I went. There were some pretty flashy outfits (and bling) spotted that night, but nothing to hold me back from going again.

Note: Get there at 7:30, you will have your pick of the tables. Gets BUSY at 8:30… and we went on a MONDAY! Apparently, Gray’s also serves breakfast. I would love to try their strawberries and crème French toast with a coffee on the cute little patio. And the next time I go for dinner, I will get a salad, a glass of wine and try the MAC and CHEESE which is also on this awesome/diverse menu that truly has something for everyone! Attainable elegance. Love this place.

Will I go back? Si!

Leave a comment if you have tried this restaurant and want to add something!

DOLCE...MENTE POMPEII

Dolce…Mente Pompeii

Restaurant Name: Dolce…Mente Pompeii

Date Visited: Sometime in 2008, and December 28^th 2010

Address and Phone Number: Pez Volador #7, Zona Hotelera KM5.5, Cancun. (Close to the Hotel Casa Maya on the ocean side) 998 849 4006

Restaurant/Menu Link: http://dolcementecancun.com/index2.html

What We Ate:

-          Drinks:

o   Limonada: Regular

o   Coke: All sodas in cans.

o   Red Wine: Decent house Primitivo and Merlot. Didn’t take a look at the wine list and the waitress didn’t offer to bring it. I think she was in too much of a rush to offer.

-          Appetizer: They bring totopos and a thin focaccia type bread with a spicy sauce as well as mayo  for a complementary appetizer. The bread, drizzled in olive oil was pretty darn good.

-          Salad: Didn’t order one. Ate too much bread…

-          Main Course:

o   Cannelloni: Karina had this and I should have asked her for a bite. It looked good and she polished it off.

o   Maxi Raviolo: Edgar had this, a GIANT homemade ravioli (yes one) that LITERALLY covered the entire plate. I have to say it was pretty great. The tomato sauce was homemade and smooth not chunky. It was a lovely light sort of tomato sauce that was perfect for the spinach and cheese filling. Yummy! He was still hungry though.

o   Fusilli Pesto: I had this. It is always scary for me to order pesto because sometimes it is so strong! This was great!! The pasta was a bit undercooked, but the flavor of the pesto was lovely and the pasta also wasn’t drenched in sauce. It was quite tasty.

-          Dessert: None ordered. It was late and Edgar has been working for 15 days in a row. That plus 2 glasses of that house primitivo and it was DEFINITELY bedtime.

Service: OK. Well, we were a group of 10 with no reservation and so I was expecting that our food would take a bit longer to come out, which it did. It was worth waiting for and I also appreciated that they still sat us quickly with no reservation.  HOWEVER! This woman broke the cardinal rule of waitressing and gave us “the eye-roll” TWICE. If you do not know how I feel about the eye-roll you should ask my students…or my father who feels the same as I do. Anyway, being waiting on by a snooty, eye-rolling waitress is never fun, but she came around at the end of the meal, and smiled at us a few times. Nice. At least she was competent.

Ambiance (Décor, lighting, music, seating): Over decoration. Super Italiano! The most interesting was the giant statue of David, decorated for Christmas, that also had a hole cut where the privates were and had a stuffed toy moose tucked inside there with his head and antlers coming out. Odd. Good seating for large groups. (But make a reservation if you don’t want the eye-roll.) Sufficient lighting, not too dim. Right on the beach if you sit on the patio.

Crowd: A good diverse crowd. A lot of Americans and many people who seemed to be regulars. Many big groups (over 8 people) but this might be just because of the holiday family dinner season. Some people really casual (even one waiter) some people dressy, felt like a come as you are type place. No customers wearing togas, though I am sure they wouldn’t frown on it if you did…

Note: Ok, my reason for not going back is so petty but it is what it is. The food was good but I was overwhelmed by what I like to call “the cheese factor” at this restaurant (nothing to do with the food…). TONS of holiday decorations, a giant plaster statue of David when you first walk in (also decorated for Christmas) busy table cloths, busy wall patterns ah! Too much to handle. In addition, all wait staff (except for one guy in jean shorts and a t-shirt (?!)) were wearing togas with gold beads and Caesar type plastic gold medals on them, and long sleeved unmatching cotton shirts underneath. Plus the eye-rolling issue.  

