Blackouts Are The Best Time To Play Dominoes

We’ve had a couple blackouts since we’ve been here but usually they don’t last long. In December we had one that lasted almost 6 hours. Jim and I had been having a bit of a funky day but playing dominoes by candlelight made everything alright. Our house’s set of dominoes goes up to double 12s, but we decided to start at 8s and work our way down. What follows is how it played out.

(The above photo basically shows the end of the game. Those are Jim’s dominoes at the top, for a total of 268 points. Shoulda quit while he was behind.)

I’m a bit competitive when it comes to tile games (Rummikub in particular). In a moment of being a poor loser I was too eager to get on to the next round (and redeem myself) that forgot to take a picture of Jim beating me at the round of 4s. This next photo is in honor of our friend Jen who doesn’t like to mix up the tiles because she’s a bit of a germaphobe (and a nurse). Her husband Paul finds this to be hysterical and will yell “Hand orgy!” which triggers Jen to promptly get up and wash her hands.

And again, I forgot to take a photo when I lost. Clearly I need to work on that. I was beating Jim by a whole lot (which makes my being a poor loser even more ridiculous) so we decided we’d leave the tile out and play 12s-9s the next day.

We decided to whip up some guacamole and veggies for dinner (by headlamp) and watch a movie until Jim’s computer battery ran out (which is didn’t). My computer died not too long after the power went out. Apple beats HP.

After the movie we got ready for bed and as I was showering at 11pm the power came back on, which was nice as it was a bit hot without the fans going.

The next evening we got back to playing the bonus rounds to see if Jim could redeem himself.

When we were picking to find the double 10 tile, we didn’t find it until it was the last one. This is so rare that our friend Paul (who introduced us to the game) says he’s never seen it happen. Having power, we Skyped him and the rest of his household  (including the birthday boy Tashi) and told them about it. If only we could find a way to play dominoes together over Skype!

Who is the Dominoes Champion? That be me (by over 100 points). Booya! (Ah right, I need to work on being a humble winner to huh?! Work in Progress.)

Flood

It rained about 8 hours straight yesterday. There was much thunder and lightening too. At the beginning of the storm, it wasn’t raining too much. I was at our kitchen sink washing some dishes when I saw lightening strike in our neighbor’s yard. The volume was greater and the sound more disturbing than anything I’ve ever heard. Poor Sasha was outside and it took Jim going out to find her to get her to move inside.

The rain became more powerful and the thunder continued as well. The power flickered many times but never went out. I quickly finished up some cooking I was doing and joined Jim on the couch to read. Lita was in her typical sprawled out position on the floor but Sasha was leaning into me, panting, her heart racing.

I was reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and stopped to talk to Jim about the topic of letting go of attachments. As a practicing Buddhist, it’s part of my path to notice and let go of my attachments without gaining the new attachment of being someone without attachments. The ego is powerful! I can grasp the idea of letting go of my belongings, but the ideas I hold about myself as well my attachment to Jim are more difficult for me to even have the willingness to let go of. Concerning attachments Tolle writes, “Do you realize that you will have to let go of ____ at some point, perhaps quite soon? How much more time do you need before you will be ready to let go of it? Will you become less when you let go of it? Has who you are become diminished by the loss?” I find these questions intriguing.

Anyway, while talking the storm got worse. The rain poured. The sound was tremendous. It was still light out and we looked outside. The road of our community had become a fast flowing river! The builder, an American guy who lives here, was wading upstream with an umbrella. Jim got the camera and the tripod and attempted to take a few pictures. I joined him outside briefly to take a photo of him in the road, water up to his knees. We decided to go check on the creek behind our house and it was at full as it could be without overflowing.

The sky continued to dump water. We quickly picked things up outside. Jim tied our trash bin that was starting to flow away to the carport. As soon as we got inside the water moved up our driveway and then covered both our front and back patios. I quickly sent a Skype message over to our landlord letting her know we’d do everything we can but we weren’t not sure what would happen. She assured me that we wouldn’t be held responsible for any damage. Jim and I then quickly picked up everything we could off the ground, wedged some towels between our front door gate and wooden door, unplugged our electronics, and tried not to panic.

