Category Archives: Beach

Pineapple, Papaya, Avocado and September Fun

Our tropical food and other adventures continue daily.

Papaya
Fresh, delicious papaya

This month we harvested our first papayas as well as our very first pineapple. I have never been a big fan of papayas because to me they smell a little like vomit. But this variety was actually pretty good and didn’t have the smell.

Pineapples are probably up there as one of my very favorite fruit, and we’ve had such issues with root rot here that I got so excited I just had to wear our first little harvest on my head along with some home-grown bananas! Haha, poor Britton always has to put up with my silly shenanigans.

Cassie chiquita - Copy
Just call me Chiquita

In addition, it’s avocado season in full steam. Nearly every meal and snack now includes fresh avocados. Each evening and sometimes morning we go scour beneath the avocado trees. We have found four large mature avocado trees and we have planted another 8 or so, that are off-season varieties so (hopefully) soon we will be so overrun with avocados we won’t know what to do! Most days we’ve collected about 5-10 large avos. It’s amazing how much you can extend a meal when you have avocados. We have them with our eggs in the morning, with salads at lunch and with pretty much anything for dinner (nachos, rice and beans, etc).

Scambled eggs
A typical daily breakfast is almost all home grown -avos, mangos, starfruit, and scrambled eggs. We look forward to growing our own peppers soon too

Iguana hammock
Large orange iguana hanging out eating our fruit too- on the parcha vine!

The animals are all doing well. The baby turkeys are now living in the coop in a smaller cage and we take them out for walks daily until they are hawk-proof (about 3 months old). And of the two chicken chicks that survived from the original 6, one was a hen and the other a rooster. The hen is a gorgeous black chicken mix of auracana and Jersey giant and lays really cool  green olive-colored eggs. The rooster is beautiful and huge, working for his place in the pecking order.

Chickens
The birds crowding around Britton at dinner time

There are still four large male turkeys toms, and we need to decrease numbers because they fight a lot. But we want to wait until we have a stove and fridge to properly handle them. In the mean-time they are looking more beautiful than ever.

Pretty turkey
Turkey looking good 

We are in the midst of a large project that I will write about once it is completed, but we have had quite a few days off as well. We have been going to the beach, hanging out, and playing music with friends.

Steps Beach beauty
Afternoon rain clouds form at Steps Beach after we went snorkeling and the water turned an amazing color

September is a quiet month in Rincón. The local Puerto Rican tourists have left and the North American tourists haven’t arrived yet. There are afternoon rains nearly daily, threats of hurricanes, and the heat can be super intense to work outside. (We take LOTS of showers and have all the fans on after sweating outside!) But I still wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Cassie legs
When we’re not working we spend a lot of time just chillin’ in the Big Sky park of our yard with its ever changing painting

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Island Birthday and Anniversary

What is so fun about living on a “vacation destination” is that you’re already here! So when we go out to celebrate something like my birthday or our (10th!!) anniversary, we didn’t have to go very far at all. We were just talking about how if we were in Colorado and planned a 10 year reunion trip to Puerto Rico in memory of our honeymoon that we took here, how much of a hassle that would be. Researching, buying tickets, getting time off, packing, arranging someone to take care of the house/animals, getting to the airport, getting screened, waiting, cramming in to the seats, waiting, cramming in again, getting unfamiliar food, finding a rental car and accommodations and then getting to the destination and fun that awaits. The reason for the trip!

Sand dollar sky
Sand dollar!

Instead, now that we live here we just get straight to the fun! We just get in our truck and head out to the beach, small island (like Desecheo that we went to last year), waterfall, cliff, cave, garden or new restaurant/club/bar/event of our choice. And we get to know these places and people who live here (friends!) much better than we would if it were just for a week or two.

Here’s how we spent a few special days on our “vacation” island we now call home.

Cassie Bday
Corcega  Beach on my Birthday

For my birthday this year, we decided to keep it low-key and just spend the day at the beach and then go out to a nice restaurant that we’ve been wanting to check out for some time. First we stopped by our favorite little food truck: Jack’s Shack which serves up local organic goodness. Then we headed to the beach. Even though it was a Saturday there weren’t very many people out and we enjoyed the long sandy beaches of the Corcega area in Rincón.

