Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Creative Cuisine at Home

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

As you may (or may not) know, Billy is a trained French Chef. He and I owned a restaurant for a decade in Santa Cruz, California, before his career in finance.

We love to cook at home and both of us have a great time coming up with tasty combinations. It's a core value and interest that we share in our relationship.

Recently, we spent some home time in Mexico making fabulous meals.

Below you will find some photos of these meals that we enjoyed. We hope it inspires you to cook some beautiful creations of your own!

New York steak with shallot butter

Billy gets our meat at the local butcher here in Chapala, and over the years, the butcher has been getting better and better quality. Here is a New York steak with shallot butter, surrounded by fresh green beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and roasted herbed potatoes. A slice of fresh Mexican bolillo on the side.

Leg of lamb in au jus

Billy purchased a bone-in leg of lamb from our same Chapala meat butcher. Billy de-boned it at home and when he roasted the leg, he also roasted that bone which he then used later to make the au jus.

This tender lamb is cooked a perfect medium. Surrounded by roasted herbed potatoes, fresh spinach and garlic tomatoes.

Filet mignon with shallot butter

This tender filet mignon is surrounded by a medley of fresh vegetables and tiny thyme potatoes.

We serve the beef with zesty horseradish, a perfect combination.

We like our horseradish a little "perky" and we can't find our favorite brand here in town. I have to make a special bus trip to neighboring towns to search for this tasty creamed condiment. When I finally find the bottle, I purchase several of them. It could be months before the store will carry it again.

Blackened salmon

There is a seafood vendor just down from the butcher where we are able to purchase salmon, shrimp, other seafood and shellfish. Here in Chapala, we are so fortunate for this easy access to fresh food.

Billy bought a half salmon, skin on, and portioned it out. Then he blackened this piece, and made a tropical lime butter sauce and placed the salmon on a bed of fresh spinach.

Shrimp fettuccine

Perfectly cooked al dente pasta with pesto, fresh parsley, onions, mushrooms, and freshly grated queso duro, which is the Mexican equivalent of parmesan.

Another terrific meal, Billly!

Parmesan encrusted pork medallions

This was another winning meal.

Billy purchases a complete pork tenderloin and then cuts it into portion sizes.

Utilizing the Mexican parmesan to cover the pork medallions, he sautéed them until they were crispy. Slicing an avocado, serving fresh carrots and onions, he then made an orange, caper, mushroom sauce to top it all off.

The sweet orangey taste against the salty cheese crust and the tangy capers made for unforgettable flavors.

Ragout of shrimp

This ragout of shrimp was delectable.

The sauce was made from reduced shrimp stock and butter. Fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and crispy bacon were added.

Surrounded by crusty garlic bread, and accompanied with a Chilean Chardonnay.

A fresh flan was purchased from a neighborhood pastry shop.

Gravlax appetizer plate

When Billy purchased his half-a-salmon from the fishmonger, I talked him into letting me use a piece to make one of our favorite dishes, gravlax. We used to make this at our restaurant decades ago.

I cure the salmon, skin on, with salt, sugar and dill. After wrapping it in saran and placing it in a lasagna pan, I weight it down and I turn it once. After 2 days, it's ready!

Here you see the gravlax, thinly sliced (and served with a mustard/yogurt/dill sauce) along with fresh figs from the market, and cold cooked spinach, garlic tomatoes and stone ground wheat crackers.

New York steak and garlic shrimp

This was a delicious New York steak with some garlic shrimp. Billy was inspired from a chef in Viet Nam for the Korean honey-butter potatoes, and we have some steamed fresh broccoli.

The potatoes were spicy/sweet with a crunchy outside.

Pulled BBQ pork sandwich

Mexico is famous for their carnitas, a deep fried pork that you can find vendors selling on the street. This makes it very easy to make BBQ pulled pork with onions and mushrooms.

We place this delicious treat on crusty bolillo and melt cheese on top.

An easy, simple, quick lunch.

Lamb cassoulet

Lamb, white beans, onions and tomatoes make for a great cassoulet. So much flavor!

Served with a fresh Mexican bolillo to dip into the broth.

Perfect!

We know a lot of you cook so we hope that our meals motivate you to put together some outstanding flavors of your own!

Pull out your best china, and create your own dining experience at home.

Remember, retirement is a lifestyle!

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Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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