Monday, April 23, 2007

Eat right for your blood type

Isabel is a fantastic woman, a belly dancer, scientist with a phd,
ex-hippie who lived in Berkeley at the time. She gifted me a wonderful
book about blood type nutrition. The book got my attention right away
because the personality profile for Type A is sooooo me. It is a huge
research and you should check it out for yourself....Excellent
information to fight all kinds of illnesses...what each blood type
should eat, should avoid, ect...

http://www.dadamo.com/

My Type A friends out there, here is the worst news...No papaya, no
mango, no bananas, no cashews, no tomatoes and no garbanzo beans and
no wheat...Probably 90% of the food I used to have in the last 4
months is a no-no on my blood type. Rest makes sense with my natural
choices anyways, no meat, no potatoes, no red peppers no oranges ( I
never liked orange juice)...I am still in shock. However, I have
avocados and coconut, black berries, black beans and walnuts as
beneficial...I will try for some time to avoid these and see if I feel
any different...

I am also supposed to have a lot of green tea...Not much around in
Costa Rica, except for my personal collection of Green Tea Kombucha
from Yogi Tea and Lupicia Tokio from a care package I received from my
friends Christine, Marc, Matthew and Madeline.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

i wrote an official note in spanish!

I can't believe it...today i went to the municipality to apply for a
sanitary inspection to update the permit...Marlen spoke to them and
told me all I need is maybe a passport...So I went down there by 8,
hoping to be done by 8:30...I still haven't adjusted to tico times...!

By 8:15 the cab driver showed up at my apartment..he was late 45
minutes without any reason..i was at the municipality by
8:30...department of health representative wasn't there...he only
comes on Thursdays and they told me maybe by 10...I went back to
Montezuma and took the 10 am bus back...This time he was there and he
started talking to me really fast in Spanish, of course, what do I
expect, but I was about to burst into tears...I didn't understand
anything he said and sounded really difficult...then he took out a
couple of forms and asked me to fill them, to pay $50 dollars to the
bank, write a note to the minister of health and make copies of
several things...I saw Isabelle at the bank and she speaks very good
Spanish and had time to help me...Then we saw a couple other
characters from Montezuma who were also delighted to help...its
strange, people like to help here but you have to look really
needy...I hate that, but I have to....

So by 11, I was done...They are going to come for the inspection any
day...We are cleaning non stop....its good....

So, in summary, to get a sanitary permit in Costa Rica, pay 50
dollars, fill out 2 forms, write a note to the minister, copy your
passport, present it to the representative in your town...then start
cleaning and cleaning and cleaning....keep your fingers crossed...oh
by the way, I also discovered the old owner of the place suspended the
license of the place without even telling me.....so evil!

Saturday, April 14, 2007

From Country Girl...

Lovely post from Country Girl! She came here with her husband a week
ago and brought me very precious supplies! Many many thanks!

http://ourlifeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2007/04/we-met-baking-fairy.html

P.S. I find the energy from my signature Noni drink....It is really
amazing. I drink it every day...a quarter of fresh noni, orange juice
and mango juice...add spirulina and parsley...

Viktoras tried it and said it is a drink for the "select"....Mercedes
hates to prepare it because it smells really bad and suggests that I
marry the man who likes this drink....It is really not that bad and
the added energy to make brownies, carrot muffins, mango tart,
blackberry, mint-chip ice-cream....hmm what else did I make today???
oatmeal cookies and that's all...maybe miso soup and seaweed salad for
dinner....I am really happy!

Lots is going on with the business though..A few days ago POLICE
FISCAL paid a visit to my lovely cafe. I was dead scared as always but
followed Phil's advice and offered them my banana-mora bread with a
big smile...they gave me a week to figure out the things...I am so
lucky to know Marlen, the ex-ex owner of my spot. She took me to
Punterenas and helped me to get a tax id, ect...It was fun to take a
day off and go for a field trip, even it is to do taxes...I came back
and Larry did an amazing Mexican dinner...He cooks well in general but
yesterday's meal was fantastic. It is probably because burritos are my
comfort food. I used to have one almost every other day in San
Francisco....Oh well, now I see they could be duplicated quite
well...He even made whole wheat tortilla that was a little too much. I
also have to admit he uses the rolling pin much better than
me.....which sucks:))))

Today was also super good, met a customer who works for Whole Foods.
We had a great conversation but I told him that I had to move down
here after spending my whole paychecks at Whole Foods:))) He promised
to send me some contacts for some of the ingredients that I am looking
for...Like raw coconut oil or spirulina...

