I recently got to tag along on one of Mark’s business trips to Cabo. Company executives host the top customers from the US and Canada. There is lots of product talk but there is also fun and adventure. Days are filled with excursions, spa treatments or relaxing by the pool. Nights include dinner events and entertainment. In years past, we’ve gone snorkeling, ziplined through a jungle, golfed, gone wine tasting and RZR riding.
This year, a new excursion was added, a cooking class at a famous farm. I was just a few weeks post-op from my shoulder surgery when the list of excursions for this year’s trip came out. The RZR ride in the desert was out, we have a RZR and I knew there was no way my shoulder could withstand the ride. Snorkeling made me nervous in case the boat hit some rough water, which is common in the Pacific and I instinctively put my right arm down if we hit an unexpected swell. I knew swinging a golf club was out and was nervous about laying face down on a massage table when I was still in a sling.
The cooking class was my choice and I’m so happy I chose it!
Flora Farms is 30 minutes north of our hotel tucked into the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. We drove along the coast then turned inland into the dry desert and arrived at this magically green and lush spot called Flora Farms.
It’s beautiful, like pictures don’t do it justice beautiful. We arrived a little early and had time to walk much of the grounds. We meandered along a garden, around the restaurant to the fresh fruit stand and by the pond before peeking in the stores. The entire place is thoughtfully laid out with small conversation areas here and there. Great photo spots are everywhere.
Our hostess took on a little walking tour, telling us about Wallace and Patrick Greene, the founders of Flora Farms. They started the farm in 1996 and have grown to include a 125-acre ranch. She walked us through a mango grove to our outdoor “classroom.” Lots of umbrellas shaded all of the tables.
Our chef started us off by grilling our veggies to bring out all the flavor. I was ready to dive into that freshly grilled onion. Then we moved to our classroom table.
Apron on and we were ready! There were 19 of us ready to learn and eat.
While the veggies cooled, our chef talked about the Molcajete (mol-ka-hete). They are volcanic, and have been used for thousands of years dating back to pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican cultures. She showed us how to tell if it’s a real molcajete by running the Tejolote around in it. If it makes gray marks, it’s real.
Veggies cooled; it was time to make some salsa. We started by mashing some garlic and shallots. Mash is the proper verb here; you want to really get in there and mash it well. We added a habanero and mashed it into the garlic and shallots. Roma tomatoes were next. I struggled a little with this, the top of the tomato was hard to mash with my shoulder and I needed help. We finished by chopping cilantro and stirring it in.
Along with our chef instructor, we had Inez the Salsa Queen. She’s worked at the farm for a few years and works in all the salsa classes. While my salsa looked pretty darn good for a first time, hers was a perfect texture. It was fun to watch her.
Next up was Pico de Gallo with Flora Farms special ingredient, grilled pineapple. The chef showed us a neat trick to deseed a pepper and the best way to dice an onion. It was all I could do to NOT take the entire bowl and run off with a spoon until I realized guacamole was next.
The avocadoes were perfectly ripe and Inez mashed them to perfection in no time. She made a rosemary guacamole and a charred habanero guacamole. I wasn’t expecting to like the rosemary guac as much as I did.
You know what goes great with salsas and guacamoles? Homemade corn tortillas.
Inez the salsa queen is also a tortilla queen. She did the hard work grinding the corn to make the dough. She showed us the fast way and by hand way to flatten the dough then cook it on a griddle. Wow, I sucked at this. I need lots of practice. It’s easy to tell which one is mine on the griddle. Ugly tasted just as good as the perfect ones.
We sat down for lunch with our salsas and tortilla for lunch along with fresh Baja fish tacos, a delicious hibiscus margarita and key lime pie.
They saved the best surprise for last. We were each given a recipe booklet of everything we made and ate! We’ve made the roasted tomato salsa a few times; I’m getting stronger at mashing tomatoes. I’m impatiently waiting for our Mexican lime tree to give us limes. I want another piece of that pie!
You can bet we’ll visit Flora Farms for lunch and probably dinner the next time we are in Cabo. I wish it wasn’t a plane ride away.