Lunch - Chirinquitos Del Rio Restaurante & Bar, Grecia, Costa Rica

Today we returned for a second time to have lunch at Chirinquitos Del Rio Restaurante & Bar. I wrote a previous post about our first visit to this restaurant and you can read it here.

The setting above and beside the river is so nice. Because we have had so much rainfall this green season the river was full and running fast. The sound of it is nice to hear.

Their menu is quite extensive and I remembered how large the lunch portions were so this time we decided to order bocas, thinking the dishes would be more snack size and we could try several types.

Well folks, at this restaurant they are definitely NOT pequeño (small) dishes. We started with sangria. Even these are very generous sized. Lance ordered arroz con camarones and gallo de pescado. I too had the gallo de pescado and also the chifrijo de chicharrón, one of my favourite dishes.

Lance’s choices translate to shrimp with rice and breaded fish on a small corn tortilla. Both dishes came with chips and a salad. The rice was loaded with shrimp. My chifrijo is best explained here.

The sangria:

My gallo de pescada (and Lance ordered the same dish):

Lance’s arroz con camarones: 

And my chifrijo:

So, as the photos show, it was a lot of food and we brought a good deal of it home to enjoy tomorrow.

While up at the cashier, we met a customer from the U.S.A. who had brought his beautiful English cocker spaniel to lunch with him and a friend (it’s not unusual here to see dogs and cats in restaurants - some of them live there). Well of course I had to make friends with this doggie, whose name is Junior. Outside at our cars, we had a good chat about what brought us to Costa Rica. He was of like mind and had the same mantra as we do - “if not now, when?”. He was a pharmacist and, while counting out pills every day, he pondered on making the move and then did it. We all agreed that this is our home now and we have no intentions of leaving.

Dim Sum in Sarchi, Alajuela, Grecia!

I had read good reviews about Bar Restaurante Sabor Oriental in Sarchi, a town about a 20 minute drive from our house in San Roque de Grecia. So we decided to drive there and try it out for ourselves.

Map of our drive:

When I looked at their menu on line, I discovered that they served dim sum, one of our favourite traditional Chinese meals. All prices indicated are in Costa Rican colones.

We ordered the ha koa, the siu mai, the lao won bao and the empanadas chino al vapor (steamed not fried), aka gyoza.

The traditional drink to have with dim sum is tea but we opted for frosty cold Imperial beers.

When the food arrived, I was so busy eating it that I forgot to take pictures but did remember at the last moment and so here we have a photo of two of the items we ordered:

The dim sum was excellent. We will definitely be going back here for dim sum. It’s so much closer then driving to the Asian restaurants in San José.

We made a dash cam video of our drive to Sarchi:

Click on images to enlarge.

Lunch - Rejn’ Asian Fusion Restaurant, Grecia Costa Rica

Monday, September 12, 2022 - Today we had lunch at Rejn’ Asian Fusion restaurant in our town.

 

They don’t have a liquor licence so no sake but the cold coffee lattes were very good:

We started with the gzoyas, steamed (al vapor) - excellent, served piping hot and lots of flavour. They can be ordered fried but that doesn’t sound very good to me:

Next came the camaron (shrimp) and the salmon nigiris. One order includes two nigiri. Sorry, we ate the shrimp nigiri before I remembered to take a photo but here are the salmon nigiri. The raw seafood is very fresh. Nigiri is served on top of sushi rice:

And the final order was red tuna sashimi - also very fresh - and generous portions:

Rejn’ also has an extensive listing of various kinds of rolls. We will definitely be returning here soon. Highly recommend.

Click on images to enlarge.

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

During August, visits to this blog were received from the following 9 countries, Hong Kong and 1 unknown country:

The total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 134. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, etc.

Purely speculative, but perhaps the unknown country was somebody on an aircraft using a satellite connection with the internet.

_____________________________________________

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

The hottest temperature during the month was on August 1 (87°F / 30.6°C) and this was higher than any day in July. However, it was not uncomfortable. The humidity was only 36%. This is unlike the Pacific and Caribbean coasts where temperatures can be much the same as the interior of Costa Rica but with uncomfortably high humidities. At our elevation in the interior we have found absolutely no need for indoor heating or air conditioning.

With regard to rainfall, there were a number of days where we got deluges. But they were usually short lived and normally in the afternoon. Where we live, a typical "green season" day begins with broken clouds lasting till about noon. With or without rain, the sky becomes overcast in the afternoon. Mornings are the best time to get shopping or other things done.

_____________________________________________

Covid-19 Update

The following table updates information which appeared in my blog entry posted on August 8, 2022:

With regard to the Death Rate Trend, the rate has fallen by 0.02% in Costa Rica and the United States but, as indicated, remains unchanged in Canada.

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.

