Costa Rica - Day 6 (Jan 8, 2009)

Although our adventures while staying at La Quinta were marvelous, it was also very hot and humid in the lowlands rain forests. I'm anxious to reach our next destination high in a mountain valley where the air will be drier and cooler. Packing the bus is fairly simple with a group the size of ours and Niño is expert at the stowing the gear. We are en route to Savegre Hotel de Montaña shortly after 8:30 am.

As usual, our travels are made easy by stops for baños (bathrooms) as needed, bird and wildlife sightings, pleasant conversation and informative stories from Mark about the region through which we are traveling. We also make a stop for lunch en route to Savegre.

If I could only return to one place in Costa Rica, I would pick Savegre. Our rooms are beautifully appointed and clean, the gardens on the grounds are filled with over 50 varieties of plantings, the hummingbirds feed continuously at the feeders provided giving us ample opportunity for photographs, the air is cool and dry (mostly, more later on that topic), the food wonderful, the staff friendly and helpful, and so on! There are even special touches in our rooms... the spare roll of toilet paper on our bathroom counter is decorated with orchid blossoms, our towels are butterflies on the beds and our washcloths are flowers with soap as the blooms.

From Costa Rica - Day 6

We arrive in the afternoon after traveling a mostly unpaved, twisty, mountain road and manage a short hike around the grounds before gathering for dinner. We have fresh trout (among other choices at the buffet) for dinner from Savegre's aquaculture program which takes advantage of the mountain stream to funnel water to ponds where they raise trout for the table.

After dinner, we purchase a couple of bottles of wine from the bar, get wine glasses and head to Nancy and Evan's room where we attempt to start a fire in their fireplace and share some fun drinking wine while doing so. Our attempt at having a fire is largely unsuccessful due to the rock hard wood provided... and their is NO kindling either. At one point, we are all laughing so hard about the "fire fail" that we are sure the neighbors must hear us. Tamar tries to fan the fire into flames but even that doesn't work.

Costa Rica - Day 5 (Jan 7, 2009)

The day started early with coffee and bird watching the easy way. La Quinta has a bird feeding station set up in easy view from their sheltered outdoor patio. So, rain or shine, it's possible to watch and photograph the many different birds that come in to the feeder... here are just a few we saw...

From Costa Rica - Day 5

After breakfast, a short bus ride takes us to the Sarapiqui River and our boat ride. Our boatman is another excellent spotter for us and of course, Niño and Mark continue to spot birds and wildlife for us as well. Spending time on the boat is very relaxing and we also spot quite a few new birds and have one rare find... a flock of nine green ibis (too far away to photo but seen clearly in binoculars)! Mark says this bird is rarely seen and that we are really lucky.... beginner's luck!!! This post's title links to the complete album from Day 5 but I've included an iguana photo and one bird photo below.


After lunch back at La Quinta and some time on our own, we once again trust ourselves to Niño's capable driving talents and head to Tirimbini Rainforest Center for an extremely educational experience learning about cacao from all the way from planting, growing, harvesting, processing to the making chocolate and cacao powder.

Costa Rica - Day 4 (Jan 6, 2009)

After breakfast, we gather ourselves together and bus to the La Selva Biological Station for a guided tour. I've included the link to their site (and other sites of interest in previous posts) rather than include information that is already available elsewhere.

We return to La Quinta for lunch and free time after which Mark and Niño take us on a tour of the grounds of La Quinta where we see MORE birds, caiman, a basilisk lizard, poison frogs, etc. We also walk back down the road to look at the sloths we saw earlier in the day on our return from La Selva. Our buffet dinner is followed by walking around the corner to a pond which is home to the Red-eyed Treefrog and we not only see them, but also see them mating.

Photo captions in my Costa Rica - Day 4 album tell the stories of our adventures so I won't repeat myself here!

Costa Rica - Day 3 (Jan 5, 2009)

Our third day was a travel day with the following stops en route to our home for the next three nights, La Quinta de Sarapiqui Lodge:

• La Paz Waterfall Gardens and
• Mirador San Fernando, a "tico" (see NOTE 1 at end of post) owned and operated version of La Paz (American run) according to our guide Mark and a favorite stop for viewing birds in a more natural setting.

Unfortunately, both La Paz Waterfall Gardens (see NOTE 2 at end of post) and Mirador San Fernando (which has/had the best view of the 110 foot La Paz Waterfall) were either very damaged (La Paz) or collapsed completely (Mirador) due to the earthquake of Jan 8, 2009.

