A couple of days ago I told you about the dogs wanting a car ride. All they wanted was a car ride. Yesteday, same deal, but they wanted to go for ice cream. I swear, when we think they’re sound asleep on our bed, really, they are whispering, planning, scheming.
Anyway, we’ve had a busy day, long walks, a swim , a hot tub, Marilyn worked on her latest painting, I did some maintenance on the coach and it’s about three oclock. Then they start. Honest to God, they are chanting “Ice Cream, Ice Cream”. At first I think it’s better than barking but then they get Marilyn going, so now there’s three of them “Ice Cream, Ice Cream, Ice Cream”.
So, off we go heading to a Dairy Queen. Not the closest Dairy Queen, oh no, because for the dogs it’s all about the ride. Not for Marilyn though, she really does want ice cream. There is no question; we’re not just going some where. We are going for ice cream.

While Marilyn is enjoying her Chocolate Pecan mini Blizzard, I’m loving my Cookie Dough small Blizzard, the dogs are figuring out how long a ride home they get. Everybody’s happy.

Sweet Money Saving Tip

Join the Blizzard Fan Club and get a coupon for Six 2-for-1 Blizzard Coupons.

 Now that is one sweet deal!

Look at me: Gourmet dining critic and Consumer advocate all in one day.

Now the dogs are talking about finding a ghost town called Sage.

Read this title to the beat of the TV show “Wheel  of  Fortune”. That’s appropriate because we invested a fortune, probably close to the cost of a week’s RV parks ( we try to find the cheap ones). It’s a good deal though, as you can see my  wall   of   wine  is taller than our house……well, it looks taller.

It really is the equivalent of 24 bottles and I should tell you that our cashier had to call her surpervisor to approve the  transaction because we had saved over $50, ( $57 to be exact on our $109.62 purchase including the beer (( we got a deal on it too)) you see below).

Good wine for just a little more than $4 a bottle and diesel fuel for our house for just a little less. I love it

If you read this blog even only on rare occasions, chances are you have read the words “Black Box” once or twice. There’s no question, we like heir wine. A comparable wine in Canada  would sell for at least $15 per bottle. Usually Walmart has it for $21.97 for the 3 liter bag, and that works out to about $5.50 per bottle.

Yes, you are reading the sale sign properly. This is at Safeway, a major Western Grocery store chain in both the US and Canada. At 17.99 this is the best price we have ever seen but just to the right they tell us that if you buy 6 boxes it’s yours for $16.20 each. That works out to $4.05 per 750 ml bottle.

How do you say WOW with a mouth full of good red wine?

Speaking of mouthfuls, Mar & I went out to an Oregon Coast institution,  Mo’s Chowder for lunch today and I settled on the Chowder in the sourdough bowl. Yes, it was delicious and yes, my mouth was full, for quite a while

Suprise! We’ve done more than look at booze and food since we got here and heres the proof;

Remember me telling you about the Bottle Brew beer that I purchased in Altona? So, in our motorhome basement, while travelling across Canada I brewed my first ever 2 liter bottle of beer. Now there are certain problems with trying something new, especially when what you are hoping to produce is a 2 liter bottle of beer. They say 2 liters is the equivalent of a six pack, but with a six pack you don’t have to drink them all in one sitting. Think about it, really, what do you do with a two litre bottle of beer. That’s a lot of beer to consume before it goes flat.

Last night the stars aligned. We are in Kamloops, BC, visiting my sister Leila and her hubby Bob. Marilyn prepared a fine meal and we had them over for dinner. Now if I was to pick anyone I know who I could count on to help me consume that much brew in one sitting, Bob would be my very first choice.

He was hardly out of their car when he asked me about my bottle brew beer experiment. Perfect I thought,. I have an enthusiastic assistant.

He liked it. I liked it. The only down side I can see is that Bob got a bit of sludge with the last glassful out of that big bottle

It’s been almost two weeks since we arrived in Edmonton and it’s been a completely great time! Yes, we had a service for Marilyn’s Mom in there as well, but we’ve had lots of time to connect with old friends and see a little more of the city then we have in the past few years.

We wrapped it up in grand style with our Festivus Western Edition on Saturday night and guess, oh come on, take a wild guess; Guess what Mike and Tracy got me for a gift?
I understand your confusion, I  was completely baffled myself. How could anybody know that I like tasting new and different beers?

Anyway, all confusion aside, we really had a great evening, and even added another panel (chosen by Cam & Abby) to our soon to be famous Festivus table cloth that we now move back and forth between Festivus East and West.

Sunday morning, after a sinfully good breakfast but before we said our goodbyes, we did a walk with them through a local park.

We need to figure out how we can spend a little more time with them all.

Anyway, thanks guys we had a blast!

As you read this, we are probably on our way west on the Yellowhead Highway, looking forward to, before this day is over, being back in the Rocky Mountains, on our way through them to Kamloops.

I gotta say that this is an amazing lifestyle we have chosen for ourselves

This is now our third new barbeque in the past 4 or 5 years. Hopefully it’s our last for a while.

First of all, when we got back into RVing we bought one called a Hummer. Just like the truck with the same name our hummer was  In Your Face Big. Big enough to prepare dinner for the whole RV park. When our son & daughter-in law, Jason and Elizabeth moved into a house with a yard we cleaned up our Hummer and regifted.

