No Sweet Potatoes for Thanksgiving? - Life in Costa Rica

Uh, hold up Ticos it isn't even Thanksgiving yet and the Christmas decorations are EVERYWHERE! 

Decorations are up all over Costa Rica and started about a month ago

Of course since Costa Rica does not celebrate "Thanksgiving" they start preparing for Xmas before Halloween. I went into my favorite store in downtown Grecia back in Oct and almost the entire store had turned into a Christmas store! 

Feria Friday

For our Friendsgiving today, my job is to bring the wine and sweet potatoes. Of course Costa Rica does not have yams or sweet potatoes like those back in the states.

So off I went to the feria in search of the mysterious Camote Zanahoria. Everyone I asked told me that there was no such thing. There are camotes (potato) and there are zanahorias (carrots) The Ticos use the camote in stews and they will puree the camote and carrots together to make a puree but they NEVER heard of a camote zanahoria! 

There are different varieties of camote, and the flesh ranges from white to a yam-like orange, although the skin is always a fuchia-purple. The oranger ones are very difficult to find. Under the direction of my expat friend, I did manage to hunt down the one vendor at the feria and purchased 7 of them. 

Yesterday I ended up making 2 versions. I boiled instead of baked - Option one -  camote with spices (butter, milk, cinnamon. nutmeg, brown sugar and a tad of vanilla & orange juice) Option two - I added the carrots to the mix and diced pecans. Used the mixer to whip them up. Then I added the carrot combo to Corn Bread mix and baked tiny muffins!

We shall see...

In the meantime, we are still on Hurricane watch but plan to have dinner @ 1pm. Storm due to make landfall at 5:09pm

 camote zanahoria

supposedly this is orange

regular white camote

The Sweet Potato (not yams), called CAMOTE in Spanish, are native to Costa Rica and considered to be one of the healthiest of all vegetables.

They grow in poor soil with little oversight or care, with their vines spreading out on top of the soil and their tasty tubers developing underground.

The leaves are edible also, prepared like a spinach, so this remarkable plant gives us two harvests.

Works double duty as a weed suppressor.

Have a wonderful holiday with friends and family!

Who "Kneads" Bread? - Cooking in Costa Rica

The lack of availability of some products here in Costa Rica often leaves no option but to make your own.

This is especially true where cooking is concerned. Costa Rica is not known for its food!!

Of course we all need to adapt to the local foods here but we also have the choice of improvising by finding recipes using products we find here locally and turning them into the foods we love and enjoy from our homes back in the states!

As bad as the Costa Rican cheese is -- the bread is equally as bad!!  It looks wonderful and smells great but it tastes terrible! At least to us North Americans. So many of the expats have taken to making their own.

I don't cook!

I got a recipe for no knead bread from one of my friends here and decided to give it a try.

It was very simple and easy to make. Next time I will try adding some herbs like basil, oregano or thyme. Also you can add oatmeal, cranberries, raisins (which sounds very yummy) The options are endless.

The original recipe will make 2 loaves of bread. You can bake one loaf and keep the other half in the refrigerator and bake later. It will keep for about a week.

I have a feeling I will be doing a lot more cooking around here!!!

Recipe

ONE
3 cups warm water

TWO
1 1/2 tablespoon yeast (dry/granulated) sorry for the sp typo in the video

THREE
1 tablespoon salt (Costa Rica salt has fluoride in it - so I am using fluoride free salt (it was a gift when we arrived and is very difficult to find - we have been unable to find it in the stores)

FOUR
7 1/2 cups of flour

Thats' s it!!!

It was so yummy that we had eaten 1/2 of it before I remembered to take some pictures

here's the video

(Oh FYI - I actually narrated the process in the video but the rain was so loud that you could hardly hear me so I  muted the sound and added directions. You can hear me pop in from time to time  - the sound is the rain in the background.)

Who "Kneads" Bread - Cooking in Costa Rica from Devon on Vimeo.

The Aspiring Expats in Costa Rica - Cooking with Margarita

I missed uploading last week because we have been so busy going here and there exploring this beautiful country. But, have no fear, I have many more videos to edit and upload and more stories to tell so stay tuned.

And BTW with so many of us to feed - there has been a whole lot of group cooking going on around our kitchen @ Casa de Coffey.

We have been trying to eat local foods and make some local dishes. One of my favorites is patacones - Yum - I was going to try making them one evening and lo and behold - what a joy it was when I discovered that our Aspiring Expat friend Margarita (from Cartagena Colombia) was an old pro at it. 

