Whew!! We are glad to be back home and all alone!! Although we've loved having company and travelling and partying, we are thrilled to have a few quiet days just for ourselves.
We hosted Marilla and Rhodri for a dinner at Alinea which we recommend to EVERYONE. Food, ambience, service, and did we mention food was all sublime. An incredibly memorable meal during which nothing looked like food, but rather sculpture, and all tasted fantastic. Our favorite dish was hot and cold potato soup. This was a tiny 2 inch in diameter dish of cold potato soup with a pin in the side sticking up holding a small piece of hot potato and a sliver of truffle. We removed the pin so the hot potato was in the cold potato soup and then downed it in one swallow. There was also a popcorn and lobster dish that included a ball of melted butter that you popped to roll over the pureed popcorn ribbon and lobster. Waygu beef was served over wild mushrooms and smoked dates having warmed up in front of us during the previous course. The dry caramel dessert looked like sand in a shot glass until you put it in your mouth and it melted into the most delicious caramel we'd ever tried.
We began by hosting our friends from Alaska, Gary and Dale Bader,
for a week here in Merida before they headed off to Cancun for two weeks. This was a lovely time of cocktails, fishing (at the mercado and for a few hours in Chelem!), Uxmal, and dentistry. We dined at a new Thai restaurant called S'Thai on the north side of town joined by Merle and Steve. Food and decor and service were all wonderful and it tasted Thai, so this will merit a return visit. We'd picked up Dale and Gary at the bus and then started the evening with drinks and massive hors d'oevres at Steve and Merle's but we were still hungry for more!!
for a week here in Merida before they headed off to Cancun for two weeks. This was a lovely time of cocktails, fishing (at the mercado and for a few hours in Chelem!), Uxmal, and dentistry. We dined at a new Thai restaurant called S'Thai on the north side of town joined by Merle and Steve. Food and decor and service were all wonderful and it tasted Thai, so this will merit a return visit. We'd picked up Dale and Gary at the bus and then started the evening with drinks and massive hors d'oevres at Steve and Merle's but we were still hungry for more!!The next night, we hosted Grant, Clifford, and Clifford's two sisters visiting from Amarillo for some drinks. Monday, was a lovely day at Uxmal followed by a dinner of King salmon caught by Gary in Alaska and smuggled into Mexico for us. Divine!! Wednesday, Tom and Jerry came for drinks and dinner. Thursday, we headed to Chelem to fish, after first kidnapping Gary to go to the main market and buy some red snapper, just in case. And as it turned out, we needed the backup! Before dinner, we went to a book signing at San Angel - a Bader first. Friday, we tried breakfast at a new Real hotel down the street from us - punk -- and then Gary and Dale went for haircuts -- both for $8 and they looked fabulous. Fritz and Werner came for drinks Friday night for dentistry discussions, cementing Gary's plan to return here in March for some dental work, that even considering plane tickets for him and his "nurse" from Alaska will save them some big dollars, something important in these times of fiscal terror! We dropped them at the UNO bus early Saturday and proceeded home to organize and pack ourselves for a week in Chicago followed by a week in Cancun.
Chicago was a blur of cold weather, errands, prepping for Christmas, friends, showers, and dinners.
We hosted Marilla and Rhodri for a dinner at Alinea which we recommend to EVERYONE. Food, ambience, service, and did we mention food was all sublime. An incredibly memorable meal during which nothing looked like food, but rather sculpture, and all tasted fantastic. Our favorite dish was hot and cold potato soup. This was a tiny 2 inch in diameter dish of cold potato soup with a pin in the side sticking up holding a small piece of hot potato and a sliver of truffle. We removed the pin so the hot potato was in the cold potato soup and then downed it in one swallow. There was also a popcorn and lobster dish that included a ball of melted butter that you popped to roll over the pureed popcorn ribbon and lobster. Waygu beef was served over wild mushrooms and smoked dates having warmed up in front of us during the previous course. The dry caramel dessert looked like sand in a shot glass until you put it in your mouth and it melted into the most delicious caramel we'd ever tried.We were also lucky enough to enjoy two fabulous showers given for Marilla and Rhodri. The first 
was dinner at the Casino downtown hosted by three couples who are long-time friends of the Lane family. This was a rock around the clock shower and we were each assigned a different hour of the day for our gifts. We learned that almost every hour of the day is a good time for a cocktail!! Then Saturday, my dear friends, Angela and Marlene, hosted a Christmas shower and ladies lunch -- soooo much fun!! Marilla got wonderful ornaments, Christmas cookie aids, music, and beautiful decorations so her first Christmas with Rhodri as a married couple will be beautiful.
was dinner at the Casino downtown hosted by three couples who are long-time friends of the Lane family. This was a rock around the clock shower and we were each assigned a different hour of the day for our gifts. We learned that almost every hour of the day is a good time for a cocktail!! Then Saturday, my dear friends, Angela and Marlene, hosted a Christmas shower and ladies lunch -- soooo much fun!! Marilla got wonderful ornaments, Christmas cookie aids, music, and beautiful decorations so her first Christmas with Rhodri as a married couple will be beautiful.It seems we ate our way through Cancun as well with 
wonderful dinners at Puerto Madero, Harry's (our new favorite -- so beautiful and food wonderful culminating in our check which was served with a huge cotton candy), and La Dolce Vita (for our annual Thanksgiving dinner with Patti McCormick, her son Christopher, wife Dana, and two beautiful and sweet daughters Madison and Quinn, and the Baders and Tom and Jerry this year as well). We managed with leftovers and snacks in between. Tom, Jerry, Eva, and I took a fun tour in two-person speedboats to the reef for some fabulous snorkeling. We had gorgeous sunny warm weather which was a blessing, even though Eva had a horrible bronchial infection finally necessitating a visit to the doctor, and this caused us to miss a day at Xcaret, although Tom and Jerry reported having a wonderful time there. She spent time napping while the rest of us enjoyed time around the pool. The beach by the Royal Islander is still pretty much gone with huge limestone rocks jutting out. The water comes up to the breakwater at high tide, but this has made for terrific shelling.
wonderful dinners at Puerto Madero, Harry's (our new favorite -- so beautiful and food wonderful culminating in our check which was served with a huge cotton candy), and La Dolce Vita (for our annual Thanksgiving dinner with Patti McCormick, her son Christopher, wife Dana, and two beautiful and sweet daughters Madison and Quinn, and the Baders and Tom and Jerry this year as well). We managed with leftovers and snacks in between. Tom, Jerry, Eva, and I took a fun tour in two-person speedboats to the reef for some fabulous snorkeling. We had gorgeous sunny warm weather which was a blessing, even though Eva had a horrible bronchial infection finally necessitating a visit to the doctor, and this caused us to miss a day at Xcaret, although Tom and Jerry reported having a wonderful time there. She spent time napping while the rest of us enjoyed time around the pool. The beach by the Royal Islander is still pretty much gone with huge limestone rocks jutting out. The water comes up to the breakwater at high tide, but this has made for terrific shelling.
And of course, there is nothing and nowhere more luscious than the Caribbean so far as we are concerned!!
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