Chicken Pot Pie

It has been raining non-stop all day. Sometimes it comes down as a torrent, other times it is more of a misty Pacific Northwest type of rainfall. In fact, at this time of year in Costa Rica, where we live in the Central Valley, the weather reminds me of our winter weather in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Everything is so lush and green. It has been long sleeve shirts and long pants weather the last few days, as I find it quite cool. We have been running the ceiling fans in order to keep the air moving and help with indoor dampness.

It is definitely chicken pot pie weather - some good old fashioned hearty comfort food. Click here to see the recipe I followed. For the pastry crust, I also used her pastry recipe, which features a very easy method of incorporating the chilled butter into the flour. Those methods of using a pastry blender or two knives to cut in the butter never did work very well for me.

I made two pies. One is for our dinner tonight and the other went over to Diane and John's house. They are flying home to Costa Rica from a trip to Canada, arriving this evening, so they will have something to nosh on if hungry or they can reheat it tomorrow.

I loaded the pies with spinach, peas, broccoli, carrots, onions and garlic, and lots of chicken. From my own herb garden, I picked rosemary, oregano and tarragon and added those, along with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.

Here is how their pie turned out:

 

Some of the gravy leaked out the top but I think that is not a problem, taste wise. Realize that I have a funny little stove (an Atlas) with four heat selections: high, bake, grill and warm. With trial and error and an oven thermometer, I have learned to preheat the oven on "high", put the baking in the oven, turn to "bake", set a timer and then finish on "grill" if the top needs further browning.

Mammals and Araneoidea Spiders

After five years of living in Costa Rica, I still get excited seeing the exotic flora and fauna of this country.

We are presently fortunate to have five separate webs around our house, made by the golden silk orb-weaver spider. The webs are simply amazing - large and strong with a golden sheen. The spiders are amazing also:

 

I think this one is missing a leg.

 

Here you can see the golden web.

For more information on this amazing creature, check out my friend Claudia's blog article on the golden orb. Claudia is a protozoologist and knows whereof she speaks - Claudia's blog article

Now for the mammals - we have agoutis running through our yard at regular intervals. They exist on fruits and nuts so our orange and mango trees are an attraction for them. This pair were close to our back door but started running when I came out with a camera.

 

Not sure what it is carrying - old dried up mango?

They both are carrying something ... 

For more information on the agouti, click here. Now, see how interesting it is living in the tropics?

What Are "The Tropics"?

In Costa Rica, we are said to be living in the “tropics”. Maybe yes, maybe no. But, conditions in the “tropics” are not what many people imagine or, in some cases, would like to believe because we are here and they are not. Critics try to remind us of how hot and uncomfortable it must be, and they are sadly wrong.

Although we live near the equator (9 degrees north), our location is at an altitude (~ 2750 feet / 840 m.) where conditions are quite different from the combined heat and humidity which can be encountered at lower altitudes (beaches on both coasts for example). I have tried to say it on various occasions - we have not needed either air conditioning or heating to feel comfortable. And we come from the great white north (Canada) which many outside Canada falsely imagine to be a desolate snowy landscape year round.

Where we live in Costa Rica, and throughout the year, daytime temperatures are rarely stifling hot and humid as in the eastern U.S. and Canada during the summer. Overnight low temperatures are cool and sometimes require a sweater or jacket if you get up in the early morning. Extreme high dry heat as in the southwestern U.S. is unheard of.

The only caution is not to obliviously march around outdoors in the direct rays of the sun in Costa Rica. Carry an umbrella or wear a big hat not only to occasionally block the rain but also to block the sun (which is much more frequent than the rain). Don't forget your sunglasses and sun block.

The above is quite different from the conditions that you may encounter at touristy ports and resorts on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts in Costa Rica. If you are not acclimatized, and if air conditioning is not provided, then you may suffer dearly. You will be in what you have always imagined to be the “tropics”.

Atenas, higher elevation

At one of the Pacific beaches.