Lovely Saturday Morning

Went out with a dozen friends last night and had a blast, but I was thrilled to come home and get back to reading some the the incredible books my sister Kylie sent me. She’s been collecting these since I was in Costa Rica, reading most, but decided that during her last couple semesters in school I’d have more time to read them. Check out all that she sent:

The only thing not pictured is a pink heart shaped Pez dispenser with “Dream” printed on it. I gave it to Jim as he loves Pez and I wanted him to feel included in the package receiving.

But seriously, look at all those goodies!!! I had already read most of Skinny Bitch and Food Rules, but I’m happy to get to read them again. (I already read Food Rules in the bath tub 2 days ago.) I’ve also been reading Ani Phyo’s book (which Kylie won in a blog giveaway!) and The Coconut Oil book. I’m coo coo for coconut in all it’s forms but I had no idea that coconut oil has helped so many fight yeast problems. This was awesome information for me as I am highly susceptible to yeast problems (which I’ve been able to keep under control only by diet and daily probiotics). All the other books I’m so excited to finally read, rather than just flip through in airports or bookstores. Also, I’m pumped to watch the documentary Food Fight. Kylie actually got to meet the maker, helped do some promotion for the L.A. premier, and got to attend the premier too. I’m loving how many documentaries on food have been coming out. Totally rad.

So after reading until my eyes started to close, I went to bed, sleeping in! This is such a luxury since I wake up at 5am Monday through Friday for my new job as the baker and sous chef for Gindi Cafe (which I love). OH! I also had my first catering gig for 12 people a couple weeks ago. It was such a success but I’ll tell you more about that another time. For now, let’s get to breakfast…

This was awesome! Gluten free oatmeal (cooked) with chia seeds, some coconut flour, and coconut butter. I then topped it with large flakes of coconut, walnuts, a dash of cinnamon and a splash of almond milk. So coconuty and SO GOOD! I also had a glass of Amazing Grass’ Original Amazing Meal blitzed with frozen bananas and almond milk. It was good, but I’m obsessed with their Chocolate flavor!

Next up, Lafayette’s Peach Festival!

How Many Cars Did We Drive in Costa Rica?

Between arriving in Costa Rica on September 17th and leaving April 22nd we drove a few vehicles.

First was our Mitsubishi rental car…

Which needed it’s battery changed before we could take it off the rental car lot.

We had hoped to find a car within a week and although we did, there were many hoops to jump through before we could get it. Some of the hoops were getting in touch with the owner, how to pay for the car when our cashier’s check wasn’t accepted by the bank (Oh, Costa Rica), getting a few things fixed on the car, as well as having the right papers (everything is done through lawyers there) and getting it to pass the required inspections.

We didn’t want to keep our rental but needed a car. Thankfully our new friend Jason (who helped us find our place) lent us his car while he was away in California for ten days (at a cheaper price than the rental car). We drove our rental back to San Jose, stopping to eat at a Middle Eastern restaurant that we love, before returning it and taking a bus back to Jaco, where we got the car from Jason.

Like most cars in Costa Rica, Jason’s had it’s quirks. Of course it did not have any AC.  The windows would stick so you’d have to help them up and down. The driver’s window was so bad that you could break into the car just by pushing the window down from the outside. During a parade in Jaco one day Jason saw a guy walking down the road with flip flops, sunglasses, and a towel similar to his. The more he thought about it the more it was clear the guy had stolen his stuff out of his car. Luckily Jason just had to approach him and ask for his stuff back, but the guy had clearly seen him struggle with his broken window previously.

The greatest thing about Jason’s car was that we could fit a surfboard in it. It didn’t have racks to put the board on top, but it fit inside nicely. This allowed us to not only pick up the long board that Jim borrowed from a friend while he looked for one to purchase, but also allowed us to take it to and from Jaco when he’s surfed with friends there.

Jason got back to Costa Rica, but we were still in the process of waiting for everything to come together in order to buy our car and then the car had to get some things fixed immediately. Thankfully our friends Noah and Erik came into town and let us use their van when we needed to go into town. (They drove from Colorado to the tip of Argentina. To read about their adventures and see incredible pictures check out Noah’s blog or Erik’s.)

