Amigos,
Here is the wrap up for my Summer 2008 travels:
I am home. Nearly 2 months and 424lbs of rice and beans later, I am in Washington, DC again. The final 10 days of my voyage were amazing, challenging, and inspiring.
Although I retraced several steps I had taken with my first group, I joined these kids and co-leaders mid trip while they were becoming acclimated to the simple small town Costa Rican life in their homestays. I eat well in Costa Rica, but nothing prepared me for the cooking of Ana Cerdas Rodriguez. The thirty-five year old mother of three spends days jotting down recipes in a handwritten cookbook, some of which she learns from the occasional cooking show on one of the three channels the family gets in Guadalupe de Rivas. Most of the food I get in these homes is terrific, but they all lack the presentation that Anaisa labors to achieve. She outdoes even the nicest Tico restaurant I’ve been to, framing her gallo pinto (beans and rice for breakfast) in a glass to achieve that perfect shape. Her maduros (slowly sauteed green bananas) are delicate and sweet, but never burned.
More after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jake Greenberg 
