February 11, 2026 Breakfast - Mushroom, steak and cheese omelette ,Lunch - Chicken Caesar Salad. Dinner - D’ Cortes in PV

February 11, 2026 Breakfast - Mushroom, steak and cheese omelette ,Lunch - Chicken Caesar Salad. Dinner - D’ Cortes in PV

I woke up at 3:15 and drank a glass of lemon water and watched the  

 Olympics and the early morning  business shows  until 4:00 then I dressed and ate breakfast of leftover steak and mushrooms omelet and one half of a bagel with cream cheese.

We heft or the airport at 5:00 and took a 6:15 flight to Phoenix where we shared two warm empanadas with a coffee for Suzette’s breakfast and bought a chicken Caesar salad for our lunch on the flight to Puerto Vallarta.

We arrived in PV at 1:15 and it took 1 1/2 hours to clear immigration and customs because there were so many people.

We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel, Posada de Roger in downtown PV. It is a large four story posada that has been converted into a hotel without food service included but with a roof top communal kitchen.

We 

We rested until 6:00 and then obtained a small bag of ice and drank the complementary bottle of Don Simon Spanish Rose with ice in the small roof garden next to the kitchen and watched the sun set through the buildings and trees. Posada Roger is three blocks from the beach.

Here are several pictures of the hotel and our room. Suzette was fascinated by the woven plastic covering the patio.

We then drove up the hill to the small restaurant in a densely populated neighborhood. It was a charming small restaurant serving gourmet food at reasonably steep prices.

We shared an appetizer of about a dozen mussels in a thick Mornay sauce made with heavy cream and Parmesan cheese.

Suzette ordered Mediterranean Octopus which was boiled octopus served with butter sauce with a puddle of potato cream and vegetables.

I encountered the heavy cream sauce again when I received my entree of Pasta with shrimp and mussels in a cream sauce. We liked all three dishes that each exceeded the average quality due to their sauces. We drank a Mexican Sauvignon Blanc that was 1200 pesos for the bottle, which was more than the entire food amount. The check was $150.00. My sense is that the days of cheap prices in Mexico are gone with the arrival of the flood of tourists.

After dinner we drove back to the Posada and walked a few blocks on our street that is one of the main shopping streets in downtown PV.

We went to bed by 10:30.

Bon Appetit

February 13, 2026 Breakfast Scrambled Eggs Mahi Mahi. Snack - bao Sa Lunch - Marina Dinner - Grilled Aji Tuna, beets, and potatoes with sautéed Julienned carrot, onion, and Mexican Squash.

February 13, 2026 Breakfast Scrambled Eggs Mahi Mahi. Snack - bao Sa   Lunch - Marina   Dinner - Grilled Aji Tuna, beets, and potatoes with sautéed Julienned carrot, onion, and Mexican Squash.

I awakened at 7:00 and finished the blog for yesterday.  I made a quick breakfast by sautéing the leftover seasoned Mahi-mahi with vegetables from last night with two eggs. I will called this dish Scrambled Eggs Mahi-Mahi.

We then read  our books while Linda went to her exercise class until 9:45.

At 10:00 Linda drove us to Sayulita to the Friday Farmer’s Market which is a large aggregation of produce, craft, and prepared food purveyors. it has been in existence for many years and we have gone many times during prior trips.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the artist’s whose work I had admired last night had a booth and the portrait of her doctor I had admired was still available, so I bought it for 3,000 pesos or about $175.  

I then joined Linda and Suzette at the produce section where they were buying a beet, carrots, potatoes, and green beans.

As we walked further I was amazed to see a booth with large hot steamed bao Sa for 100 pesos or $5.80. I asked and was told that they had the traditional BBQ pork stuffing, so I bought one. Then when the person who spoke perfect English had put it on the plate asked me if I wanted and sauces, I was served a small cup filled with soy and a squirt of garlic chili sauce. He then asked and when I responded favorably filled one corner with a generous squirt of hoisin sauce.

                                              The new Sayulita type of restaurant

                                     The new Sayulita mobile taco stand

I could not have done better. Linda guided us to the area where folks were eating at tables under a portal and I devoured the bun soaked in the chili/soy sauce and dipped into hoisin.  

We then picked up the painting and returned to the house. 

At 12:00 TR drove us all to the big fish market at La Cruz there were lots of vendors and lots of fish. TR likes large deep sea shrimp so we went to the booth that sold them and picked about 20 that weighed about 2 1/2 lb. and cost 472 pesos or about $27.50. 

There were huge Mahi-mahi being butchered but we wanted to grill tuna steaks for dinner so The fish monger cut a larger section of fresh Aji tuna into four large steaks. TR paid for the tuna.

