Honey Oatmeal Cookies

Honey Oatmeal Cookies

Dry Ingredients:

1/5    cups flour
1       cup oatmeal (aka raw oats)
1       cup shredded coconut
1/2    teaspoon salt
1/4    teaspoon baking soda

Wet Ingredients:
1       egg
1/4    cup honey
1/4    cup cane sugar
3       tablespoons butter (room temperature)
1       tablespoon water

---

INSTRUCTIONS:

Dry Ingredients.

1. Pre-heat oven to 350*F
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.
3. In a small bowl, mix together dry ingredients (oatmeal, flour, baking soda, salt)
4. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients thoroughly (sugar, butter, honey, egg, water)
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
6. Using a spoon, drop heaping teaspoons of the mixture on to the cookie sheet / baking tray.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. 
8. Let cool for 10 minutes. 
9. Serve and Enjoy! 

Servings: 20-25 large cookies

*Optional - Add Chocolate Chips

---

❤ ❤ Made with ingredients found in Tamarindo, Costa Rica ❤ ❤

Coconut Crab Soup

Ingredients:

8       crabs 
5.5    cups pre-cooked crab water
1       can of coconut cream
         (Goya Crema De Coco - 15oz) 
2       cups of milk

2       medium sized carrots (diced)
1       chayotes (diced)
2       medium sized camotes (diced)
1       small bunch of cilantro
         (cut into small pieces)

---

INSTRUCTIONS:

Wash crabs thoroughly!

Crab Preparation
1. Refrigerate crabs to put them to sleep (at least 30 minutes). 
2. Remove crabs from fridge and wash thoroughly in water with a toothbrush. Ensure to squeeze out poop from their intestines as much as possible. 
3. Set crabs aside. If they wake up, place back in the fridge until water is boiling and ready to cook.

Soup Preparation
4. In a large pot, bring water to a boil. 
5. Gently place crabs into boiling water and let cook for 15-20 minutes. 

.... 15 minutes later ....

6. Add in coconut cream and milk. Ensure liquid mixture covers the crabs entirely.
7. Cover and bring soup mixture to a boil. 
8. Add in vegetables. 
9. Cook on low heat for 1 hour or until the camote is soft and tender. 
10. Garnish with a small bunch of cilantro.
11. Serve & Enjoy. 

Servings: 4-5 medium sized servings.

*Optional Side Dish - Patacones or Fried Plantains. 

---

❤ ❤ Made with ingredients found in Tamarindo, Costa Rica ❤ ❤

Bulgogi Lettuce Wrap - Korean BBQ Beef

Bulgogi Lettuce Wrap with rice, carrots & sesame. 

Ingredients

Meat

Bulgogi.

1       lbs thinly sliced beef
         (rib eye steak from automercado)
2       green onions finely chopped
         (including the white section)    
1/2    medium sized onion 
         (sliced into moon shaped slivers)

Marinade

1/3    cups soy sauce
3       tablespoons of cane sugar
1       tablespoon of sesame oil
2       tablespoons of sesame seeds
4       cloves of minced garlic
2       pinches of black pepper

---

PREPARATION:

Massage sauce into the beef.

Marinade 
1. In a small bowl, combine bulgogi marinade ingredients together (soy sauce, sugar, sesame, oil, garlic, pepper)
2. Slice the beef thinly along the grain (semi-freezing the beef prior to slicing helps with cutting cleaner slices)

Add in onions and massage in sauce.

3. Add marinade and sliced onions and green onions to the beef and massage the marinade into each slice of beef with fingers. 
4. Cover and let refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. 


Cooking - Pan Fry
5. Start with onions and pan fry in a hot oiled frying pan.  
6. Fry the onions and the beef until cooked or sides of the beef are brown.
7. Serve with green leaf lettuce and rice.
8. Add sesame seeds to the wrap as garnish.
9. Enjoy! 


Servings: 2-3 Small servings after an amazing sunset surf session. 

---

Follow me on Instagram @st3phk84

❤ ❤ Made with ingredients found in Tamarindo, Costa Rica ❤ ❤

Baked Avocado & Egg

Baked Avocado & Egg w/ tomatoes, salt and black pepper. 

Surf Hungry. Ever come home from a good session of surf and just starving to death, barely crawled and made it out of the water from hunger and thirst? Open the fridge hoping for something amazingly spectacular like a plate of hot pancakes with eggs, toast and bacon just sitting there waiting for you to devour it in 3 seconds? Wait ... that's me everyday!

Baked Avocado & Egg topped with tomatoes, and a bit of salt and black pepper. #PerfectSurfMeal


Ingredients
1     large avocado
2     small eggs
1/2  small tomato
1     pinch of salt
2     pinches of black pepper

---

Instructions

1. Cut avocado in half and remove the seed.

2. Crack open each egg and place gently and carefully in each half of the avocado where seed was.

3. Place in toaster oven at 400*F for 15 minutes.

4. Remove, let cool for 5 minutes.

5. Add salt and black pepper. 

6. Devour. 

*If I had bacon I would totally add bacon to this combination. #PerfectSurferMeal

---

❤ ❤ Made with ingredients found in Tamarindo, Costa Rica ❤ ❤

Chinese Egg Custard Tarts (蛋挞)

Chinese Egg Custard Tarts (蛋挞) actually originated from a Portuguese pastry (Pastel De Nata) which was introduced to Hong Kong in the early 1940s through a small Portuguese colony in Macau. Although I did try the Pastel De Nata while I was in Macau, I still prefer our own Cantonese styled version of the egg custard tarts. 

