Roberto’s is located on the Chapala – Jocotepec carretera at the west end of Ajijic just before Villa Nova on the north side. Their phone # is 766-1463 They are open Tuesday through Sunday..

This is a very interesting restaurant in a beautiful garden setting with many choices on the menu that would be considered comfort food.

Roberto’s have a daily lunch special for 85.00 pesos which includes soup or salad.

Today’s Specials were:

Mexican Fish Filet, Grilled Corn Beef Cheese Sandwich, Cranberry Chicken Breast, Pad Thai Salad, Roast Turkey with all the trimmings, Lamb Arrechera Fajitas, Mango Chicken, Deep Fried Panko Shrimp or Scallops, Grilled Boneless Pork Chops and Snapper al Mojo de Ajo (garlic butter). The soup was poblano pepper and the salad had a light and refreshing raspberry vinaigrette.

All lunches are served with their famous Carrot Croquettes and fresh bread and a trilogy of interesting spreads.

Other choices for lunch on the regular menu are:

Cobb Salad, Oriental Chicken Salad, Roberto’s Salad, Mexican Salad, Hot Avocado and Shrimp Salad, Hamburger, Dilled Chicken Salad, B.L.T. Sandwich (more…)

When we first bought our house in Chula Vista in 2000 we needed to upgrade the stove that came with the house as it was very old and had to be lit manually. This did not thrill me as I was not used to gas and still was a little afraid of lighting the oven pilot light.

At that time my husband volunteered to go to Sear in Guadalajara to purchase said stove as we had always trusted them (Sears) in Canada.

Our stove lasted for some time but getting it serviced was always a challenge as everything had to be done in Spanish (I was far from fluent in 2000) and we had to wait sometimes weeks for a service call.

Finally, we took to having local electricians fix our stove for us, when needed, and when we were told it was no longer fixable we decided to buy a new stove locally.

We bought a Whirlpool stove in April of 2009 from Tio Sam which is located on the Libramiento Chapala-Ajijic # 132-9. Their phone # is 766-5664 and their email address is: lozexpo@prodigy.net.mx.

From the beginning we had nothing but problems with this stove. First getting it to fit into the space allotted for a stove in our kitchen was a challenge but we were able to deal with that by removing two side pieces that were of no apparent use according to the installer.

Secondly, the knobs fell off. We had this dealt with too. Service calls from Tio Sam are available Tuesday and Thursdays.

We also had problems with the movable racks in the oven which were designed to make life easier as they came out when you opened the oven door. This was not quite the case, however. We did not know that you were supposed to insert a small pole into a even smaller hole to make the unit secure. I am still haunted by my husbands screams as his freshly baked (more…)

If you are looking for a fun and interesting day trip the Tequila Express could be for you.

The National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism Guadalajara welcomes you to the train tour which organizes and operates the Tequila Express, The Legend.

Culture, recreation, entertainment and much more awaits you on this magical journey.

The Tequila Express, The Legend is a train tour which was founded in 1997 to achieve 3 goals:

To Rescue and revive the passenger train.

To pioneer a new form of tourism.

To keep the three pillars of national identity: mariachi, tequila and rodeo.

The Tequila Express runs every Saturday of the year and makes a single trip per day (9:00 am – 6:30 pm) to visit Hacienda San Jose del Refugio (more…)

Congratulations to Director/Choreographer, CeCe Girling and Backstage Manager, Nicole Sergent for a hugely successful and entertaining 10th Annual Fashion Show to benefit the Red Cross in Chapala and presented by the Crux Rojo International Volunteers.

This year’s theme was A Tribute to the Fashion Capitals of the World and it was, indeed, a great tribute to the entire fashion industry.

I was able to convince my husband to accompany me to this fabulous event as both our daughters were two of the gorgeous models in this year’s show.

He was pleasantly surprised by the fact that many other men were also in attendance.

The show was very well attended and a lovely buffet was served prior to the fashion show itself and one could barely hear oneself think for click of cameras and various other digital recording devices.

What makes this fashion show so special is the choreography and fun that all the models are having as they displayed the beautiful garments from local and Guadalajara designers.

Local designers represented were Tina Jones, Mi Mexico, Alma Gutiterrez Fashion Designs, Opus Boutique, Fiaga Boutique and Heather’s (more…)

Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, it has evolved into a celebration of all things Irish.

I have a special affinity for St. Patrick’s day as I am part Irish (Scottish and English make up the other parts) and also my mother’s father, my mother and my sister and my aunt were all born on March17th.

New York City hosted the first St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 17th, l762 featuring Irish soldiers serving in the English military. The parade has become an annual event with President Harry S. Truman attending his very own self in 1948.

Congress has proclaimed March as Irish-American Heritage Month in 1995 and the sitting president issues a proclamation each year.

Now for a little history lesson. Naomh Padraig (c 387-17 March 493) was a Romanized Celt and Christian Missionary who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland.

