Making Rain Forest Tea

Last week a friend came to visit for a few days.  Tom and I met Kimberly Beck Hovland, who writes the blog 10 Degrees Above, in Cahuita a few months ago.  Casey Bahr – A Dull Roar – and his family were visiting Kimberly and her husband Barry on their 22 acre farm a couple of hours away and they came to Cahuita to hike and hang out.  We drove up and met up with all of them for lunch at a restaurant in Cahuita and had a terrific time.  I told Kimberly that she would be welcome to visit any time so she took us up on the offer to have a short vacation from her working life at the farm.  As you can see from the picture we weren’t the only two happy to see her – Kaya was in love

The first day Kimberly was here she was talking about how she makes tea every morning by collecting lemon grass, guanabana (graviola/soursop) leaves, hibiscus leaves, and mint from the farm.  As it turned out, we had everything in our garden except the mint so she showed me how she made the tea by throwing everything in a pot to boil and then letting it steep for a while.  The first batch was a little bit weak so the next batch I made sure to have more of the lemon grass and less water.  I also added ginger, which we don’t grow,  and turmeric  (which we do) roots and a bit of lime and it is delicious!!  I am not one for sweet drinks but for those who are (namely Tom), I add some of the raw honey I have in the cupboard.  Just one more benefit of living in this great spot! 

Last weekend we went to see Luis Angel Castro who is a singer/songwriter in Costa Rica.  My Spanish teacher will often have me listen to his songs and try to understand them and by doing so, I have become a huge fan.  He was playing at one of our favorite restaurants – Stashu’s Confusion – which is small and intimate.  We got to meet him and ended up buying a couple of CD’s.  His music was even better live    Evidently he is moving  back to this area from the city and so I am hoping that we will get to see many more of his performances.  Here is one of my favorites: 

Finally – a couple of weeks ago our friend Marvin and his wife dropped by to show us their new baby.  She is adorable and has the fattest little baby cheeks ever!! 

So that is it for now from my little corner of the world.  I hope that friends and family in the states are surviving the brutal winter up north………………