Lunchtime offerings at Rancho la Puerta typically include a stellar salad, like this one made with roasted beets and medallions of goat cheese. Yum!
I’ve just returned from a week’s stay at Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. It was a nice little item I’d bid on and won at a charity auction last year because I’d always dreamed of going. So my pal Hillari and I made the long journey, arriving under cover of darkness (she found the trip winding along San Diego County’s quiet backcountry roads toward the border crossing in Tecate a tad unnerving, or at least carsick-inducing).
The week was all I’d hoped for–relaxing, with lots of opportunities for early morning hikes on
When you start the day with a brisk hike up a desert mountain, you feel fine about eating as much as you want.
desert mountain trails, plenty of yoga, and other classes to sample. The special poetry workshop was a pleasant surprise, as were the qi gong sessions. The chance to learn about healing touch and colors, and to craft my very own prayer arrow (basically yarn wrapped around a stick with some feathers and a crystal) was fun, but I’m still a skeptic.
Certainly, a standout highlight was the food. The overriding philosophy at The Ranch is to enjoy lots of fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal. Ideally, in every dish. Butternut squash was the veggie of the week. It seemed the gardeners at the Ranch’s Tres Estrellas organic garden had a bumper crop this fall and the chefs found ways to include it in almost every meal. I even had a Mayan Chocolate Sorbet that incorporated the stuff, and it was delicious. Whatever was served, guests were welcome to enjoy as much or as little as they wished. I didn’t hesitate to ask for an extra fish taco (awesome!) and always pushed away from the table contentedly full. In general, The Ranch’s chefs hit a home run when they prepared Mexican and Mediterranean fare; their one foray into Asian wasn’t so successful.
Of course, I couldn’t resist picking up a copy of the new book Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho la Puerta by The Ranch’s founder, Deborah Szekely, and Chef Deborah M. Schneider, who often teaches at The Ranch’s new cooking school, La Cocina que Canta. Can’t wait to try the sorbet (for Thanksgiving, I think) and the fish tacos.
Marmalade rejects my handcrafted prayer arrow as a cat toy. Bitch.
