My Sweet Marie

We had our friends for dinner yesterday and I whipped up a salad! I thought it good enough to share the recipe! It was a huge hit! You should give it a go!

Salad Ingredients:

• Kale chopped fine/shredded almost

• shredded red cabbage
• 1/2 package kale slaw(PC brand)
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/2 cup cashews, roughly chopped
• 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained but reserve the juice
• 1-2 cooked/roasted beets diced
• goat cheese or any cheese to your liking or none
• 1/2 cup chopped mint

Layer salad as you chop.

Orange Poppyseed Dressing

• 3/4 cup mayo of choice
• 1/4 cup of the juice from canned oranges
• zest of an orange
• juice from the orange
• 1 full tsp poppyseeds
• 6 oranges from the can
• few mint leaves
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• ginger optional

1. Use your whisk or immersion blender to mix it it all up! Pour over salad right before serving!
2. Toss with glee!
3. Pass to the person to your right and so on…
4. Enjoy till one’s delight
   
   Side notes:
5. If the dressing is too thick, add more of the reserved juice from mandarin oranges, if too thin, add more mayo.
6. If you’re not a cashew fan but have pecans or walnuts or sunflower or pumpkin seeds handy, do your thing!
7. The fruit could be strawberries instead…
8. This will be your salad, make it to your liking.
9. I’m a big fan of ‘use what you got in your cupboards’….use up those last bits of nuts etc.
   

I had quite a few people sending and asking questions re: Playa so here I am sharing more info! These posts are great for future reference. Hope it helps!

• Know your exchange rate! 100 pesos= $7.50 CA roughly(and changes daily) so if someone says that is 300 pesos, ask yourself is it worth $22 to you? 
  
• Don’t bother with American $$ or bring very little. Pesos are what you want and Canadian. There are exchange booths on most corners. (Unless you’re American and already have US $)
  
• Streets are called Calle, they go by 2’s, so 2 calle is 2nd street

• Aves are Avenidas and go by 5’s…so 5,10,15
• Put WhatsApp on your phone, you’ll need it.
  
• If you go to one of those tour guide booths at the corners on 5th ave, they’ll try to sell you day trips, be sure to negotiate. Go to more then one to compare pricing, don’t say yes right off. And get a map of Playa from them. This will come in handy. Get their card.
  
• Grocery shopping, we like Mega, it’s on Constituentes at 30ave, there’s also Walmart on 30th Ave or Chedraui on 10th Avenida at 34th. It really depends on where you’re staying. There’s also Soriana on 30th Ave which is great too.
  
• At the grocery store, you’ll find the deli bbq chicken, great for tacos, nachos, salads etc, in that same area you’ll see rice, it’s delish, try it. Beans too.very good, made by the Mexican ladies. Also if you go around 10:30/11 they’ll have guacamole…soooo good and their pico de Gallo is outstanding. Go after 11:30 and it’ll be gone. They don’t make another batch! They do one batch a day…it’s weird but it’s their store! 
  
• Remember, those people packing your groceries work for tips, they get no salary, only tips. Give them 10-50 pesos depending on how much they packed!
  
• There’s a fresh veg/meat market on 30th at 22nd street or maybe it’s 20th? Great for organic/gluten free stuff and fresh produce. Fresh meat etc
• Buy your liquor at the grocery store or there will be many tequilerias on 5th Ave but they will try to rip you off. Know what a bottle cost and don’t let them rip you off. They’ll try to sell you tequila for 2000 pesos…it’s your money, do what you want.
  
• Shop for souvenirs at the big souvenir stores, or at least see what they’re selling for in the souvenir stores. The little stalls will try to get as much as they can for the stuff. Also ask for the peso price. If they say it’s 500 pesos, ask yourself, would I $40 for this at home? Compare, compare.
• There’s a neat tortilleria on 25th avenue around 28th street, they make them right there, fun to watch if you’re out for a walk. They sell them cheap too! Also Mega will always have fresh made tortillas at the deli area, they’ll be under a blanket keeping warm for you!  Also found them on 15th Ave north
• There’s a great ice cream place on 40th ave and Calle 22. Cheap, homemade and so very good. If you’re allergic to dairy, have the coconut ice cream, oh my. You might see the covered basketball court first, it’s right across the street. You can thank us later!
  
• For the ladies: Always wear your purse across your body, especially at night. There are motorcycles bandits that drive by and will grab your purse when unaware if it’s hanging off your shoulder. Just be aware. Always be aware of where your purse is. This goes for ANY CITY you travel in.
  
• Leave your jewels at home! Only costume jewelry here! You won’t need that here, very little fancy dining. There are fancy places if you want that, we can name a few. They see jewelry and will see you as rich and will expect you to pay more for cabs, any purchase. 
  
• 5th Ave is where a lot of action is, bars, stores, art galleries, restaurants. We love walking 5th avenue especially in the evening, always action of some kind! To be honest, we rarely eat on 5th. We like to eat where the locals eat…good food at good prices. Many of the restaurants on 5th are bland food they make thinking North Americans only eat burgers and fries. Trust me, few places have a good burger, very few. I’ve never had a good burger in Playa, I don’t got to Mexico for burgers.
  
• If you go down 5th all the way to Juarez ….a nice long walk. This is where a lot of community stuff happens. Every Sunday there is a lot happening here. Also everyday at around 2/2:30 and in the evening, there is this show of these guys that hang from this high pole and doing a flying type show. You’ll love that. We go into the closest souvenir store and buy a couple waters or beers and sit and enjoy the show. They’ll ask for tips at the end, 20-50 pesos is a nice donation. 100 and you’ll get a big smile. 
  
• The town square is between 20th Ave and 30th around 10/12 calle..this is where there’ll be parades, parties, concerts etc. Every Friday there’s an outdoor market. You can get local eats…all kinds of neat things, local artisans sell their wares, local musicians play for change, it’s fun…it can be as cheap/expensive as you want it to be. We love the atmosphere. 
  
• A really nice day trip is a beach town close by, Puerto Morales. Take the ADO there, it’ll drop you at the highway, it’s about 30 minute bus ride. From there take a taxi to town, they’ll be waiting, once in town, hang a left, walk down the beach till you find the bar you want to sit in front of. They’ll expect you to get lunch and maybe drinks, but you spend what you want. It won’t be expensive. The bus ride is like $9 return! 
  
• If you want to do another day trip… the ruins in Tulum is a nice trip, if you like to do more there’s Ekbalam, there are many ruins. There’s a free one to see in Playacar, just walk down 10th all the way to Playacar. Walk right in and you’ll find it.

• Cozumel is just a ferry ride away, another fun day trip

• Isla Mujeres is a day trip to remember. You have to go to Cancun to catch the ferry. But a fun day for sure.

• You’ll see ads for Xcaret, Xplor, Etc….they are Mexican theme parks…they’re about $150US …if that’s your thing, I’ve heard they are great but so far we like the real thing. They’re usually all inclusive. There are shows, many things to do but you need to go for the whole day to really soak it in. You’ll eat, drink and enjoy shows. Many things to do. Google will provide reviews for you I’m sure.
  
• If you really want to experience a true colonial city, visit Merida for Mardi Gras, we did this once and loved it. I’d do this again. Lots of fun. There are many cities not too far away, Campeche also lovely. Validolid also great.