Spearfishing
Britton even did a little spearfishing, though he didn’t see much

We dressed up a little (hey just wearing clothes sometimes has become difficult with our new lifestyle) went out to Mahi Mahi in Añasco for dinner and I enjoyed, surprise!, the fresh caught mahi mahi AKA dorado. Then we went out to the little ice cream parlor in town called Tip Top. They even make some of their own ice creams with things like local mangos and tamarind.

Mahi Mahi Tip Top
Mahi Mahi and Tip Top

Ice cream
Mmmm ice cream in the Rincón Plaza!

Our friend Ariana also shares the same birthday as I do and planned another get-together at Borinquen Beach in Aguadilla as we did last year. Everyone brought something to the potluck and we were enjoying the day but the sky looked a little foreboding. People took a swim out to the rock caves and munched and talked. Then it started to rain a little…and then it dumped! We all huddled under the tiny little tent and laughed and thought that it felt like we were on Survivor, living outside in a torrential downpour. Everyone was soaked. We all shared towels and hugged each other for warmth. And it truly was just so much fun.

Survivor birthday edition
Borinquen Survivors!

Next up was our anniversary. Ten years is a pretty big deal and we had thought that maybe if the cabin was finished we might throw a party, but that was just not in the cards.

10 years yep
2005-2015! Where has the time gone?!

So Britton and I decided to just enjoy another day at the beach and out and about. We spend a lot of time at our property (we love it!), so when we leave it always feels extra special. I wanted to go to a beach we either hadn’t been to or hadn’t been in a while. Maybe Table Rock? Crashboat? But we decided upon Tres Hermanos in Añasco.

This is a HUGE public beach with a nearly equally large parking lot. The whole thing is fenced in so cars can’t drive right up to the beach but you can park along the road and there are little pedestrian entrances all over so you, or your horse, can walk right in.

IMG_0097
Tres Hermanos fence and horse tied with a hose

It was a cloudy day, but no rain. We hung out and swam for a while and took a walk to see this old boat. From a distance we thought it was possibly a ditched Yola from the Dominican Republic, but it wasn’t.

Boat and Anasco 3 Hermanos beach

This beach is really cool because you can see the Rincón peninsula from a distance and it gives you that depth that you really do live on an island! Plus, there are tons of coconut palms!

Bird flying
Pelican (I think?) soaring the palm-lined skies

Anniversary 10 years
The obligate selfie at the beach on our anniversary!

Since it happened to be a Thursday, later that evening we also went out to the Art Walk in the Rincón Plaza, had dinner at De Bocas and saw a few friends. Art Walk is always the social event of the week!

Me and Jessika
With my creative friend Jessika at the Art Walk

We love our never-ending summer vacation and on special days like these are reminded even more so how fortunate we really are to live here.

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4th of July Rincón Style

The 4th of July, or America’s Independence Day, is not very celebrated in Puerto Rico. In spite of Puerto Rico being part of the U.S., Puerto Rico is very much her own in terms of culture. In all the days leading up to the 4th in Greeley we would hear and see lots of fireworks going off around town (legal or not). We didn’t hear a peep in our neighborhood in Puerto Rico. None-the-less a few people from the states thought it would be fun to celebrate the 4th Rincon style: on the beach! Add in some fireworks, a couple of frisbees, some music, a bonfire, and a potluck BBQ and we were in for a good time!

Landing
The Landing

Some friends had a connection that let everyone have access to park at the Landing, an old abandoned restaurant right on the beach. We had never been on this beach though it is just an extension of Sandy Beach, really.  It was a great spot for a party!

Bonfire
Ready for a bonfire

It was large enough that a lot of people could hang out, swim, socialize, play etc but also a little hidden away. Once the sun went down they set the fireworks off. We could also see far off in the distance the firework display at the Coast Guard Base in Aguadilla.

Silhouette
Sun beginning its descent

Fireworks beneath the palms
Watching fireworks beneath palm fronds

It was a great night with a great bunch of people. We love our community. People always have awesome ideas (and parties) here. Hope you all had a nice 4th as well.

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Rincon Hot Sauce Contest (and my Award-Winning Sauce)!

