I love Mexican breakfasts. As my mother can attest, I always hated breakfast. She had to force banana milkshakes (banana pureed with milk) down my throat. Even as an adult the breakfasts I like the most are things like hummus and carrots or a bite of chicken salad. Pure protein is the breakfast of champions in my mind.

This is why I love breakfast in other countries so much. It is regular and normal to serve cheese, meat, beans, salsa, etc. A Yucateco special, Molletes. Toasted bread; black, black refried beans; melted cheese; and topped with tomato or pico de gallo. The place we were staying used homemade hearty bread but I remember from college that plain old white bread. Look for this on the Public House menu. What is a great breakfast is often great drinking food!ad is more common.

When I was a junior in college I spent my semester abroad on the Yucatan Peninsula. That was 12 years ago (yikes!) I’ve been back numerous times since my extended study/vacation that is a semester abroad! Last week I visited Tulum with my brother, soon to be sister in law, and mom. We didn’t do much of anything except eat, sit in the sun, and avoid the rain.

When we landed we were in typical us fashion, all starving. We wanted to find a taco stand or some road side food action. With the development of the coastline came a road that bypasses almost all of the towns so we missed some options, held out as long as we could, and ended up at the Oxxo.

Gas station stores are a favorite thing of mine in other countries. In Portugal you can get juice boxes of wine, in Mexico bacon wrapped hot dogs.

While we didn’t get our roadside food we did find some amazing hot dogs, but we had already done our dogs up by the time they put out 1 bacon wrapped hot dog. Probably a good thing as there would have been a battle between the 4 of us to who got it…The best part about the hot dog I got was this jalepeno-hot-sauce-relish kind of action. It was really delicious. Other finds, my mom got a coconut slushy, Japanese peanuts, lime flavored ruffles, and fresca.

Before I get to Mexico, it is spring time in the mountains. That means ramps, dry land fish, and more shades of green than you can imagine in the hills. The other day on Twitter I saw this post that was something to the effect of, “It’s pandemonium at the Union Square farmer’s market for ramps.” At this point I shouldn’t be surprised at the co-opting of these things but I am.

Ramps are part of the lily family and considered wild leeks. You can eat them raw, fried, in dumplings, the greens can go in salads. Anywhere you use garlic you can use ramps. I have friends that use the pickled ramps for a garnish for martinis instead of an olive.

I went home to Kentucky a couple weeks ago and was going to forage for ramps with some friends, but time and lounging in the sun with cocktails got the best of us. So we were driving back to Knoxville, stopped for gas, and my stellar spotting eyes saw a sign that said “Ramps for Sale.” Score. There was a cooler full of fresh picked ramps. Take that Union Square. Wahoo.

I came home and made a quick pickle concoction of rice wine vinegar and a bit of sugar and water. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with these. I had thought about folding into some cream cheese or goat cheese to do a spread of sorts, then the guy I bought them from mentioned putting them on pizza which sounds awesome. Or a little spring salad with baby beet greens, radish greens and arugula. We’ll see.

I am back. Hope to have all my posts about the amazing food we had in Mexico up soon. In the meantime…

blog posts are going to be sporadic the next couple weeks. i’ve got some traveling in my future and not sure what the internet availability will be. stay tuned…

The night was perfect, the drinks lovely and the bartenders were the most stylish yet. Eric and Steve arrived on a classic side care motorcycle while Charlotte and Lauren were muddling and shaking all night, both looking fabulous while doing so.

We were lucky there was an ice storm! It was a perfect spring night. Thanks to everyone who came out and enjoyed all the lovely, lovely cocktails. Candoro is a beautiful spot for any occasion!

I have a new filter on my phone, which is arguably annoying, but the evening did feel like an old photograph.

Just got word that the ladies from the Parlor are going to offer up some food for tomorrow’s Speak Easy! Thanks ladies! Can’t wait for yummy drinks and tasty food!