Tropicalsenior

I did have a garbage disposal here, of sorts. For a while I lived at the beach, and we had an estuary right off our back deck. I could take it out and throw it to the fish. It was kind of a shock coming back and having to bag up that "wet icky stuff" again. But one thing I will never do again is live in the hot, humid, sticky climate of a beach town in Costa Rica. Cooking there was a nightmare. All you could think of was putting something on the table that wouldn't heat the kitchen up to the ambient temperature of an oven.

Oh how I envy you the opportunity to ruin a spoon in your garbage disposal. Because of the primitive plumbing in the old house that I live in, I can't have a garbage disposal. I probably miss that more then most of the other conveniences I had in the US. About three weeks ago, my electric pressure cooker blew up. I had meat hanging in the wire basket adjacent to the pressure cooker, broth dripping from the ceiling, and splattered on everything within about 12 feet. Fortunately, I was about 13 feet from it. As I sat there trying to decide whether to laugh or cry, I swore I would never buy another pressure cooker. I always was kind of afraid of them. After thinking, for about 5 days, of the things that I could no longer cook in a pressure cooker (meat in Costa Rica can be very tough), I promptly went to the store and bought another. Some of us are just too hard headed to learn, but I love my instant pot, even if it is just an imitation, but my housemate goes into duck and cover mode every time he sees me using it.

I don't know if you are evacuating but we lost power for three days here in Costa Rica from a bad storm and I went to a nearby ice plant and bought all the ice cubes I can get. I filled every inch of our chest freezer and my refrigerator with ice. I didn't lose anything. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Dinner last night was three cheese pizza with homemade Italian sausage and sauteed mushrooms. Oh, with anchovies, with a side salad of tomatoes and avocado. Pizza ready to go in the oven. And finished pizza with salad.

My Chinese knockoff pot almost went back to the store the next day just because of the instruction manual but thanks to the hundreds of fans of the instant pot, I have been able to use it and I love it. Interesting, my concern wasn't that it had been made in China (the real instant pot is also made in China) it was that I would never figure out how to use it. I love the time-saving convenience of today's appliances but it seems that each one that comes out is more complicated and more difficult to learn to use. I drive a 15 year old car because it doesn't have to be pre-programmed to get me there and back.

I have no clue if they actually use mayo in Mexico. That's just a holdover from the tomato pies of my childhood. Latin Americans love mayonnaise. In my experience living here, most of them prefer mayonnaise with more lemon in it. Here in Costa Rica, two of the favorite brands ar Krafts and Hellmans. They also have some local brands that aren't is good as the first two.

As I have said before, I have a Chinese knockoff that has a ceramic pot and I have had it take on an odor a couple times. I go in the backyard and get a lemon and some lemon leaves and cook them on high for 5 minutes. After I wash and rinse it again the odor is completely gone.

In Costa Rica, so many of our products come directly from China and reading the instruction manuals can be very entertaining. I think probably one of the funniest we ever found was this, " look at her face, punch her 3 times, and sit on her". That was in the instructions for setting a digital alarm clock.

I don't pretend to understand this disease but you certainly have my sympathy. It must be terrible to live with, especially if you love food. I don't see why this recipe couldn't be modified. Just use any gluten free cookie for the crust and the flour can be left out of the filling or substituted with any gluten free flour. The cake will just be a little more creamy. I have made this cake four times and it has been perfect each time. Instant Pot New York Cheesecake Crust 3/4 cup any type of shortbread cookie (crushed) 2 teaspoons sugar 1/4 cup butter melted Filling 16 oz cream cheese room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon lemon peel grated 2 eggs room temperature 1/4 cup sour cream 1 pinch salt Sour Cream Layer 1/2 cup sour cream 2 teaspoons sugar Crust Add cookies and sugar to the bowl of food processor and pulse a couple of times, until small crumbs form. Melt butter in microwave and add to cookie mixture. Pulse until just combined. Pour cookie mixture into bottom of greased 8-inch cheesecake pan and press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan and no more than one inch up along the sides. Place pan with crust into freezer for 20 minutes while you mix up the filling. Filling Blend together cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, flour, grated peels, salt and vanilla extract until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, lightly mixing until just combined. Do not over mix the eggs. Pour filling into the pan, on top of the crust. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom of your pressur cooker and place a trivet inside the pot. Cover the cheesecake first with a paper towel and then with a piece of aluminum foil and loosely secure the foil. Place cheesecake into pressure cooker. Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. Cook at High Pressure for 35 minutes. Allow a 20 minute natural release. After all pressure has been released, open pressure cooker and leave the cake the cooker. Remove the foil and paper towel. Tilt the cheesecake pan and dab off any liquid that may have accumulated. Sour Cream Layer Whisk together the sour cream and sugar and then spread on the hot cheesecake. Let cool inside the pressure cooker for at least one hour. Tightly cover and place in refrigerator overnight. Cheesecake can be removed from pan after an hour in the refrigerator. Note: the gentler that you treat the ingredients, the denser the cake will be. If you want a creamier cheesecake whip the cream cheese sugar and sour cream together, but never whip in the eggs. This will cause air bubbles in the cake that you do not want! As I said, I took the procedure and most of the recipe from this website: https://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-new-york-cheesecake/ and it is well worth reading her instructions and tips at this site: https://thisoldgal.com/perfect-pressure-cooker-cheesecake-tips/ ( I have made a change in the directions of this recipe. It noted before in the directions for the filling to blend cream cheese with heavy cream. I have corrected this to sour cream.)

