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Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomatoes. Show all posts

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Saturday in Atenas

We needed to buy some things in Atenas today so decided to go into town and have breakfast at Cafe Cultura. I've mentioned this newly opened restaurant before in this blog and urge everyone to try it out.

We like to eat in the restaurant's walled backyard. They have tables with umbrellas set up on the grass and  the ambience is so nice. We both ordered the eggs Benedict with smoked salmon and fresh fruit - it's always good. Lance ordered one of their coffee drinks - you can't go wrong with them. I usually order a fresh fruit drink and this time chose one that is supposed to be good for the circulation.

Then off we went to Vargas, the Atenas hardware store. We had decided to buy a fruit picking basket and a long, telescoping pole to attach to the basket. Our mango tree is huge and we can't reach a lot of the mangoes that need picking without some help. The basket and pole work really well and I also used them to pick oranges from our orange tree. The Vargas folks are really helpful - they always make an effort to find what we are looking for.  Today our helper asked if we were Canadians so I guess we have an accent.

We also bought some fruit and vegetables from the street vendors - always a great deal and it's fun to practice Spanish this way.

My fruit basket and pole.

The pole when it is telescoped out - this was actually a subject of some amusement  as I got some wink winks from the hardware guys and ... well, I didn't understand all of what they said.

Quatro avocados - one mil (2 CAD)

Eleven tomatoes - one mil (2 CAD)

Tres strawberry baskets - one mil (2 CAD)





Friday, January 6, 2012

More Good Things About Costa Rica

... the tomatoes! Today,  I picked two fat, red, plump, juicy tomatoes from the plants I have around the outside of the house. The seeds came from either a packet of tomato seeds I bought, or from the seeds of tomatoes I bought at the feria. They are all mixed up now but so what - all are delicious.

Sliced them up, sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper and basil (our own) - bought the basil seeds at a local Atenas feed store.

We also have sweet peppers growing and those seeds came from peppers I bought at the feria. When I cut the peppers up to eat, I throw the seeds and membranes out onto my garden area.

I throw all kinds of vegetable leftovers out there - even stale bread. The wrens and robins go for the bread and I think it also attracts worms so the cycle goes on. This is just outside our back door and there is no smell - everything seems to rot really fast.

The only thing that shocked me was this: yesterday the two ripe tomatoes were perfect, today they had insect damage on the outside of the tomatoes.  How did those insects know my tomatoes were ripe for their eating? I wonder if I can cover the fruit with ..... something  ...... before the insects get to it.

Oh, and I have also planted melon seeds from feria melons, and pineapple tops .... it is January, for goodness sake - unbelievable.


Sunday, November 27, 2011

Name That Bug!

I was quietly tying up some tomato plants the other day with strips of old blue fabric when I became aware of eyes looking at me.

This insect is about 3 inches long with wings and horn-like antenna and was attached to one of the tomato stems that I was tying up. I'd love to know what it is and why it is smiling, if anybody can tell me.