Be Tulum

Some days, you wake up and say to yourself, "if I don't get the heck out of dodge, there'll be hell to pay" as Morricone-esque music sweeps you through your morning routine.

Late last March, that's exactly how I came to book my trip to the Mexican Riviera.  I'm not a "woo girl", so I never considered Cancun or any of the Playa del whatevers as destination options.  This fateful day, I was inspired by Gilt Group's travel site Jetsetter, I pointed and clicked my way to cheap airfare (love you, JetBlue), and with the help of my travel companion, found BE Tulum.  We haggled our way into the Ocean Suite at a discounted rate and wiled away the weeks until takeoff.

I had never been to Mexico before, and I fully expected one of two outcomes: cheesy resortville or jungle warfare.  Neither turned out to be the case.

Be Tulum is situated on just about the last resemblance of civilization before you hit the 1.3 million acre Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, translated from Mayan to mean "where the sky is born" or "gift from the sky."  Lagoons, reefs, mangroves, and temple ruins are connected by cenotes, or little river systems that once served as trade routes between villages and major towns.  It's astonishingly beautiful, full of wildlife and mother earth's love.  The rooftop view from our Ocean Suite provided lovely sunrise and sunset views over Sian Ka'an, a lovely way to being and end a day.

The hotel, at regular capacity, can house about 40 guests, spread out over a campus of cabins nearly camouflaged within the natural surroundings.  You feel like the only one there, thanks to the attentive staff and landscape architecture.  While they don't tout it loudly, Be Tulum prides itself on being an ecoresort, using responsibly and locally sourced materials, recycling their water, and using natural water in the pools.  Our package included breakfast, which was so generously-portioned that we often had difficulty finishing our meals.  The juice was as fresh as it gets, and you have the great pleasure of dining in the shade on the beach.  

Since we were there during the shoulder season, our other dining options were limited, but I was able to scope out a cute little open-air spot called Hartwood.  These ex-pats weren't kidding around with their set-up: former New Yorkers with outstanding kitchen provenances, sourcing local ingredients, and cooking everything over or under fire.  We were communing.  It was delicious and pricey.  Still, we tried to go back, but they were closed (see aforementioned shoulder season).   Another spot turned out to be a dud, so we stuck it out with the Be Tulum restaurant, which turned out decent food. May I recommend one of their several ceviches, delivered to you wherever you might find yourself comfortably lounging.  

Credit: Bon Appetit

The beach days were spent reading and lounging ocean side in the morning, then poolside- either the common pool or the one on our private roof deck- with healthy doses of local mezcal and tequila in the afternoon.  It was quiet and peaceful, with plenty of time to sit quietly and reflect on the close of winter and the beginning of spring.  

My goodness it's been a while

We've been so busy traveling we've neglected to post.  In the coming weeks, we'll focus on anything interesting we saw, did, or ate along the way.  First up will be a reflection last April's Tulum trip, offering a much needed break from the NYC winter.

Stay tuned for more... 

Daddy's Oatmeal Bread

My dad makes the best bread I've ever tasted- it's thick crumb is rich wtih molasses, orange juice, oats, yeast and love.  The thin crust allows it to toast up quickly and slide down my gullet with ease.  He makes it for holidays and on special request, and he has a special ceramic bowl that he found in the house in which he now lives.  The bread is akin to Proust's Madeleine or Pixar's final scene in Ratatouille- all elements of this bread bring forth memories and rememberances of times past that are sweet and soothing.

When my parents divorced, my dad made the bread on a regular basis.  Carefully kneading and rising the dough to create a splendid bread to nourish himself and his daughters, enthusiastically picking at the raw dough and buttering the finished warm slices.  In my own times of challenge and change, I find myself going back to the familiar act of kneading, rising, and caring for the little buns in the oven.  The recipe is simple, nearly foolproof, and hearty. 

Here it is, for all dear readers to replicate at your leisure.  It is best in the winter, but the summer warms our homes to sufficiently serve as great incubators.

Daddy's Oatmeal Bread
 yields 2 loaves
1 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 water
2 envelopes yeast
6 cups flour

In a large bowl, mix oatmeal, salt, molasses, and shortening.  In a separate small bowl or container, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of lukewarm warm water.

Boil orange juice and water and add to oatmeal mixture and combine well.  Add yeast and combine gently.  Slowly begin to mix in flour, a cup or two at a time until well incorporated.  Prepare a lightly floured surface for kneading.

Turn bread dough out onto surface and knead for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a clean, warm bowl, cover and allow to rise (it should double, about an hour or 2).  Knead again and shape for pans- place in pans and allow to rise again.

Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes.  Enjoy.

Tip: allow to rise in a calm, warm place- in the oven with the light on, for example, is a great place.  Avoid disturbing the rising bread as it needs calm to rise.

What Happens in Vegas

No, really?  What actually happens in Las Vegas?

For us lucky Office Ladies, work happens in Vegas.  We here at A Portmanteau have day jobs- you can imagine that blogging sporadically and escaping constantly does not the bills pay.  So off we went for an industry convention.

