It's a red, white and blue day today in Costa Rica as the Netherlands faces the mighty Costa Rica futbol (soccer) team. In our town of Atenas, flags and banners are everywhere. Taxis are driving around with flags waving from them. People are dressed in Costa Rica t-shirts and the anticipation is palpable. Banco de Costa Rica has a big screen TV with the soccer games on so we can wait for our turn at the teller without missing anything. Everyone is very proud of how far this little country has come in the World Cup.
Even Scruffy is wearing his Costa Rican colors. His colors were also appropriate for Canada Day (July 1st), minus the blue. The Canadian flag is red and white.
Scruffy was also dressed appropriately for yesterday's American 4th of July celebrations.
Baron's Resort, #59 Vista Atenas, very kindly hosted a 4th of July BBQ. Guests brought a dish and Baron's provided the BBQ'd hamburgers, hotdogs and condiments. We had a great time, meeting old and new friends and enjoying all the food offerings. Thank you, Jerry. The setting is fantastic with amazing views.
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| Just one of the almost 360 degree views from Baron's Resort. |
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| The glassed in pavilion. |
Baron's Resort is in the same area we live in (Vista Atenas).
I decided to make red, white and blue strawberries to bring to the BBQ. Neighbor Rose Mary kindly drove me to the new AutoMercado on the Autopista (highway 27). White baking chocolate was nowhere to be found in Atenas but I found two packages at the AutoMercado. Strawberries were no problem ... they are so plentiful in Atenas. I bought 6 pints from the berry vender at 1 mil for 3 pints ($2.00). They were large and ripe.
The plan was to dip a red berry in melted white chocolate, then dip the bottom third in blue sugar. Cool, no? Well, the white chocolate package directions said I could melt it in the microwave. Guess what? White chocolate has a very low burn point and it reaches that in the microwave long before it has melted. There was no saving that first bar. I rigged up a double boiler and managed to get the second bar melted, but it never got to a really liquid stage. I made the blue sugar by mixing white sugar with blue food coloring - here it is called "colorante azul".
I used Lance as a taste tester for the first berry and I had one also. He said it tasted good, then said go look in a mirror at your tongue. Yup - all bright blue. No way we could serve these to anyone. Plan B - just dip the berries in what remained of the white chocolate and forget about a flag theme.
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| Here's what I ended up taking to the BBQ. |
They were almost all gone by the end of the evening so all's well that ends well.
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3 comments:
Pura vida, my friend. Well done!
It's too bad blueberries are so expensive here, that would have worked too.
There was a flag cake, Niki ... and I think it had blueberries on it. Should have taken a photo. I've never bought blueberries or asparagus here because of the cost.
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