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Published: December 17th 2012
Regalo de Maria
My clever gift :)The Christmas party on Friday was fun, but I wish I spoke more Spanish. It's hard to sit there while everyone laughs and wait until someone can explain the joke to me in English. Fortunately, everyone thought my gift was amusing. Not the gift itself, which was candles and lotion, but my "secret friend's" name was Maria, so I took a packet of a popular local cookie, Maria Cookies, and taped it to the top. Then I took a sharpie and wrote Para (to or for) in front of the name. I'm glad I can make people laugh even without speaking their language. I got a pair of earrings and a lipgloss palette from my secret friend.
While presents are always fun, the highlight of this day for me was learning to make patacones!!! They are fried and smashed plantains, and they are absolutely delicious. Nadia taught me how to make them, and I plan on trying my hand at them again when my family gets here. Along with the patacones, we had A LOT of food. There were chips, cheese curls, popcorn, cake, pineapple uside down cake, ice cream, chicken, patacones, spinach chip dip, tuna chip dip, Mora (blackberry)
Frying Plantains
Step one in making Patacones. juice, and I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting too.
I spent Saturday in Volcan, trying to buy things that I need now that I have a functioning stove. Unfortunately, I noticed that my oven does not have a rack in it, so I decided that I would look for something that I could use as a rack in my oven. Things I didn't find: oven rack, cookie sheet, sauce pan w/ a handle, pie-plate, shortening, baking powder, and baking soda. I did find myself an aluminum foil round cake pan that I'm going to try to use for an apple pie once I find a rack for my oven, though I'll have to substitute more butter for shortening to make it. I also really wanted to make cookies, but the recipe that I want to make requires baking soda and baking powder.
When I got home, I took the wire rack off of my brick BBQ pit outside my house. It fits in my oven, but is too long to close the door. I asked Tomas today if it could be cut, and he said he'd bring something to cut it tomorrow. I spent some time with
Smashing Patacones
Step two in making patacones. After smashing you fry them for a little bit longer and then they're ready to eat! aluminum foil and water scraping the rust off of the rack. Just in case anyone ever needed to know how to get rust off of chrome, that's how you do it, it's very easy.
Fortunately, I did have the ingredients that I needed to make rice pudding, so I made it. I've never tried to make it before, so I was happy that it turned out all right.
Sunday, I brought the rice pudding up to the office and shared some with Nadia, then went on a hike to a waterfall nearby. I was testing out the hike that I want to take my family on, and I think it will do just fine. Next week I plan on trying the 3 Cascadas hike. It's a little bit longer, but you get to see three waterfalls instead of only one.
After hiking, I came back and changed clothes, then walked down to town with Nadia after she got off of work. I went to get fresas con crema, but they were out of strawberries! Dejected, I walked over to Los Quetzales and asked if Carlos (the owner) was there. He wasn't, but they said he'd be back
ALL the food
So much food... the chicken wasn't even on the table yet when I took this! in a half hour or so. I went upstairs to wait for him. When he finally got there, I asked him the two questions I had, and then he asked me if I wanted hot chocolate and introduced me to some other people there. After they left, he said he was about to eat supper, and invited me to have spaghetti there at the restaurant with him, and then he offered me dessert as well. I had flan with vanilla ice cream. I felt spoiled, but happy for a delicious meal. I ended up talking with him until almost eleven at night when he drove me back to Finca Dracula.
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Grandma Linn
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Soon!
I love the pictures and, of course, your words. I'm glad to hear you are doing some good eating! Wow! It won't be long! I've been doing a lot of thinking and laying things out to take. It will be so good to see the places and people you write about. I've been very busy and haven't been looking at email--not even going near the computer because it sucks me in. Reading your blog is all I am doing right now. I'm going to CVS to print some pictures to take with me to Released Time this afternoon. I love you, Grandma