One more goodbye

Goodbye to our dear friend, Flor, and her family...Que Dios les bendiga! Les queremos mucho, amigos. 

Flor, me, Martha (Flor's sister), Jefrain (Flor's son)

Flor, Sophie, me, Martha, Karen, Jefrain

The perfect Gallo Pinto recipe

Ticos love their Gallo Pinto - their version of rice and beans.  A traditional Tico breakfast here usually consists of gallo pinto, eggs, fruit, maybe some plantains, and cafe negro.  


Over the past year, I've been trying to find the perfect pinto recipe, and I've been taste-testing along the way.  Seems that every Tica has their own way of cooking the traditional dish, but our friend, Ceci, brought over her pinto the other day as a going-away present, and it was delicioso!  


Then today, she surprised us with the most thoughtful gift: an apron with the recipe on it! I really think it might be the perfect gift for me: cooking, Spanish, and new recipe to try. I LOVE it.  Muchas gracias, Cecy! Muy amable, amiga.

What could it be? 

Ceci, me and the lovely delantal

Goodbyes

No quiero decir adios, solo quiero decir: nos vemos muy pronto.  
I don't want to say goodbye; I only want to say "see you soon."  


Today was the beginning of our end here in Costa Rica.  

Steaks on the grill Thursday night

Goodbye, Marci and the rest of mis compañeros!

 

Goodbye, Vision Mundial!

Shopping with Flor. We bought matching red coral earrings at the Mercado de Artesanias.

Huddled together under my umbrella, enjoying one last conversation.

One more day

Tomorrow's my last day at work here in San Jose.  Took a few pictures as I was walking along the train tracks on my way to the office this morning.  I love this view. 

Deep thoughts

Question: If we say "No way, Jose!" in English, even though Jose is a Hispanic name, should we say "Imposible, John!" (prono: im-poh-SEE-bleh) en espanol? 

Deep thoughts.  Deep thoughts.

World's 50 Most Delicious Foods

CNN.com has a yummy article about the "World's 50 Most Delicious Foods."  Some of the foods are cheating a little bit - #13: Corn on the Cob (Global)" or #9: Ice Cream (United States) - but still fun to see how many I can check off the list! 


I think I've got about 22 covered, including one that I'm going to try tonight at Caracas Arepas: arepas! (See #20).


Here are some of my favorite food finds over the past few years (all the photos by yours truly):

Cappuccino in Rome

Homemade pasta in Rome

Parma ham, fresh tomatoes on the vine and goat's milk cheese in Rome

Pad Thai in Bangkok

Bananas in warm coconut milk in Krabi, Thailand

Som Tam (spicy mango salad) in Krabi, Thailand

Fresh fruit and coconut in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Chocolate makes me happy

And so does this song, "Chocolate," en español by the Mexico-born brother-sister duo, Jesse and Joy.  


Apparently, the entire video (directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada), took 30 days and nine people to finish.  They used cookies, sugar, milk, flour, chocolate (of course!), eggs and dough. Doesn't it make you happy?



Jesse & Joy- "Chocolate" from Carlos Lopez Estrada on Vimeo.



(Check out the behind-the-scenes shots here).