New Nicknames

After my momentary bursts of singing love songs in spanish and my panting relay of the crocodile story to the staff at Sueno del Mar, I now have two new nicknames: El cantante and El cocdrilo. I guess I could do worse...at the very least they aren't calling me gordito any more.

Cocodrilo en Salsa

So there we were...My friend Ashton, for the past few weeks, has been hounding me to paddle up the Langosta estuary with him in kayaks so finally out of lame excuses and feeling even lamer about being so lazy, I relented knowing that as soon as I sat in the boat it was probably going to be really fun anyway. We went and picked out boats, slathered on some sun screen, and dragged our goods down to the river's edge.

"You know, we're doing this at the most difficult time right?" Ashton asked as I fought the initial wobbles of being in a boat and we started our paddle up stream. The tide was going out and the current from the river was running shallow and strong towards the sea. "That's ok," I said, "I could use the exercize anyway", thinking about the load of "hey you got fat in the US" comments I've received from the Ticos.

After getting situated and remembering what I had been tought in my Chattahoochee kayak lesson from older days, we made it around the bend and up into the woods. I was shocked to see how quickly we left behind any trace of human influence and slid into through neighborhoods where the locals are river oysters an purple fiddler crabs lined up on the shore watching the strangers cruise past.

The further up we went the narrower the pass got and soon we were busy dodging the branches from either shore reaching down into the murky water. "The general estuary rule here is 'don't touch it'" Ashton said as we slid under our first low hanging branch. "That's the best way to get bitten by a weird spider or have one of those crazy tree snakes drop in your boat."

"Great" I thought to myself.

Despite my being green in a kayak I was having a great time learning how to paddle and steer and soon enough I finally felt comfortable enough that we could paddle one or two times and then coast in earsplittng silence up through the dense forrest.

After a slalom of four or five arched branches, we slid up, one in front of another, into a shallow lagoon, as far up as we were probably going to make it before the tide came in. I paddled once and coasted, saying over my shoulder "It looks like we've hit the end of the li..." and before I was even finished there was a huge cracking noise twenty five feet of the nose of my boat as a six foot crocodile freaked out and shot, Steeve Irwin style, straight out into the narrow pool.

What do you think my response was? Yup...scream like a girl. Yup...backpaddle and fast. I knew in my head that he was definitely way more scared than I was but I was having a hard time getting that info from my brain to my now charging arms. I was absolutely floored, laughing hysterically as I paddled hard, blasting past the branches I had gingerly snuck past fifteen minutes earlier. As I broke out into an open area (where I couldn't see any crocodiles) I finally stopped paddling and coasted, leaning back in the boat panting.

"That was insane," I said to Ashton.
"That happens all the time," he said.
"If that's the case...can we do this again tomorrow?" I asked guessing that there was probably no way I'd get to see that again in my whole life.
"Any time," he said.

We paddled back out, taking a break on the shore in front of the ocean before heading out to try my hand at kayak surfing...and now I'm addicted. Every time my arms ached as I rolled over in my sleep, I would grin and replay that lizzard ricocheting off the water in my mind.

Honestly

Honestly, sometimes I have little guilty twinges about my life. I sneak shifty little glances at my feet while I dig my toes into the sand, all the while somehow knowing I’m not supposed to enjoy this as much as I do.

In the past three to four weeks that I’ve been absent from the computer, there have been a ton of things going on probably better told in the timeless and efficient list form. I guess we’ll just start out right where we left off.

And away we go:

-Spent an exceptionally relaxing long weekend in San Jose including a day in the Mercado Central buying up the weirdest fruits we could find, finding tiny Costa Rican clothes for the now infamous collection, and eating bizarre cajeta candies.

-Cooked a dinner party for new and old Tica friends before being “dragged” out for an evening on the town. I had my first “Miami velvet rope” club experience which was only magnified by the fact we were nowhere near Miami.

-Caught a bleary-eyed flight back to Guanacaste for two more private dinners before packing up for my trip back to the US.

-In true Costa Rican networking form met a wonderful new client while waiting for our flight to the states to arrive. Apparently I’m now catering her 60th birthday party in Playa.Negra.

-Bought a ton of Louis L’Amour books. I’ve found that he’s actually really hard to find in book stores only confirming what I already know: He’s now obscure and therefore really cool.

-Catered a private dinner party for 14 eighteen year old girls. Needless to say it was more than a little disappointing to hear them express surprise that I had graduated from their school ten years prior. “What was Mr. Yeomans like WAY back then?” It was one of those moments.

-Watched my mom try beef cheek tacos. Smiled when she said “Hay, that’s pretty good.”

-Got addicted in an instant to the original “Legend of Zelda”

-Traveled to our nation’s capitol to reconnect with an old friend from middle school. Spent four days improving on an already proven formula.

-Ate way better than I should have at both Zengo and Oya, two excellent DC restaurants.

-Visited my first winery in Central Virginia and watched a lazy summer storm roll in over a picnic in the grass.

-Spent a few more days running around Atlanta gathering up “Hey while you’re up there…” items for everyone in Costa Rica.

-Piled onto a Liberia-bound plane back to “real” life.