** On its Covid web page, Worldometer continues not to provide numbers for the U.S. population, cases per million, or deaths per million. However it does report total cases and total deaths. As well, on a web page unrelated to Covid, it reports on the U.S. population. In the above table, the U.S. cases per million and deaths per million were calculated from the total cases and total deaths as reported on its Covid web page and the U.S. population as reported on its unrelated web page.

Click on images to enlarge.

Breakfast Sandwiches, Pierogies, Cabbage Rolls and Library Books

Yesterday - Saturday - we decided to drive to Atenas for breakfast. We went to El Fogon because we have had their breakfasts and lunches in the past and they were always good.

We both ordered breakfast sandwiches and fresh fruit drinks made with mora, a type of blackberry. We have a mora bush in our yard.

As you can see, the orders came with a side of fresh mixed fruit. The sandwiches were loaded - egg, ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, a sauce - have I missed anything?

We had two additional reasons to drive to Atenas - stop at Pequeña Polonia Café and Restaurante to order two meals to go and to take advantage of their free lending library. Pequeña Polonia was formerly known as Kay’s Postres when we arrived in Costa Rica in 2011.

We met the then owners, Kay and Tom Costello, who always welcomed new arrivals. Time moves on and so did they. The present owners are Ania and Tom, who are from Poland by way of Canada. Their menu includes Polish items so you know that they are authentic. By the way, they no longer serve breakfast but are open for lunch and dinner.

We ordered two classic Polish dishes -  pierogies with sauerkraut and mushrooms, bacon on the top, and cabbage rolls with tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. Also included were a cucumber salad and a carrot salad. Don’t you wish you were eating these tonight?

The cabbage rolls, mashed potatoes and two of the pierogies have been devoured. The rest of the pierogies are for dinner tonight, along with a coleslaw that I made.

While waiting for our meals to be prepared, we selected a number of paperback books to take home. There has always been a free lending library at this restaurant. It’s based on the honour system. So we are set for the next few months with reading material. Nothing is better then being in a hammock with a good mystery/detective/murder story book.

We also met one of our former neighbours when we lived in Vista Atenas. It was so great to see Leticia again and get caught up on the local news. Atenas is a small town which is one of its advantages - you get to know your neighbours and townsfolk.

Click on images to enlarge.

Saturday Shopping - Grecia, Costa Rica - July 23, 2022

A couple of days ago we made a dashcam video of a little driving trip we took to go shopping and run errands in and around Grecia.

We left home and drove Hwy. 107 to Grecia then on to Masxmenos (a supermarket chain owned by Walmart) for some groceries. Back to Grecia to the DHL office to pick up a courier envelope, then to the Banco Nacional utility payment location to pay our asada (water bill). This is located on Av. Centra Leon Cortes Castro, across from the bank itself.

Last stop was Super Rosvil - Liceo for more groceries and then home.

Some people may find it interesting to see what Grecia looks like on a weekend with all the vehicles on the streets and people going about their weekly shopping. Wondering why we pass the church and park so many times? It’s because of all the one way streets!

Here’s our route to Masxmenos from our home and back again:

Here is my YouTube video:

The date and time on the video is incorrect - we have not yet set up those parameters on the camera.

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

During July, visits to this blog were received from the following 10 countries and Hong Kong:

The total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 134. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, etc.

_____________________________________________

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

At the beginning of July, tropical storm warnings from the Caribbean had been issued for much of Costa Rica. However, while it ended up tracking across northern Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua to the Pacific, the only effect on us was a dreary 24 hours or so of drizzling rain with minimal winds.

There was at least some rain almost every day in July. However, on many of these days the amount was rather trivial. Most days were marked by sunny or partly sunny mornings - then some rain - then lingering cloud. On 6 days there were downpours contributing to over 60% of the total rainfall for the month.

_____________________________________________

Covid-19 Update

The following table updates information which appeared in my blog entry posted on July 6, 2022:

The column headed "Death Rate Trend" is new. For each country, it will indicate whether the Covid situation appears to be improving (death rate "Falling"), getting worse (death rate "Rising") or is unchanged ("No Change") since the last time a report was made on this blog. Thankfully, the death rate has fallen in all three countries since my last post on the topic. More specifically, it fell by 0.08% in Costa Rica, 0.01% in Canada, and 0.02% in the United States. So, survivability is improving.

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.

**This time around, the foregoing is not completely accurate for the United States. At least between August 1 and August 8 Worldometer was inexplicably not reporting on its Covid web page the numbers for U.S. population, cases per million, or deaths per million. But it did report total cases (93,910,150) and total deaths (1,058,738). Also, on a web page unrelated to Covid, it reported the U.S. population as of August 8 (335,122,642). With these numbers in hand, it was trivial to calculate cases per million and deaths per million for purposes of the above table.

Click on images to enlarge.