A Caribbean Burger at Cafe 413

Am I ready to start this up again?

I keep doing things like sorting out the 16 boxes of yarn that were saved from Maria, plus the boxes that have arrived since, and then, I'm really trying to make sure I walk every day so that I maintain what mobility I have.

But one has to eat, right?

 I'm living right in town now, closer to everything I need, but still close to the water (see the ocean and the palm trees in the distance? and Desecheo down below?

The burger above is the rescue me that Cafe 413 did for me after walking about the hilly streets of Rincon. I usually get their Bacon Bleu burger, but this one was a most excellent change.

Cafe 413  has never disappointed me!

The Restaurant issue!

    

     On my first trip to Puerto Rico, the place where we stayed, The Blue Moon Guest House, had several issues of El Coqui of Rincon in the magazine stand. The four adults in the house became quite sneaky about drifting off to private space to peruse this wonderful Rincon based free magazine. It was definitely the reading material of choice at Blue Moon!
     Now, almost two years later, I have the privilege of doing the English proofing for them (it is a bilingual magazine- both Spanish and English)  and I have to say, I love it even more than I did at first!
      The restaurant issue is out now, a fabulous welcome back to all those, like me, who were  chased away by Maria and her aftereffects.  Always available online, it's pretty clear than one never need go without a REALLY GOOD MEAL in Rincon. In spite of Hurricane Maria.
     Check it out at http://www.elcoquiofrincon.com/
     The photo above is of the place that was just voted the best Caribbean Beach Bar of 2018. Right in Rincon, where I live! Where I am returning next week with my bucket list to eat at every place listed in the restaurant issue (plus a few more that the grapevine has told  me will be open soon!)
     I am very grateful to have spent time at my daughter and son-in-law's house in upstate NY, where, all Winter we ate like kings. It is wonderful to sit at the table with people who love to eat!
     But, my visit, grand as it has been, is just about over, and I will be headed back to that western corner of Puerto Rico  that I now call home. Time for a little Vitamin Sea!

 

                                                               I will keep you posted!

Today

I will watch for ways to feel good. (thank you, Abraham!)


I woke, full knowing that I had made my usual chia seed pudding for breakfast, but almost desperately wanting what I had made for supper last night instead.


But before we do TODAY, let's talk a bit about yesterday. I can remember  the delight it was to pick out my bag of mushrooms from the box of them at Sana Farm Stand. It is always a pleasure to go there, as the people there seem to be infused with the goodness and grace and joy of the food that is there for us fortunates to procure. Baby bok choy was just one of the greens they had, a perfect taste coordinate with the mushrooms.

Keeping it simple; first, the just barely chopped mushrooms in a pan with a bit of avocado oil.
While the mushrooms just begin to cook, chop the ends off the bok choy.

Place on top of the already heated up mushrooms

When the mushrooms underneath are just beginning to caramelize (that's a fancy way to say- they are sticking, Michele!), add just a dash of tamari and enough water to just cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover, and cook until greens are just wilted. This baby bok choy was so fresh and young, it didn't take long for it to become tender and delicious.

Simply delicious! Last night I had it with a small amount of quinoa, but for breakfast today I had it as is.


FYI, I cooked this morning with this playing:
https://youtu.be/o47eVI92Kzs


And, I MUST thank my new friend Jose, who patiently drove this crazy old lady to Sana and all over town yesterday, gathering supplies.

Jose Rafael Montero Fernandez photo

A Visual Feast & No Clue

Important to remember that Life is about more than food....


The past few mornings, I have woken up BEFORE 8 AM, very unusual for me, and motivated to get out of bed and walk, doubly unusual. My long walk to town several days ago (no, I haven't written about that YET) pushed me beyond my usual physicality, quite successfully. I've been waiting for the stoved up shoe to drop and what has happened instead is this waking up and needing to walk. A slightly different listening to the body exercise than KNOWING I need a donut. Just sayin....

I decided beforehand that I was going to keep this short, about 30 minutes. I knew I wanted to explore a fork in the road I had not been before, and was expecting it to be up a hill, the hill, I can see off the end of the porch.

Looking up the hill from the end of the porch.

Indeed! The bare ground spot behind the tree in the middle is in fact in the backyard here.

Interesting to see the ocean in the distance on BOTH sides of the road!

Some bicyclists went by. Do they talk about the old lady with a cane, stumping the Hills of Rincon?

No matter, I'm in it for my health!

