The Mrs. shot these photos a little while back on Holbox. To read a bit more about our trip to Holbox, click here.
Eat & Drink: Blue Eyes & Deano Burgers.
Here's a weekend grilling recipe for you, signed, sealed and delivered according to how Dean Martin and Blue Eyes himself enjoyed their patties.
While the original recipe here doesn't call for a grilling these burgers over a hot flame, and I don't want to insult "The King of Cool" here, but cooking a burger on a kitchen frying pan? What are we, savages?
Martin Burgers
Ingredients
- 1lb. ground beef
- 2 oz. bourbon — chilled
Instructions
Preheat a heavy frying pan and sprinkle bottom lightly with table salt. Mix meat, handle lightly, just enough to form into four patties. Grill over medium-high heat about 4 minutes on each side.
Pour chilled bourbon in chilled shot glass and serve meat and bourbon on a TV tray.
Sinatra Burgers
- Call for Deano.
- Tell him to make you a fuckin' burger.
- Drink his bourbon.
And there you have it. The original recipes are below and so is a 43 minute performance by Dean Martin that you can listen to while chugging burgers and cooking bourbon this weekend.
On the Road With Lifetime Collective: Holbox, Mexico Part Two
While swimming on a trip off the Caribbean coast, I asked myself, “Do I mention the two, large, shiny grey sharks directly below me in case chaos ensues… or keep it to myself so I don’t ruin the moment for the mothers and children swimming around us? Nah, don’t say anything. We’re fine.”
But that's another story, click here for the rest of that Holbox story on Medium.
Below is a quick recap of some of the other highlights and the rest of some of the images that didn't make it into the Medium post.
Where We Stayed, What We Ate, Things We Did
Hotel Puerto Holbox — There are plenty of boutique hotels on the island that sit with beachfront access. We found staying to the west of town was quieter since the central area and east of it has more main streets, which means more pedestrian and diesel golf cart action. It seems slightly more peaceful on this side of town. Plus, Freddy's your boy when you stay here. He'll take care of anything — including chopping up some fresh coconuts for your rum.
Check them out on Trip Advisor here or their own site here.
Los Peleones — This second storey spot is currently #1 on Trip Advisor for restaurants in Holbox, with a certificate of excellence for 2013. While it's not the cheapest place to find food on the island, it's by no means expensive for the service and food you get. Our plates were somewhere between $120-150pesos each. Beers are $30 while mix drinks are the standard $60-80pesos. We had some quality, homemade pasta and as attentive service as you'd ever want.
Follow them on Twitter or Facebook (personal page, not a brand page).
Cariocas Pizza — This was the first dinner we had on Isla Holbox. The place was packed, but they seemed to manage the rush well, even after a misstep with our order. The owner is from Napoli and must've brought over his mama's Italian recipes, because what they were serving on those pies was a damned fine marinara sauce. If you like pizza, which you do, go here.
Raices — We ate here two lunches in a row. It's a small palapa bar on a quiet part of the beach just out of town. Their fish ceviche could just be the best ceviche I've ever had. I'm not going to pretend I'm some kind of culinary expert or anything, but I eat a lot of ceviche. A lot. You get huge chunks of freshly caught fish, a great mix of lime, onions and peppers. Ask for the fresh chopped habanero for an added bonus.
I'd go back to the island just to eat here, but don't expect anything fancy, just good ceviche, a run-down palapa, cold beer and a view of the ocean.
The view at Raices Restaurant and Bar. Holbox, Mexico.
Golf Cart Rentals — We rented ours from a spot next to Hotel Casa Barbara. The owners were mellow, just hanging outside with their friends on some plastic chairs. We didn't have ID and only half of what we needed to rent up front. When we suggested we'd go to a bank machine first to get the balance, they waved us off and just said, "See you in four hours. It's okay."
So basically, without ID, any proof of having funds or even so much as taking our names, we got to roll out for about $8 an hour. Not like you can really take off anywhere with their cart on this mini island. Good people, there are dozens of places to get carts, but go on and rent from them.
Vroom, Vroom. Golf Cart rentals on Holbox, heading out to Punta Mosquito.
Pedro Rodriguez — This guy was the only person who ripped us off over the whole trip. At first he explained it was because we were late at night taking a taxi "after 11pm" that caused this higher-than-normal tariff. Taxis are about $30 pesos anywhere on the island unless you roll with our boy Pedro. Expect to pay more.
