A Recipe for Disaster (and Delicious Food) in Sámara

Escuela de Sámara Mural

Now, you may think this article is about all the amazing foods I have made or consumed while here in Sámara. The delightful Gallo Pinto, rice mixed with beans topped with an egg plus fried cheese and, my favorite, fried sweet plantains. The scrumptious Casado, a marriage of rice, beans, meat in sauce, salad, and, again, my favorite(!), fried sweet plantains. But I think it would be more fun to tell you all about my mishaps in cooking. Those stories are the best!

First the boring stuff

Let me give you a bit of an overview. Food in Costa Rica costs a lot more than it did in Mazatlán, México. The reason is that the country is small and they import a lot of food from places like México, countries in South America, and a surprising amount from Thailand. To help keep their economy strong, CR has very high import taxes. However, it still costs a lot less than it did in Seattle, USA. They don’t need to stock the shelves with everything here. If it’s not in season, you probably won’t find it. This helps reduce waste and keep costs down.

Mandarin limes
These local mandarin limes are the best limes I have ever had. They look ugly on the outside but are delightful!

Eating out or eating name brand imported products will still cost ya. Do you know how much energy is spent keeping that brand-name ice cream frozen all the way from the US? Add in import taxes and you could spend $6 on 1/2 pint of ice cream compared to $2 on a local brand. And the locally made food is excellent, so it makes no sense to buy the imported one just because you recognize the name or have brand loyalty.

Local alcohol is way less than in The States because they don’t have sin taxes here. However, imported alcohol costs a lot more. Tequila in México cost about $18 for 750mL while here the same bottles cost $60! However, the local rum is delicious, so why not? Plus, they make this hyper local liquor made from sugar cane juice called Guaro. It’s quite delicious and very inexpensive. Eat local, and save some moneys!

Carolina reapers
Found Carolina reapers (scorpion peppers?) at the market! Now my Belizean-style hot sauce is even hotter. Did not know that was possible.

Now to the good stuff!

There I was prepping to make vegetarian Spanish Tortilla (layers of thinly sliced potatoes, onions, and egg) for my cousins who were visiting me when I realize that I don’t have enough olive oil. You absolutely cannot make a Spanish Tortilla without good olive oil. It’s just not a thing. I ran down to the nearest corner store to get a bottle. Do you remember me telling you to eat local to save money? Well… olive oil is not local. Import taxes for sure!

Now I’m ready to go with some very expensive olive oil. The tortilla is cooking away on the cook-top, but I must have had it turned up too high because the bottom is starting to burn but the top is not set. Normally, I would just toss it in the oven at this point, but my apartment doesn’t have an oven, so… I’ll just have to flip it. You ever watch a video where the flip goes terribly wrong?!

Spanish Tortilla
You know you are ready to marry once you master all the techniques of making a Spanish Tortilla!

Luckily, this wasn’t exactly like that. The first flip onto a plate was troublesome because the plate was too small so some slipped off. Then getting it back into the pan was a bit of a hassle, but it worked out with some slight mess. Stressful for sure, but no big deal. Next time, I’ll cook it on low with the lid on until the top sets and then flip it onto a large cutting board, then slide it back into the pan.

That did not just happen!

The Spanish Tortilla (or Tortilla de Papas, as my cousin who used to live in Spain informs me) is delicious. Apparently, according to Spanish custom, once you can properly make this, you are ready to get married. How fun is that!?! The next day, we were all cooking up various meals for dinner and somehow that expensive full bottle of olive oil made its way in front of the stack of cutting boards.

Someone reached for a cutting board, someone else reached to help, and bam! That bottle of olive oil tipped over and shattered spectacularly onto the countertop. And when I say shattered, I mean absolutely disintegrated into a million pieces that spread glass clear across the room… and we are all barefoot. FFS!

Foot and sand-dollar
I know it’s weird to take photos of dead critters, but sand-dollars are so neat looking. Poor creature.

Glass everywhere. Massive amounts of precious oil oozing down from the countertop, onto everything on the open bottom shelf (utensils, knives, pans), and then onto the floor and all the non-perishable food items I’m storing down there (rice, noodles, rum, cans of tuna, vinegar). All mixed with teeny-tiny shards of green glass! Yes, I tried to salvage as much as I could from the countertop (I filtered out the glass… it’s fine).