*Also: Mil gracias to Gary for picking up the check for this one! Nice guy, good conversation…in English!

Will I go back? No. (But if you do decide to go, don’t forget to iron your toga.)

Leave a comment if you have tried this restaurant and want to add something!

CENACOLO: Restaurant Review

Restaurant Name:  Cenacolo

Date Visited: December 23, 2010; 7pm.

Address and Phone Number:  Plaza Peninsula on Bonampak . Cancun.

Restaurant/Menu Link: http://www.cenacolo.com.mx/

What We Ate:

-          Drinks:

o   Limonada: Good.

o   Wine: Excellent Wine list. I ordered the special of the day without asking for the price…100 pesos for the glass…but WOW! A good choice. Good recommendation from the waitress.

-          Appetizer

o   Ensalada Caprese: Miss Claudia had this and she looked like she enjoyed it. Cute presentation with sort of a round “baseball” type hunk of the cheese with little cherry tomatoes, basil and oil.

-          Main Course

o   Sombreros Verdes: ZOMG. No leftovers here! A truly savory dish and homemade as well. (The menu has a whole section of homemade pastas…definitely start there!)

o   Canalones de espinaca: Miss Jessica had this. It looked good but I should have asked her for a bite. She saved half for her husband. Aw.

-          Dessert

o   None: On a budget folks…I promise to update when we go back! (Which we will…)

Service: The service was nice. Timing was good and everyone was polite. Our waitress was young and seemed a bit shy, but she really put herself out there and spoke to us all in English! She knew a good deal about the wine list and when she didn’t know she offered to go check for us.

Ambiance (Décor, lighting, music, seating): The lighting was soft and the décor is quite classy. We sat on the lovely patio, which was surrounded by a curtain-like enclosure due to the rain an odd chilly Cancun weather. The patio overlooks Bonampak and even though this restaurant is in a plaza with less “high class” restaurants, I felt very “VIP.” Cenacolo offers inside seating as well. There is also a nice wine bar. Plating was tasteful and refined.

Crowd:  When we arrived there was a table of 10 smokin’ hottie businessmen finishing up a business meeting. Double eye-candy…us and them. There was a table of a few glam/snootie women with lots of bling and then a couple that had just come in from Christmas shopping. All in all a professional/classy crowd. As we were finishing up a table of Americans came in. Whoa! Martinis all around for those folks… As a teacher, I didn’t feel out of place, though I was happy that I wasn’t dressed too shabby, not that it should matter.

Note: This restaurant actually offers normal portions. No supersizing here. So if you have an all-you-can-eat sorta husband like I do, order him an appetizer…and a salad.

Will I go back? SI!

Leave a comment if you have tried this restaurant and want to add something!

The Top 10 Reasons Why Teaching Without AC Is OK!

1. Standing in front of your students as you are dripping with sweat makes you look hardcore and badass. They won’t mess with you.

2. The excessive heat will make even the most psycho students mellow out.

3. Detox as you teach! Just sweat out all those toxins that you’ve built up stressing about the new school year.

4. Let fresh air filter in through the lovely windows. Think about it, if the AC was on, you would be sealed in a classroom with 25 sneezing, sniffling, unsanitary teenagers that may not have even bathed today!

5. You can actually hear the bell.

6. It is the students’ first test in concentration as they try to study while the giant construction trucks rumble by below. Additionally, speaking over all the outside noises will help you with the projection of your voice, in turn, making you a better teacher.

7. Working without AC is soooooo much more enjoyable than grading final exams while someone is jack-hammering concrete directly above your classroom.

8. When you head home after school, it is much easier to accept the fact that your house doesn’t have AC either. This can help you avoid fights with your husband on the subject of buying and installing an AC unit.