When he was about 16 he was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning (more…)

I believe that one of the many reasons we moved to Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago was that it was getting very difficult to find a place that one could smoke in Toronto.

On arrival to Ajijic, Lake Chapala there were no such restrictions in place and one could smoke freely anywhere as it were. Of course, you might run into the odd rabid anti-smoker but that was to be expected.

Now it would seem that last week-end federal officials closed several restaurants and bars in Guadalajara for not adhering to the General Law for Tobacco Control.

Many of these establishments in Jalisco still allow their patrons to smoke ever though the law states they must have separate smoking areas.

Although the details are still sketchy, a team from the Federal Sanitation Protection Commission ( Cofepris) is thought to have visited approximately 40 restaurants in the city.

To reopen, owners of the closed restaurants need to make their establishments 80% smoke-free with outdoor or (more…)

Last night was the highly anticipated “Oscars”.

When we first arrived in Ajijic, Lake Chapala over 15 years ago having an opportunity to view the nominated films was a bit of a challenge as we did not have a movie theatre in those days nor would the latest films get to us if we did.

Things have changed and we now have a lovely theatre complex and we do get all the current releases.

This year there were 10 nominated films and that has not been the case since 1943 when Casa Blanca won for Best Picture.

To my huge disappointment Avatar did not win best picture but it did win several other awards including best Cinematography and Visual Effects.

There were no surprises in the best actor, actress and best supporting actor and actress categories.

Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for A Crazy Heart and they also won Best Original Song for “The Weary Kind” with kudos to music legend, T. Bone Burnett.

Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for The Blind Side.

Christoph Walz won Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious (more…)

When my husband and I lived in Toronto we did a lot of entertaining at home. Almost every Friday and Saturday for years, we entertained friends and clients in our home. We did all of the cooking ourselves and quite enjoyed it. This in the days we had a nanny looking after the children and doing most of the every day cooking. So cooking was fun and not something we had to do every day. Another reason, of course, was that in Toronto, it was extremely expensive to take 8 or 10 people out for dinner to the wonderful restaurants.

Since we moved here we find that, for us, dining out is a much better choice for entertaining friends and clients. I had forgotten everything that goes into a dinner for 8 in your home.

First you have to plan the menu, then shop for the menu and unlike Toronto you are very fortunate if you manage to procure everything on your list.

Then there is the buying of flowers, candles, wine, pre-dinner drinks, after dinner drinks, specialty coffee, cream and (more…)

These last two weeks were a very exciting time to be Canadian. The Olympic Games in Vancouver were very enjoyable to watch and winning the most number of gold medals ever for a host country was extremely gratifying. The icing on the cake was the gold medal hockey game yesterday Canada 3 – US 2. It was a very exciting game to watch and a real nail biter as it were. But Canada won nonetheless which was swell bringing our total of gold medals to 14.

Our Canadian athletes did a wonderful job and we are very proud of all of them.

Yesterday also was the last day of the Mexican Chili Cook Off in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

I have not attended this event for a couple of years but went this year as my sister was visiting here from Canada and I thought she might enjoy a little local color and my daughter’s restaurants were competing in the Chili Cook Off itself and, of course, we wanted to be there to support our girls.

I was so happy we went. It was terrific this year with lots of things to see and do.

This year the arts and crafts and jewelry booths were much improved with more high end goods available (more…)

When my husband and I lived in Toronto one of our favorite restaurants was Thai Magic on Yonge Street below St. Clair Avenue. We loved this restaurant with its wonderful aromatic flavors and scents and were devastated when it closed a few years ago.

Now, however, we once again have reason to celebrate as a new Thai restaurant has opened up in Ajijic, Lake Chapala about a week ago. It is called Simply Thai and is located on Ramon Corona #11 kitty corner from The Lake Chapala Society. Reservations are a must and their phone # is 766-5665.

Owners Jim McMahon and Thip Phonsavath have created a warm, pleasant and nicely decorated space and are very welcoming and professional the food is wonderful!

Appetizers consist of such delights as Crispy Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Chicken Satay, Crispy Chicken Wings, Tom Yum Soup, Chicken Coconut Soup and Shrimp Flavored Chips.

Some of the authentic entrees are Pad Thai, Fried Rice Noodle with Chicken or Beef (Ladd Na), Fried Clear Noodle with Pork, Spicy Sir Fried Chicken or Beef (Pad Ped) also with shrimp or fish. Sweet and Sour Chicken (Pad Priew Wann Gai), Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet (Pad Priew Wann Pa), Mixed Vegetales with Oyster Sauce (Pad Nam Mun Hoy), Beef Salad (Yum Neua), Shrimp Salad (Yum Goong), Chicken Salad (Larb Gai), Vegetable Red Curry (Gang Ped Pak), Beef Red Curry (more…)