The photos in the Costa Rica - Day 3 album include six taken from Hotel Bougainvillea before leaving, 20 from La Paz (photos 7-26), 10 at Mirador (photos 27-36) and one of our excellent guide, Mark, posting to his web site after we arrived at La Quinta. (Mac user!)

NOTE 1: "Tico" is used by native born Costa Ricans to refer to themselves.
NOTE 2: the following is currently posted on La Paz web site:
Due to the devastating earthquake on January 8, 2009, the Peace Lodge and La Paz Waterfall Gardens is temporarily closed. For Reservation information or if you need to contact us, please contact our sister hotel, The Springs Resort & Spa at (U.S.) 954 727-3939 or Costa Rica 506 2401-3312. You can also reach us by email at info@waterfallgardens.com / thespringscostarica.com

Contrary to various news reports, the 500 guests and staff members of Peace Lodge and La Paz Waterfall Gardens were all very fortunate as we had not one fatality. In fact, the worst reported injury was a broken ankle. We can only attribute our good fortune to the incredible efforts of our staff, the guides and our guests themselves. Unfortunately, there were many lost lives in the surrounding areas and we are finding out about more each hour. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our staff who have become our family, friends, residents of Costa Rica and visitors to Costa Rica who have been affected by this incredibly sorrowful occurrence.

For those who are concerned about the wildlife at La Paz Waterfall Gardens, please know that we are doing everything in our power to make sure they are well taken care of through this trying time.

Costa Rica - Day 2 (Jan 4, 2009)

Breakfast Sunday, Jan 4 is the first time the entire group gathers together since some arrived very late Saturday night. Our tours today (after a delightful breakfast buffet with lots of choices of breads, rolls, bagels, fresh fruit, juices, etc.) include INBioparque and Café Britt.

The INBioparque web site seems to be down as I write this but I found a very good summary of most of what they have to offer and the write-up on the Costa Rica Guide site is also informative.

Photos from early morning at the Hotel Bougainvillea (3 photos) and our INBioparque adventure (the next ten photos) are now available.

The coffee tour at Café Britt is both VERY amusing and quite educational. I've included 20 photos (photos 14-33) demonstrating some of the silliness. (the story line includes an introductory guide who gets kicked off early for mixing up the volcanoes, a boy and a girl (supposedly in love and have been dating for 10 years) and the boy's uncle) The three characters play multiple parts in the drama that unfolds around the telling of the history and production of coffee.

The last 14 photos for Costa Rica - Day 2 (starting with photo 34) are back at Hotel Bougainvillea at the end of a marvelous day of learning about Costa Rica and seeing many beautiful birds.

Costa Rica arrival (Jan 3, 2009)

On our Jan 3 arrival, Costa Rica Expeditions is waiting to whisk us away to our hotel after we collect our baggage. It is warm and sunny and the air conditioned van taking us to our hotel is a welcome respite from the heat which we haven't yet adjusted to.

Our rooms in Hotel Bougainvillea are beautifully appointed and very clean. We arrive late afternoon to unpack and then relax in whatever way we choose. Some of us choose to have an ice cold Bavaria beer (make mine the Dark) and ceviche (delicious) in the bar while others go for a walk in the beautiful gardens. Our waiter Carlos asks me for ID but doesn't ask the youngest (Aliza) in our group for ID when we order our beers. He also notices me taking a photo

From Costa Rica - Day 1

and insists that he take one of the four of us. Charming!

Dinner is on our own this first night so those of us who arrived early (8 of the group) agree to meet at 6:45 in the dining room for dinner and make a reservation accordingly. Pleasant get acquainted chatting during dinner is followed by fairly early good-nights for most of us. (only two photos to share from arrival on Jan 3)

Costa Rica Week One wrap-up

We've had so much fun and seen so many marvelous things that I certainly cannot report in a short while what we've done. One thing that has impacted us somewhat is that there was an earthquake (6.2 magnitude) that greatly affected one of the areas we visited about two days after we were there. Fortunately for us, we were nowhere near the epicenter of the earthquake and other than feeling terrible about the lives lost and the roads and tourist items destroyed, we haven't felt any of the effects of the earthquake.

At risk of sounding like a broken record, I may try (if no one else is waiting to get online) to try once more to upload some photos. Obviously, given how little access I've had to the Internet on this trip, I'll have to wait until my return to post more photos. Ta Da... Check out these photos.

