Flourless Chocolate Coconut Quinoa Cake

Cake Ingredients:
1 cup of quinoa 
1/3 cup almond milk
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup white sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting Ingredients:
1 can coconut milk

---

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease two round cake pans.

Quinoa: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add 1 cup of quinoa. Cook for approximately 10-15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Let cool for 10 minutes. 

Cake Batter: Combine milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender. Add the cooled cooked quinoa and butter to the batter and puree until it becomes a smooth, thick, creamy batter. Whisk in the dry ingredients (cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar) and stir until well blended. Pour the batter evenly into two cake pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Let cool before frosting. 

Frosting: Place one of the cakes upside down on a plate. Without mixing the can of coconut milk, gently scoop out the solid coconut milk and spread on as frosting onto the cake layer. 

Chill for 2-3 hours in the fridge before serving to allow the coconut milk to solidify and set in. Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Quinoa Cake

---

♦ ♦ ♦

The kitchen is definitely not a place you'd find me often and you will hardly ever find me in the kitchen for longer than what's necessary to make food edible. But one thing that will keep me there for hours, is the quality time I get to spend with my girls. I'm going to miss you guys so much, and these recipes will make me reminisce all the good memories of every single weekend we spend together each time I re-make them. 

From dancing in the kitchen while cooking our meals and baking, chasing you guys out of my cake batter, endless bachata/salsa/kizomba, sleepless nights, and late night girl talks. Love you guys always and forever. Hermanas para siempre. :) #HANLB :) 

---

Mango Coconut Sago

Mango Coconut Drink

Ingredients
1/2 cup of Mango Nectar
2-3 tablespoons Coconut Milk

1 cup sago
3 cups water

Instructions (Mango/Coconut)
1. Pour 1/2 cup of mango nectar into a cup.
2. Add 2-3 tablespoons of coconut milk and stir well.



Instructions (Sago)
1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil.
2. Turn heat down to a medium and add in the sago.
3. Stir frequently to prevent sago from sticking to the pot for 15 minutes.
4. After 15 minutes, check to see that the sago is translucent but still has white spots in it's core. Remove pot from stove.
5. Place cover back on the pot and let sit for 10 minutes to finish cooking the sago.
6. Strain the sago under water to rinse off excess starch, rinse and drain again before adding to dessert/drink.

---

Reminds me of the mango coconut sago desserts from Hui Lau San in Hong Kong. Now I just need to find sago somewhere in the supermarkets. :) Definitely will be one of the ways to kick those bubbletea blues!

Costa Rica: The Best is yet to be.

The end of an amazing surf trip, and the start to the rush back to the frozen solid land mass of Toronto and tie up loose ends.  The countdown starts now. 2 months and 2 weeks till the beginnings of everything new!

There are still moments where the thought of moving down to Costa Rica is still a dream and yet a reality. The wheels have already been set in motion. I said my goodbyes this morning to many of the staff at Tamarindo Vista Villas and a few new friends I made over the week here in Tamarindo.  But this time, it's not really a farewell, more of a hasta pronto as I'll be back sooner than we all think.

It feels surreal that I'll be moving here...  Finally!  I'm scared and excited at the same time. What I've really learned to absorb over this trip alone is ... If you're not put out of your comfort zone  and feel scared once in awhile, you're not experiencing anything,  and really,  you're not living life at all. This is a good fear.

It also feels odd that many strangers know about my new venture before my friends back home. But, for solo travelers, I believe we find more commonality, and shared passion and excitement in exchanging traveler stories with other like minded travelers than our own friends at home.  Maybe because we experience similar things, and have mutual understandings of the way of travel as a solo traveler or a backpacker.  Sleep on a floor or completely concave beds and noone bothers to complain because as soon as you open your eyes you're out exploring the world and have little time to think about bugs in your room or the lack of a/c. I'm just glad there's a roof over my head and a lock on my door to get a couple hours of shuteye and continue on my ventures.

Playa Avellanas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

It's been a crazy trip. Threw my board into the back of a jeep and hopped in heading out towards Avellanas to surf with Carlos and Hernán yesterday afternoon whom I had just met that morning at the hotel reception. We surfed until sunset. Battered around by the waves and couldn't even catch any, I was too frozen cold from the NE swells that rolled in over the last two days cooling the water temperature ... I thought I was Canadian, how could this temperature feel so cold to me? 

Way too cold to try and surf any longer, I sat out on the beach and watched Carlos almost get barreled into the waves and the sun setting just ahead of them on the horizon. I met new travelers on the beach who invited me over to their place to have empañadas.

We drove home in the dark,  bumpy dirt roads in the back of Hernán's jeep and headed back to Tamarindo. Ate at witch's rock and I took a walk down the strip, Tim from NJ joined me with his beer as I wolfed down a large tub of vanilla-chip ice cream and exchanged stories of our travels.

Went home to pack around 10pm and Carlos came by and we headed down to the beach staring at stars and listened to the waves crash on the shore. Chilly night for a tropical country so we didn't stay long. Why is it so freaking cold?!

I love life down here.  I'll be living in a touristy part of Costa Rica and many people will come and go. But many also return...  Like Lisa,  who recognized me from two years ago when we both stayed at Tamarindo vista villas during the earth quake. This time, we exchanged contacts. And we'll keep in touch for when she returns.

I love this place.  Me Amo Costa Rica. ... Pura Vida.