It was about two years ago in February that Carl and I went to Costa Rica—my first time, his second. In the fall of the previous year, my company (a children’s non-fiction publisher) was bought by another publishing company. Over the course of a couple months we were all pretty much made redundant, and laid off. For me, it was the end of approximately 25 years of employment. But I was hired back as a freelancer a few weeks later to continue doing book design and such for the new company. I took the work hoping it would lead to something more fulfilling—but ultimately it did not.
Maybe it was the gloomy gray days of February, but I realized my soul was either sick or terribly sad. I told Carl one night after he came home from work, I needed a trip elsewhere from here. At the time, airfare to Europe was crazy expensive. I don’t recall if it was me or Carl who brought up the idea of looking into Costa Rica. As mentioned earlier, Carl had been there before and always wanted me to experience the wonderfulness of the country and people. The airfare was perfect for our budget and we booked the trip.
From Newark Airport to San Jose, Costa Rica, the flight was only about 5 hours (which meant no food service (boo)). Fortunately, we grabbed a couple of sandwiches from the food court on the way to the gate. Obviously, we weren’t the only ones prepared… It was funny to see other passengers eating hamburgers and cheese steaks at 7am before boarding… But other than that, the beverage service was great. 😉 Once in country, we rented a small SUV (in which the process seemed almost as long as the flight), with GPS and we where off on our adventure!! I could write pages about this trip we took, but I don’t want to bore you, so here are some of the bullet points, so to speak.
Our first part of the trip we were to explore to the cloud forests of Monteverde. Carl found, I think online, a great boutique hotel called the Rainbow Lodge http://www.rainbowvalleylodgecr.com. Given how late we booked, we were able to get the last room available. It was above the owners apartment and the check in lobby, but had windows all on one side which looked down into the valley. Each morning we were greeted by the mist blowing through and some afternoons, the moisture in the air did hold true to the hotel’s name, and we’d see wonderful rainbows.
We were just outside of “downtown” so the local supermarket had the basics we needed: bread, cheese, and wine to take back in our efficiency room. Carl even found out from Christian there was a lady that sells the best rotisserie chicken. We had a great dinner as well as chicken salad sandwiches the next day. It was great because it fit our sort of way of travel: picnic dinner in the hotel or accommodations in order to plan the next day.
But on a number of occasions we’d treat ourselves to eat in local restaurants. If you are a fan of cechiche, you can get it all the time. We’d normally share it as an appetizer. And then we’d then share an entree of local cuisine whenever possible. We had a lovely lunch at one place in town where we had Casado, or also know as Comida Tipica. From my understanding, it is the most common dish in Costa Rica. It generally has beans, rice with finely diced red bell peppers and onions, fried plantains, a cabbage salad with tomato and carrot, and a choice of meat between chicken, fish, pork, or steak with grilled onions. The serving was so generous, it was more than enough food for the two of us! Yum! Will try to research and post a recipe in the future…
From Monteverde, we continued on to our next lodging at Finca Luna Nueva in San Isidro near the Arenal volcano. Unfortunately, there was not a straight line between the two places we were staying so we had about a 4 hour drive to go all away around the Lake Arenal. While the drive was long and sometimes on questionable “roads,” it gave us a chance to see more of the northern part of the country and local culture. We even found a funky restaurant to stop for lunch, which was also a hotel. It was really laid back and there seemed to be a few expats residing there. I just revisited their website while writing this blog to give out an URL and it seems they may be under new management. Would love to go back and give an updated review, but the place still appears to still have an awesome view over the valley and lovely accommodations: http://toadhallhotel.com
Once again, because the trip was sort of thrown together last minute, we were lucky to get the last room in the main lodge at Finca Luna Nueva. It was perfect. Even though the difference in humidity between being in a cooler mountaintop cloud forest to a rain forest was definitely felt, the room was on a corner with ample windows and there was a ceiling fan so it was very comfortable. Outside our room was a giant veranda with hammocks and comfy chairs to chill out in. There was even a resident sloth practically outside our window.
