Friday, November 09, 2001

Hola Amigos y Familia, 

One of our favorite things about being in Costa Rica was the new and delicious food.  Several of you asked for recipes, so here they are. Here's a short description of the recipes. 

(Recipes to be posted soon.)

Breadfruit bread – an unusual sweet bread using very ripe breadfruit. 

Budin - a dessert that is a cross between bread pudding and flan.  It has a moist, brownie-like texture.  Not low calorie; partly to blame for the way my shorts are fitting now.

Chalupas - pureed black beans on a crisp corn tortilla with a lime tomato salsa.  Very tasty for such a simple food.   

Choriadas - corn pancakes made from fresh pureed corn.  Delicious!

Egg loaf - the Villa Decary breakfast special made of eggs, milk, vegetables, cheese and croutons.   Good with or without the egg loaf salsa. 

Egg loaf salsa - a barbeque-like sauce that can be used on the egg loaf.

Gallo pinto - popular beans and rice dish that is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Macadamia butter crisps - thin, sweet bars topped with macadamias.  Very tasty!

Papaya and potato tacos - adapted from a dish served at a nearby restaurant (Toad Hall), this unusual combination of flavors was one of our favorite meals in Costa Rica. 

Papaya seed dressing - this delicious dressing uses the peppery seeds from the papaya.  Even if the papayas in the US are tasteless, the seeds are worth the purchase price.

Shrimp and papaya patties - sort of like crab cakes in texture, but not in taste.  A hit with the family. 

Tamarind ginger salsa - if you can ever find tamarind seeds with pulp intact in the US, this is a great use for them.  We used this flavorful salsa on fish, pork and papaya and potato tacos.  I think I will miss tamarinds as much as the howler monkeys.  Jim said he would miss the tamarinds more.  He can eat a tamarind, but he doesn't want to eat a monkey.  For Jim, it's all about food.

Un abrazo y un beso,
Mary

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