Cooking

Both me and Erin enjoy cooking, which is great, rarely if ever do we succumb to fast food or other food shortcuts. Amongst many things she makes amazing pizza (or made, as we don't have an oven here in Escazu) and guacamole. For my own cooking, I've found it's changed in three ways since moving here:

1. Beans and lentils
   I enjoyed beans and lentils before, but rarely took the time to soak and cook them why I never really used them in my cooking. Here, since I'm not working, I'm home more and have and take the time to do this and use them in cooking. They're all great, but I tend to gravitate towards chickpeas, black and red beans, and green lentils. Fava beans are a particular favorite but they're not as prevalent here.
   
2. Mixing flavors
   I was very old-school salt and pepper before, but now I mix things up way more, with sweet, sour and spicy in a single dish. Much more honey, ginger, lime juice (or lemon since we have a lemon tree) and various hot peppers make it into the dishes.
   
3. Fruit
   Almost never before part of my cooking, I now enjoy fruits like mangoes and raisins (close enough) in various dishes.

Like today, when I made an aubergine, mushroom and onion stirfry and served it with rice and an avocado and mango salsa. Yum!