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Warning...Long Post...all is good...

Today marks the end of high season in Costa Rica...It is the end of
Semana Santa and I am so happy...Montezuma was so busy, you would
think I am working on Fisherman's Wharf...cars, cars, cars, loud
music, lots of Imperial and smoke...and of course my business is so
not catering to Imperial lovers and smokers....oh well...Larry is
still coming to work, to my surprise he didnt miss one day and we have
been more smart planning dinners that I sell as lunch specials the
next day. There are not much clients for dinner yet, but whoever
happens to be around, we call them lucky people, they are really happy
with the food...Two little guys got ice-cream yesterday and they said
these are really good (coconut and chocolate)....that makes me soooo
happy!

And then we have our own ice-cream parties, after work...best time of
the day, taking out the buckets and trying out ice-cream...commenting
on little differences between the chocolate day before or the amount
of mint in the pineapple ice-cream...or what the hell I was thinking
to make ice-cream from the cashew fruit...it really doesn't
work....good times, really...

I still have water problems on a weekly basis, but I am resisting to
buy a water tank...need to think about savings, but also need to plan
for the next season too...We had no water last night but it was
raining soooooo much outside. Larry took all the pots out and we
washed them in the rain! Dreaming about a dishwasher and the rainy
season is almost here....

I am hooked to a new shake. Noni Juice, parsley, spiriluna, mango and
orange juice... Viktoras tasted it today and said, this is a juice for
the "select"....He is really funny...Mercedes thinks I should marry
the guy who likes this drink...It is really not bad at all, but it is
not on the menu for now...:)

Including Larry, I have five people working for me now...Mercedes, she
is from Argentina, has been living in Costa Rica for the last 5 years.
I met her through my only Turkish friend in Costa Rica and she decided
to come to Montezuma and help me. She has been working from 7 am to 10
pm with me every day. So so lucky to have her...I am not sure how long
she will stay, as I realize this is really not that much fun if you
are on your feet 16 hours every day...and then we make her walk back
to home, up the hill and plus she is not a vegetarian YET...:)

Then I have Marlin...She is an angel and has been helping so much with
breakfast and lunch specials. We added waffles, tropical french toast
(all vegan) and grilled eggplant sandwich...empanadas, focaccia....

And what else, hmmm, I haven't written so long, it is hard to keep it
all together...but I have been experimenting with nut cheeses
lately...Pinenut Ricotta, Macadamia Feta and Sunflower Cheddar...all
very tasty and easy...I also started to make sour cream/yogurt from
coconut meat and lemon...we serve it with Muchacho Nachos...Tiana's
favorite on the menu...

There is also a new salad...Larry's Compost Salad...with coconut oil
dressing...carrots, beets, daikon radish, tomatoes, avocado, mango,
cashews, ginger and garlic...super tasty!

and last nights special for my only Greek friend, Costas...Doner
Kebap, (they call it gyro in Greece)...We made it from seitan, really
thin cut, marinated in thyme and onions..I stuffed a pita with the
seitan and put some hummus, tomatoes and cucumbers and served with
tomato cucumber salad and cacik (yogurt with dill and cucumbers)...The
verdict?

The Turkish vegetarian doner kebap got an approval from a Greek! All
systems green! Yay!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

I am tired...

ran away from the cafe to take a half hour break...its been a couple
days since I sat down and I am very tired...Good news all is going
well...but being open for dinner is pushing it a little too much.
Larry is fantastic and he is still showing up to work on time and
stopped complaining about lack of high-end professional equipment...We
are making progress! Now I am trying to convince him to do raw food a
little bit, he is trying to convince me to add non-organic options at
lower prices...Business side of this deal is really hard...and I am
not even spending any time on that...I trust the universe that things
will work out fine for me. Its been fantastic so far....

Now looking for a lemon tahini dressing recipe...This week is Semana
Santa, (easter) so I will be open all week long...