The Water-Over-Guacamole Thing Really Works

The age old question... "how do you keep guacamole fresh?" has now been answered thanks to the Kitch'n. Forget what I told you about using the pit to keep it fresh (if you didn't gobble it all up to begin with). Because let's be honest - that doesn't work. Add more lime? Forget it. You just made it more acidic and brown.

Charlie and Kelsey came over for dinner last night which was super fun. We drank wine, chatted, Charlie made guacamole, and I made pasta. But we didn't eat all of the guacamole. So I tried this new approach.

Put a layer of water over it when you store it in the fridge. Sounds...sketchy, right? Take of your skeptical glasses, because ladies and gentlemen...this is how you keep guacamole from turning brown.

This is Charlie's guacamole from last night. I put some water over it and wrapped it in plastic wrap.

Then I poured off the water today...

And presto! It's still super fresh and not a tinge of brown. Guacamole saved.

Deep Sea Fishing with Birds as our Guides

These Magnificent Frigatebirds were wonderful to watch. They followed along with us for at least 45 minutes...flying overhead then swooping up into the sky and back down again SPLOOSH! into the water to catch fish. They would disappear below the water for quite a while sometime.

We fared ... really awesome with the fish. We caught 5 bonito tuna in a matter of an hour and a half! I don't really care for the feeling of fish in my hands because they're so slippery and I have no idea how to hold them. Our captain let me reel the first one in and after he took it off the 5-inch hook, he's like "HERE! Grab it by the gills!" And no more than 5 seconds later it was thrashing around the boat. LOL I couldn't stop giggling but it was just so darn slippery. After that I was ok just reeling them in and throwing them back.

Most of the bonito tuna we caught were around 18-20" long and probably about 5-6 pounds each. Either way, reeling them in they might as well have been 100 pounds. Thems fightin' fish!

We fared ... not so well with the sea. The sea was angry that day, my friends! We turned in early because the waves were too much for our weak gringo stomachs. What a shame, being a fisherman's great-granddaughter. Oh well, we still caught fish!

Pickled Tomato Avocado Salsa FTW

Inadvertently I brought a cookbook with me. A happy accident to be sure! One of my latest Sunset magazines had their top 25 recipes and one of them screamed "make me! make me!" So I did and it was wonderful. And very spicy.

Some interesting things happened while making this recipe. It's the first one I've made here that wasn't improvised, and following a recipe with measurements proved to be a bit more challenging without measuring cups or spoons. Luckily I made do with guess work and what I know from cooking over the past 10 years. 

I think these are around 3/4 cup

The chicken I bought was deceptive and a cut I hadn't seen before. I thought I was buying chicken breasts, but it turns out I bought partial chicken breasts with the drummies still attached. It was a bit disappointing because there wasn't that much meat to be had.

the drummies were tucked under the breast meat - deceptive!

Grilled Chicken with Pickled Tomato and Avocado Salsa

Serves 4

from Sunset Magazine

Salsa

• 1 pound tomatoes, quartered and seeded
• 2 chiles - serrano or jalapeno - seeded and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 4 tsp minced fresh ginger (I didn't have a microplane so I omitted this)
• 1 Tbsp minced fresh garlic
• 2 tsp mustard seeds (I couldn't find any so mine didn't have this)
• 2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 firm ripe avocados

To make the salsa

1. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, chiles and green onions.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring vinegar to a boil. Add brown sugar and salt and cook, stirring until dissolved about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Put ginger, garlic and dry spices in a bowl. Heat a skillet with oil over high heat. Add ginger, garlic and spices and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add the seasoned vinegar to the garlic mixture. Pour over tomatoes.
4. Let salsa cool then cover and chill at least 1 hour. About an hour before serving, slice the avocado and add to the salsa. Bring to room temperature.

Grilled Chicken

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or parsley)
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 4 chicken breast halves with bone and skin (2 1/2 pounds total)

To make the chicken

1. In a large bowl, combine olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper. Add chicken and turn to coat. Let stand at room temp for 30-45 minutes.
2. Heat a grill (or a skillet if you don't have a grill) to high. Cook chicken for 15-20 minutes until no longer pink in the center.
3. Transfer chicken to a platter and spoon salsa on top.

RUN (don't walk) to your nearest Hot Springs Volcano Resort

If you've never been to a hot springs resort, you should seriously consider changing that. I had no idea just how amazing it would be. There seemed to be four big hot springs resorts over at the Arenal Volcano. We ended up booking at the Baldi Hot Springs Resort and Spa. It was lovely.

After our scenic drive to the La Fortuna area took about 2.5 hours longer than expected we were ready to get into the hot springs right away. 

