Happy New Year! We wish you the very best of everything in 2014!

We just celebrated Christmas and New Year's for the 3rd time since our retirement here in Costa Rica. Life has been good to us, and we are very thankful for all the family and friends that are a part of our lives. Once again, we were invited to ring in the New Year at the home of good friends. They have one of the most spectacular views of Costa Rica's Central Valley. The Ticos love their fireworks, and as midnight approached, the whole valley came alive with a beautiful display of lights. Here is a little video clip of the stroke of midnight as seen from our perch, high in the hills above Atenas.


This is the time of year when everyone is making their list of resolutions for the New Year. I don't know what you have on your list, but I promise to post more blog entries than I did in 2013. Looking back, I see it's been more than a month since my last post. It's not that there isn't anything to say. It's just that I get too busy posting on Facebook and forget to blog. We have a number of family and friends that don't use Facebook. They depend on this blog to stay up to date with our adventures. Going forward, I think I'll do more blogging and just post links to the blog in Facebook.

Here is a recap of some of our adventures in 2013:

• January - I started canning again and put up some Hot Pepper Jelly and Tomato Salsa with fresh ingredients from the local Farmers' Market.
• February - We participated in the 6th Annual Atenas Chili Cook-Off. Watch out, we are back this year as team "Texas Chili Fuego."
• March - John started building a set of bunk beds for the Casita (more on that later.)
• April - We officially opened our Casita Limón as a vacation rental to the public. We made so many new friends since we started renting the Casita. 
• May - The rainy season arrived and brought us lots of new flowers in the garden.
• June - I won ¢75,000 at the Canada Day celebration and I'm not even Canadian ($150.)  Then we celebrated John's birthday with a great Texas Barbecued Brisket and designer ice cream.
• August - I taught myself how to make Bagels.
• September - We went whale watching in Uvita with friends.
• November - John got a new laptop with Windows 8 and finally stopped threatening to send his KindleFire into the next galaxy.
• December - I became eligible for Medicare and became a "Ciudadana de Oro" (senior citizen in Costa Rica.) I get to go to the front of the line in banks and government offices, clinics and hospitals. I can hop on the bus for a free ride if it's less that than 25 km (15.5 miles), or get a 50% discount on trips under 50 km, with a 25% discount if the ride is longer than 50 km. I can also park in the handicapped parking places, and get all sorts of discounts from merchants.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving Day is almost here, and this is the perfect time to remind our family and friends, both near and far, that we love each and every one of you. We are so very thankful you are a part of our lives. For those of you back in the old country, we miss you very much and wish we could be with you to celebrate. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Today we are smoking a freshly brined ham to share at a Thanksgiving feast hosted by friends tomorrow afternoon. They expect 70 guests will partake in the celebration and folks will be bringing all sorts of yummy goodness, including several turkeys and all the trimmings. This is the 5th year our friends have hosted the annual Thanksgiving celebration and we are very grateful to have been included.


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A Birthday Party and Fathers Day Celebration

It has been 11 years since John's Birthday happened to sync up with Fathers Day, the 3rd Sunday of June. Yesterday was the day, so we decided we needed to celebrate Texas style and invite some expat friends to join us for barbequed brisket, celebrate all the dads in the group and wish John a "Happy Birthday".

We found we couldn't just go down to the local Carneceria Macho (butcher) and buy a brisket. Macho didn't have a clue where the brisket cut comes from, so I found a beef chart on the internet with a layout of all the U.S. beef cuts. It has diagrams and arrows pointing to the section of the steer's body from which the cut is taken. Macho placed our order last weekend and called us on Friday to come up to the carneceria and show them how we needed the brisket trimmed. We bought two full size briskets and John when about the task of smoking them.

Each brisket takes about 24 hours at 190°F to be properly smoked and cooked. John managed to pack some Mesquite wood chips into our shipping container when we moved here in 2011. This was just what we needed to give the brisket that special Texas flavor. He started one brisket on Friday and then cooked the second one Saturday. By around 10 AM yesterday, the briskets were both fork tender perfection.

Earlier in the week, I experimented with pinto beans, trying to come up with the perfect Ranch style bean recipe. We used to buy the beans in a can back in Texas, but I managed to successfully create a delicious recipe. Let me tell you, these beans were even better than what we used buy in a can.

We always have large quantities of John's Texas BBQ Sauce on hand, so it was just a question of pulling together a few extra ingredients to make this party happen. I sliced up some onions and Jalapeño peppers for garnishing, then made two batches of Corny Jalapeño Skillet Corn Bread.

For dessert, I made a carrot cake and we bought some designer ice cream from "La Cosa Rica" that is just around the corner from our house.

Party time was set for 3 PM in our Rancho. Friends brought a few extra goodies to add to the meal and a great time was had by all.

For many of us, it had been a long time since we had indulged on a barbecue feast like this and as one of our party goers said, "Brisket was fabulous! For a moment, I almost missed Texas." Now that Macho has a copy of the beef chart, we won't wait so long to try doing this again.

Yum!
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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

'T was the night before Christmas, and all through la casa,
Not a creature was stirring: ¡Caramba! ¿Qué pasa?
Los niños were all tucked away in their camas,
Some in vestidos and some in pajamas.
While Mama worked late in her little cocina,
El viejo was down at the corner cantina.
The stockings were hanging con mucho cuidado,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would feel obligado,
To bring all the children, both buenos y malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Out in the yard there arose such a grito,
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I went to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think quien era ?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero,
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero !
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados,
Were eight little burros approaching volados.
I watched as they came and this little hombre,
was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
Ay Pancho ! Ay Pepe ! Ay Cuca ! Ay Beto !
Ay Chato ! Ay Chopo ! Maruca y Nieto !

Then, standing erect with his hand on his pecho,
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.
Then huffing and puffing, at last in our sala,
With sooth smeared all over his vestido de gala,
He filled the stockings with lovely regalos,
For none of the children had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud and seeming contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and Feliz Navidad.

Originally posted in the Yahoo Group, Costa Rica Living by: "A & A" fraluchi, December, 2012
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Happy Thanksgiving

This year about 50 citizens of the good old U.S.A. are gathering at the home of friends here in Atenas to celebrate Thanksgiving. Everyone is chipping in to bring a favorite dish from the old country. We have volunteered to bring dinner rolls, so John will be busy baking his award winning Blue Ribbon Zephyr Buns early tomorrow morning.

Earlier this week, I took a look at the incredible list of food everyone is bringing to this feast, and much to my dismay, I didn't see any cranberry sauce or relish on the list. Now, I'm sorry, but I just can't call it "Thanksgiving Dinner" without the cranberries. I've been stewing over this for a few days, and knowing we wouldn't be going into San Jose (where we just might find some cranberries), I decided to invent a solution.

We just happened to have a large bag of Ocean Spray Crasins in the pantry. I combined the Crasins, with some other key ingredients, and I came up with some of the best Cranberry Relish I've had in years. I'll never go back to the canned stuff again. You can see the recipe at this link: Crasins Cranberry Relish.

This year will mark our second Thanksgiving holiday without you, our beloved family and friends back in the old country. We want you to know how grateful we are to have you in our lives and wish we could set a place for you here at our table. We are also thankful for our wonderful new life in Costa Rica and we are especially grateful for all the amazing new friendships we have found in this place we now call home.

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends.

Love,
Pat & John
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