Oh… the cleanup

It took at least an hour to clean it all up. So many passes with the mop. Even with all that, I found green-glass for days after. All the way across the room. Unbelievable. All told, one cut on a foot (not as bad as the one my CR cousin got his first day here!). One cut on a finger. No stitches needed! Lesson learned. Do not put glass in front of the cutting boards!

Neighbor’s dog outside apartment
My neighbor’s dog will stop by if she smells something good cooking in my apartment. She’s not allowed in, though!

I’ve had a couple of market mishaps. I have a really hard time telling the difference between flat-leaf parsley and cilantro. Especially at the Saturday Farmer’s Market (Sámara’s Feria) where there are so many delightful smells that I can’t distinguish the cilantro smell from the cut end of the herb. As you can probably guess, I grabbed parsley instead of cilantro. I should have tasted a leaf to see if it tasted like soap.

Yup, I’m one of those peeps that thinks cilantro tastes like soap… but only when fresh. Once it’s cooked, it’s delightful. Unfortunately, parsley and cilantro are not the same, and using one in place of the other makes a Mexican dish taste not so Mexican anymore. I tossed the remainder of the parsley in some homemade chicken bone broth. Noms. Live and learn!

Sunset from the balcony
Even though the sun doesn’t set over the ocean in Sámara, you get the occasional good one over behind the mountains.

Not in México anymore

I just spent six months in México and got very used to heading to just about any store to get a bag (or a tub) of crema. Think sour cream but less sour with lime, and not as solid. It is so good! The Cremerías sell it fresh so it’s hard for me to resist, even though I object on moral grounds to all things dairy (and my digestive tract is not as fond as it used to be!).

Fast forward to Costa Rica and I’m all like, I speak a bit of Spanish. No worries picking out a sour cream-like dairy product for Sopa Seca. I grabbed a more expensive crema in a tub because I need more storage containers. Well, what I actually grabbed was queso crema. Any guesses what that is!?! That is cream cheese. Not Sour Cream. Not crema. Very different in all ways.

Fresh pineapple
Learned how to properly cut fresh pineapple for the most yield. Dice it up, add a bit of salt and vinegar, and cook down until even more delicious!

Luckily, the queso crema was amazingly delicious and actually went surprisingly well in the noodle dish. Locally made, so it definitely had a different taste than the kind made in Philly. Which is funny because cream cheese in most other countries is called simply Philadelphia. So in México, all those popular sushi rolls made with cream cheese list “Philadelphia” as an ingredient. Do you see how I got confused!?!

How much did that cost?

I’m not the only one who mixes up items at the grocery store. The green curry I like to make calls for broccoli, but broccoli can be hit or miss around here. I use green beans as a backup when they look fresh. I finished all my shopping, but the new checkout person was having a hard time finding the green beans on his paper list of produce codes for the computer. He figured it out, and I headed home.

Banana tree with flower
Fresh baby bananas!!! I think these are Plátanos Dominicos, which are a smaller sweeter variety than the Tabasco or Cavendish variety found in US grocery stores. The tiny ones are my favorite!

It starts raining, so I hasten to get home. And, oh let me tell you that when it rains here, it is torrential. The stairs to my apartment become a waterfall and all kinds of slippery. So I’m trying to hurry, but I’m part way up the hill when I take a look at the price for groceries. About ₡7,000 Costa Rican Colones over what I expected. Weird. Take a look and realize that I got charged for asparagus instead of green beans. I haven’t even seen asparagus here. Imported asparagus is $14 USD for a small bunch!!!

Head back in the rain to figure it all out. My usual checkout person playfully teases the new kid for not knowing the difference between the two long green vegetables. Green beans are almost asparagus! She had to cancel and credit the entire order and then re-ring everything. Sorry! But she definitely understood. We were all surprised how expensive asparagus was. Made it back soaking wet but with enough money saved to order a casado at my favorite beach bar. It’s an adventure!

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1 Comment

  1. great story, we still have those days, weeks!

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