By Beverly Arrowood

It was back in the 1930s when Duncan Brown who was the Uncle to Gus Brown, Jr. use to travel from San Luis Rio Colorado (where he farmed) by train to Hermosillo, Mexico.  As Gus told me the story recently, it was on one of those trips that Duncan walked over the to see the Sea of Cortez and the beautiful pristine Sandy Beach.  Although the land was owned by the government, through a very long process, Duncan was able to buy the land.  He purchased the property through a third party using  his lawyer Rafael Navarrete and in 1941 President Cardenas signed the Title of the 3,374 acres to Duncan Brown.  Duncan was a Mexican Citizen of American decent and worked in the cotton industry.  In 1943 Duncan passed away and his widow owned the property until she sold it to Gustavo Brown Sr. in 1956.  Gus spoke fondly of his father and his wanting to keep Sandy Beach pristine.  He went on to mentioned that at one time Howard Hughs came to meet with his dad and wanted to build another Las Vegas there.  Fortunately, Mexican gambling laws prohibited it  and thus it sat vacant for many years.   Gus said he started buying stocks in his dad's company in 1972 and in 1985 purchased the property from his dad.  

Over the years, people from Arizona started coming to  fish the Sea of Cortez.  In those days "we had sport fishing" Gus said, before it was raped by foreign entities.  In those years the road leading from Lukeville to Puerto Pe�asco was awful.  Many of the people wanted to leave their boats in Cholla, so his dad started leasing out land and one by one people began building boat houses.  The reason Cholla was so popular was that you could not launch a boat in what we know  as the Port as it was more like an Estuary.  

Remember in these times Cholla Bay was all part of Sandy Beach.  Many people have asked over the years why Cholla Bay seems to  be rather helter skelter.  We laughed when I asked him about how lot lines were made in Cholla when his dad was alive.  He said he pretty much picked up 4 stones and threw them and wherever they landed was the owners lot lines.  So NOW You Know!  

Gus also went on to say that he decided to build on the Sandy Beach property to fulfill a dream of his.  I remember in the 1995 time frame seeing what was starting to develop on Sandy Beach with the addition of under ground power and phone lines being run to Cholla Bay.  When you think about the entire Brown family which has now had the property for nearly 74 years (if my math is correct) have been visionaries in development.  I asked him how many lots are in Cholla Bay and it is over 1250.  So it is amazing that from such humble beginning came a new part of Puerto Pe�asco.  

We continued talking about the Home Port and he like many of us have gotten frustrated with the starting and stopping of the project.  With the help of the new Governor of Sonora, Claudia Pavalovich,  the project will go forward.  They have had a lot of dialog with Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Disney cruise ships.  The breakwater is being extended to accommodate these new large ships.  As most of you know, there are plans for 2 marinas as well as the big docks.

Gus stated that they a vision for a Town Center to be built in the approximate area where the RV Park is.  This would harbor loft apartments, offices, medical facilities as well as restaurants, wine bars, ice cream shops, etc.  The plan might include high end stores that people on cruise ships can shop at, a duty free store and a market for local vendors to display their arts and jewelry.  Perhaps a real estate office and a B & B might fit into the plan.

Currently up for discussion is parking for guests that drive here.  For tour bus operators, the opening of the Port will be a pot of Gold. This concept will employee a lot of people both in the hospitality industry as well as people to tend to the boats in the Marina.

If the design goes as planned, there will be places to have music concerts, as well as musical events all throughout the year.  It will be not only a place for the people departing or returning from a cruise to enjoy but for locals as well.  What would be more fun than to stroll around the shops while enjoying an ice ream or gelato and wishing  you had a yacht  moored there.  It could open a whole new place for boaters to moor their boats as the costs in say Cabo San Lucas are almost as bad as San Diego or southern California.  Also because we don't get hurricanes like Cabo and the other areas do, you can have your yacht insured all year as I learned that in Cabo they don't insure boats during Hurricane season.

What will make this a complete package is the Home Port opening and then the airlines will be flying here on a regular schedule. 

White Mexican Cheese Dip is immensely popular in the southeastern United States. Nearly all the Mexican restaurants in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina sell a "cheese dip" item on their menus, and that is the Queso Blanco you will fall in love with.

If you have never tried a Queso Blanco dip, it's not the "queso blanco" Mexican cheese you sometimes find in the stores.  The dip is a recipe that is based on a white melting cheese that is used to top foods as well as a standalone dip.

Some restaurants buy a pre-packaged white cheese dip from food manufacturers and serve that to you. Most people don't know the difference, but there is a huge one if you've had the good stuff.  A good restaurant will make its own white cheese dip from scratch. People have been fascinated with this recipes for decades and it remains one of the most simple and delicious things that you can indulge yourself with.

You can actually make the dip in about five minutes. First of all, you can use a couple of white Mexican cheeses to make the dip. The best one is an Asadero cheese that is made from SKIM milk (not whole milk). Cacique markets such an Asadero along with a couple others that have worked out okay, including Quesadilla and Queso Fresca.

Some people claim they make it with white American cheese that they buy at deli counters in grocery stores (it comes in blocks - don't buy the slices in the cooler sections).

Some people like to season the dip with poblano peppers. You can also use jalapeno, habanero, etc. Some also make the dip with paprika. Some people add cilantro. Be creative  

 

Cacique USA makes the best Asadero cheese for use in making queso blanco white Mexican cheese dip.

 

With the Cacique cheese, Use a quarter cup of skim milk, 2% or whole milk, or half-n-half with every quarter cheese round. Try to cook no more than one quarter cheese round at a time.