Then as we were walking back to the car we saw Pacific lobsters at a stall. They were small, but when we asked the owner if they had larger ones he went into his walk in freezer and brought out three large ones.

We bought two large ones for around 500 pesos or $30.00 about 1/2 the cost at TaLin.

We then drove to the Marina restaurant which is a favorite of TR and Linda’s because it has open window that carry a breeze through the restaurant and have a fabulous view of the Marina and Banderas Bay.

La Cruz is located near the junction where the northern arm of Banderas Bay on the road to Punta Mita meets the National Highway from PV to Tepic.

We drove from Sayulita to Punta Mita and then east on the road to La Cruz.

We arrived at the Marina Restaurant at 12:30 and discovered that it did not open until 1:00. There was an important meeting in progress so we were asked to sit silently until 1:00 and were offered a corner table.

The meeting ended a few minutes before 1:00 and we then moved to a table with a full view of the marina and bay.

The menu was mostly tacos and tostadas, with a few salads.

Linda, TR and Suzette ordered two tacos each and I ordered a pear salad with pear cubes, walnuts, slices of palm heats, gourmet lettuce blend, and blackened sesame seeds.

The honey mustard dressing was served on the side because it contained black pepper, but the waitress drizzled my salad with olive oil and I squeezed lime juice on the salad to dress it.

The salad was light and lovely although quite small. TR got tempura battered shrimp tacos and Linda and Suzette ordered a shredded pok taco and another that seemed to be a pork mousse like stuffing.

The Goberador shredded pork one was blazing spicy, so Suzette ordered a side of sour cream to tame the spiciness.

Suzette drank a margarita and TR drank a beer and we all drank glasses of Penefiel mineral water from a can.

We split the cost of the meal, which totaled 1800 pesos with tip.

We then drove home and rested until 5:30. 

We watched some news on their dish satellite network and started prepping dinner at 6:30. I was assigned the job of cutting the vegetables. I julienned a carrot, two Mexican squashes, and a white onion.

Suzette and Linda had marinated four tuna steaks in teriyaki sauce for an hour or two.

I also cut the beet into 1/2 inch thick slices and Suzette sliced two potatoes into 1/2 inch slices.

Then Suzette sautéed the julienned vegetables in a covered sauté pan that wilted them somewhat.

 Linda and Suzette grilled the potatoes and beet slices and then the  tuna steaks. Well done for TR and medium for Linda and medium rare for Suzette and me. I joined them and pulled the steaks when they specified.

 Since Suzette and I were watching the process we pulled our steaks when they specified centers were still pink and the edges grey.

This was the best tuna steak I had ever eaten the flesh was creamy, like the raw blue fin tuna I ate in Japan. It was a revelatory experience. The straps of flesh fell open upon the touch and there were not tough parts as there are with frozen tuna.

The grilled beets were a bit charred but the potato slices were tender and pleasant and the sautéed vegetables were also pleasant but not exciting. It was an incredibly healthy meal.

We drank the last of the open bottle of Albariño and then opened the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc we had bought in PV. TR drank beer.

After dinner Linda served each of us small plates with a wedge of custard and a wedge of chocolate cake.

We talked until 9:30 and then went to bed.

Bon Appetit

February 10, 2026 Breakfast - Vietnamese Noodle Soup. Lunch - Steak Salad. Dinner - Leftover Moussaka and Calabacitas

February 10, 2026 Breakfast - Vietnamese Noodle Soup. Lunch - Steak Salad. Dinner - Leftover Moussaka and Calabacitas

Today was a day of eating leftovers and ingredients that will perish in our absence.

I ate the leftover Virtnamese noodle soup for breakfast.

At 10:00 I walked the long circle.

The pinball machine repairman came at 11:00 to repair and clean the machine.

At noon I made a steak salad with green leaf lettuce, some red onion, a bag of diced cucumber and tomato, a diced tomato, the leftover bits of steak cubed and about 3 oz. of Humboldt Fog goat cheese. Imade a simple Dijonnaise dressing with red wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, dry tarragon, 1/2 clove of garlic minced, and olive oil with a warm pita.

I watched the USA women’s hockey team decimate the Canadian team and watched the market close. There was a slight pull back today. My portfolio was down a slight .4%.

Then I worked on my Earn transaction and called Aaron who came by to sign documents and pick up a check until 4:30 with about 15 minutes of meditation from 3:45 until 4:00.

At 5:00 I walked around the block with Willy that helped me accumulate more than 5300 steps.

Then at 6:00 Suzette heated up the leftover moussaka for our third meal of it and also heated up the leftover calabacitas.

I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of Chateau Rodiers from St. Emilion that we served with dinner.

We watched a finding Your Roots at 7:00 and then packed and went to bed by 9:00.

Bon Appetit