Food and Fun!

A glorious day of food and fun! Today I woke at a leisurely 6am, went on a short jog, splashing my face with water from the Chachagua River at my halfway point, and arrived at Casa Luna by 8am to feast on a breakfast of fresh homemade yogurt, papaya, granola, and bananas that I picked on my way to the lodge. Delicious. Shortly afterward Angelica, one of our lovely staff members, began making fresh tortillas, which I couldn’t resist eating. Savoring each bite, I gobbled up three with fresh natilla. Natilla is sort of like richer version of sour cream; it’s made by skimming the cream off chilled fresh cow’s milk and letting it sit to ferment for a day or two. Irresistible.

Lately, the women staff members have been fundraising for new uniforms and it’s been nothing but gastronomic delight. They began by brewing ronpompe, a sort of Costa Rican eggnog made with milk, cinnamon, and rum. They then froze the heavenly concoction in little plastic bags, turning it into an apretado, or as it’s called in the San Carlos area of Costa Rica, a chirivisco. Chirivisco is the term for any ice-cream-like substance frozen in the plastic bags. Once it’s frozen, you are supposed gnaw off a corner of the bag and then eat the cold yumminess inside. In addition to ronpompe, the girls have been making blackberry, natilla (so rich!), and rum raisin chiriviscos!

Today they added to that list by making coconut chiriviscos. I helped them by grating fresh coconut, which was nothing but pure pleasure since I was instructed to eat the smallest bits that could not be further grated. We had Walter, our multi-faceted family farm member and my former home-stay dad, hack off the outer shell of the coconut with a knife so that nothing remained but a hollow ball of coconut meat. Some of the coconuts had a sprouted seed in the middle, which was delicious! I’d never seen or eaten one before. It was a spongy textured ball of coconut goodness.

The ladies have also been making lunches as part of their fundraising efforts. Today they made hot ham and cheese sandwiches, served with a glass of Coke. I haven’t had a sandwich or seen Coke since I’ve been here, so it was a surprising treat. Another day they made hamburgers! It’s been so fun helping out in the kitchen and learning new recipes. Hopefully when I go back home I’ll be able to make some of the delicious dishes I’ve been eating here, like arroz con leche (a rice pudding), pastel de yucca (a kind of yucca lasagna), arroz con pollo, ronpompe, and, of course, dishes that include lots of ginger and turmeric!