• Step 1: Grate or shred the Asadero cheese or cut it up into small pieces.
• Step 2: Warm the skim milk in a sauce pan (Most prefer a glass pan) over low heat.
• Step 3: Stir in the grated/shredded cheese and begin stirring.
• Step 4: As the cheese melts add your peppers and seasonings.
• Step 5: Keep stirring until all the cheese is melted and creamy. You may see a slight bit of steam wafting up.

Don't let it turn brown. Some people cook it until the edges are brown. Adjust this to your taste.

The cheese dip can be used as a sauce for virtually every Mexican dish you can imagine. Just dribble it across your main entree. Or soak the whole plate in it.

The dip will harden as it cools. This is fine. You can reheat the white cheese dip once. It's best not to do it a second time.

Other seasonings that can be used with the white cheese dip include Mrs. Dash (Original), tomato slices, and diced onions.

This Mexican cheese dip will go with just about any hot food, but it's not a good substitute for cheese you would use in a cheeseburger.

 

Gordo's Queso Dip by Kachwa Food Group is a commercial white cheese dip sold in Mexican restaurants and stores in some USA locations.

 

In the eastern and central United States you should be able to buy the white Mexican cheese dip at any Wal-mart Super Center. It is usually found in the deli sections. Look for Gordo's Cheese Dip.

This "recipe" is so simple using basic common sense that it seems silly to even call it a recipe, but give it a try. If you love cheese, you are guaranteed to love this cheese dip.

Anyone who has had access to social media can attest to the fact that probably 70% of the people who post there should probably re-read what they have typed before they send it off to the masses. Honestly, it drives me crazy. I'm far from perfect but at least I try. Mostly, it is spelling errors, grammatical errors, and just plain bad written English. There are also a good number of very common phrases that more people, sometimes most people, get wrong.   

American English is full of idioms and there are many phrases that vary by region, class, and cultural background. Most of them have become "accepted" over time, but many of them started out meaning something very different. Some of them are just plain wrong and will be wrong until the end of time. Others are just funny.

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Here are a few common phrases that you might be saying or using wrong, some of which might surprise you.  

1. Saying it wrong: "I could care less"
Doing it right: "I couldn't care less"

"I could care less" doesn't make a lot of sense as a phrase. If you're saying "I couldn't care less," it means exactly that. It is impossible for you to care less about this.    

2. Saying it wrong: "Irregardless"
Doing it right: "Regardless"

"Ir" is a prefix that negates the phrase that comes before it, which is unnecessary when "less" is already doing the same thing. You could say "irregard," I suppose, but that also sounds wrong.  

3. Saying it wrong: "Another thing coming"
Doing it right: "Another think coming"

Okay, I'll admit. This malapropism is infuriating, and the wrong version just sounds more right. The only way this makes sense is if you use the whole phrase as originally intended. The complete phrase goes "If that's what you think, you've got another think coming." Translated, I guess that this means that if you have an incorrect thought, you better think again. I don't like it, but it is what it is.    

4. Saying it wrong: "Hunger pains"
Doing it right: "Hunger pangs"

Like the previous phrase, "hunger pains" is a perfectly sensible phrase to use, and anyone who has ever gone on a fast knows the feeling of pain when you haven't eaten for 48 hours. However, hunger pangs is the original phrase, indicating the sharp jolts you feel from hunger. Yes, this is bad. I realize. No, I didn't not make up the English language.

5. Saying it wrong: "Should of"
Doing it right: "Should have"

This is a mistake that people more often use in speech - less so in print. It's likely just due to vocal laziness and bad practice than a misunderstanding of how verbs work. "Of" is a preposition, not an auxiliary verb like "should."

6. Saying it wrong, sometimes: "Try and"
Doing it right: "Try to"

"And" is often used in place of a preposition after a verb, but the more appropriate version is to use "to" - in most cases. (Like almost every rule in the English language, it seems to get broken anyway - whenever English feels like it.) So if you're saying that you plan to "try and go to the park," that accidentally splits up your phrasing, making it sound like two different actions. They are not independent. You are doing the trying in order to go to the park. And why not? It's a beautiful day. Get outside.

7. Saying it wrong, sometimes: "Doing good"
Doing it right: "Doing well"

This depends on what you mean to say. If someone asks you how you are and you respond, "I'm good," this is incorrect. You need an adverb here, or else you mean that you embody the properties of goodness. Take if from Tracy Jordan: "Superman does good. You do well."

8. Saying it wrong: "On accident"
Doing it right: "By accident"

This is one of those dumb English language things that makes me feel sorry for English language learners. You can do something "on purpose," but English doesn't allow you to do it "on accident." You do it "by accident," just like you don't do it "by purpose." That just sounds silly.

9. Saying it wrong: "The spitting image"
Doing it right: "The spit and image"

To me, both versions of this phrase sound pretty silly. What images have you been spitting on recently? I don't want to be compared to someone's spit. The original phrase "spit and image" comes from the Bible, where God made Adam out of "spit and mud" in order to make him in his own image. God didn't spit on him, as the modern idiom seems to suggest, but if you read the Old Testament, trust me, he could have done a lot worse. 

10. Saying it wrong: "Near miss"
Doing it right: "Near hit"

If you break down the phrase "near miss," it doesn't make a lot of sense. If a car were to "nearly miss" another in an accident, that would tell you there was a collision. It almost missed, but then it didn't. A "near hit" would indicate instead that the cars nearly collided but evaded the crash at the last second. You'll never hear anyone say "near hit,"  but there you go.

Bonus: Saying it wrong: "One in the same"
Doing it right: "One and the same"