Tag Archives: Pedregal

Walking The Pedregal

One of my great pleasures living in Cabo is walking the Pedregal, the high-end residential area that affords amazing views of the city, the Sea of Cortez, the Cabo Marina, and the Pacific Ocean.

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On the days that we’re not playing tennis, I have several routes I love to walk.  On one, I climb to the top of the radio towers and have the most amazing view to reward my efforts.  That walk takes me over 350 meters of elevation climb, takes just over an hour, and I definitely know I’ve had my cardio workout afterwards.  I’ve started using a great app on my phone called “Pedometer” which tracks steps, distance, time, calories, elevation gain and daily goal progress and much more.  My latest addition to this wonderful walk is sprinting on the flat spots on the way just to ensure my heart rate stays up.

Another of my favorite walks is over to the Playa de Pedregal.  Ron will meet me there and we’ll spend some time on the beach.  The Pacific side has a rough surf that sounds beautiful and provides a constant breeze to keep us cool.

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The properties in the Pedregal and the views are amazing regardless of the route I take.  If I’m really lucky, some days I spot some whales blowing and breaching on the Pacific side.  Any day is a lucky day to be able to walk and enjoy such phenomenal weather and vistas.

Fettucine with Sausage and Fried Sage Leaves

Although I haven’t finished telling our story about the trip to Cabo, I wanted to write about a fabulous recipe that I tried today (after walking to the top of the Pedregal) from the New York Times.

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Here in Cabo, Ron and I have access to the freshest and most amazing ingredients – it really is a cook’s delight. We have an organic market just half a block up the street from us that offers a gorgeous selection of fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, chicken, goat milk dairy products, breads and take-out foods every Wednesday and Saturday. I noticed that one of the vendors, Juan Carlos, had some beautiful fresh sage the other day. I managed to track down some Italian sausage (it can be a bit of a challenge to find some ingredients down here, believe me!) and prepared this dish that we recently found in the New York Times archives:

http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/430/fettuccine-with-sausage-and-fried-sage-leaves.html

It was absolutely delicious! I served it with tender mixed lettuce and frisée, diced avocado, toasted pine nuts and a very simple vinaigrette of white wine vinegar with tarragon, olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

The wine I chose to serve with it was a 2009 McKinley Springs Cabernet Sauvignon from the Horse Heaven Hills of Prosser, Washington. The description on the bottle says:

Working with old vines and newer vines, this cab shows the earthy sage of the old vines and the smoky fruit of the new. Complemented by ripe raspberry, dark chocolate and a hint of spice.

Last year a lovely young couple, Davy and Diana, came into Pancho’s and Ron and I enjoyed some wonderful conversation with them. They contacted us after their visit and said that they wanted us to try some of the wines that they are producing in their small town, Prosser, in Washington state. We were delighted, of course, to try some of the wines that they recommended, and they sent them to friends in Palm Springs so we could bring them back when we were up for the Indian Wells Tennis Tournament in March.

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We never did have a chance to try a bottle before we left Cabo last season, so today was the day that we opened one of the four precious bottles that Davy and Diana sent to us. The wine was delicious and paired well with this dish. I selected the wine and worried that a cabernet might be too big for this cream based dish, but the Italian sausage and sage were delightful with this choice.

This is a dish that I would definitely serve to guests and look forward to enjoying again soon (thankfully there are leftovers from this lunch!). Buen provecho!