Tuesday, December 24

I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS


I love the festive spirit of the holidays. This is the very first time I will not be in the states or with my parents for Christmas. Although I am a little bit sad about it, I am excited to experience a Christmas in Costa Rica with Paris and his family. Christmas is, after all, about being with the ones you love.

I'm not sure what is going to happen with this little blog in the New Year. For the past few weeks, my mind has been occupied with moving back to the states and being away from Paris. I know that it was my decision to make the move and I am confident that it is the correct decision. But it doesn't change that fact that it is still scary. Paris and I will do the best we can to see each other during the year and hopefully, if everything goes as we would like, he will be joining me in the states at the end of next year or soon after. I didn't want to keep writing about and dragging on all my worries so I just haven't been writing anything. I'm fairly confident that I will come back to this space after my move is over in early January. So hopefully you will all stick around until then!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Thursday, December 5

EXPAT DIARIES: FINDING NEW PLACES






Two weekends ago, we took a little day trip to our friend's family property in Cartago. Cartago is a beautiful place and it is known for being mountainous and much cooler than the Central Valley Area where we live. As soon as we got there, I fell in love with the house and the surrounding land. It is the perfect getaway place. The house was just a main room, the enclosed deck, and the bathroom. It was the perfect size for a weekend home when really, all you are going to be doing is sleeping in there. The rest of the time would be spent on the deck or outside where there was a gold course, a lake to fish in, and beautiful scenery to simply sit back and look at. Why we were only going there for the first time, I'm not sure! But we had a lot of fun just hanging out, eating tons of BBQ food, and enjoying the fresh air. It is these kind of days, where you find a new favorite place that I just love.


linking up today with Rachel and Chelsea for the Expat Diaries and Nicole for TreatYoSelf Thursday!

Monday, December 2

RECIPE: SOPA AZTECA

Sopa Azteca, Aztec Soup

One of my very favorite dishes here in Costa Rica is called Sopa Azteca. It is essentially tomato soup but even better. I distinctly remember the very first time I had it almost 4 years ago at my host mom's house and knew I was in love. Now that the holidays are here, family gatherings are becoming more and more prevalent and this dish is very popular to serve .. lucky me! In fact, just last week I was lucky enough to have homemade Sopa Azteca two times. Even luckier, is I learned how to make it myself. It is a little bit labor intensive but also so worth it. Here's what I learned.

What you need:
1large tomato per person
half a chicken breast per person
shredded mozzarella cheese
avocado
tortilla strips (homemade or store bought)
oregano
onion
garlic
cilantro
red pepper
carrots
hot sauce
salt and pepper

What you do:
1. Start by putting the chicken to boil in water with oregano.

2. Cut up the tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrots, cilantro, and red pepper. It doesn't matter how big or small you cut these because they will all eventually be liquified. Put everything you cut up except the tomatoes into a pan to simmer. These things are called olores or smells, and they are used to give the soup flavor so you can decide how much or how little of each you put in based on what you like.

3. Start to liquify the tomatoes in a blender. Put a laddle full of the broth from the boiling chickens in with each tomato you are blending. Once full blended, pour the tomatoes into a colander that only lets liquid through. Drain all liquid possible and set the left over tomato aside. Do this until all tomatoes are liquified.

4. By this time, the olores should be fully cooked and soft. These also go in the blender with more broth from the chicken until fully liquified. This is very important because this mixture does not go through a colander but straight into the soup so it needs to be 100% liquid.

5. Let the soup come to a boil. Once boiling add any other herbs or flavors to your liking. Here is where you add salt and peper, more oregano, and the hot sauce (if you like hot sauce). If the soup is very runny, you can also add a little bit of flour to make it thicker, again, to your liking.

6. When you serve the soup, you also add the chicken, shredded cheese, tortilla strips, and avocado! All the flavors together are amazing and if you ever come to Costa Rica I recommend this dish 100%, especially homemade.

I hope you enjoy!
If you are interested in any other recipes you can find them here.