Last Day at La Quinta

The tropical rain forest lived up to its name yesterday as we hiked through a primary forest to the "ranchero" of the Tirimbini Cacao plantation and learned about the chocolate making process from beginning to end AND assisted with making some chocolate and cocoa and sampling it. YUMMY.

Now I'm going to try one LAST time to post a very few photos (as teasers) and see if I succeed. No internet available at our next stop... Savegre... at 7200 ft elevation where we may see red macaws and the resplendent quetzal (sp).

Test Message

Checking to see what happens when I post via email.

Holiday Baking - Part 4

To round out my holiday baking, I made another batch of truffles (using a recipe different from the one posted in Holiday Baking - Part 3), Spiced Pecans and Toffee Bars (photo of toffee bars and other treats). I usually make the Spiced Pecans and the Toffee Bars on the same day (both recipes were given to me by former co-workers) because the nuts call for an egg white and the Toffee Bars call for an egg yolk. Recipes for each follow and a photo of the entire assortment will be linked in by no later than Boxing Day.

Spiced Pecans

• Preheat oven to 300° C,
• Beat together 1 egg white and 2 Tbsp water until frothy.
• Add 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/2 tsp cinnamon to egg white mix and blend well.
• Add 2-1/2 C pecan halves last and stir to coat thoroughly with the egg white, spice mixture.
• Spread on non-stick baking sheet and and bake for 45 min. Stir to separate during cooking (at the 15 min and 30 min mark). Cool completely and store in airtight container.
• NOTE that the recipe as given to me suggests spreading the nuts out on a foil lined baking sheet but I've found that the nuts stick to the foil and it's a REAL mess to stir them during the baking.
  

Toffee Bars

• Preheat oven to 350° C.
• 1 C butter at room temperature
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 C sifted flour
• 6 oz milk chocolate (I use Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and use the other half of the 12 ounce bag for the truffle recipe that follows this one.)
• 1 C chopped nuts (whatever kind you prefer)
  

Cream butter and sugar together until well blended. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix well. Add flour gradually, mixing well after each addition. Spread to uniform thickness in well buttered 10" X 15" X 1" (or 11" X 16" X 1") jelly roll pan and bake for 20 to 25 min (or more, if necessary). Dough will puff up in center and can be tamped down a bit and when finished cooking, won't be puffy anymore. Edges will be slightly brown. Remove from oven and spread chocolate on top immediately and spread around with spatula until melted. Add nuts. Cut bars into ~ 1" square pieces and remove from pan while still warm or they will be very hard to cut and will stick to the pan.

Delightful Chocolate Truffles (2nd option; adapted from Time-Life Family Favorites Made Easy)

• 12 oz chocolate (I used 6 oz Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and 6 oz Hershey's Unsweetened Baking Chocolate)
• 2/3 C heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or other flavoring)
• Coatings: 2 Tbsp cocoa powder sifted together with 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar; granulated sugar; finely chopped nuts; coconut flakes
  

Put chocolate in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Mix until quite finely ground but take care not to get to paste stage. Combine cream and vanilla (or other flavoring) and heat until just beginning to boil. Remove from heat and pour into work bowl of processor immediately. Process until chocolate has completely melted and is smooth. (NOTE: it never got smooth for me but that didn't seem to make much difference to the end product.) Pour into 7-1/2" x 11" x 2" glass dish, cover and chill until mixture is firm. Put desired coatings into small bowls and use melon baller to scoop mixture into roughly 1" balls and roll by hand to smooth them before coating as desired. Use candy cups to store and refrigerate until about 1/2 hour before serving.

Holiday Baking - Part 3

Yesterday wasn't really 'baking' on my part. My friend Mary came over to bake one of her holiday cookie batches and kept me company while I made my Chocolate Truffles (photo of completed truffles plus some of the other holiday treats). The recipe I used yesterday comes from the Time-Life "The Good Cook: Candy" cookbook. I've had the entire series since the early 1980's. I doubled the Vanilla Truffles recipe (on p 155 of the Candy cook book) recipe this year. Modifications to this recipe include:

• doubling the recipe
• using a mixture of 4 oz of Belgian chocolate and 12 oz of Hershey's Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
• the method for refrigeration prior to forming the truffles
• using three types of coating material:
  
  • finely chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or other)
    
  • 4 Tbsp cocoa sifted together with 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
  • granulated sugar
• using a melon baller and small spoon to form the truffles before hand rolling them