In Hong Kong, there are many variations of the 蛋挞 including the traditional egg custard, the milk custard, honey-egg and even ones garnished with the Asian delicacy of bird's nest (I am sure there are many more variations since my last visit to my hometown). Often found in Dim Sum Restaurants under the dessert section of the menu, I've always ordered it as part of the main course for brunch. 

There are definitely no Asian cha chan teng (asian dim sum restaurants) found here in Tamarindo, Costa Rica and having lived here for just over a year, I have started to have random cravings for Asian foods like the Chinese Egg Custard Tarts. 

Though it took a whole night to master the crust (not to mention having to miss a sunset surf session), I finally made it and ... look like having Asian Dim Sum could be a possibility here in Tama!

---

Only took a million tries to get this one right!

Ingredients:

Crust
1     cup flour
1     cup softened butter
1.5  cups cane sugar
1     large egg

Egg Custard Filling

9     medium sized eggs
8     ml milk
4     drops vanilla extract
1.5  cups water 
1.5  cups cane sugar

---

Instructions:

Crust
1. In a small bowl, mix flour, sugar and butter. 
2. Add egg and vanilla extract.
3. Mix well until the texture of dough is slightly moist and not oily like cookie dough. Add flour if it is still too oily. 
4. Pull dough and make a large ball shape.
5. Using a flat bottom of a plastic cup or measuring cup, flatten the ball until it makes approximately 5 inches in diameter.
6. Press the flattened dough into a muffin/cupcake mould and press the dough along the edges to create a 'cup' filling the cupcake mould. 

Egg Custard
7. Bring water almost to a boil, add in sugar to melt. Let cool to room temperature. 
8. Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract. 
9. Filter the mixture through a strainer 4-5 times to ensure a smooth consistency. 
10. Pour the egg mixture into each mould carefully. 
11. Preheat a small toaster oven for 5 minutes at 325*.
12. Bake at 325* for 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and/or filling no longer jiggles. 
13. Let cool for 10 minutes. 
14. Serve and Enjoy!

Got lazy and made a giant Egg Tart with the leftover remaining egg mixture and dough.

---

❤ ❤ Made with ingredients found in Tamarindo, Costa Rica ❤ ❤

Braised Oxtail with Spinach Noodles

Ingredients:

1       package of Chicken feet (from Super Compro to make chicken broth)
4.5    lbs Oxtails trimmed of fat
1       large onion (thinly sliced)
8       large cloves of garlic
8       whole pieces of Star Anise
6       slices of fresh ginger (1/4 inch thick)

2       cups chicken broth
1/2    cups soy sauce
3       tablespoons of cane sugar
1       tablespoon of Hoi Sin Sauce (oyster sauce)

---

INSTRUCTIONS:

Homemade Chicken Broth 
1. In a medium sized pot, place the entire package of chicken feet with water and bring to a boil. 

Oxtails
2. In a large crock pot, arrange the oxtails in a single layer as much as possible. 
3. Add onion, garlic, star anise and ginger to the crock pot. 
4. In a separate bowl, combine soy sauce, cane sugar and oyster sauce. Add mixture to the crock pot. 
5. Add in the 2 cups of chicken broth to the crock pot or until the oxtails are completely immersed. 
6. Turn on the crock pot on high heat and leave to slow cook for 5 hours or until oxtails are tender. 

... 5 hours later ... 

7. Let cool uncovered until cold. 
8. Place in fridge with cover overnight or at least 1 day to separate the fat to the surface. 

Day 2

9. Spoon off and discard the fat sitting at the surface from the sauce. 
10. Reheat the oxtails on the stove over low heat and transfer them to a large plate or bowl. 
11. Take some of the sauce and bring to a boil, add in noodles of choice (spinach noodles in photo). 
12. Add in cauliflower or Bok Choy if available to the noodles, cook lightly or until slightly soft. 
13. Add vegetables, noodles to the Oxtail with the broth. 
14. Serve and enjoy!

Servings: 2-3 Small servings after an amazing sunset surf session. 

---

July 1, 2015 - Company Breakfast
Sueño Del Mar, Langosta, CR

1 year. It took me just a little over one year living in Costa Rica to finally start missing certain flavors from home - mostly flavors I was raised on ... mom's cooking. But it took meeting the first of my own kind, this Canadian chick from the west coast who reminds me so much of my family and especially one aunt back in home particular - Auntie Joyce. She's the first CBC I have met who lives here and also the one who inspired me to start making various foods from our culture all over again. Since dim sum and even the simplest of foods like pho is so hard to find down here, the only solution is to do it ourselves, everything from scratch.

In the short time that we have met, we have had so many exciting discussions - many of which clearly involved ... food from our culture. Fun times included going out to supermarkets and small shops to find Asian ingredients or to come up with substitute for things we easily take for granted in Canada and so hard to find here - if it even exists. Thanks Donna for randomly walking down the beach with that cute little Pacho puppy of yours - in less than a week, we met, we work together and now ... we can even get fat together ... or ... at least get our office fat from being our guinea pigs :) 

---

"Better on your hips than ours!"
❤ ❤