Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mariposa Means Butterfly
There have been so many mariposas around lately, and it has been such a welcomed sight. After a tough class I start walking to the teacher's lounge all hot, sweaty, and frustrated and then a little (or big) butterfly crosses my path and makes everything all better. Sometimes they fly into my classroom or hover around the many flowers on campus. They come in all colors and sizes. I like the black and blue ones the best. I wish I could carry around a little camera to capture their beauty, unfortunately I always seem to see them at school and therefore don't get pictures.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Dragon Fruit Fun and Other Fruit Smoothies!
Its dragon fruit season (or pitahaya season as its known as here)and I am enjoying experimenting with its deliciousness! Dragon fruit either has a white flesh or red flesh (red is the type we have here) and is the fruit of a cactus. Its flower is lovely and of the midnight blooming variety, I wish I would see one here. It has a mild and delicate flavor, and is often compared to a kiwi although I dont think it is as strong or sour.
As you can imagine by its color, it is loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C and lots of other good stuff. Here in Nicaragua it is commonly enjoyed as a refresco (or fresh juice) like everything else! Although I thoroughly enjoy all the delicious "frescos" I can get here, sometimes I wonder if that is the only thing people know what to do with fruit here! I use Sabine as my inspiration, when faced with too many mangoes to eat, dropping each day in her back yard, she made mango pie, mango salsa, mango sorbet, mango smoothies.
First I made the pitahaya refresco, which was delicious. The seeds kinda get ground up in the juice and gives it a flavor like oily but not bad, kinda like omega-3, avocado type taste. When I was in Leon this past weekend, I had pitahaya juice, but the seeds were still in tact and had a little bit of the gelatinous fruit still around it. It was like the best bubble tea ever! And it didnt have the oily-ness that some people don't like. Ivan's mom said in order to make it like that you have to mash the fruit and then mix it with water instead of blending it. I will have to try it next time.
After making juice, I wanted to see what else I could do with it. I found lots of good recipes online that I am excited to try, one of which is a pitahaya jelly, which I think is more like a jello, I need to see if I can find gelatin here. The sorbet recipe seemed doable, so I tried it today, since I have a long weekend! The ingredients were simple, water, sugar, lime and the fruit from 2 pitahayas. I also added a couple of drops of tequila and triple sec. The hardest part was waiting for it to freeze and I am not sure if it will ever freeze completely with our crappy freezer. But it did get frozen enough to have as dessert and it received good reviews!
Ivan has also been up to new things in the kitchen. He is on a smoothie making kick after watching one being made on a cooking show. I have been really enjoying it. Each smoothie has had the base of papaya, which I am starting to like, if it is not too ripe. Also papaya tica (from Costa Rica) is much better than any others I have had. Added to the papaya is fresh dragon fruit juice, fresh granadilla juice (part of the passion fruit family), fresh passion fruit juice, mango, strawberries, kiwi, and lime, Yum! Today he made papaya, cantaloupe and grapefruit (which we thought was an orange until we opened it. It was also delicious!
As you can imagine by its color, it is loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C and lots of other good stuff. Here in Nicaragua it is commonly enjoyed as a refresco (or fresh juice) like everything else! Although I thoroughly enjoy all the delicious "frescos" I can get here, sometimes I wonder if that is the only thing people know what to do with fruit here! I use Sabine as my inspiration, when faced with too many mangoes to eat, dropping each day in her back yard, she made mango pie, mango salsa, mango sorbet, mango smoothies.
First I made the pitahaya refresco, which was delicious. The seeds kinda get ground up in the juice and gives it a flavor like oily but not bad, kinda like omega-3, avocado type taste. When I was in Leon this past weekend, I had pitahaya juice, but the seeds were still in tact and had a little bit of the gelatinous fruit still around it. It was like the best bubble tea ever! And it didnt have the oily-ness that some people don't like. Ivan's mom said in order to make it like that you have to mash the fruit and then mix it with water instead of blending it. I will have to try it next time.
After making juice, I wanted to see what else I could do with it. I found lots of good recipes online that I am excited to try, one of which is a pitahaya jelly, which I think is more like a jello, I need to see if I can find gelatin here. The sorbet recipe seemed doable, so I tried it today, since I have a long weekend! The ingredients were simple, water, sugar, lime and the fruit from 2 pitahayas. I also added a couple of drops of tequila and triple sec. The hardest part was waiting for it to freeze and I am not sure if it will ever freeze completely with our crappy freezer. But it did get frozen enough to have as dessert and it received good reviews!
Ivan has also been up to new things in the kitchen. He is on a smoothie making kick after watching one being made on a cooking show. I have been really enjoying it. Each smoothie has had the base of papaya, which I am starting to like, if it is not too ripe. Also papaya tica (from Costa Rica) is much better than any others I have had. Added to the papaya is fresh dragon fruit juice, fresh granadilla juice (part of the passion fruit family), fresh passion fruit juice, mango, strawberries, kiwi, and lime, Yum! Today he made papaya, cantaloupe and grapefruit (which we thought was an orange until we opened it. It was also delicious!
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