Chantal's birthday dinner at La Fiesta was good, if on the rich side (everything seemed to have cream in it). My only real complaint was that I had my mouth all set for calamari, and it wasn't on the menu. That was a bit of surprise, as there are squid a few feet offshore that could eat us for dinner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosidicus_gigas

(I was talking to Joyce down on the beach this morning, and she reported having seen men standing on the rocks, reaching out with poles and pulling in enormous squid - no boat required. It made her think twice about swimming in this water.)

Robin and I shared a seafood platter. The crab was done in a cream sauce, and there was melted butter for the shrimp. I had spoken to the maitre d' before everybody else arrived, so after dinner, the staff appeared with flan for Chantal - complete with candle and song. Chantal doesn't actually like flan, so Roger and I shared it. We all walked to the restaurant and back, thus burning off one or two of the calories.

That was absolutely our last party before we leave. We are all partied out.

Speaking of calories, I watched a bit of Martha Stewart's show this morning. Her guest was a chef named Lala. Lala made Tres Leches Cake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_leches_cake

We ate some of that at Jeane's birthday party the other day. It was great. I missed the first part of Lala's presentation today, so I don't know how much cake flour she used - and I missed the sugar altogether, but I must assume there was some. She used a cup of butter in the cake. I do remember that. When the cake (9x13 sheet) was baked, she poked holes in it with a skewer, then poured a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and fat-free evaporated milk over it and spread that mixture out so that it soaked in through the holes. Then she spread whipped topping over the cake, giving Martha fits. What? Not real whipped cream? Finally, she topped each serving with pieces of fresh fruit. I think she said that 1/16 of the sheet cake would be a 400 calorie serving. That was the light version.

Robin, Roger, and Terry went on another dive trip today. I chickened out. They're watching videos of the trip right now. There were a few whales, I gather. Robin did manage to get a shot of one, but he's shown that bit three times now, and I've missed the whale every time. I keep wandering back to my computer screen. I guess it's just as well I didn't go on the trip. I would probably have been looking the wrong way (or throwing up over the side) and missed them all anyway, which would have been very frustrating.

Instead, what I did was take that walk I had promised myself, from here to the estuary and back. When you stand at the estuary and look back down the beach towards Totonaka, the route looks much shorter than the road we use to cycle over there. That impression disappears when you actually walk it. It was a long walk. When I got to the place where we usually leave our bikes, I walked up the path, dipped one toe in the estuary, then walked back to the beach and sat for a while. It was a great sit. Eventually I tore myself away and walked back home. I was going to put my sandals back on to come across the road, but that seemed like far too much trouble, so I just finished the trip with bare feet. I am footsore and pleasantly tired.

Along the way, I thought up a great soup recipe, and when I had recovered sufficiently from my walk, I made the soup. I made enough for two big bowls. It was so good, I ate it all, so I had to make it all over again for Robin's dinner. Again, I made enough for two big bowls - and this time, Robin ate it all. I didn't need dinner, having had such a late and large lunch, so I just ate some totopos (tortilla chips) and pico de gallo.

When I got back home from my walk, Chantal told me that Walt, our next-door neighbour (and grapefruit/orange supplier), had passed out, fallen, and bumped his head. He was taken by ambulance to see Dr. Canale, who sent him to Hermosillo for a CAT scan. Walt's wife is disabled, so this must be very scary for her.

When the men came home from their dive, they reported that Terry and Roger had gone down to 130 feet. They were very pleased with themselves.