Just In Time For the Holidays Art Show and Music Festival, Atenas

Mark your calendars for these dates, folks! December 9 to 11 - the 2022 art show and sale at Colinas del Sol, Atenas. Twenty-one local artists, artisans and musicians will be at this three day event. This is your chance to fill the Christmas stockings with high quality art, jewellery, pottery, ceramics, photography, soaps, candles and more!!

I will be there! This be me:

Margaret Centorcelli Photography

Here are just a few of the pieces that I will be offering:

“Moodiness”:

“Moo-tual Friends”:

“When Pigs Fly”

“Costa Rica Siesta”

Click HERE to see my art web page.

Click on images to enlarge.

Dinner Takeaway - Felipe’s KC BBQ, Grecia

Recently I saw an ad for Felipe’s KC BBQ in Grecia. It was on one of the expat Facebook pages. These are great sources for information sharing and I belong to lots of them. Click HERE to see the ad on Facebook that caught my attention (be sure to turn on the sound).

They have been open for just a couple of weeks and at the moment are offering only two menu items: pork rib and pulled pork tacos and both are accompanied with cheesy corn and baked beans.

I ordered one of each and picked them up for Sunday dinner. I got to meet Phil and his partner - super nice guys. Phil gave me a lesson in BBQ’ing and smoking meats. The pork rib had smoked for 12 hours. We don’t BBQ so this method of cooking was interesting to learn about.

They are located in Grecia just around the corner from Gasolinera Sanchez Viquez - “X” marks the spot:

All the items were very good with the pulled pork and the two sides being my favourites. Portions are large and we had leftovers the next day. I forgot to take photos of the two dishes but did take one of the next day leftovers:

So support your local businesses and go say “hi” to the guys. Prices are reasonable, portions are large and the BBQ is excellent.

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Lunch - Monsoon Asian Bistro, Atenas

Recently we met our friends Tony and Rose Mary for lunch at Monsoon Asian Bistro.

When we lived in Vista Atenas, Tony and Rose Mary were our neighbours. Here are the happy couple:

Monsoon has an extensive menu. They feature Indian, Indo-Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Thai cuisines and also offer Italian pizzas - just my sort of restaurant. You can view their menu with the link provided above to their website.

Garlic naan bread from the tandoor oven and margaritas:

Lance ordered the chicken biryani:

I decided on the spicy Goan fish curry:

Tony and Rose Mary both ordered the chicken curry (I think). Portions are large and we took quite a bit of it home. All the food was delicious. Definitely returning to this restaurant to try some other cuisines.

From the guide Best Restaurants in Atenas, Costa Rica:

“Owner of Monsoon: David Mander was born in Scotland and moved to Canada with his parents. David’s Mom taught him authentic cooking skills during his entire childhood. In 2002, David opened the very first Indian restaurant in Costa Rica and after years of success, he moved back to Canada in 2016 to pursue his career as an airline pilot.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, David was laid off from his job so he returned to Costa Rica and officially opened Monsoon Asian Bistro and Pizza on July 4, 2021. Monsoon’s chef Ganga Singh (from Uttarakhand, India) is passionate about cooking, and David’s restaurant is open all year round from Wednesday-Sunday, even during major holidays!”

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Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - October 2022 / Covid-19 Update

During October, visits to this blog were received from the following 17 countries:

The total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 135. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as the Isle of Man, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, etc.

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The following is a summary of the weather for October in the area where we live:

We were mildly sideswiped by hurricane Julia as it crossed Nicaragua late night on October 8 continuing well into the day on October 9. With a few short breaks, we had a steady and persistent drizzle of rain totalling about 2 3/4 inches (~ 70 mm). But, the winds were relatively light. Overall, the situation was not nearly as torrential as in some areas of Nicaragua. 

With the rain from Julia, there was also a lot of fog. The result was a record low daytime high temperature for us during all our time in Costa Rica - a mere 64ºF (17.8°C).

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Covid-19 Update

The following table updates information which appeared in my blog entry posted on October 9, 2022:

With regard to the Death Rate Trend, the rate has fallen by 0.04% in Costa Rica but has risen by 0.01% in Canada. As indicated, the United States remains unchanged.

If you want to see how some other country is doing in comparison to Costa Rica, then visit the website of Worldometer. Numbers for populations, reported cases and reported deaths can be obtained from that site. All that is then needed is some simple math to calculate the percentage death rate for the other country and the death rate in that country compared to Costa Rica.

After a hiatus, Worldometer is again reporting U.S. population numbers, cases per million and deaths per million on the same web page as other Covid data. Thus, unlike the last while, it was not necessary to obtain population data from an unrelated Worldometer web page to determine cases per million and deaths per million for the U.S.

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