Tico Tales: Tortillas, Huevos, and the Tico Way
Virginia stopped by again today, her arrival once again perfectly timed to coincide with the onset of my afternoon nap. This afternoon, we’d been expecting a delivery of dos cajas de huevos (each caja contains 18 eggs) from another neighbor down the street. Turns out he wasn’t feeling up to it today, so our huevos will be delivered mañana. This is the way of the Ticos.
In my first week here, I’ve spent less than $20 on food, not counting that delicious vegetarian pizza from the Guatemalan-owned joint — the Candombe Pizzería y Parrillada — down the street just off the Pan-American Highway, a bit north of San Isidro. Because back home I live with a Wisconsin Cheesehead who loves to cook (sausage, bacon, beef, and potatoes, with beer), I’ve become lazy in the kitchen and most of the skills I had and dishes I loved to make have been forgotten or just plain ignored. Yes, I’m spoiled, I admit. So having to plan and shop and cook my own meals in a country where I can barely read the labels should have been daunting. Turns out, it’s amazing what one can do with a can of tuna if there are avocados, tomatoes, onions, salsa, yogurt and tortillas available. And tomorrow is féria day when we will visit the largest organic farmers’ market in all of Costa Rica. Yum!
So here comes Virginia, Jan’s beloved neighbor just below, down the hill, with a timely care package of two gigantic homemade tortillas for our dinner tonight. Virginia speaks no English, but we think she said we should have these tortillas with coffee.
Because she brought them for our dinner tonight–not for breakfast–I dived into a bit of research (any excuse to postpone having to cook something!) and discovered that these are very special tortillas de queso (cheese), meant to be served with sour cream and a cup of coffee. Well, these are much too precious to be in the same room with a can of tunafish, so let’s let that be our dirty little secret for now. Pura vida!