Ingredients for truffles:

• 16 oz semisweet chocolate (recipe says use milk or semi-sweet but I've always used semi-sweet)
• 9 Tbsp heavy or whipping cream (I use "heavy whipping" cream as labeled in some grocery stores)
• 1/8 to 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation of truffles:

1. Find a ceramic bowl deep enough to hold the chocolate AND fit tightly on a pan that you will use to boil water. Note that the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water.
2. After bringing the water to a boil, turn the heat off and put the bowl on top of the pan.
3. Stir the chocolate occasionally (spatula works best) until all of it has melted. Do not let water get into the chocolate.
4. While the chocolate is melting, bring the cream to just below the boiling point in a small pan (small bubbles will form around the edges) and add the vanilla after removing the pan from the heat.
5. Once all the chocolate is melted, gradually add the tepid cream/vanilla mixture to the chocolate while stirring with a spatula to blend the cream gradually into the chocolate.
6. Let the blended chocolate, vanilla and cream mixture cool until slightly above room temperature and then whip until glossy with a wire whisk or spatula. The texture of the mixture will change and you will notice it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Scrape the mixture out into a pan (I used a 7-1/2" x 11" x 2" corning dish) and chill until semi-hard. Note that chilling time will vary depending on the size of the pan and I'm not really sure how long it took to reach the correct consistency.
7. Use a melon baller to scoop out rounded dollops of the chocolate mixture and drop onto the various coating mixtures. (Use a small spoon to scoop the mixture out of the melon baller.)
   
8. Roll the chocolate around on the coating mixture and then roll into round balls. Other possibilities besides the three listed above include coconut, sprinkles, and whatever else you can think of.
9. Place the rolled, coated truffles in candy papers (in the DC area, a good source is Little Bitts Shop in the Wheaton Triangle; phone 301.933.2733) and store in tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. Use wax paper between layers.
10. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving to allow them to warm to room temperature.

Holiday Baking - Part 2

Today's cooking chores included finishing the Cream Wafer cookies by baking the wafers and then icing them. There are many tricks one can use to make this chore less tedious and I took photos to illustrate them. (NOTE: There are four photos and comments for completing the Cream Wafers and one photo/comment for removing the Cherry Coconut Bars (recipe published yesterday) from the pan and cutting them up and a photo showing the completed cookies as part of a holiday party presentation.) Meantime, I made one of my annual nut mixtures today. (will make the other one within the next day or two and post that recipe and one (or two) more later on)

Mixed Herbed Nuts

• 8 oz each of pecan halves, whole raw cashews and almonds
• 1/4 C sesame seeds
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 egg white, whipped to frothy stage

Combine all dry ingredients and toss to roughly mix before adding to the whipped egg white. Mix dry ingredients with egg white until all are well coated with the herb mixture. Spread mixture on lightly oiled baking sheet and bake in pre-heated 325° oven for 40 minutes. Turn every 10 minutes. Cool completely when done and store in tightly sealed container. Nuts probably may be frozen although I've never done that because I give them all away or eat them in fairly short order. [NOTE: If intended recipients aren't on a no/low salt diet, you may want to add ~ 1/2 tsp salt when combining the dry ingredients.]

Holiday Baking - Part 1

Started my almost annual holiday baking extravaganza today and decided it was time to do something about sharing the recipes with those who've asked (or might ask) how to make whatever they like best. SO... in no particular order... here are the three holiday items I made today with recipes as modified by me after years of making each. (Click the "Holiday Baking - Part 1" text to link to my web album with four photos and comments about steps in making the Cream Wafers and one on making the Cherry Coconut Bars. The most recent photo in the holiday baking series shows four of the completed "cookies.")

Mock Boursin (can be made for a lot less than the real thing and tastes the same; this is my adaptation of a recipe published YEARS ago in the Washington Post)

• 16 oz of reduced fat cream cheese at room temperature
• 8 oz of whipped butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp each of salt, marjoram, basil and chives
• 1/4 tsp each of freshly ground pepper and thyme
• 1 tsp of dill weed (not dill seed)

Put garlic cloves in bowl of food processor fitted with blade and process briefly to mince garlic. Add all other ingredients and process until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl to ensure ingredients are mixed well and the cheese is free of lumps. If you want to give this to friends, line muffin tins with holiday themed cupcake liners and fill each cup with part of the soft cheese. Cover and refrigerate until firm and then wrap as desired for gift giving. Makes about 10 muffin size portions.

