Tag: El Balcon del Cafe

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Wednesday with The Lehning’s!

The Lehning’s and Charlie at El Restaurante La Carreta, Atenas, Costa Rica

Finally I get a photo of Tim & Joan Lehning with children Hank, Maggie and David plus me included thanks to our friendly waiter at La Carreta. Tonight, Wednesday Dinner in town at one of my favorite restaurants. 

This morning they did not have breakfast at their hotel (long story) and so I met them at El Balcon del Cafe in town for breakfast at another favorite cafe. Then we walked for about two hours through town seeing what life is like in a small coffee farming town including Joan finding a couple of items she needed at my pharmacy, Don Juan Farmacia. We walked by shops, through the central farmer’s market, bus station, by two schools two parks, through a Catholic Church and on to my house. There my friend Michael had lunch just about ready where we feasted on catered Tico Mexican food: Aztec Soup, Quesadillas, cheese sticks, chicken sticks, nachos, chips and salsas, and assorted drinks. It was fun and I think they like my house and my new cook! And gardens!
Just for their arrival today, my neighbor and artist friend Anthony Jeroski finished the bird nest for my garden that lovingly holds the glass egg created by another artist friend in Nashville, Kevin Hunter. It goes well with the bird sculpture at the opposite end of the same garden. Is my garden developing a theme?
After the kids got a little swim in before the afternoon rain, they rested and met me at La Carreta for dinner and the group photo. Then we walked a block over for ice cream at POPS. A fun and tasty Wednesday with the Lehning’s! It was a joy to have them stop by after their Machu Pichu and Costa Rica surfing trips! Tomorrow morning their taxi picks them up at 4 for the trip to airport and return to Nashville. Thanks for the visit guys!  It was great fun having you! Another good memory in Costa Rica!
Pura Vida!

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Simple Pleasures 1: Thursday Night Dinner

I’ve been eating on the front porch lately, watching the world go by!
My old favorite was the side garden porch & inside you smell fresh bread!
So wherever you sit you will find enjoyable food! Buen Provecho!

Thursday night from 5-7 is my second Spanish class at Iglesia Biblica, just a half block from one of my favorite restaurants, El Balcon del Cafe, so . . . I started going an hour early for a very early dinner or late lunch at 4:00 with usually the day’s special. The couple who run this place are German but only a few items on the menu are German, and it is all very good! They are also a bakery with some of the best fresh bread and cakes in town, maybe tied with my other favorite bakery, Crema y Nata.

One of my two favorite fish plates in town is here a wonderful whole Corvina (Sea Bass) smothered in a white wine sauce that makes the fish melt in your mouth. And my favorite dessert here or maybe anywhere in town is her Queque Manzana con Helado (Apple Pie Alamode).

Her daily specials are usually gourmet recipes and always healthy, with or without a fruit bebida (drink). Tonight’s was an absolutely delicious steak or special cut of beef (beef not served much here) with her special German pan-fried potatoes and one of her scrumptious salads! No need for dessert tonight! I look forward to Thursday evenings and the surprise gourmet dinner before Spanish Class. One of the many simple pleasures I enjoy in Costa Rica.

Buen Provecho! The equivalent to the English “enjoy your meal!” or the French “bon appétit!” And believe me! I enjoy most of my meals here! For a light lunch snack I had some of my homemade guacamole with plantain chips to carry me over to dinner. My guacamole is from local fresh avocados and other veggies (I add fresh squeezed lime juice, onions, peppers, herbs, and tomatoes) and it is actually another one of my “Simple Pleasures.”  As is my usual breakfast of a bowl of 4-5 fruits with whole-grain cereal and nuts.   🙂 Charlie

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.~George Bernard Shaw (1856 –1950) 

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Friday “Feria” Today

I got lots of fresh fruits and tomatoes today at the Farmers’ Market.
They call it “Feria,” Spanish for “Fair” – the weekly Farmers’ Market.

And what did I get? Papaya, Mangoes, Watermelon, Strawberries, Pineapple, Bananas, Tomatoes. I’m just not into cooking a lot of vegetables and things like potatoes or cassava. I eat those in restaurants! 

I have a new favorite place to eat, El Balcon del Cafe and Bakery run by a German woman. I had the best-prepared fish since moving to Atenas and a heavenly German Apple Pie Alamode. 
I have lived here 6 weeks and two days. Today it is partly sunny and 81° at about 3:45 PM. 
El Balcon del Cafe and Bakery