Thursday, September 2, 2010

Garbanzos


Things are good. Things are home-made hummus, fresh grown beets, hydroponic lettuce and home grown tomatoes good. And with whole wheat bread good. Better yet is sharing hummus with my tico family who has never before tried hummus. Let alone eaten carrots raw...My host mother is converted and wants to take the dip around town, having everyone try and guess the ingredients.

Plus in three months we will have chile dulce (bell peppers) to eat with the hummus, which I planted today along with onions. As my host dad says, "De semilla a plato" or "from seed to plate".HUMMUS

2 cups garbanzo beans
4 cloves garlic
lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup Tahini (a tough find in Costa Rica, but picked some up in the capital)
Salt to taste
Water

Mix it all together in a blender, adding water to get the correct consitency. Go easy on the lemon as it can easily overpower the other flavors. Share and enjoy!


As this is my first update in awhile I will just give the highlights-

On Sunday August 1,2010 I walked more than 26 km from San Cristobal Norte to the Virgen de Los Angeles, Cartago. La Romeria is a pilgramige to La Basilica, that around 2,500,000 people from all over Costa Rica participate in. The final portion of the pilgramage is entering the church on your knees or rodillas to pay tribute to La Negrita. I walked with my host brother Juan Carlos, and we met up along the way with our extended family (we left last so we could run part of the way, and catch up with the others).

I have been working with Lies, a widow and mother of three children with her coffee jewelry business, Arte y Aroma de Cafe. We had our first success story as another group of 10 International Student Volunteers visited San Cristobal Norte to work on a road. She not only sold many pieces of her jewelry to volunteers from Scotland, England and the United States, but she also taught the volunteers how to make the jewerly. She admited that her confidence is building and she is excited to try and sell her goods to local tourist shops. We have been working on developing the product, basic accounting and marketing.
So along with working with the ISV volunteers, starting up English classes, starting a committee to build a gym and making delicious meals...I have started a garden! You will get to witness the growth over the months, and finally get a taste of a recipe but below is the first photo of my onions! YUM!

5 comments:

  1. Great post!That was an impressive walk you did. The church looks really beautiful.! And we are gong to try the recipe tonight!Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. From seed to plate! That hummus looks delicious! Awesome that you found Tahini. I remember the first time I tried hummus. I will make it using that recipe and let you know how it is. The church looks spectacular. Congrats on starting a garden!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, i love the photo - we'll make hummus for sure! So much going on in your life, it's exciting. I'll post my recipe for roasted vegetables - i cook often - it's simple and elegant- stay tuned. And i'm intrigued by the jewelry business - bring some samples home at the holidays - maybe we can sign up Macy's or design a website/ebay... love, dad

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks good and easy. Now I have to find Tahini too.

    I am guessing you use canned garbanzo beans or do you cook dried beans?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Liz, I went to Piazzas and bought garbanzo beans and organic tahini
    on sale. then I used the food processor. Cut down the garlic because it was for staff snack. It was pretty tasty. I thinkit willl be better with fresh beans, which I have cooked and will try this weekend. Love,Mom

    ReplyDelete