Cherry, Coconut Bars (this recipe has been part of the Porter family Christmas celebration since I was in junior high school; Mom found the recipe in a Gold Medal flour sack and I've been making these cookies ever since; my adaptation doubles the recipe and slightly alters the results from the original)
Crust:

• 2 C flour
• 6 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
• 1 C (two sticks) well chilled butter; cut into roughly 1 Tbsp size pieces and drop on top of dry ingredients
  

Process the above ingredients in the bowl of a food processor until mixture is uniformly granular (it will not clump). Pour into parchment lined 9" x 13" baking pan and spread evenly, tamping down to make crust firm. Bake in preheated 350° oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (outside edges of crust will be slightly brown when crust is done) While crust is cooking, assemble filling. (why it is called filling is beyond me, it is a topping IMHO)

Filling: To 4 eggs, beaten (by hand with whisk is fine, no need to use mixer), add all of the following and mix well:

• 2 C sugar
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1-1/2 C chopped nuts
• 1 C shredded (or flaked) coconut
• 1 C Maraschino cherries, chopped briefly using food processor (original recipe called for quartered cherries which we did by hand in the days before food processors existed)

The above filling can be poured on top of the crust as soon as it is done. Cook for an additional 40 to 50 min at 350°. The outside edges of the topping will be a bit overcooked (well browned) when done. Cool completely before cutting for serving. Note that I cut these in ~ 1" square portions (bite size) because the cookies tend to fall apart while biting into them. Also, I put them into holiday themed candy cups for serving or giving to friends.

Cream Wafers (another recipe Mom found in the Gold Medal flour sack years ago; we made them for years before food processors came along and simplified the preparation)

• 2 C sifted flour
• 1 C (two sticks) well chilled butter; cut into roughly 1 Tbsp size pieces and drop on top of flour
• 1/3 C heavy cream

Put flour and butter into bowl of food processor and process briefly to coarsely mix the butter and flour. Add cream while continuing to process until the ingredients form a ball. Have three pieces of saran wrap or waxed paper ready to use to wrap the dough for chilling. Form dough into a cylinder, then cut the cylinder into three portions and flatten into circular dough masses. Chill for at least two hours ( overnight is best) before rolling out dough and making the cookies.

Preheat oven to 375°. Use a floured rolling pin and a floured board to roll out the dough until it is roughly 1/8" thick. Use a fork to prick the dough before cutting with a 1-1/2" cutter into individual cookie wafers. As you cut the wafers, drop them into granulated sugar to coat both sides lightly with sugar. Place "forked" side up on ungreased cookie sheets. These wafers don't expand during baking so you can place them quite close together. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes (watch carefully to avoid burning them) and cool on wire racks when done. Once cooled completely, wafers need to be iced (recipe follows) to make sandwich cookies. You should have about 5 dozen cookies when done. They keep well for about three weeks if refrigerated but should not be frozen because freezing destroys the delicate texture of the cookies which will melt in your mouth!

Cream Wafer Icing (Combine the following ingredients and divide into two portions, tinting one portion pink and the other green.)

• 1/4 C butter at room temperature
• 3/4 C sifted powdered (confectioners) sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Miscellaneous thoughts...

The main idea for this space is a place to post notes on vacations... upcoming in January 2009 is a two-week trip to Costa Rica traveling to several different areas with side trips to view jungles, mountains, volcanoes and Costa Rican wildlife under the leadership of an experienced Audubon guide. Included in the itinerary are the following locations/hotels...

• Hotel Bouganvillea
• LaQuinta Sarapiqui Inn
• Savegre Mountain Hotel
• Hotel Villa Lapas
• Borinquen Hotel

November marked the passage of another year for both myself (Nov 30 birthday) and my significant other (Nov 16 birthday). So far, we are not suffering TOO much from the effects of aging, although both of us admit to having a few more achy joints than we did in our younger days.

Blogs are funny things (IMHO)... this one may develop a personality after awhile... but for now it will probably be totally random!!!

Photos by Victoria

Thought I'd get a URL reserved for future blogging... is blogging the height of egotism for the "me" generation of baby boomers and their offspring... or what? [BTW, if you click the "Photos by Victoria" text, it will take you to my web gallery of photos. Maybe one of these days I'll use Google's photo site but I started using my Apple online space to post photos years ago so there you have it.]