The inspiration to visit Mexico came from our dear friend Barbara Alexander, who used to work with us in the early days of Paramount and is now the director of the Napa Valley Cooking School in California. We stayed with Barbie, her husband Adam (also a chef) and their divine little girl Ava in the summer of 2005, when they had recently returned from a working visit to Ensenada on the Baja Peninsula, and we feasted on fish tacos and ceviche (citrus-marinated seafood). Meeting Luis, one of Barbie’s Mexican students, sealed our decision to visit, and we jetted off to Mexico that Christmas. The minute we got off the plane in Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, we felt a welcome surge of warm, tropical air scented with jasmine and frangipani. The landscape of banana and coconut trees and the easy-going atmosphere reminded me of Asia in many ways, and I felt instantly at home.
