Twizzlers and Art Supplies

This has been a bounteous week for us. Our friends Tom and Lee returned from a trip to the U.S.A. and brought us a package of Twizzlers and a new mouse for Lance's computer. We can't find Twizzlers here so they are always a treat.

As you can see, their bag of Twizzlers is almost empty:

Next, my friend Rosa from Vancouver Island, B.C., arrived yesterday for her first visit to Costa Rica. Her friend Shannon was with her. We met today at Antaño's for coffee and Rosa brought me new art supplies. She bought them for me at Dick Blick's in Portland, Oregon. I emailed her my order then paid her back via PayPal. The Golden brand of acrylic paints, very high end artist's quality, is simply not available here. I've been unable to find decent hanging wire either so all of these supplies are most welcome.

Rosa is a glass artist (Fantabulous Glass) and you can view her beautiful work here.

And .... Rosa also brought three packages of Twizzlers! What timing - just when we were down to our last few.

"Muling" is a common way of getting products from Canada and the U.S.A. that are unavailable here.

Antanos Restaurant, Atenas

I've been meaning to write about this restaurant for a while now. We've eaten there three times - once for lunch, and twice for breakfast.

Antanos is situated 150 m. east of Banco de Costa Rica, not far from the northeast corner of the central park, and across from Pure Life Development. If you don't have your compass with you, just ask someone!

The restaurant is on the main floor of one of the few wooden houses in Atenas, built in the 1800's I believe. The restaurant menu gives the history of the building so be sure to read it. Also note the tiles both inside and out. The inside tiles are original. Apparently the house was home to a tile company at one time and I think the outside tiles are from that period.

The food is very good and so is the service. It's nice to sit in one of the rooms with the breezes blowing through the open windows. They have African violets growing on some of the window ledges (my sister Mady will like this).

Omelette with toast

One of the rice dishes

Yum! this was mine, all mine.  Couldn't finish it all and I had to ask for "para llevar",  (to go).

The portions are generous, the ingredients are fresh, the prices are very good. We had breakfast there yesterday (Saturday) and I ordered the omelet with vegetables and it is packed with big chunks of vegetables and included toast and jam. You can also ask for a tortilla instead of toast. There were four of us and we all ordered a grande sized fresh fruit drink. You can practice your Spanish when ordering.

Final price for breakfast on Saturday: 8,000 colones for two people, or about $16 CAD.  When we left Canada, we were paying $30 for two typical breakfasts at major chain restaurants and if we wanted to order something extra, like our grande sized fresh fruit drinks, I bet they would cost an extra five bucks each .... and the fruit wouldn't be all that fresh most of the year.