Kevin had school early this morning and Kendall did a great job studying spelling, reading, language arts and science for over 2 and 1/2 hours this morning. Kattya is showing me how to make comida de Navidad.
For many Costa Ricans the season's culinary dishes are steeped in tradition. A favorite during the holidays, tamales are a delectable treat made with fine corn flour, potatoes, vegetables, meat, and wrapped in a plantain leaf and empanadas. After spending many hours in the kitchen, they are rewarded with beautiful pinas, or small packages consisting of two tamales wrapped in plantain leaves and tied together.
Another celebrated food is the queque navideno (Christmas cake). Similar to fruitcake, this is a sweet, heavy cake made with dried fruit that has often been soaked in rum for days or weeks. Though the alcohol bakes off in the oven, Costa Ricans love to joke about getting tipsy off a good cake. We started making the cake yesterday and will finish it Thursday.
During Christmas, most Costa Ricans drink rompope, a kind of eggnog. Made with whole milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, the sweet and spicy mixture is almost always spiked with spiced rum or guaro (the Costa Rican firewater). Kattya has a special mix for this drink as well that she will show me.
Traditionally, dinner is eaten at midnight on Christmas Eve, though many families swap late-night eats for an afternoon feast on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. A classic meal may include pierna de cerdo (roast pork leg) or mano de piedra (a cut of beef), tamales, arroz con leche (rice pudding), and tres leches (three milk cake). Side dishes vary by family, but some favorites are pasta or potato salad, sweet corn on the cob, and green salad. Adrienne and Carlos have invited us for Christmas dinner.
Kattya made sopa rojo con jocote y frijoles y huevos; fried plantains; guayaba (guava) refresco (cold drink) by first heating cut guayaba and part of remolche (beet) for color then blending heated guayaba followed by sieving and adding azucar (sugar) and water and guayaba jalea (jelly). For Jalea de Guayaba, mix ripe guavas, white sugar, lime juice and water and it needs to cook down to a jelly consistency for most of the day.
We listened to Luis Miguel, a Puerto Rican born Mexican singer and one of my favorites, sing American Christmas songs in Spanish. He reminds of Michael Buble and we have his album on tour Kindle Fire. Kattya likes Ricardo Arjona, a Guatemalan singer-songwriter.
Kevin came home from school and we enjoyed the sopa rojo con jocote y frijoles y huevos, arroz with onion and carrot and avocado. Both boys did some more homework then played with the IPad and KindleFirs. What would be a day with playing soccer outside. Eduardo and the boys went to the park. Kevin and Kendall have many matching soccer shirts.
In the evening, we brought clothes, food and our birthday gift to Luis Diego in Heredia at the Animal Hospital since he is oncall this week. A quick but good visit.
Buenas noches!
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