The water came up to both our front and back doors. Any further and it would have come in. This lasted for hours. We kept checking the front and back of the house by turning on our porch lights which thankfully are on the inside of the house. At one point we did get a little stream of water from the front door but Jim was able to stop it. We had some dinner that thankfully only required cooking up some rice and chopping up some veggies, as the beans had been marinating for most of the day. We also fed the girls, but we couldn’t let them out to go potty afterward. Ultimately the rain covered the whole bottom part of our truck’s tires so that you couldn’t see any black.

At some point, after much praying (mostly to calm myself down), the rain started to recede. It took a long while, but the water moved off the patios and off the driveway. The girls were thankful to go out, but weren’t interested in being out for long as it was a bit eerie. The nice thing about the rain here is that it cools everything off. I baked some chocolate pumpkin muffins and we watched 30 minutes of a movie before heading to bed with our books.

We were woken in the morning by neighbors talking outside. The water was off. Thankfully we also use the 5 gallon purified water too. We made breakfast and got ready to head into Jaco. One neighbor stopped by to see how we managed. He lives just next door and had water come though the front door and settle to one side of his house. Most of the homes had it much worse. All the first levels of the townhomes got a couple inches of water and many other houses got a lot of water. One down the road a few houses got over a foot in the house and the stainless steel fridge was carried by the water and toppled over. All the furniture ruined and the flood had completely covered their pool, leaving it a muddy brown. Most of these owners (90%) don’t live here.

When we went into town, no one outside of Bejuco had experienced the kind of flooding we had seen. My new friend Claire bathed in her pool, since she didn’t have water in the morning either. It hadn’t rained in San Jose at all. We saw some trees were knocked over and there was mud on the road in spots on the way to Jaco, but it is miraculous how the earth here soaks up the rain or flushes it our into the ocean. When we went to pay our landlord rent she said she had received an email from Arlene, the HOA lady, and heard about the damage. She was very relieved that her place was alright.

When we returned to Bejuco I talked to Arlene’s husband Greg and asked him how they did last night. They like us were very lucky. He said in the 7 years they’ve lived here they’ve never seen anything like it. The had insurance people come check out the homes that had insurance and have notified all the home owners. He said that the water has come up to your ankles in the road before and that the water in the creek has even come up as high as the bridge before, but the source of the flooding seemed to come from a dip in the creek barrier just east of us where they are building. The builders had taken a chunk out of the barrier month ago to possibly put in a bridge, but hadn’t done so nor covered it back up. The same builders had put in a road that channeled some water from the river at that dip to directly east of our community directing it toward us and toward the ocean. One of the father’s of a family here had managed to rig two of his surfboards in the shape of a “V” to divert the water away from their office which was their major flood spot.

Greg pointed out that the father and son who are the gardeners are cleaning the damaged homes as best they can (without water) to make a little extra money, but that most of the homes’ furniture is damaged. He said that he had contacted the Municipality and hoped that they’d come out and look at the poor work the construction people did in the land to the east of us. He also said he was hoping to get some sacks that he could fill with sand and put in the place of the hole until someone fixes it. I told him that if there was anything we could do to help to please let us know. I then got Jim to help me gather water from the clean community pool in buckets for flushing the toilets. The water could be off for who knows how long.

All that talk about attachments and then they were threatened. What a trip. There were moments where I didn’t know where or how we’d sleep if the water came into our home. What would we do with the dogs? We couldn’t leave if we wanted to. How were all the Tico families coping in their corrugated tin shacks? All I could focus on was staying present. Stay with the breath and the reality of situation NOW. There wasn’t water in the house. All four of us were safe and I prayed that everyone else was alright. That’s all I could do. Why worry when that won’t help?

Thank goodness for being slightly elevated. (Mental Note: If I ever build a house in Costa Rica, put it on a hill or stilts.) Thank goodness for a solid and sturdy cement house. Thank goodness for prayers being answered. Thank goodness for being safe, with those I love, and calm.

The rainy season has finally arrived! What an adventure!

Thank Goodness For Visiting Friends and Great Food!

