Category Archives: Food

Fiestas Patronales de Rincón

On Saturday, we headed downtown to spend some time at the Surfrider Association’s Fundraiser at Rincon Beer Company. They had a nice dinner for a great cause and we hung out there for a while talking with friends. Then we heard fireworks exploding outside in the plaza. We saw a bunch of people from the church standing outside and so we thought we had better go see what all the fuss was about.

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Music in the plaza

It was the annual Fiestas Patronales de Rincón in honor of the Patron Saint Santa Rosa de Lima. In addition to the church gathering there was live music everywhere, a procession and also a big carnival.

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Britton working on his Spanish ordering a pincho (meat on a stick)

At the carnival there were the usual things you might see like whirly rides and junk food (Puerto Rican style of course), but also lots and lots of horse race gambling! Well…not with real horses but a fun carnival version that was gambling none-the-less. This was one of the biggest hits! Everyone was placing bets roulette style on the different horses and cheering them on (the wooden horses)!

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One thing we have found living here is that there is always a party, somewhere. And this was yet another reason to party.

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A Quick Stop at Corcega Beach

We have been staying pretty busy lately but this past week was just too hot to get much done. We have both the fans running and the baby pool has been a lot of fun to cool off in, but one day we just had to go to the beach for a quick dip and lunch.

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Lunch at Corcega

We went to Corcega Beach and basically had the whole place to ourselves. It is another very beautiful beach with crystalline blue waters.

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Our little lunch spot in the shade

We ate lunch and then jumped in the water for a little snorkeling. We hadn’t been in 15 minutes when we heard thunder rumbling in the distance. It was like a Corn Pops commercial…where we had gotten hot enough to leave and go swimming and then it rained like crazy cooling everything down.

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Here comes the rain clouds from the south!

We rushed back to the truck just in time before we would have been soaked. It was a quick stop at Corcega Beach, but we will be back soon!

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A Meal from the Yard

While the cost of food in the grocery stores here can be pretty expensive, it balances out because of all the food you can grow or find growing around the island.

We are still learning about all the different local fruits and edibles around, but one day we were pretty low on food in the fridge, but the pantry of our yard made for a full meal.

The starch component of our meal came from our large breadfruit tree out front.

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We had noticed quite a few breadfruits growing, but there are a lot less recently and so we have been eating them when they are not quite mature. We think quite a few people around this area know about our huge mango tree, the breadfruit tree and the quenepa tree. We have found people on two different occasions hacking through the vines on our property to collect quenepas!

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Breadfruit (or pana in Spanish) is a direct substitute for potatoes. We simply cut off the green skin as well as the inner core. The spongy white part is what you use to eat and prepare just like you would potatoes. For this meal from the yard we made them into little squares and lightly fried them in coconut oil until they were crispy and golden.

For the protein part of the meal, we cooked up some of our eggs. We are now eating eggs at nearly every meal since we are currently bringing in about 6-10 eggs a day (and that will be still be increasing)! It is not hard to do because these eggs are so rich, delicious and creamy.

And finally the fruit/veggie portion of the meal: passionfruit, coconut, mango and quenepas. A full square meal straight from the yard. No grocery store required! Yum!

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Scrambled eggs with hash brown breadfruit with a side of raw coconut, quenepa and passionfruit as well as a cup of mango slices with parcha juice and shredded coconut -and of course a cup of Puerto Rican coffee!

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Day Trip to Isabela Puerto Rico

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary (9 years!) and so we decided to take a day trip to Isabela, Puerto Rico. Isabela is just around the northwestern corner of the island and not too far of a drive for us from Rincón.

We planned our trip to hit on a few sights around town. We didn’t know exactly where we were going, so we made our way first to the town plaza. If you ever go to a city in Puerto Rico, go to the plaza first as this will orient you to the rest of the area. We had a light snack and then headed out to Jobos (pronounced Hobos) Beach.

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Jobos makes a splash!

We had never been to Jobos before, but it was pretty cool. There is a long stretch of beach that had waves – even in the flat summer- and many surfers hanging out. We found ourselves in an area of Jobos that looked to have been at one point in the earth’s history the bottom of the ocean with petrified coral stone.

It was here that we found the Pozo de Jacinto. According to local lore, Jacinto’s cow fell into this hole (pozo means well) and dragged poor Jacinto with him. Now there is a legend that you can call to Jacinto and the well will burst up with a splash through the hole.

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Britton calling for Jacinto and his cow

On our way to dinner, we found this cool Taino Indian face that is sculpted into the mountain right before Highway 2.

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Taino Head

The finale to our Isabela trip was dinner and a walk around the acreage of Royal Isabela.  We had heard great things about this place from a few people and so we thought that would make for a romantic anniversary dinner. It is a little hard to spot as you drive on the 113 in Isabela, but once you do, you will enter into a beautifully landscaped private golf course/restaurant/hotel. When they opened the private gates to our beat up old Dodge truck we sort of felt like the Beverly Hillbillies, but they still let us in.

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La Casa at Royal Isabela

It was pretty quiet there with only a few other guests. We walked around and admired the architecture, view and plants while enjoying a nice mojito prior to dinner. At dinner we were both quite impressed with the taste, presentation and quality of the food.

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A fancy meal at sunset

We had a great day out in Isabela and it was a fantastic way to spend an anniversary.

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