The Baldi has 25 different hot spring pools and it's situated directly under the volcano, so the views were incredible while walking around. One of the nice things about the Baldi was the members-only pools reserved just for hotel guests. Apparently an option to do the hot springs thing is to stay nearby and get a day pass to the spa. We saw a lot of people doing this, and once dinner time came it was obvious there weren't many people staying there, and the restaurant options (2) were mediocre.

The spa at the Baldi was unbelievable. I got a thermal mud massage next to a waterfall. It doesn't get much more relaxing than that. The staff was exceptional. They even gave us a piece of chocolate cake with tea after the massage. It was delicious. :)

Sitting in hot spring water is pure joy. My skin was so soft and moisturized, and I never really got pruney hands or feet. I loved all of the waterfalls at each of the pools. There generally weren't that many people there and on Tuesday morning it was like we had the place to ourselves. 

Let's discuss the water slide options... I love water slides, and they had 3 here. Only one was really running while we were there and it shot you out of it like a cannon. It was kind of painful but I didn't lose my suit, so I consider that a win.

My only regret is that we only stayed 1 night. I can see a La Fortuna trip in the future to be sure, and I think it will include staying at a chic little hotel in La Fortuna (which seemed like a town I would really like) and getting day passes to a few of the different hot spring spas.

lobby at Baldi

View from the room

view of the Arenal Volcano by the helicopter landing area

one of the 25 hot spring pools

lovely walking paths were like walking through a tropical rainforest

the jacuzzi - it was 109 F and lovely!

all the pools had signs posted for their temps - this one at 116 F had two small very cold pools in them which were very nice

massive swim up bar

the steam room is in the way back on the right and very very hot

the water slides end up in this pool

the evil water slides

members-only area. way in the back you can see a tall structure that had 140 or 150F water...hot!

this was my favorite pool to hang out at under the waterfalls

in the back you can see the hottest spring at 160F (I think)

why not take in the view with the volcano while in the hot spring?

Move Along. Nothing to see here except these strange new animals

While on our way to the Arenal Volcano, we turned a corner and saw these animals alongside the road. It looked like they were eating garbage possibly. Of course we stopped, because why wouldn't you?

They started coming towards the car as soon as we stopped. Shawn rolled up his window and said, "We should go. Now."

Turns out they are called coati and are (not shockingly) relatives of the our garbage-mongreling-friends the raccoon.

The Road to the Volcano is Not Paved with Any Intentions or Any Pavement

Driving to a volcano while in Costa Rica seems like a no-brainer. The center of the country is littered with them - some of them still active. But which one to go to? The one with a ton of hot springs resorts!

My friend Shawn is here for a 10-day visit, and we wanted to do a "vacation while on vacation" with an overnight. We decided the Arenal Volcano would be a great choice.

But how to get there?

We took this route around Lake Arenal which was breathtaking and nerve-racking at the same time. Google tells us it's 3.5 hours. Real time took us almost 6. Yeah. Six hours. The views made up for it and the resort was totally worth the trip. The twists and turns and ups and downs were enough to make an astronaut motion sick.

It reminded me a lot of driving through California wine country but much scarier. People drive in the middle of the road here and expect you to get out of the way. We saw countless near-head-on collisions. All the roads are two-lanes and just enough to fit two cars side-by-side without a shoulder to cry on if you get a flat tire. No problems there! Just stop in the middle of the road. That's what everyone does here.

Now...how to get back? Do we take the same way or try the "alternate route" suggested by Google that is only 90km further but also only 40 minutes longer. Let's explore the unexplored part of Costa Rica!

Look at these views! Gorgeous.

Bad. Idea. Jeans.

This was our return route home. We clearly had our Bad Idea Jeans on. This highlighted section here was were the road simply ended. We're driving along for a couple of hours with smiles on our faces and all "Oh man! We were so silly to take that other route there! Har har har!" No lie, the road ended. It's technically called a "highway" but it's pretty much boulders and pot holes that you must somehow drive over.

This lasted for 25km but the entire drive on that road had the question lurking in the back of our minds "Is the entire remaining 100km like this? Oh dear god I hope not."

By the time we got to Santa Cecilia the relaxing results of an amazing mud massage earlier that morning were worn away. Yet just across that river bridge was a real paved road. We flew the rest of the way home in nighttime which was also scary as hell to drive.

The only remedy for that trip was a shot of Bulleit Rye and a Pilsen as soon as we got home. Safely.

What it's like to Skype with your boss

SPOILER ALERT: it's awesome!

Greg Bro is one of the coolest people I know. I love working for him, and I'm blessed to call him my friend. Among his many talents? He is an award-winning animator and a really incredible boss.