There are some staple grocery items that I could get in Colorado but for the life of me can’t find here (or it costs an arm and a leg). Thankfully we had some guest come visit and with only 24 hours notice, picked up everything we (read I) requested! Here’s the list:

• 2 Bottles Coppertone Sunscreen SPF 8 (Jim’s favorite sunscreen)
• Nutrogena Oil-Free Sunscreen SPF 45 (for my face)
• 1 Box of 40 Tampax Tampons (difficult to find and super expensive. maybe because it’s a Catholic country?)
• 1 Jug of Real Maple Syrup
• Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix (best pancake mix ever! uses almonds. gluten free but not vegan <sob>)
• Quinoa (excellent grain, tastier than couscous, and full of protein)
• Beau Monde Seasoning (great for tuna fish, though I hope to find some vegan use for it)
• Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper (also for tuna fish, but it’s just SO good)
• 2 Bags of Raw Almonds (great for snacking, homemade granola, and hopefully for almond milk)

I was so thrilled that I literally danced while making some delicious fresh Pineapple Pancakes with Cinnamon and Maple Syrup! Jim was amused by my exuberance and thoroughly enjoyed this yummy breakfast that tastes much like pineapple upside-down cake. Huge THANK YOU to Heidi for bring us goodies!

A couple days later I made this wonderful Quinoa Pilaf/Salad.

I cooked the Quinoa (which takes no time at all) and then squeezed the juice of one Lime over it and added a little olive oil, some Cumin, Salt, and a bunch of Fresh Ground Pepper. I then added fresh Spinach, Red Bell Pepper and steamed Baby Zucchini and Green Beans. It was comforting, delicious, and made great leftovers for 3 other meals! I did have Jim’s balsamic grilled chicken with it the first couple times, but that isn’t necessary as it’s great and filling on its own.

Added Plus: It’s vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar free, and Jim loves it!

Adventures in Pasta Sauce

Pasta with tomato sauce is a staple in our diet. One of the first few nights here we picked up some jarred Costa Rican tomato “pasta sauce” but it tasted more like really awful pizza sauce. They do sell some US brands, but they cost an arm and a leg, and it’s much cheaper to make your own (especially when basil is so inexpensive). Plus, I really enjoy making my own pasta Sauce and I was making it quite often before leaving Colorado.

Vegan Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• Some Olive Oil
• 1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
• Garlic, crushed/minced (to your liking)
• 1 Large Can Whole Tomatoes, chopped, or crushed
• Veggies (Spinach, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Broccoli, Carrots, Eggplant, etc.)
• Fresh Basil, chopped
• Dried Oregano
• A pinch of Salt
• A bunch of Fresh Ground Pepper

Directions:

• Heat pan and add some Olive Oil.
• Add the chopped onion and a little Salt to help the Onion soften. If you are using Veggies (other than Spinach) add them now. Saute and stir.
• When the Veggies start to soften add the Garlic.
• Add Tomatoes as soon as you smell the Garlic.
• Add Spinach (if you’re using it) and herbs.
• Add Pepper and taste to see if you need more Salt.

This Sauce is great over pasta!

It’s also great as the sauce to Vegetable Lasagna! (See recipe below)

Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients:

• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Thyme
• Salt and Pepper
• Vegan Tomato Sauce (See recipe above)

Directions:

• Slice Veggies into 1/4-1/2″ think slices.
• Cover in Olive Oil, Thyme, Salt and Pepper.
• Heat a pan and add Veggies (may need to do a couple batches).
• Flip when golden on one side.
• When all Veggies are grilled build a tower on each plate (like Jenga or Link-N-Logs), alternating Eggplant and Zucchini.
• Pour Sauce over top and garnish with a few Thyme leaves.

This is just as satisfying as lasagna made with pasta as the veggies have a meatiness to them that is comforting. Plus there is more flavor! I’ve been eating this recently as a way to eat less gluten and carbs. If you’re just gluten sensitive and brown rice noodles are available in your area, that is a great option too. Personally, I like this better.

Beans! Beans!

A few months ago my good friend and incredible photographer Paul shared a taste of a yummy dinner he had made for his three girls. His inspiration has carried over into one of my favorite bean recipes. The photo above shows it made with red beans, but I prefer using black beans in this simple and delicious recipe.

Apple Cider Beans

Ingredients:

• Olive Oil
• 1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped
• One Can (or 2 Cups) cooked Black Beans
• 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup or Agave
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

• Heat pan to Medium.
• Add Olive Oil, Onion and a pinch of Salt
• Once Onions start to soften add the Vinegar and Agave. Lower heat and stir until it reduces and become syrupy.
• Add the Beans and stir.
• Once Beans are heated (you can cover the pan to speed up this process) Serve them over Brown Rice with whatever Vegetables you choose. I like steamed fresh Green Beans.

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