Then we had another rental while our car was in the shop with Eduardo (the first of a few times). Eduardo was hysterical, he was all about the fist bump and loved Coca Cola. I learned a lot about cars from him, which is funny because I don’t speak much Spanish and he doesn’t speak much English. Thank goodness for universal gestures/sign language.

Then we finally got Esteban, which Jim named and because of it refuses to name another car again. (You’ll understand why soon enough.) We we thankful to find a Toyota we could afford as cars are twice as expensive in Costa Rica as they are in the US because of an outrageously high importation tax. In full disclosure we had set aside about $5-6k for a car, but thought we were getting a deal on Esteban at a price of $2,600. Esteban was a 1987 4-runner (AKA old enough to drink).

Esteban has some “character” as my dad would put it. Here is the rusted wire hanger “antennae,” though the stereo didn’t work though.

The 1987 4-Runners only have two doors. The passenger-side door, as you can see, was missing the electrical needed for the window (meaning the driver had to open the window for the passenger every time) and the buttons.

The passenger-door also had two handles, just in case your sitting the the back seat and either no one is sitting in front of you (and you’re making the driver drive you around like a taxi driver) or the person who’s sitting in the passenger seat gets out and closes the door on you.

Esteban did have those sweet window visors which really helps us get air (we didn’t have AC) when it was raining.

The window on the back door started sliding down as we’d drive. This wasn’t always fixed by just pressing the window’s buttons or pulling over, opening and closing the door. It became unbearable when my mother-in-law came to visit, and it went down and stayed down while we were driving into town, with me sitting the the back. The exhaust was horrific. Thankfully she was willing to rent a car during her stay (and even let us hold onto it a few days longer) while Esteban went into the shop to see Eduardo for the second time. The issue was that the window wasn’t the original and had been replaced with one that had belonged to a whole different kind of car. Eduardo did his best to “fix” it.

The issue continued and we brought Esteban back to Eduardo and had him replace the back door with a whole “new” door of another 1987 4-Runner. Oh Costa Rica!

So Esteban was in decent working order for a bit. We drove to and from Jaco and to places for Jim to surf and me to walk for hours. Esteban then started to act up a bit. We’d be driving in the lower gears and the car would shut off, but we’d be able to just start the car again and we’d go on our way. We were going to take it into see Eduardo again, but then on the way into Jaco with a friend of mine it started making some funny noises, it did it’s usual shut off, the car started to smell, and it wouldn’t start back up. We hitchhiked back to the “village” Jim and I lived, found Jim on his way home from surfing and sent him with one of the keeper of the grounds of our community, Marcos, to go tow it to a mechanic Marcos and many of the people we knew recommended.

When we went back a few days later with our new friends and visitors from Boulder, Gwen and Joel (their car not shown) we were surprised to find Esteban’s guts all over the place.

Some were in the trunk.

Few were under the hood.

And more were  on the ground.

The repairs were cost prohibitive, so we made an agreement to sell the car to Dennis for a couple grand for parts, though he actually fixed it and sold the car to someone in San Jose.

So we needed to find another car (maybe even a long term rental) but in the meantime we got a short term rental car (read expensive). This little hatchback was great. We could fit Jim’s surf board inside and ride comfortably.

It was great until the bumper fell off. Seriously, it just fell the fuck off while we were driving in down the main drag in Jaco.

After creating a mini scene at the rental car place and Jim being all patient we got a replacement rental car.

We started looking for cars to buy or even rent long term. We took a trip with our friend Surfer Mike to the central valley to look at cars, but nothing was in our price range (which was low as we had already spent so much money on cars).  We also needed to get our money from Dennis for Esteban. We probably visited Dennis over two dozen times before we actually got the money. Oh Tico Time!

Here’s Jim cleaning out the last of our belongings out of Esteban, with the radiator in the cab.

While we were waiting (which you tend to do a lot of when trying to get things done in Costa Rica) we returned out rental and took a trip with our friend Raeann to Nosara. Here is a view out the back of her car as we drove through a river.

While in Nosara we rode in our hosts’ car a couple times (one of which we had to stop and fix a tire in the dark) and also rode in their golf cart.