But the area offers so much to do besides just chilling out. We did a day of hiking and saw tropical birds and tiny frogs. There was a day of horseback riding with a hike to a beautiful waterfall, and another day of more hiking including suspension bridges over valleys and streams and zip lining. And, of course, an evening doing a much needed soak at the local volcanic hot springs to soothe our muscles from the outdoor activities.
Finca Luna is a biodynamic organic farm so basically everything we ate at the facility came from the grounds http://fincalunanuevalodge.com. It was super awesome! And it was interesting to see a number of volunteers working there were from many other countries. Maybe this sort of farming can be adapted to our more moderate climates? But who knows since Costa Rica is blessed with an endless growing season, more or less.
Anyway, every morning when we’d go to have our breakfast included with the stay. I’d generally opted for a fruit smoothie, or amazing fresh cut fruit, and eggs, but Carl loved the traditional breakfast, of Gallo Pinto, which is basically rice and beans. My understanding, the traditional meal comes from leftovers when making Casado the day before since it’s so time consuming to make as the beans soak for the day before and then are cooked for 2-3 hours afterwards. By all means, you can go that route, but in my version, I’ve changed it out for canned beans so as to save time. While Carl opted not to have any eggs on the side sometimes, but it can be served with eggs and fried plantains.
I was able to find a recipe online, but have since changed it up. Since the idea was about it being “leftovers,” I started adding in other ingredients. You can still have it for breakfast, of coarse, but I pushed it out to be a meal you can have for dinner, or take to reheat for lunch, or even as a side dish.We’re all so pressed with time, so this one pot meal can be repurposed if you are on the go. I’ve included the original recipe, as well as all the options I’ve used in the past. Sometimes I use all of them depending on what I have on hand in the pantry or freezer. Other times just a few. So pick and choose as you please. Enjoy and have fun with it!
| Prep Time | 30 |
| Cook Time | 30 |
| Servings |
servings
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- 6 cups cooked rice
- 2 14.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 14.5 oz can corn, drained and rinsed (optional)
- 2 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (optional)
- 1 3.8 oz sliced olives (optional)
- 1 14.5 oz can of chicken or vegatable broth (optional)
- 6 TB Lizano Salsa, or more to taste **
- 4 TB cilantro, chopped
Ingredients
Prepping the veggies
Putting it all together
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- Prepare/cut all the vegetables that are listed above and set aside. Drain and rinse the canned goods and also set aside.
- Remove the chorizo from the casing and try to break into small pieces, if possible. It can be a bit sticky, so to speak.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or pot. Add the chorizo and saute until it starts to loose it's pink/red color.
- Add in the vegetables and cook until they have started to soften, but still have a little bit of "crunch" to them (maybe about 10 minutes).
- Add the black beans, corn, diced tomatoes, and olives. Mix together. Stir in the rice. Pour in the broth if it seems a little dry (see note below). The rice should absorb the excess liquid.
- Add in the Lizano Salsa (or Worcester sauce)---see note below.
- When all is heated through, mix in the cilantro and serve.
* Sometimes we use leftover white rice from Chinese takeout. If you chose to do the same, or if the dish seems a little dry, add 1-14 oz. can of Chicken or Vegetable broth.
** It's a condiment found on just about every table in Costa Rica. It sort of has mild sweet and tangy flavor. Carl was putting it on everything! Lizano Salsa can be found in Spanish specialty grocery store or online. Or you can substitute 2 TB of Worcester sauce instead.
An additional note: the approximate servings listed above are based on using all the optional ingredients, with the exception of the broth. If making the basic recipe, I'm guessing maybe enough servings for 6 people as an entree breakfast. Of if you aren't planning on serving 10 people, but want to use all the ingredients, the recipe can easily be halved.
Having just been with you and Carl, Kristin, then I can recommend your Gallo Pinto recipe …. it was fabulous cold with salad, warmed up with your home made bread and one of those ‘munchy time, what’s in the fridge? … ah! yes! left overs’
It does make for a quick, pop in the microwave, for a meal or munchy moment!
Kristin – this is an awesome article! I love all the narrative and the photos are stunning. Thanks for sharing the links and the recipe – I want to try them all!
Sorry for the late response, it’s been baby steps learning this software and I just figure out how to say respond and say, thank you that you enjoyed the post. I hope you like the ones to come!