The next day he was the taxi that showed up at our hotel to take us to town and didn't even recognize us. This made for a good laugh when he again overcharged us, making up a different excuse that this side of the island is more expensive. Watch out for the sharply dressed, older cabbie with a moustache and gentleman's fedora. He's anything but. Pedro Rodriguez, we will meet again in this life or the next!
Punta Mosquito — This is about as far east on the island you can go without getting wet first. There's a river that connects to another part of the island that's easy to cross by a short swim. Head out here on bike or with your golf cart. Bring a blanket and some cold drinks, it's a beauty for sunset — but bring some repellent too, once the witching hour hits you're going to be dealing with insects.
Tortas, Tacos and Late Night Gambling — I don't know how frequently the evening fair happens around Holbox, but it was on every night we were there. We grabbed street food to walk around with that was pesos on the dollar and delicious.
There was an arcade set up, foosball tournament and your other typical fair games: Test your pitching aim, shoot at targets with a wildly inaccurate bb gun, attempt to pop under-inflated balloons with dull darts. You know the scam, but you pay to play anyhow, because maybe tonight is your night for that big pink bunny. It's not.
However, there's one glimmer of hope within the usual cash grabs. A modified version of La Loteria (Mexican bingo) that involves the dealer rolling a set of oversized dice with Loteria symbols on each side. You place your bets on Loteria cards laid on the table, much like roulette. Shake, and read. If your symbol is called, it pays 6:1.
We took our first roll and we won big. $60 pesos big. Katy and I rode that high until the devil played us out. It was a hell of a ride, and there are two valuable lessons I learned that night: Never bet on the devil and always bring more change.
Take a look below at some more pictures and hit us up through the contact page if you have any questions or are thinking of heading to Holbox. If I remember some more items, or feel so inclined, I may update this page as a little Holbox resource.
More Photos of Holbox
On the Road with Lifetime Collective: Holbox, Mexico
In early August the lady and I headed over to Isla Holbox for a trip. We wound up documenting it for Lifetime Collective's On the Road series and the first instalment is now live on their blog. It will be a two part series, so head over there now and read Parte Uno!
Here are some pictures that aren't in the Lifetime post, with a handful or two more to come next week. Check out the current post to see more photos.
7 Deadly Questions: Jesse Robinson Williams
Jesse rolls into us here as the second featured character in our new little series, 7 Deadly Questions. He's a talented illustrator/designer that comes from the same little world of skateboarding and snowboarding that treated me so kindly for most of my life. I'm excited to see him and his work getting some much deserved attention lately.
Recent projects for Jesse involve some pretty great brands like Lifetime Collective, Dinosaurs Will Die, Sitka, El Kartel, Stepchild and a whole bunch more.
Below Jesse discusses his love of bacon, shameful lack of greed and more ways he may or may not be a no good sinner. Oh, and also a bunch of awesome artwork.
7 Deadly Questions
Gluttony — After a night of gluttonous drinking, what's your go-to delivery food for the ensuing gluttonous couch hangover? Chinese? Greek? Burger time? We have these two food delivery services in town we use. One for respectable establishments, where we've gotten to know the guy. The other, for disgusting hangover days that we wouldn't want the other service to see. A delivery double life, if you will, filled with McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, dozens of tacos at a time. It's like having two lives… the travelling salesman with two families.
JW: This is something that I have spent years trying to figure out and perfect.
In the heat of the moment, I'll usually scarf down some late night pizza. Two or three slices all covered with that hideous dressing and soaking with hot sauce. I think it will do the trick and sober me up, but more often than not it just makes me feel like shit and takes my terrible hangover morning breath to all new heights.
Honestly, if I know I am going to have a big night of celebration, I try to make sure that I have a little setup all ready to roll for the morning, usually consisting of blue Gatorade, coconut water, eggs, bacon and english muffins.That's the secret. Get something in your stomach early in the morning while you're still a bit drunk and you'll feel golden.
Lust — Okay, so every person you could ever possibly find attractive (of age!) in the world loves your artwork. Your phone is lighting up for nude portrait requests. Whose birthday suit would you party with, using your pencil? Literally pencil. Not a euphemism. I mean, either way...