A Vegas Virgin may be nervous and full of wonder- what will it be like?  Will it be cold in the hotels and casinos?  Will the food be good?  Will I play the tables?  Will I get to see the glitz?  What kinds of people will be there?  The answer to everything is an enthusiastic yes and all kinds.

Dear reader, I will spare you the work dullery.  I will, however, say that business is indeed conducted poolside and one might want to consider a handsome cover-up from the "resort wear" section of the stores for next time. Further consideration should be given to the notion that time shouldn't be wasted on sleeping. 



The trip was book-ended with stops at the In-and-Out Burger (#2 meal animal style, with chocolate shake).  A wonderful jump start to the excitement and bon voyage to the Strip.

For the balance of the trip, we worked hard, danced, dined, gambled, won, and repeated.  It was a brief visit to a parallel reality and we look hugely forward to returning.

Les Bons Temps

  A Portmanteau recently stationed itself in the Crescent City for a hurricane-force tour of all of New Orleans' glory.  Should you be a NOLA virgin- as we were- we recommend finding a seasoned guide who doubly acts as your cheerleader as you make your way through all of the food, spirits, and saints.  How else would one go about knowing that the Maple Leaf hosts both wicked live music and a sizzling crayfish bake that infuses a wild energy into the young locals?

The trip was planned largely around dining and imbibing.  We set out for Po' Boys at Domilise's, oysters (dubbed the "BP Special") at Felix's, $0.25 martinis during Commander's Palace lunch, alligator and crayfish cheesecake at Jacques Imo's. Eat the seafood.  They wouldn't feed it to you if it would kill you, with the bonus of locavore eating bragging rights.  We took in Hurricanes, Pimm's Cups, Mint Juleps, Grasshoppers, Bitters, and Chicory Cafe au Lait. Someone started in on some Angostura bitters and soda at one point to keep on keepin' on.

The Big Easy makes it easy to dance and laugh and enjoy the humid days and rainy nights, chatting with locals and getting familiar with the city's layout.  If you want to know what love is, you'll get shown.  Not enough can be said of the music.  We were wooed by their merry horns and dripping sexy blues.  As a grand reward for our efforts, the city brought to life Gulf Aid.  Housed in Mardi Gras World, this benefit concert set out to build awareness for the catastrophic environmental disaster brought on by the recent oil spill.  Several local restaurants, along with sponsors WWOZ Radio (http://www.wwoz.org/) and Budweiser, were also there in full force.  Gator burgers are delicious.

We were treated to Allen Toussaint, Voice of The Wetlands Allstars- : the swamp-rock bluesman Tab Benoit, legendary keyboardist Dr. John, the Mardi Gras Indian chief Monk Boudreaux, the rock songwriter Anders Osborne, the Cajun fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux, the harmonica and accordion player Johnny Sansone and the percussionist Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers, Kermit Ruffins, Rebirth Brass Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Terence Blanchard joined by surprise guest Cassandra Wilson, Soul Rebels and more.  We developed quite the aural fixation.

We enjoyed our trip and look forward to goin' back real soon now, ya hear.

In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb

It's been a crazy week.
We are just off the heels of a brunch we threw on Mother's Day, getting ready to head to New Orleans, still managing a day job, and of course now we decide to start up a blog so that it goes from word of mouth to the worldwideweb. But more about Mother's Day later....

Before posting about the present or the future, with a new blog, we'd like to take a brief look to the past and share an earlier event this year. We put together a brunch event for Fair Folks & a Goat in the middle of March. Planned for Sunday March 13th, 2 days before the Ides of March. The reference to the Ides would seem irrelevant except that despite gorgeous sunny warm weather leading up to the event, the sunshine managed to get wiped out by a deluge of rain, wind and cold weather on the weekend of the event, out of nowhere! It seemed cursed.

Luckily we pulled through, albeit with the help of some fabulous friends! The weather reiterated the name of our event "In like a lion, out like a lamb" as March reared its roaring head just before the sun came out as the brunch came to a close.

Here are some pics from the day:

 

It was like a science experiment, testing different ingredients to use with what is typically a plain popover. We ended up settling with a game time experiment that turned out delicious and wonderful!

We love deconstructed bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Here is one in the form of a bake with a layer of sourdough on the bottom. The piece de resistance on this dish really turned out to be the candied bacon strips, that in large quantities such as this, took us slaving over the stove for 5 hrs frying bacon to crunchy sticky goodness! 

The last course arrived beautifully, heart shaped baked french toast soaked in a delicious vanilla bath atop macerated berries and fresh chantilly cream...yum. yum. yum.

As guests were waiting between tastes, they could munch on these delicious madeleines courtesy of "Open Mouth, Insert Cookie"

We were working with a tight space both to prep and cook in and to actually transport the food!

For this brunch the focus was really the food, starting out with a kick with the spicy lamb and ending with a sweet lick-your-lips type dish much like March and the weather. We had live music and a great mix of people....a success!

Nice to Meet You

Hello dear reader and welcome to A Portmanteau. We'll be writing about food, design, traveling, and general stuff dreams are made of during the course of our run here.