9. In the early morning and late afternoon class hours, positioning yourself in the correct window area will help you improve your suntan. (Depending on which side of the building you’re on.) Who wouldn’t love to get that sun-kissed look and be PAID to get it!

10. Eventually, when the AC is turned on, your threats will carry true weight and scare the students into behaving. “If you don’t get quiet right now I am going to shut the AC off!!! You do remember the temperature of my classroom the first week of school don’t you? I swear I’ll turn it off right now!” And everything will fall into complete order.

The Top Ten Reasons Crocs are the Perfect Shoes Wear While Teaching.

1. The soft rubber, squishy sole makes the shoes 100% silent and pivotal in sneaking up on students who are cheating. I’ll never wear high heels again!

2. You may have the same shoes as a student in which case they will think you are the coolest teacher in the world because you have the same style as they do.

3. If you work at a school where the parking lot frequently floods with over three inches of water, walking to your car and drying out your shoes has never been easier!

4. The rubber soles of the these shoes truly grip that grey tile making it easy to sprint from the teacher’s lounge with coffee in hand, and not be late to class.

5. Other teachers will envy your classy casual look and they will then go buy crocs. That makes YOU a teacher trendsetter my friend. There is no higher accolade in the world of education.

6. If you teach outside of the state (or country) you can always gaze musingly at the bottom of your shoe at the place where it says “Boulder, Colorado.” You can remember where you came from and where you’re going back to. All THAT from a shoe…WOW!

7. Classroom-to-beach. Beach-to-classroom. If you have ever forgotten to pack extra shoes when you go to the beach after school, these shoes will solve that problem.

8. Somehow, ugly shoes in the color pink are forgivable with any outfit! (And if you get up at the crack everyday like I do, reaching for those shoes that just match with everything could be a huge time saver in your morning routine.)

9. If you usually wear sandals but are tired of your pre-pubescent, gangly, awkward, uncoordinated, space-cadet students stepping on your feet and giving you in-grown toe-nails, these shoes are part sandal and yet somehow part bumper to tactfully fend off those unwanted injuries.

10. The cool charms that you can put in the little foot air vents can tell your students a little bit about “who you are” so that you don’t have to waste class time to tell them yourself.

The Top Ten Reasons Why Crocs are the Worst Shoes to Wear While Teaching

And now... a top ten list for all the haters (this one goes out to you Kelly Anne Shuster, no offense.)

1. They are plastic shoes and that’s just nasty. They are really only glorified, super expensive jellies people.

2. You may have the same shoes as a student and, depending on the student, this could make the student (or you) embarrassed.

3. Maybe, you will get sick and tired of students trying to be your friend by saying, “Oh, Miss Tracy, I have the SAME shoes as you!!” As if they could ever be as cool as you are, Ha!

4. Sometimes if the classroom is quiet and you have sweaty feet, you can hear them squeaking. Ew.

5. Though it doesn’t relate directly to teaching, the second you purchase Crocs, half of the population of the world will shun you. If half of your students (and colleagues) shun you, teaching becomes more difficult.

6. Pink rubber shoes are just way too casual for the workplace ladies and gentlemen. Who do you think you are anyway? The next thing you know teachers will all start coming to school in jeans!

7. Beware of sharp bulletin board object such as staples, thumbtacks, nails, or other sharp items that make their way into the classroom.

8. If you spend more than 11 hours at school for a few days in a row (because you are working on a yearbook deadline) (hypothetical of course) you could get a planters wart. (Plastic shoes will do that to you people!)

9. Other teachers may copy you. Sorry is the person who is proud to be a teacher trendsetter.

10. Your students come to school wearing Coach shoes, carrying Prada bags and wearing $300 Armani sunglasses. They know Mexican celebrities and you can see them partying with rich dudes in the pages of the city’s finest society magazines and you, you think it is ok to wear pink plastic shoes out of your rented house and into your classroom? Now THAT my friends is what I call NACA!! (or TRASHY for those of us that do not speak Spanish…)