JW: [Ha!] How can you narrow this down to one person!? I'll give you my current top two. Kate Bosworth, serious babe status, plus she was in Blue Crush. Then there's Amber Heard, have you seen the Rum Diaries? Definitely a classic looking lady, and she plays a scandalous little fox in that film. But seriously, I'm pretty terrible at life drawing so I doubt any of these fine looking ladies would be too pleased to be drawn 40 pounds overweight with lopsided hips and a bobble head.
Greed — Do you ever find yourself feeling greedy over anything? I have this favourite bar I go to that orders a limited supply of a certain type of beer. When I would see other people drinking it, I'd say to the owner, "You'd better check stock. That guy's hoarding on my goods!" The owner of said bar, being an incredible humanitarian, took that beer off the menu so no one would see it. To order it, you'd have to physically go into their beer fridge to see it was even in stock or know what it was. That's greed. I actually had a beer removed from a menu.
JW: [Haha] That's awesome. You know what, I don't notice myself being too greedy very often. I like to take pleasure in sharing what I have with my friends and my girlfriend... and our dog.
Sloth — Do you ever feel low on motivation? For a creative personality, that seems like a no-brainer. There must be so many highs and lows, but what causes the sloth in you to come out the most?
JW: Oh, yes. This is an interesting one. I can honestly push on until the job is done. I work best under tight deadlines and I often find that my strongest concepts come at the 11th hour.
The funny thing is, once I am finished a large project I just tend to collapse for a few days... maybe a week. I just won't really do much of anything. Sometimes there will be three to four months where I am basically working everyday, all day and I just turn into a zombie. When the work is done, I guess my body needs to shut down and re-boot itself. Plus, when it's hot out, like it's been for the past seven weeks, I'm pretty useless. I just can't stand the heat, it makes me super grumpy.
These Party Animals better have some blue Gatorade and bacon ready. Lifetime Collective artwork for their upcoming Uniform Standard Fall/Winter 2013 line.
Wrath — I don't think we're picking very good candidates in this series to answer this one. No one I know is a true wrath type of person. But, let's just say you could take something, wrap it up in a burlap sack and chuck it into the river. What would it be? Right now, for me, it'd probably be that whole group of people that did the wedding this summer that ran up about $9 million or close to it. The Napster/Facebook guy. Here guys, jump in this burlap sack, I'll carry you to the wedding! Sploosh. That'd be that.
JW: Probably my credit card. My credit card can fuck off. I try my darnedest [Edward's note: Darnedest? In the wrath answer?] not to use it unless it's actually needed, but sometimes things just sneak on to the bill. Credit cards are a horrible invention. They make poor people even poorer and fool people into living beyond their means.
Envy — You're Clive Owen in the Inside Man. Inside Job? The one co-starring with 'Zel, where he robs the bank. If you were him, and the bank was actually a Talent Bank and was stocked full of some kind of skill set that you wish you had, what would you be stealing? I mean, I guess at this point in the Envy question you're a handsome British actor named Clive Owen, so you could even just say, "Clive Owen. I'd just be Clive Owen."
JW: Yeah, that's a tough one. Clive Owen is the man. That film is awesome as well. If I could choose one thing to be better at it would be public speaking. My mind tends to cave in on itself and I just turn into a sputtering, muttering sweaty fool when addressing any more than four or five people at one time. I bet Clive Owen doesn't have that problem...
Clive Owen couldn't do this. A piece of Jesse's artwork out in the wild. Dinosaurs Will Die method at Camp of Champions.
Pride — What was the last thing you did that you were super stoked on. Something you looked at and said, "Yeah, this is it. If I keep doing this, I've got it made!"
JW: I'm still looking for that. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of what I have done thus far in my short career as a freelance creative. Every project I finish is better than the last, but for the most part every project I work on is fairly different from the previous..whether it is coming up with concepts for a new line of snowboards or rebranding an existing company. My job never repeats itself. I'll keep on working at this trade...maybe the next time you interview me I'll have a better answer for you.
There you have it, friends. I hope you enjoyed finding out why JRW may or may not be a moderately no good sinner, or generally all around good guy.
Now enjoy a few selects of Jesse's work below, then follow him on Instagram and take a peek at his site for even more artistic goodness.
