Cooking when we can

Many restaurants here are great, and the sodas with local Ticos making local Tico food are the best (and cost the least).

Gallo Pinto, a typical Costa Rican breakfast.   Delicious! 

This food is great, but eating out every meal can be a pain, and it can be expensive.  In fact, my favorite meals have been the ones that we've made.  The ability to cook changes depending on our place.  So far we've stayed in 4 rooms/apartments in 3 cities.   One had no refrigerator and no way to cook anything.   Two have had stovetops.  One place we had no kitchen, but access to a big, we'll-equipped one with a blender and cutting board and full stove, etc.  

Once we got to Samara, we were able to cook much more.  First, we hit the grocery... 

Coffee, plantains, cheese, mangos, tomatoes, etc.  Plus the freshest eggs I've ever eaten!

Since then, we've eaten out much less often and we've gotten to spend quality cooking time with a bunch of cool people from around the world.   Thanks to this, Kasia can make some mean fried plantains and I may need a new blender at home that can adequately handle fresh fruit smoothies.