I love it. People with a dry sense of humor just have a way with words.

Not much. But you wouldn't have to worry about the arroz con pollo. Here it is not spicy, nothing is. For centuries, the country has had a very poor local population and for some reason, they never did develop a good, rich cuisine. Although there are now more spices that you can buy, everyone seems to prefer something that they call sazon completo (complete seasoning) and they use it on everything. I have never bothered to find out what is in it, I just know that I taste it in everything they make and I don't like it. For extra flavor, they douse everything in a sauce called Lizano that has a sharp pungent flavor. If I couldn't cook for myself, I would probably starve to death.

Thank you so much. I've been here two whole days and I love it.

Believe it or not, Costa Rica has some of the most bland, unimaginative food in all of Latin America. If I was left to copying their style of food, I would be cooking beans and rice and arroz con pollo. The people are great, the food isn't. However, bird-watching is great. My grandson used to work for a hotel that specialized in bird watching tours. If you come down to do that, you do specifically have to look for places like that because it's awfully hard to find them on your own. Costa Rica does have a bird watching club so if you plan to come down I could put you in touch with them

It's a New York cheesecake. I took the initial procedure from this website. https://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-new-york-cheesecake/ I did change the recipe to suit myself because I like the cake to be a bit denser than it turned out the first time. I would be happy to post my recipe if you would like it.

Actually, the accessories are appropriate to the product because my instant pot is a Chinese knockoff supposedly by Telstar. But it has nothing to do with Telstar it's just a knock off. I love it anyway. It has 15 settings plus manual and I haven't even figured out what three quarters of them do. I got it just because my old Oster pressure cooker blew up and I needed a new pressure cooker. I didn't realize what I had until I got on the Internet to try and figure it out how to use it. The manual that came with it was written by some poor Chinese person who had a limited knowledge of English, and apparently no knowledge at all of the product he was writing about. Since I've learned to use it, I use it almost everyday. Right now, you can see that I have a cheesecake cooling in it.

Here are the toys that I found for my instant pot. Because I live in Costa Rica, I can neither find things for it here nor can I order them from Amazon. I found these in my favorite little Chinese supply store. It's a double Chinese steamer that I paid $12 for and each rack was a dollar a piece.

That asparagus was not your fault. I have been cooking with a microwave for many years. Yes, cooking with one. I learn to use them many years ago when I was working in restaurants, and I love mine, especially for vegetables. But, saying that, I have found out that there are two vegetables that you cannot cook in a microwave. Asparagus and green beans. For asparagus, I put them in a shallow skillet with a little bit of water for about 3 minutes until the water evaporates then put in butter and lemon juice for about 2 minutes and they are done. I do cover them with a lid.

All his life, my father had a "delicate" stomach. He only ate meat and potatoes, salt no pepper, "it would have killed him". Butter only on his sandwiches, " condiments would have killed him". After my sister married and left home, she used to bake a chocolate cake for him and loved watching him eat every bite. It was a mayonnaise cake. She was a mean woman! but oh how he love that cake and not even a twinge in the stomach.

I would love to be able order spices and other things but unfortunately Costa Rica has a terrible customs system. First, if it's green leaf something or a seed, they want to send it for analysis that you pay for. Second, their tax system is such that you pay almost as much in taxes as the product cost. Third, things get lost all the time, in other words, if it's something they want they just take it. It's almost impossible for an ordinary citizen to go to customs to pick something up so you have to deal with a Courier agency that further adds to the cost. If you want something from the states, you just about have to have a friend bring it in. For example, I wear a 38D brassiere and I have a friend from Argentina that brings a specific brand in for me from Buenos Aires. Thank you for the suggestion and believe me, if it were feasible I would certainly take it.

Thank you so much for all the information. I am interested in everything and I will check all of these out. And I am finding out about all these great people.

Thank you for letting us know about the blog address. Your food always looks great and it is good to know that we can have the recipe. I am new to this whole Forum business but I am going to see if I can do the same.

I agree! The instant pot is the only way to go. I have a lot of time on my hands but I can think of a lot of ways that I'd rather spend it then stirring cornmeal for an hour and a half.

I live in Costa Rica so I am unable to find a lot of the spices and herbs and Specialty Foods but can make a special dish really special. I would be interested to know the substitutions and homemade condiments that others have used in my situation. I like to cook good food and I believe that this forum is going to help me a lot.

My husband hated stroganoff so for years I fed him beef with mushroom sauce and sour cream. He loved it.