What a Great Day!

Yesterday was just a great day all around. In terms of accomplishing "work" tasks, it was entirely a wash, but... that's not to say other good things didn't come of the day.

Yesterday was a holiday from school because it was the Day of the Virgin of Los Angeles, who is the patron virgin of Costa Rica. This day is not only a national holiday, but it's also the day that thousands of Costa Rican people participate in a pilgrimage. People walk from their towns all over the country to the cathedral in Cartago to visit the virgin. People started gearing up for the event last week, preparing packs and walking shoes and some setting out over a week in advance to arrive on Aug. 2 in Cartago. This year, I didn't participate in the pilgrimage, but I'm thinking about it for next year. It's a really interesting cultural tradition.

Instead of walking various days to visit a cathedral, I stayed home, slept in, baked cookies and found a new apartment. Yep, that's right, I'm moving! I've been talking about moving with my host mom, and we've both been talking to people to see what's available in town. Yesterday I looked at two places and one of them is gonna work out just perfect. It's a little one bedroom apartment, and there isn't much to it, but nonetheless, I'll have my own space. As much as I love my host family, they are wonderful, I'm excited to have a place of my own.

So that's the big news. Apart from that my trip to the grocery store yesterday was also great because I found out they now sell Pepperidge Farm cookies. Milanos... mmm. Great new item, even if I'm likely the only one who will buy them. I was also able to buy semi-sweet chocolate chips; a rarity around here, sometimes there are no chocolate chips at all. And finally, I found everything I needed to make homemade Girl Scout cookies. How is that not a great thing?

I found a recipe for homemade Tagalongs, which are the chocolate ones filled with peanut butter. I tried to explain to people here about the Girl Scouts and how we buy boxes and boxes of cookies, but I don't think they understood. They have Girl Scouts here, but they don't sell cookies. The cookies were pretty close to the original and they turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. The recipe for the cookies is in the recipes section of the blog if you want to give it a try.

There's a National Lasagne Day?

Last Friday was National Lasagna Day in the United States. You didn't know that? Well, it was.

This day is not something I usually recognize, because for one, how the heck am I supposed to make decorations for Lasagna Day? Secondly, I didn't actually know that it existed until last Friday when I was browsing the "Runner's World" website and this important morsel of information appeared in one of the articles. The only reason I'm mentioning this at all is because after I thought about how delicious lasagna was I couldn't get it off my mind and I proceeded to spend at least an hour paroozing lasagna recipes...then some cake recipes...then some soup recipes...and so on.

I had no idea food blogging was such a popular thing. I knew about recipe sites on line and a few food blogs, the good 'ol Food Network site and stuff like that; but I had no idea how many people were out there cooking and blogging AND taking mouth-watering photos. It's fascinating, really, how many of them exist.

If you like cooking, baking, or even just eating, you really should take a look at these. Get ready for your mouth to water:
Food Buzz
Food Gawker

Gallo Pinto

Gallo Pinto

The most Costa Rican of all Costa Rican foods. Eat it for breakfast with eggs or meat, and remember having rice and bean and having Gallo Pinto are NOT the same thing.

Chimmichurri

Chimmichurri

Kind of like salsa, but with bananas. Eat it by itself. Put it on top of rice and beans. Or eat it with tortilla chips.

Corn Tortillas

Corn Tortillas

The simplest of local foods

Plantain Empanadas

Empanadas de Platano/Plantain Empanadas

Small, soft and slightly sweet

Brownies=Delicious

 Brownies 

Cultural side note: Costa Rican cakes and pastries are generally drier, and in my opinion lacking flavor, and I found that many people here are not very fond of brownies because they're so rich and unlike local pastries. Which means, more for me.

Granola Bars

Granola Bars

Better than boxed, perfect fuel for biking Costa Rica

Mole Sauce

Mole Sauce- This traditional Mexican sauce is entirely delicious and very easy. Tastes great on chicken, or anything else. I used it in enchiladas, instead of enchilada sauce.

Tomato Soup

 Tomato Soup

Homemade Marshmallow

These are so much better than store bought. Really, you have to try them. Try them with homemade graham crackers!

Tasty Sugar Cookie

In my opinion, sugar cookies are a must for basically every holiday. These are easy, the only trick is not to overbake, so they're nice and soft.

Graham Crackers

Graham Crackers
Who knew you could make these at home? They are quite easy and since I haven't seen them anywhere in Costa Rica I was really excited about this recipe. They taste just like graham crackers and they are even more filling than the store bought kind. Topped with peanut butter and a few chocolate chips... mmm, a taste of home.

Homemade Tagalongs

Tagalongs
You don't have to wait all year for the Girl Scouts to start selling, you can make 'em at home. Keep an eye out for a homemade Samoa recipe, coming soon :)

Carrot Cake...If it has vegetables in it, it's healthy, right?

Recipe from Brenda's Creative Cakery, but with a twist for Costa Rica

Also, I tried making this recipe gluten-free just to see if it would work. I substituted regular flour with oat flour. The texture turned out just right but it wasn't quite sweet enough, if you do that I would advise increasing the sugar by 1/4 to 1/2 c. Another option is to add some honey or brown sugar, maybe a 1/4 c.

Side note: Oat flour in Latin America is called "fresco de avena", they use it here to make a drink.

2 1/4 c. flour
2 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. oil
3 c. carrots
1 1/2 tsp. soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon
5 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
*To make it "Costa Rican" add 1/2 c. shredded coconut, fresh if possible :)
Parchment paper for lining pans

Instructions:

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Add carrots and oil.
3. Add eggs one at a time and beat for 1 min. on med-high. Don't over mix this batter.
4. Bake in parchment paper lined pans for 30 min at 350 degrees F. Makes 2 8"rounds