While in Costa Rica I get to Skype with him every week, and I look forward to the next one as soon as the last one is over.

Today we laughed about mimes, Republicans and other bad people who I won't mention because I don't need my blog showing up in government watch lists while he wore antlers. :)

Maverick Lost His Tail

It looks like Maverick lost his tail but is already growing a new one.

Driving in Costa Rica - It's CRAY CRAY

A few months ago I was reading about driving in Costa Rica and felt a panic attack coming on...all I read was "drive slow, you never know what might be around the corner." Like a pot hole the size of your car. Or livestock.

Not to mention that there no shoulders and the lanes are quite narrow. When you round a corner, don't be surprised that you are about to run over a mother with her baby in a stroller and her 3yo all walking in your lane. 

In the past week, I've seen a few things that are kind of scary on the road. For example, when I was driving to pick up my friend Shawn from the airport on Thursday, this dump truck decided to dump gravel almost into the ditch but really a lot of it was on the road. Then he pulled his truck up into our lane and stopped, got out of the truck...and who knows what happened after that.

Then yesterday we followed a herd of cattle walking down the road.

Day number...I don't know, but I got wheels!

It's amazing I got back to my place today once I got the car. I swear, Tamarindo may just be the end of me. It all started out so well...and then I got to the Budget Rental Car office for my 1:00pm pick up time, and they were CLOSED until 2:00pm. They knew how to take the reservation, they just didn't know how to keep the reservation.

I needed lunch anyway after walking through the desert road of death toward the crocodile-infested river for a water taxi over to Tamarindo. We all know what happens next... But no, this time it's different. I didn't have to walk back on the beach with 20 pounds of groceries!

Here are some photos of the desert road of death:

I wore walking shoes this time. Brody, do you like the red shoes?

This is what it looks like for 3 miles.

I was fine until I realized vultures were circling me. That can never be a good sign.

This time the walk didn't seem quite as long, but I tend to think that's the case any time you go somewhere twice. And then the water taxi was arriving while I was arriving - perfect timing! Then I got ripped off by the driver, but whatever. You win some, you lose some.

Boat ride - the water was so low that we almost got stuck in a very shallow part.

Our boat was named Victor Hugo, but I didn't see Hugh Jackman anywhere :(

I think this is probably from the tide going in and out, but when I was here last weekend the water was all the way up to those stairs. Crazy.

After walking through Tamarindo to the Budget place, I have reaffirmed how happy I am to be in Playa Grande where people are chill. Tamarindo is...como se dise...very touristy. While I was waiting for the budget place to open I went to have lunch at one of the dozen restaurants on the beach. I was there for 40 minutes and had to tell 6 beach vendors "no, I don't want to buy your stuff." That's one every eight minutes. That's six too many.

Playa Tamarindo - can you see the big rock all the way across the ocean? That's where I'm staying. It's quiet there.

Tourist Trap

Lunch stop

And then I got my wheels. And they upgraded me to a Soccer Mom SUV! Behold, the Toyota RAV4 which will now and forever be known as Mustang Sally:

All she wants to do is ride around!

I immediately went to the Auto Mercado and stocked up on everything I couldn't carry last week. It was awesome. Until I got back in the car and realized I forgot the hand-drawn map I made for how to get home.

hand-drawn map that I forgot after taking this picture

What else could I do other than just start driving and assume I'd figure it out? That's exactly what I did! I was reminded of my Grandpa Mark and a conversation we had when I was fairly young, maybe 8 or 9. I asked him, "Grandpa, how do you know which way is North?" He turned his body in the direction of Lake Superior's shoreline and said, "Because I know this direction is Northeast due to the Lake." I think from that point on I had directions implanted in my brain. I guess any time I look at a map I remember it well, almost in a photographic memory sort of way. It was this superpower I called upon whilst driving back to Playa Grande.

If you look at my hand-drawn map, you'll see at #2 it says "Tamarindo Church." I remember driving by that and the road Google maps told me to take looked like a dirt road driveway. I kept on driving. I convinced myself that things looked familiar from the shuttle ride from the airport until I realized that I was nowhere near the road I came in on. Finally a sign for Playa Grande appeared and I took a left. I figured if I kept driving toward the ocean I would make it back. This may have also been the first time I almost panicked about not speaking Spanish and not having data for my phone.

Driving in Costa Rica is kind of scary because the roads are really narrow, people drive fast, motos will drive on the divider line, and you can drive while drinking (but you can't be drunk). And watch out for livestock:

There was one on the other side of the road too

But I'm back and it only took 4 hours. And I have wheels! Oh the exploring that is about to happen!! And I saw the sunset tonight again. :)