Más Empenadas Por Favor!

Last week, Chad and I had the pleasure of attending another cooking class at our school.  This time we learned how to make a traditional Costa Rican dish.  I was very excited to find out that we would be making empenadas which are probably one of the most unhealthy and indulgent things we eat here!

Everyday after class, Jose, the empanada man, is in the common area of our school selling his fabulous, freshly made, crispy and delicious empenadas.  He sells them out of Coleman coolers where they somehow manage to stay piping hot.  He sells empenadas con carne as well as empenadas vegetariano (filled with yuca and cheese)!! They cost 1000 colones (about $2) and are well worth every penny. 

It turns out that they are actually quite easy to make…

First, you knead the dough

Then, you roll the dough into little balls, flatten it, and drop your ingredients into the middle

Then, you fold the dough over and make a little pocket and put it in the piping hot oil

Then you have empenadas!

Jose :)

We made two kinds, one for carnivores which included meat and cheese and another for the veggies which included beans and cheese. Luckily, I made it in time to watch the making of the dough.  Velma, our iron chef, was about to pour a powdery substance from a can labeled “pollo” into all of the dough…

We also made a traditional Costa Rican beverage called agua dulce. It is made from tapa de dulce. Sugar cane juice is boiled down in traditional trapiches and put to solidify in molds in the form of conical sections with the top cut off called tapas, which can literally be translated into Lids. Then some of this tapa is scraped off and dissolved into boiling water or milk to make the sweet agua dulce.  It is basically just sugar water…I think I will stick to coffee and tea :)

White water rafting was a blast!  Everything was amazing from our guides, to the van ride out to the river, to the food, to the rafting itself.  It was scarier than I thought it would be.  I was thrown out of the raft within the first 30 seconds of the trip…some sort of evil initiation!  We stopped at a beautiful waterfall and snacked on fresh fruit.  I got to stand under the waterfall as the sun beamed down on me through the foliage and water vapor.  A truly incredible experience, it was!

On the ride to Rio Sevegre, our guide made these for us out of grass.  I thought they were pretty cool, although I am easily amused! 

I also had my first surfing lesson this week.  My friend, Janina, and I were picked up at our school by a man named Carlos (in his beat up pickup with 2 seats and 1 working door) and taken to Playa Espadilla.  If went well, no shark attacks or awful falls J I got up quite a few times and managed to stay up 4 or 5 of those times! The water was really rough and choppy, so I am pretty proud of myself.  And I can honestly say that the rides to and from the beach were MUCH scarier than the surfing itself!

Playa Espadilla

Side note... Our Costa Rica cat, Isla, has turned into our indoor Costa Rica cat!  She loves our bed :)