When we got back we got a mini rental. Thank goodness Jim’s board fit on top.

Finally after months of car issues, we found a guy who was renting his car long term out of San Jose. We drove the mini car there and then we each drove back. I must say that learning to drive stick shift and feel confident driving around San Jose were the best things that came out of all of our car troubles. Here’s our long term rental:

Two things that needed to be done soon after getting our long term rental was get the breaks replaced, including the parking break, and take it for it’s emissions test. Dennis did the work on the breaks and during that time lent us his car. This is the type of car we probably should have gone for in the beginning, rather than be enchanted with the Toyota brand. We were warned about buying a car by the beach as the elements do a number on cars. As you know though, we didn’t listen. Next time! Neat thing about this car of Dennis’ is that the speedometer didn’t work.

Here are the worthless brake pads:

All in all our long term rental served us well. Just before leaving Jim found an email from just before we moved down to Costa Rica and it was to the owner of the long term rental about the same car. In the email it was for sale. If we had bought it, we would have saved thousands of dollars. Oh well!

Before driving the car back to San Jose to return it to the owner, we had the car washed. The young guy who did the bulk of the cleaning hit on me, in Spanish of course. I told him I was married and showed him my ring. When Jim showed up he asked his he was my father because of his beard. Cheeky kid.

Here’s an entertaining sign at the Lava Car Wash:

While I was waiting I noticed that another car there had the standard Jesus sticker on it:

While in San Jose, before we dropped off the long term rental to its owner (who was a real character) we picked up our last rental car of our stay:

So we drove a lot of cars. Four of which our visitors rented and we got to drive. Let’s see, that adds up to 18 cars we rode/drove in more than once (that I can count/remember). All of them were a financial investment because at the very least we paid for gas. This does not include cabs or buses we took either.

Clearly we learned some great lessons. Some of which are: Cars in Costa Rica cost more than in the U.S. due to outrageously high importation tax, don’t buy a car by the beach as they won’t last long due to the damage the elements have done to them, don’t be enchanted by brand names you know, don’t buy a car that is old enough to drink, don’t try to save money on a fix-er-up car, plan to spend $4k+ on a car, and if you have a bad feeling in your guy about the seller don’t buy from them. There are many more lessons, but I think I could go on for a while.

So when people say, “Seven months? But I thought you were going to stay longer?” My response is, “We thought so too.”

Harvesting Plantains

Remember when I posted about the banana’s growing in our backyard? Well we were wrong. They were plantains. They grew quite steadily too. One morning I noticed that one of the trees had fallen over, so Jim went out and hacked it with our machete, dumping it behind our house to return to the earth and the river. While he was at it he hacked off the massive plantains.

The girls were so fascinated with what Jim was doing, they watched attentively. Aren’t they the cutest?!

Then they got some morning love from me before I headed to yoga. Jim wanted to know if I wanted the plantains to cook with but I suggested that we throw them behind our house so that the monkeys would come back. We ate plenty plantains anyway. My idea actually worked and our friends Brad, Chandler, and Baby O got to see them while they were visiting.

But back to bananas. While BCO (Brad, Chandler, and Baby O) stayed with us Chandler got some of those tiny bananas for Owen. He loved them and I just think they are the cutest things ever. They are a little sweeter than regular banana in my opinion, but otherwise just smaller. I see them in the grocery stores here in the US too. Do any of you prefer them or use them in particular dishes or dessert?

And We’re Back

So we’re back in Boulder. Our dear friends Brad, Chandler, Baby O and their dog Honey let us live with them in their home (giving us the master bedroom and lots of cupboard space) for the first 3+ weeks. They even lent us one of their cars when we didn’t have transportation. They had been staying/visiting with us in Costa Rica (and they got married!) for 3 weeks prior to our coming back, so it’s pretty rad that we all still love each other.

So a couple days after getting back to Boulder (which was way too cold at the end of April) we got a car. (Not two, but one. More on that in another post.) She had a couple issue right off the bat (AC didn’t work, the hatchback didn’t close, and a few other things), but they have been fixed. She also is an L.L. Bean Edition, meaning it has some neat features (heated seats, 2 sun/moon roofs, and a great stereo with auxiliary input). Our fingers are crossed we didn’t bring our streak of car problems back with us. She’s not named yet, but if you’ve got a good name for her, let me know.