Back in Chepe

The past few days have been a little on the hectic side (or at least as hectic as things can get in breezy Tamarindo) hence my blog and web page neglect. I managed to wrangle up five private dinners in a row leaving me to beg, borrow, and steal ingredients around town. ON both of these nights I sat and fed a mother raccoon bits of orange from my hand while the rest of the paying guests finished their dinners.

07/05/07:
1st: Salad of Watermelon, Cucumber, Fresh Basil and Local Feta Cheese.
2nd: Roasted Dorado with Local Organic Baby Zucchini, Nicoise Olives & Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette
3rd: Chilled Cantaloupe Soup with Lemon Sorbet and Pearled Melon

08/05/07:
1st: Shaved Pear and Fennel Salad with Cucumber and Queso Fresco
2nd: Seared Loin of Tuna with Bacon Roasted Mushrooms, Sweet Corn and Jalapeño Puree and Tomato Jam
3rd: Roasted Bananas with Brown Butter Caramel and Vanilla Gelato.

With a few free days on the cooking calendar, Fernando and I left Tamarindo early this morning for San Jose to go out with some friends, have a small dinner party, and price out some kitchen ware for the promising operation there at Sueno del Mar.

In Costa Rica, and quite possibly the rest of Central America, it seems that there are only a few terms that can be used in the naming of restaurants, much like the infamous Chinese Restaurant Syndrome in the US (Golden Jade Buddha Moon China Palace II). One of the most popular themes here is the "party theme": Chicken Party, Seafood Party, Corn Party, granted they all have a bit of a nicer ring to them in Spanish. High in the hills above Atenas and few hours out from San Jose, we stopped at Fiesta de las Pupusas for a quick bite to eat. Now, if you have known me for even a minute, you will know that Pupusas, the little Salvadorian bean and pork rind stuffed tortillas, are very quickly climbing the ranks on my list of favorites, nestling comfortably somewhere between corn dogs and fried blueberry pies.

We sat at chest high concrete tables and ate until we were almost swooning from delight (ok I was completely swooning). Pictured above is a shot of one of my three pupusas smothered in pickled cabbage, and encurtido, mixed vegetables soaked in vinegar and hot chilies. To push back the fiery spice I drank a batido of Blackberries in milk and sugar as we made plans for future road trips and book itinerary (including personal cooking lessons from Fernando's Salvadorian Mother) before paying up and heading downhill towards the city.

At this point, a nap, shower and shave were in order before a night out on the town with friends.

I cooked another meal tonight at Sueno del Mar, this time for five different guests. After last night's (exhausting) extravaganza this evening's dinner was much more relaxed, aside from the troupe of raccoons pan handling for rood and the mangy skunk I came face to face with in the composter.

1st: Panzanella salad with Cucumbers, Tomato, Red Onion and Aged Manchego.
2nd: Pan Roasted Dorado with Creamy Polenta, Organic Baby Summer Squash and Tomato Pico de Gallo
3rd: Ginger Bread Pudding with Honeyed Chantilly.

As I was cleaning up, one of the guests approached me and asked if I would cook for he and his wife for the next four days, an unbelievable honor considering he's a cook for the unstoppable Jean Gorge Vongrighten in NYC. Taking his flash bulb resume into consideration, it seems funny to me that he said he was envious of my life. I think I definitely made the right choice to be back here because i couldn't agree more.

ps: the poorly lit photo is from last night's dinner. A new camera is in order, me thinks

Today I cooked what will hopefully prove to be the first of many private dinners at Sueno del Mar. Bill and Lauren, a newlywed couple from Philly were treated to Cocktails and Hors D'oeuvres on the beach at sunset followed by a four course meal:

1st: Chilled Cucumber Gazpacho with Tomato Confit, Salted Radishes, and Crema Mexicana
2nd: Mixed Green Salad with Avocado, Local Goat Cheese Crostini and Smoked Chile and Tomato Vinaigrette
3rd: Serrano Ham Wrapped Dorado with Sweet Corn Salad, Garlic Roasted Marble Potatoes, and Cilantro Pistou
4th: Pan Perdido with Spiced Pineapple Compote and Rum Scented Cream

As I worked through my prep for the evening, I managed to tie down dinner for all of the guests in the hotel tomorrow and a guest who would like private meals for the next five nights. Not a bad start at all if I do say so myself.

Highlights of a Moontan

In an effort to conserve energy here in Costa Rica, during week, the power is turned off for two to three hours every day leaving everyone to get creative with their now TV-less time. Since yesterday was a holiday (Costa Rica has a major state holiday once every three weeks or so) the power was left on all day leaving us with a double dose of outage today, the second of which came between the hours of 7 and 9, a rather difficult hour to be powerless. In an effort to pass the time, I smacked my Ipod on, wandered out of the house and down to the beach, my path lit by dappled moonlight slipping through the lethargic palms. I sat on a pile of rocks in the middle of the wide open stretch of Tamarindo sand watching a summer thunderstorm crowd in from the south over the now dimly candlelit village and as I listened to M. Ward, sporadic flashes of heat lightening, briefly lit the soundly sleeping silhouette of the mountains across the bay in Playa Grande.