Talk about perfectionism; GRAND VELAS ALL SUITES & SPA RESORT in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, does everything right. Each of the resort’s 267 well-decorated roomy suites opens to a private terrace with an extensive ocean view. Each of the four upscale, on-property restaurants serves a different well-loved cuisine (Italian, French, Mexican and International), covering a gamut of guests’ taste preferences. And the Grand Velas spa, which authorities consider the hands down finest on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, offers 80 different treatments to polish, pamper and please in a serene and peaceful setting. No doubt about it, this exclusive, all-inclusive sees to the details—no matter how large or how small.
Which brings us to the bar menu.
Some may consider it a coincidence, but I know Grand Velas is so perfection focused that the head bartender probably created the house specialty cocktail to color-coordinate with the garden plants around the resort’s various bars.
The resort's lobby and swim-up bars.
The Grand Velas Special, a drink that tastes of vacation with an easy-going refreshing charm, matches not only the bright green, orange and yellow crotons scattered around the grounds and backing the swim-up bar, but also the broad leaf water lilies that grace a garden pool in front of the lobby bar. Pretty perfect if you ask me.
THE GRAND VELAS SPECIAL 
A generous splash of green licor de melon (a melon liqueur such as Midori)
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1-1/2 ounces ron Malibu (coconut rum)
Put licor de melon in a tall glass. Add orange and pineapple juice. Top with rum. Gently fill glass with ice. Don’t stir. Enjoy.
Barcelona’s El Raval district. A leftover from when the neighborhood enjoyed more respect, Casa Leopoldo serves terrific traditional dishes in a setting enhanced by colorful tile walls, dark wood beam ceilings and numerous photographs of famous bullfighters who frequented the place.
Cut a large round loaf of good rustic white bread, horizontally, into thick slices. Lightly toast the bread slices. While the slices are hot from the toasting, rub each with the cut side of a halved garlic clove. Halve one or two large, perfectly ripe tomatoes and press out the seeds. Rub the cut tomatoes over each bread slice. Drizzle a very good extra virgin olive oil over the bread and sprinkle with salt. Cut slices into serving size pieces and serve immediately.
Lake Michigan to the east and north, remains gentle, peaceful, somewhat rural and very nature-focused.
cherry blossoms; summer for mild temperatures and every kind of outdoor fun; fall to see gorgeous foliage; and winter for peace, quiet, ice fishing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
If they can do it, you can do it.
important.) Pick up a fork and hold it with the tines parallel with the flat surface, not pointing down. Keeping the fork flat (parallel to the surface), begin making circles inside the mound and gently whip the eggs and oil until white and yolk are blended. (You could support the side of the flour mound with your free hand to help keep the egg in the mound.) With the same flat circular motion, very slowly start bringing flour from the side of the mound into the egg mixture. Continue slowly and carefully incorporating flour from sides and bottom of mound into the eggs until you have a sticky dough. Then put the fork down and gently knead the dough with your hand, incorporating enough flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Gather dough into a ball. You will probably not have used all of the flour in the mound. Pass remaining flour through a strainer to remove all lumps (throw lumps away). Use strained flour for rolling dough.
Press gently to flatten the dough rectangle. Lightly sprinkle dough rectangle with flour. Put one of the narrow ends of the folded rectangle into the machine and repeat the rolling, folding and flouring. Repeat about eight more times, or until dough is very smooth.
(The sheet of dough will get longer and longer as you roll and you may need some help handling it. I don’t know if a purist would ever do this, but beginners can cut the long sheet in sections to make handling a little easier. It is important to remember to never squeeze a long sheet of dough in your fist, but let it hang over your open hand or on the back of your hand to move it.) After the last rolling, gently pull the pasta to its full length and set on lightly floured dishtowels to “dry” for about 10 minutes before cutting.
Put a lot of water into a large pot. Set the pot over high heat. Bring the water to a full boil. Put the pasta in the boiling water and cook until tender, 15 to 30 seconds for very thin fresh pasta and up to a minute for thicker. Drain pasta in a colander. The pasta is ready to add sauce and eat.
by crushing the rock-like crackers and soaking the crumbs in liquids at hand (lime juice, canned milk, an egg or two). Imagine the surprise when the acid in the lime “cooked” the proteins in the egg and milk, forming custard without the need for heat. What could be better than a delicious concoction, easily made from available ingredients, requiring no heat to cook.
sometimes replaced the graham crumbs. The original pies probably went topless, but at some point a thrifty cook wanting to use egg whites left over from the yolks in the custard, added a layer of meringue. Whipped cream joined the topping choices when fresh milk came to the Keys with the railroad in 1912. The greatest change however, and a shocking travesty to purists, occurred when folks began making Key lime pie, without Key limes.
with thorny branches. When a hurricane devastated the Key’s lime crop in 1926, most growers replaced their plantations with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and transport. The larger, deep green Persian limes are found in most supermarkets today.
