Tropicalsenior

I can't buy it here but I do make my own. A couple of times I have been out and have even used fresh peel. Going back over my recipe I noticed that it does call for peppercorns. Would they be using white pepper instead? Or is it just not used? I've noticed in your dinners and the meals that you have posted from restaurants that there aren't many braised foods. Is that not common in your area or just a personal preference?

That would be one advantage of the canned cherry tomatoes.

Me too! I have seen an awful lot of recipes lately that have used cooked cherry tomatoes. It sounds to me like a case of 'let's get on the bandwagon'.

Welcome! It sounds like you have come to the right place and you are the kind of people that we love to hear from. This is the most educational Forum on the internet. It's all first-hand knowledge and experience with mutual cooperation and information-sharing. You can spend absolutely hours, even days just learning new things and learning about food from other countries from our members in other lands. One of the best features is the help from other members. If you have a question about anything just start a new topic and ask. Someone here will have the answer. I know that you will enjoy being here as much as I have.

Before we moved to Costa Rica, one of my favorite foods was mashed potatoes. Because all we can get here is waxy, watery potatoes, they are impossible to make. I bought every type of potato on the market and nothing works. When we first moved here they did have a purple, almost black potato that made passable mashed potatoes but the color was so bad that I couldn't get anyone to eat them. In 30 years I have only seen imported russet potatoes twice. I have tried every method on the internet and every potato masher known to man including mixers and food processors (the worst!) and nothing works. A couple of years ago I found the solution. Costa Rica does make darn good instant potatoes. My potato masher is now a fork. I saved one of the old potato mashers that has a flat head and holes because it makes great refried beans

One of the things that Costa Rica is most famous for is bad food. Even the foreign foods that they try to imitate turn out badly. It is such a small country that it has very few Regional favorites. Most things can be found in every part of Costa Rica. Most food is so bland that they have a sauce that they put over everything. It is ubiquitous. To me, it is a cross between Heinz 57 and mud. Most Costa Ricans love it and can't go a day without it. It is called Salsa Lizano. In our particular neighborhood they do sell something that I haven't seen in other parts of the country. We have a lot of grapefruit trees in this area and they sell something called toronja relleno (filled grapefruit). The grapefruit are boiled whole, then injected with dulce de leche and rolled in sugar. They are so sweet that they take this enamel off your teeth. They are only sold by roadside vendors and I haven't seen one since the pandemic started.

In Spanish we also have vaca (f) and toro (m) and the meat is called res. Pigs can be called chanchos or cerdos and the meat is cerdo. Sheep are ovejas and the meat is called cordero. Here in Costa Rica they like to really confuse it. Any thin, crosscut slice of meat they call bifsteak which is a corruption of the English word beefsteak. I have seen bifsteak of cerdo, bifsteak of pollo (chicken) and even bifsteak of pescado. A while back I saw rosbif of cerdo. It does no good to try and explain that there can be no such thing so you just shake your head and go on.

@liuzhou I have been trying to get a Master stock going and I am having a problem. Instead of getting more intense it seems to be losing flavor. The spices that I am using are star anise, cinnamon stick, Ginger, and dried Tangerine peel. I strain them out after each use and when I use it again I add fresh spices. Is there something more that I should be using?

Maybe you are like me. The person that always orders the extra cheese or has to buy an extra block of cheese to make pizza. Beautiful pizza but the cheese looks lonely.

It looks like unhatched chickens to me. Come to think of it, I think my ex-mother-in-law once made something like this.

@liuzhou Have you ever covered Christmas in China on your blog or on the Forum?

I would have to pass on every single one of these. Fortunately I'm not apt to see any of them in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has a big sweet tooth and they go in big for sweet items at Christmas time which is probably why we have more dentists here than lawyers. One year 1 of the items was ice cream with big chunks of hard Christmas candy which first brought on the lawyers and then the dentists. They slap Christmas labels on everything from milk to toilet paper and it makes it interesting when you are still seeing Christmas labels in July.

Thank goodness no ice in Costa Rica. If there was, I would be a walking disaster. Who am I kidding? I already am. I would just be a much worse disaster

I have one step in the whole house and yard. It's about 6 in high in the sidewalk that goes around three sides of the house. About five years ago I managed to catch my foot in it and go flying. For years I have always landed on my right knee whenever I fell so it's a mess. That time I managed to completely destroy my left knee and bash my head. For me, stairs are just an accident waiting to be happened.

I believe that the proper etiquette for this situation is to inquire politely about the condition of the victim and if they don't seem to be mortally wounded, laugh like hell because it wasn't you.

After having consulted mr. Google and coming up with this, I have just one request. In six months time would you please put a new picture on Show Yourself so we can see if it works.

I love your way of thinking. Eat what you want when you want! And if you don't like something, don't b**** about it just don't eat it!

Is there such a thing? Everyone's version is different.

According to mr. Google they are the same thing but they're not. They are the same species but of a different subspecies. And cooking times are different for each one. What would be perfect time for one will be a pot of mush for the other.

My ex-mother-in-law was at the same school of thought plus she was just a lousy cook. Her own sister told her that she wished she had enough of it to pave the road in front of her house. Then they would never have another pothole issue.

I would give my eyeteeth to have those. Sadly I haven't seen any here for about 10 years. I tried growing them a couple times but the insects here like them as well as I do and they ate them faster than I could get to them.

Uh, yeah!

Wow! Very interesting and informative. Thank you.