Living in Rincón is so fun because so many people are living self-directed (and often very unique) lives and when something sounds fun, oftentimes people will just go ahead and do it! That was the case when our friend Frances (and Greg) decided to put on a Hot Sauce contest at the balneario (public beach).

Frances Hot sauce contest
Official Poster of the contest

I have made fresh salsas before, but never a hot sauce. But hey, it was for fun and I love hot sauce and salsas and anything creative. The main difference (as far as I can tell) between a hot sauce and a salsa is that the hot sauce has vinegar in it and usually salsa doesn’t. Also it tends to be used much less liberally than a salsa dip. But in the end it really didn’t matter because at this event there was every type of sauce, salsa, dip, hummus, what-have-you.

As for my hot sauce, I chose to do two jalapeño based ones. In Puerto Rico, pique  as people call it, is often not very picante at all. I often miss the spicy foods and salsas we had at all the Mexican restaurants in Colorado because while some Puerto Rican food is very delicious, it is just not very hot and spicy. I have seen Puerto Ricans get red in the face over mild Pace salsa Ha! Wusses! 🙂 Hot spice is just not a thing here. So it was fun to go to an event that set our faces ablaze! Wowza!

I used jalapeño peppers as well as a few poblanos for the base and spicy component of my two hot sauces. I can’t wait till we can do another annual garden for veggies, but for now I just had to get them at the store.

Lot sa jalapenos
Spicy jalapeño peppers

I also thought up a few different hot sauce names and drew out some designs. Here are the two that made the cut:

Hot Kiss Holy Jalapeno

Once the sauces were completed, we headed over to the balneario.

Me and hotsauces
Bringing the heat (they would probably be more in the “medium” category of spiciness)

The event was super fun and crowded! I was surprised how many people showed up with great sauces and food.

Hot Sauce contest
Hanging out under the flamboyan tree with a dj and of course hula hoops for kids of all ages

There were a few categories to enter and I entered Caribbean and Jalapeño. Others included Habanero, Freestyle, and Fruit-based. And there were different ways to win in each category. There must have been about 20 entrants in each category! Really great participation. I really didn’t expect much for mine since it was my first time ever making a hot sauce (and we arrived late, no surprise there), so the next day when the results were announced I was super shocked to find out that I had won in the Jalapeño category for best name (Holy Jalapeño). But more amazing was that Hot Kiss won for best overall flavor in the Caribbean category! Now I can say that I make award-winning hot sauces! Another lifetime first thanks to living in Puerto Rico.

Awards hot sauce Who doesn’t love winning an award or two?!

Some people love recipes, so here’s the basic recipe for Award-Winning Hot Kiss. As my family called my cooking growing up, it’s definitely a Cassie Concoction!

Ingredients
(to sautee/cook)
10-12 Jalapeño peppers (leave one or two to add raw for more heat)
1-2 Poblano peppers
1 cup fresh cut pinapple (sautee some and add some fresh)
tiniest amount of red onion (I am not a fan of onion)
5 cloves garlic (3 to sautee and 2 raw)
Sautee oil (coconut oil)

(to add in fresh)
1 fresh mango
1 fresh passionfruit
1 teaspoon or so salt
pinch or two cumin
dash of ground pepper
dash of ground cayenne
handful of fresh cilantro
juice squeezed from half a fresh grapefruit
juice squeezed from half a fresh lime
dash of chia seeds (thickener but not totally necessary for taste)
2-3 shots of distilled vinegar (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup)

Directions:
Sautee in a high heat oil (I used coconut oil) about ten jalapeño peppers after seeding and and slicing length-wise, 3 cloves of garlic, half or 3/4 of the poblano, a little red onion, some pineapple and some salt. Sautee for about 5 minutes. Then add a bunch of water (maybe 1 1/2 cups?) and let it cook some more for about 20 minutes stirring regularly. Wait till it is about room temperature and then start the blending process.

Next take the raw ingredients including the leftover raw garlic, jalapeno/poblano and pineapple and add them with all the rest of the list in the blender with the sautéed/cooked items. Slowly add the vinegar until you like the taste. If you want it spicier, add more fresh jalapeño or poblano. Transfer to a jar of your choice. Refrigerate and then eat when cool! Will last quite a while in the fridge. ¡Buen Provecho!

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