For the better part of my first five decades I avoided the kitchen. I certainly enjoy eating, however, I preferred for someone else to prepare my food. During the decade or so that I lived in NYC I made reservations for dinner. For my next decade of living in California, my partner preferred his cooking to mine. Etc.
For the 30 years before I arrived in Costa Rica, I owned only two kitchen appliances; a toaster and a microwave. In fact, it was those same two trusty appliances that accompanied me in my several relocations across the US. When I started dating M, he would exit my Carmel kitchen any time that I fired up that old microwave; he was convinced that it was emitting damaging radiation all over the house.
In December 2017, we arrived to our new home overlooking the Golfo Dulce with eight large rolling suitcases, a surfboard bag, a massage table, and two backpacks.
We had the usual amount of miscellaneous pots and pans that one accumulates, but little in the way of sophisticated food preparation equipment besides a Champion juicing machine and a VitaMix blender, a legacy from Ben's juicing diet many years before. They were packed carefully in our household goods because we knew they would be invaluable when our property started producing bananas, papaya, pineapple, guanabana, guava, and starfruit.
Nowadays, the VitaMix blends up our daily smoothies, and the Champion grinds our cacao beans into a fine chocolatey paste. What I didn't realize then was that these items would be the seeds for my now burgeoning appliance collection.
Running out for a bite to eat was problematic since our nearest restaurant is a 20-minute drive over washboard gravel roads. I took a hard look at the situation and determined it was time to familiarize myself with the advantages of home-cooked meals. So next came the slow cooker. Ben loves refried beans, and after burning a couple of enamel pots dry we decided a slow cooker was a wise investment.
But that turned out to be just the gateway appliance. It was soon followed by a Cuisinart ice cream maker, which was necessary because the nearest store to buy a pint of ice cream was at the border, an hour-plus drive away, and no matter how many ice packs we put in the cooler, by the time we got home the ice cream had melted into soup. Then the fruit bounty really ramped things up, and a dehydrator was invaluable in converting large racks of bananas or dozens of pineapples and starfruit into sweet, handy, compact treats.
In the few following years, I widened my culinary skills, not just to provide us with three healthy meals a day, but to also incorporate all the wonderful fruit and vegetables that our property and neighbors provide. Thank goodness for the internet, with its inexhaustible source of recipes, helpful hints, and suggestions for substitutions. The local supermercado is still a 20-minute drive over rough roads, and its selection of food is fairly basic, so I often have to find recipes that list ingredients for which I can use a substitute. Hint: Natilla makes a good substitute for cream cheese, and a teaspoon of lemon or vinegar can replace cream of tartar.
But there was one culinary dish from "civilization" that we truly missed, pizza. After some research, Ben found a portable, propane-fueled pizza oven. That started me down the path of homemade pizza crusts and tomato sauce. I can't quite achieve the flavor and texture of store-bought sauce, so I'm happy to open a can. However, making a pizza for just the two of us is a lot of work, so we have begun hosting pizza-making parties a couple of times a month, making us very popular.
Recently, we graduated from the slow cooker to an Instant Pot. (Editor's Note: An "instant pot" is a modern version of the old-fashioned pressure cooker. The newer version has its own heat source, and the cooking time can be programmed in advance.) The aforementioned favorite of refried beans requires soaking the beans overnight and hours in the slow cooker. However, in the Instant Pot, I can have the dish ready in an hour, making my hungry man very happy. And the latest, greatest snack is Yucca fries. The traditional method of boiling the yucca requires time and effort to remove the moisture, but with the Instant Pot the roots are lightly steamed, emerging from the pot soft and dry.
After that process is complete, our most recent addition, the Air Fryer, comes into play. When Ben suggested purchasing an air fryer, I was somewhat resistant. Our kitchen had acquired so many appliances (honorable mention goes to the food processor, coffee maker and waffle iron) that we had a neighbor build us a sturdy wooden cabinet, and the shelves were chock-a-block already, so I felt overwhelmed by the idea of one more appliance. However, I'm really happy we got it. When the yucca cools off from the Instant Pot, I split the root into fries, toss them in a little oil and garlic salt before popping them into the Air Fryer. What emerges are delicious, crispy, fluffy yucca fries. Not to mention the falafel, cauliflower and even air fried broccoli. Who needs to go out for dinner when with a little bit of effort we can have culinary delights at home!
Nowadays, when I visit my family, they are quite agog to see me in the kitchen, slicing and dicing, flipping and frying. Sometimes, I'm a little surprised with myself. For a person whose cooking interest didn't extend past a microwave and a toaster, I get a lovely feeling of accomplishment.
Costa Rica changed my life in many unexpected ways. And I'm grateful that it has because in this one it feeds me, both literally and figuratively.
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