When I got home, I was more than ready to eat, so I put a pot of quinoa on, figuring that would be quick and filling with some coconut cream and some papaya on the side.

The only problem being- it wasn't a papaya!

A papaya has lots and lots of little round seeds, which this did not. It had a center single seed. Except for the shape of it- I could almost believe it's a mango, except I've never had a mango separate from its center seed for me this way before. And, although it was ripe, it was much tarter than a ripe mango. Hmmmmmm....? Did this stop me from eating it? Of course not!

My bowl of quinoa with a generous glob of coconut cream, topped with chunks of no clue fruit.

A tasty reward for my walk in the hills!

Mango-licious!

Trust me when I tell you this- until you have had a grown down the street ripe mango, you just haven't had a mango!

I'm not going to pretend that getting this into edible condition was easy....

After cutting it in half , skinning it and cutting it into pieces while avoiding the large center seed was a challenge,

"there must be an easier way than this" was something I thought frequently throughout this process.

Every time I licked my very juicy fingers, I became even more motivated to finish the job!

Yes, I ate the whole bowl full! And loved every delicious bite of it!

Methinks that Serpent in Eden did not use an apple  to tempt Eve, but a mango, peeled and cut up into slices, each piece dripping sweet, sweet goodness. Such temptation would be hard to resist! Fortunately for me, Paradise is not lost, but is, instead, recently gained.

Soursop!

  

 Eating a soursop was, for me,  a primeval experience, one the YouTube guy with a spoon really can't prepare you for.

I'm adding the links here, for reference. Though they don't really tell the whole story, YouTubes have been really helpful to me to figure out what to do with these foods that are totally unfamiliar to me.

https://youtu.be/ZXYdmPmJm9A

https://youtu.be/Mn4FlTzRdF0

 The unripe ones look like dragons, green with spikes all over them. A properly ripe one has turned brown/black, almost charred looking and looks like fruity road kill.

The young woman on the video is quite right, an unripe soursop tastes like a not great pineapple. See the difference when opened up below:

Unripe; slices nicely, but does indeed taste like an unimpressive pineapple, with a similar texture.

The skin is hard, sort of like avocado skin, but with muck inside . But, oh, what muck! Hard to describe the visual and textural experience. An introverted Furby whose hair clumps are slimey, not furry, filled with eyes. But delicious. I don't know how the guy with the spoon managed it. What worked for me was grabbing the slimy clumps and mouthing them til I could spit out the seeds, being careful to avoid the skin, which was capable of breaking into small pieces the way a charred baked potato skin might.

I am saving you from the selfie of me eating it, beyond the hand shot. Let's just say that if the movie Tom Jones is ever revised, that erotic eating scene needs to be shot in Puerto Rico, with soursop and passion fruit as the foods.

Half was a stretch to finish, it was a big one. It's supposed to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. It certainly is one of the strangest that this gringa has ever encountered.

   The first time I ever tasted soursop was in a glass of juice at Café 413, in Rincon. Less messy and very tasty! But this down and dirty foodie keeps hoping that a now elderly TJ gets himself a plane  ticket to PR. I'll be waiting for him in Rincon!

A Little Passion

Fruit, that is....a little food porn from Puerto Rico today!

Passionfruit, or parcha, is something I first had as a juice. In a glass. Looking like juice in a glass...So, I was surprised to see what a whole passionfruit looks like.

Kind of a WTF! moment when I cut it open!

Fortunately, I was somewhat prepared by two things: 1. the internet (which was not very complementary about the taste, but did show someone spooning the insides out and eating them and 2. my regular breakfast of pond scum- that tasty concoction of coconut milk and chia seeds, eaten cold, mostly for breakfast, replacing hot oatmeal in this warm climate. I've gotten used to the texture of gelatinous seeds in liquid, or I might not have been quite so adventurous as to proceed further.

Yup, you just put that old spoon in there, scoop it out, and scarf it up! There are lots of seeds, but they are very edible (my mother's voice in my head saying "good roughage"). I've been told that they range from very tart to very sweet, depending on ripeness, and I would have to agree with that, with my small experience. They also come in different colors. The flavor is very like grapefruit, which also has that sweet/tart range.

I do know that they are totally addictive. The folks at Sana Farm Stand, where I got them suggested that I stock up, because they sell out quickly. Now I know I should have brought home a wheelbarrow full of them! They are SO GOOD!

And because there's more passion here than parcha, let's let Luis Fonsi and Yankee Daddy show you some of the other kind......slowly.....

https://youtu.be/kJQP7kiw5Fk