Cherry Pie

I made my first cherry pie with FRESH cherries.

I didn't make the vegan ice cream yet, I made Mango ice cream instead and it was really good. Cocoa Mochi was nasty, never again.

I've taken up the task of babysitting my nephew for the summer and we've spent almost two weeks together. It's been fun, this week I was teaching him how to swim. And the first day he had it down. Day two was even better. We took today off, good thing because it poured but we went up to Big Al's fish store. He was amazed at all the fish and the sharks. It was neat. I finally picked up a Pleco to add to my algae infested tank. My cichlid continues to look like he's on the brink of death yet somehow still hangs on. The Pleco is in Algae heaven right now. I anticipate a fast growth spurt. I also may have finally found a home for my lovely Aussie water dragon. I would like him to go to a loving home since i can't give him the attention he deserves, haha, I sound ridiculous.
Conner trying to gather all the things his mom gave him when we went to visit her at work. The pollito, the post-it note book, the magnet pin. He wanted to stay and hang out in the cubicle.

Conner's amazement at all the fish.



After a long day looking at fish, McDonald's Happy Meal with a "kid's juice"

vegan ice cream

Ok I have two recipes that I am going to try. Now that I have no job I am going to use my time doing the things I love which is make sweat delights and eat them too.

Equipment:
- Blender or food processor
- Ice cream machine (the kind with the tub you chill in the freezer works fine, and they cost less than $50)

Ingredients
1 tetra box firm silken tofu (like Mori-Nu) -or- 8 ounces soy yogurt
Between 3/4 to 1 cup plain soy milk
1/3 cup maple syrup or brown rice syrup (or a combination)
2 tsp vanilla
I would also add 2 T arrowroot powder but the recipe didn't call for it.

Directions
Combine all 4 main ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until thoroughly combined and smooth. Blend in any desired flavoring ingredients (see below). Pour into your ice cream machine, and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

Add-ins:
For various flavors, add to the food processor:

For Banana Soy Ice Cream, blend in 2 ripe bananas

For Strawberry Soy Ice Cream, blend in 12-16 frozen and partially thawed strawberries.

For Pineapple Soy Ice Cream, blend in 1 can or 1 cup of pineapple (well drained). You may want more sweetener.

For Ginger Soy Ice Cream, add either 1/4 cup preserved ginger or 1 to 2 inches grated fresh ginger (for preserved ginger, add to food processor so it gets ground up).

Use your imagination to come up with new flavors!

Flavored liquers or syrups are a great way to add punch. Try creme de menthe and chocolate chips, or coffee liqueur, or instant coffee powder...

I also like cinnamon, which now that I have REAL Ceylon cinnamon from Costa Rica, I may add that.

The second recipe has a slight variation.

Lazy Vanilla

2 c. soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk)
2 c. soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c. sugar
2 T. arrowroot
2 t. vanilla extract (choose a high-quality brand; none of that imitation stuff either!)

Mix ¼ cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.

Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, and sugar together in a saucepan. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).

Stir in vanilla extract.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

There is also a recipe for using the Vanilla bean but I don't think I'm going to waste my Costa Rican Vanilla bean on Vegan ice cream, sorry.

I think I've given up on the Costa Rica trip photos. They are a pain to load, and I have so many more but ohwell.
I just finished making Japanese cocoa Mochi except I used cacao and organic sugar and I totally wasted it all because those things are weird and sorta nasty.

OK night

hard to update

My little buddy.

I literally only have patience to load like 3 pictures because it takes about a half hour to do so.

I was really excited after dinner that I had 1000 colones that couldn't afford to buy me anything in the gift shop at Baldi. :(

These are the little guys that were on our bed after we checked into the hotel at Baldi. There were also Britt chocolates on the pillows. I was so excited to see him on our bed that I stole David's parents piggy too. I think it's a pig.

Some flowers I stole from the gardens at Baldi.

So these are all photos from Arenal the volcano.
There was a little German/Swiss Village. This was the Swiss part, very cute with a little church also. And then the bottom is the view from the Swiss hotel of Lake Arenal.

Lake Arenal from the bridge/dam

This is the view of the volcano from the bridge at the lake. Probably the clearest view we got the whole time.

Back at the hotel this was the view from our balcony of the volcano. You can see the lava flow.


And then we also got another visitor. :)

Ok, I'm done for tonight. I will try to post some tomorrow until I get these photos done with.

I'm going to try to be patient

David makes such a great tourist. :)

I will once again attempt to be patient through these photo uploads. There is still so much to post from my trip since I was unable to or too tired too do so in CR.

So I bore you with more of my wonderful adventures. Deal with it. :)

As a continuation to the previous blog, these are more photos from Zarcero on the way to Arenal.

Jesus shrine

Dinoland yeay! No really this was at the church in Zarcero with all thee crazy hedges.

Arenal Volcano covered by clouds....the entire time we were there. It was still beautiful.


The inside of the lobby at Baldi, one of the main wet bars. That's a spring running through there and the ceiling was all bamboo.

Garden pineapple. How cute!
OK I just finished showing my mom all the photos of Costa Rica and I didn't upload anymore in the process, so this Arenal trip is going to take a few more posts because it's bedtime.

Nighty night.

More More More

Everyday the view from our bedroom was beautiful in unique ways. The sky always looked different, some days were sunnier than others or clearer than others. It was just constantly breath taking.

WOW I'm not sure how many more updates I will do, it takes sooooooooo long to upload photos on my computer.

These are photos on the way to Arenal and La Fortuna

This is for Lee. Some kind of skink that I still haven't identified.

caballero

We were so high in the mountains that we were in the clouds, and it was much cooler than in the valley. It was wonderful!

So I can only upload 2 photos at a time, that is the max capacity of time I am willing to wait for this slow computer to upload.
UGH this is really aggravating, I don't have that much patience for this.
I like to take pictures of animals. And there was no shortage of roadside attractions throughout Costa Rica.

Clearer skies going down the mountain.

These photos really did no justice to the actual beauty of the green hillsides, little towns and villages, and the lush farmlands and wildlife.

As I wait for these four photos to upload I've had the chance to brew some Cafe Milagro Costa Rican coffee, light roast, in my french press. It taste's delicious.

UGGGHH, the upload got interrupted!!! OMG I don't know if I can continue to do this.
I am going back to loading 2.

Driving to Zarcero on the way to La Fortuna.

a church in Zarcero (Iglesia de Zarcero)with crazy shaped bushes.

David and I saw an Anteater one night right before coming back home. I had to add this photo. OK, work time! blah!

I'm BAACK!

Wow I have so many more photos to load. We lost internet connection for the last like 2 days we were in Costa Rica. Not to mention when we would get home some days I would be so tired I didn't want to even look at the computer.

So I am going to upload the photos from the canopy tour with Sr. since that's all I have with me on my camera.

And in fact I'm going to load more photos later of that tour because we have a CD we bought with the guide's "hi-res" photos. I couldn't take photos while I was actually zipping through the rainforest so I'll load more of those later.

Costa Rican Traffic

Little bridges that don't look safe at all.

Rice fields.

Green and Black poison dart frog

Don't look down


Gotta go to work!