Next we bought one called a “Little Guy”. The first time I used it I cut my finger, the second time, the lid fell off. It blew out every time it was breezy and it never really got hot. In fact when we hosted our barbeque night for the folks at Tres Amigos last winter in Mazatlan, the cooks had three barbeques set up to handle the job and they used our “Little Guy” as a warming oven for the burgers cooked on the other two.

Now girls, you already know men often are very sensitive when it comes to matters of size. Well, our feelings are exactly the same when some one calls our barbeque a “warming oven.”

So this spring our daughter Pam and her soon-to-be husband James have moved into an apartment with a patio and now they need a barbeque. Once again we will regift

By far the most popular barbeque in the RV parks is a Weber. Every one I’ve talked to is very happy with their Weber and love the way they cook. I’ve never talked to anyone who wasn’t happy with their Weber Q.

Last night I brought our new Weber home and we set it up. Later we barbequed burgers. There is no question that it is well constructed and I was really impressed with the great job it did on the food, but what I’m really dazzeled with is that these guys really thought ahead when they built these things. See the big tables on either side? It doesn’t matter whether you are right handed or left handed, there’s a spot for your beer. Hell, if you wanted to you could even use one of the tables for food.

So why am I saying Happy Mother’s Day Mar? Because never again will she have to listen to me bitch about our X&D D?XN barbeque. Now I ask you: What better gift to give your gal?

Not only did we all attend Beer School yesterday at our local Pacifico Brewery, we all received a diploma because we had done so well. Our Instructor was so impressed with our interest in all things Pacifico  and our knowledge of beer in general, she invited us into a special room, high above the city, reserved only for special honored guests. Once there we even had a beer or two. I wasn’t keeping track but I think some of the best students even had three.

What did we learn at school you ask? It takes 22 days to complete the process from water, corn, barely and hops to Pacifico beer. Happily though we don’t have to wait 22 days for our next beer because they start the process every day (good thinking).

You can buy Pacifico  in 4 different bottle sizes, from the Quarteritito, the Media ( the standard 355 ml), the Ballena (whale, 950 ml), the new Big Whale (1.2 litres).  Beer should be cooled to -4 degrees Celcius before serving. I think she said they produce 167,000 24 bottle cases a day out of the brewery here in Mazatlan so we shouldn’t have to worry about running out any time soon.

Cheers! Or as they say in Mexico;Salud!

It’s been absolutely forever since we had a good party at Tres Amigos, park 2 (OK, it’s only been 3 or 4 days) but when it’s time for another party, it’s time.

The shindig started about 3 yesterday afternoon with a few friendly games of blackjack but turned a little ugly later when a couple of high rollers from Toronto started to pile up the chips

After a couple of hours of cards everybody brought out their “substantial” appy’s and we all pigged out on sushi, beef & pork skewers, gourmet meat balls, chicken wings, all the healthy stuff.

With dinner out of the way we moved on to the main event, a surprise visit and performance from first Blue Rodeo followed by the none other than the Eagles. (Just a insider update: both groups used our coach as their dressing rooms. They were all very neat and tidy)

It’s kind of neat; sitting around a campfire in Mexico listening to the Eagles pump it out of someone’s home theater.

When others get into great music they want to dance. Seriously, thats what they are trying to do in this picture.

Still others chose the opportunity to enjoy the full moon.

Here’s a story for you.

I told you the tale about our trip up to Copala and the delicious banana cream pie we had at Chalva’s restaurant while we were there.  As good as the pie was the owner David insisted it could be better but he was out of Chantilly Cream and had to use regular whipping cream instead. To get Chantilly Cream would require him to make a trip to Mazatlan, about a 100 mile round trip, but when he got some and when some one from Tres Amigos was up there he promised he would send us a whole pie.

Seems we didn’t take him seriously.

That was Monday: Thursday afternoon, one of my neighbors comes up and says “Larry, here’s your pie”

David  is obviously a man of his word. He found some one coming up to Copala Tuesday who brought him the special cream and some one else who was coming back to Mazatlan Thursday. By 4:30 yesterday we had our pie and you can guess what we had for dessert.

It was good before but David you are right: The pie is outstanding with the correct Chantilly Cream.

So, the next time you are in Mazatlan why not take a day and drive up to Copala, and see the town. Or you can take a tour  if you want. Make sure you take you walking shoes, the streets are all cobblestone. You’ll love the place, I promise. And while you’re there stop in a Chalva’s, maybe have some lunch and for sure have some pie. (remember Rhonda said he makes the best Margarita ever). OK, so have a Margarita with you lunch, but save room for the pie.

Do me a favor; Tell him Larry and Marilyn say thanks for the delicious pie.

And a special thanks to all the other folks involved who picked up the cream, got it to Copala and shuffled the pie back to us. Mexico, gotta love it.

That’s Marilyn’s High School chum Rhonda on the right. Her and her husband Charlie spend a lot of time in Mexico  and on this trip,  she has made it her business to become quite the expert on Margaritas.  Yesterday she declared the ones she tasted at Chalva’s in Copala, a small 400 year old mining town couple of hours east of Mazatlan the absolute best anywhere! Is it the ceramic container it was served in or is David, the owner of Chalvas, secret recipe?

But what Copala is really famous for is Banana Cream Pie. Now having had Copala’s famous bananna cream pie in both local restaurants, Daniels and Chalva’s,  they are both delicious but I have to vote Chalva’s Copala’s Best Banana Cream Pie.  He says it’s the pastry and maybe that’s the difference but either way it is  Umm, umm good!