Many people ask if we’re happy to be back. The truth is  both “no” and “yes.” Our plan was to still be there and if we didn’t have all the car issues, we’d still be there. It has also snowed 6 times since we’ve been back, which just isn’t right. It’s true we have a great community of friends here, but it’s strange coming back after so many experiences and changes to a place that hasn’t changed much. We also miss the beach and our pura vida life, a lot.

There was much from our 7 months that I haven’t posted yet; much adventure, food, and just plain fun with Jim and the girls. We have also been up to a lot since coming back like how we’re trying to transfer our simplistic life from Costa Rica to Boulder, looking for jobs, our gardens, more food, friends, and fun. So check back soon!

Jim’s 28th Birthday

Jim’s birthday was April 1st. Yes, his birthday is April Fools Day. Poor guy. He may not have been made fun of for his name, but sharing your birthday with a holiday based on fooling people couldn’t have been great.

Jim told me that the day before he turned 28 he remembered that ever since we was a teenager he was sure he was going to die when he was 27. I mean both Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix died when they were 27, so it makes sense right?!

Anyway, since we had guests arriving Jim spent much of his birthday cleaning, but he was determined to surf, and I was determined to make a birthday dinner of his choosing. Well the surf sucked that day (and the next, but thankfully it was much better the following morning) and rather than mixing all my ingredients together for the vegan, refined sugar free, coconut lime ice cream before adding them to the ice cream maker I added them one at a time and it just didn’t work. (Thankfully I was able to salvage all the ingredients and do it again the following day.)

Alright, so as I mentioned I made Jim a dinner of his choosing. (This is a birthday tradition of my family’s.) He chose homemade pesto (with Parmesan, although he likes my vegan version too) over penne pasta with chopped tomatoes. I also made a small salad with my simple balsamic vinaigrette.

Jim’s favorite dessert is key lime pie. Well they don’t have key limes down here, but they do have his favorite tropical fruit, passion fruit. (They also don’t have graham crackers but coconut cookies made for an excellent crust.)

So, before I continue with photos and recipes and such, I need to share something. I’ve only been baking vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free food for over 6 months now, BUT this was an exception. It’s what Jim loves and it was important for me to be truly generous, rather than make him what I think he ought to have. (He also loves my raw lime tarts, so back in the US we’ll be doing more of that, and I may try a raw passion fruit tart, I just think the avocado and the passion fruit will make the filling an ugly color. Suppose I should just try though right? Plus I’m dying to work with Irish moss.) Lastly, I ate some. It may not be a big deal to some, but I want to be honest about what I’m consuming (more on that in another post) as I’m eating mostly vegan these days.

Alright, so here’s the pie and ice “cream”:

Passion Fruit Pie
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 bag coconut cookies, crushed (~2 cups crumbs)
3 tablespoons Sugar (I used brown)
1 cube (1/4 lb) Margarine or Butter, at room temp or slightly melted but not hot

Pie Filling:
5 large or extra large Egg Yolks
1 14 ounce can Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4-1 cup fresh Passion Fruit Juice (3-4 passion fruit) Acquire juice by briefly zipping up the passion fruit seeds and pulp in a food processor, then strain, squeezing out any excess juice.

Directions:
Crust:
Mix the ingredients and press them into a 9″ pie plate.  Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 10 – 15 minutes until lightly browned. Place on a rack to cool.

Pie Filling:
Use an electric mixer and beat the Egg Yolks until they are thick and turn to a light yellow, don’t over mix. Turn the mixer off and add the Sweetened Condensed Milk. Turn speed to low and mix in half of the Passion Fruit Juice. Once the Juice is incorporated, add the other half of the Juice, continue to mix until blended (just a few seconds). Pour the mixture into the pie shell and bake at 350F for 12-20 minutes to set the Yolks and kill any salmonella in the eggs.

The pie was such a hit with Jim and our friends who helped us finish it off the following day that I made a second one (that was also eaten quickly) with part passion fruit juice, part lime juice.

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