She took over and I grabbed the camera. 

A 5 minute video showing the 6 easy steps to perfect patacones!!

Check her out below. (Margarita has been our Spanish translator and also named the kitty for me) Thanks Margarita!!!

**Note - RE step 6 - it is water, garlic, salt and a glass of wine on the side 

Video Link here Itchy Feet Expat TV - Cooking with Margarita! from Devon on Vimeo.

Got ROACHES? 2 easy ways to get of them

We all know there are LOTS of bugs in Costa Rica and I really HATE roaches! Hate Hate Hate!

Hope I don't have any in my house there but if I do or you do, here's an easy way to get rid of them.

All you have to do to get rid of the cockroaches is to put slices of cucumbers in places you’ve noticed the roaches. The smell of cucumbers will keep them away because cucumbers stop the growth of harmful microbes, which acts as a barrier to cockroaches.

Replace the cucumber slices as needed, usually once a week.

In addition to placing the slices, you can use the cucumber’s peel to make a trap. Cucumber peels when placed in an aluminum can respond to the metal and deliver such a stink, to the point that isn’t decent to cockroaches and they die off.

How to Make Cucumber Trap to Get Rid of Roaches?

You Need This:

•       Crisp cucumber peels

•       Aluminum can

The execution:

•       Place the cucumber peels in the can

•       Place this can some place near a site where you think there are numerous cockroaches

Just sit tight for the nasty creatures to die away

The Gecko
And one last point, you probably have seen them around your house, the Gecko.

Be their friend, encourage them to hang out in your house as much as they want, you see, the house gecko is a natural predator of cockroaches.

No cockroach is too big for these lizards.

Even if they can’t swallow huge cockroaches, they consume their head.

A cockroach cannot survive for long without its head.

Article is reprint from QCostaRica

Fighting bugs in Costa Rica - Black in Costa Rica

No preparation for a trip to the tropics would be complete without some planning for how to keep the bugs at bay!

I would much rather use a natural repellent (if it works) and I'm all for anything using coconut oil, so I'm going to try this bug repellent recipe I got from a blog called This Amercan Girl when we go to Costa Rica.

but....just to be sure

I'm also going to take over some Skin so Soft  Bug Guard by Avon. After a ton of research we've heard good things about how it works on sandfleas/noseeums.

I'll be sure to report back.

Feliz Navidad Costa Rica style

A time honored tradition of making tamales in the Central American country of Costa Rica. 

The delicious taste of Watermelon, with or without the booze! - Black in Costa Rica

I was walking through our local Whole Foods market the other day and I began to wonder about all the different kind sod fruits available in Costa Rica. I knew there would be many new ones to try but I wondered about the availability of my old friend the watermelon. It's my go to fruit during the hot summer season. 

The Spanish word for watermelon is Sandia and the Spanish word Melon is a cantaloupe.

Costa Rican watermelons, cultivated primarily on the Central Pacific and in Guanacaste have been selling well in European and North American markets,

There is nothing more refreshing than an ice cold cocktail and this Costa Rican Watermelon Mojito will fill the bill in popsicle form. Quick to make and definitely fun to eat.

Recipe Read more

According to a recent report, the countries of Holland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Poland and the United States are some of the nations that import Costa Rican watermelons.

Even though Tico watermelons only make up 2.1 percent of the total U.S. watermelon market, that portion still accounts for 10.3 million kilos worth approximately $2.7 million, the ministerio said.

Holland has become the fruit's primary destination. Costa Rica shipped more than 14.2 million kilos there.

ingredients:

3/4 cup frozen coconut meat, slightly thawed 

1/2 cup full-fat canned coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 1/2 cups frozen watermelon chunks 

1/4 cup coconut water

2 tablespoons honey

salty lime sugar

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon flaked sea salt

and the zest of one lime





In total, Costa Rica has exported more than 37,756 tons of watermelon worth $7,417,051 in the months between January and May of this year, the ministerio said. That's a 22 percent increase from last year.

Eat it, or drink it, either way it's very refreshing fruit and good for you as well.

Consuming fruits and vegetables of all kinds has long been associated with a reduced risk of many lifestyle-related health conditions. Many studies have suggested that increasing consumption of plant foods like watermelon decreases the risk of obesity and overall mortality, diabetes, heart disease and promotes a healthy complexion and hair, increased energy, overall lower weight.