Easy Bean Salad

Just made up my own bean salad recipe and it was a hit tonight! I think the secret ingredient was the Salsa Lizano, haha...

INGREDIENTS

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

half a bell pepper, chopped small (color of your choice, yellow looks nice!)

two handfulls washed spinach leaves, chopped fine 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic

1 1/2 teaspoon salsa lizano (alternative: 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon pepper)

1. Drain and rinse beans and chickpeas and combine them in a large bowl. Add chopped bell pepper and spinach. Mix everything together. 

2. Add the olive oil, mix well. Add salsa lizano (or alternative) and mix well. Lastly add garlic (more or less, to taste) and mix well. 

3. Refridgerate until ready to serve. 

NOTE: You can substitue spinach for cilantro or try with other beans. Add more/less depending on how many servings you want. This makes servings for about 6 people. 

Enjoy! 

Pura Vida...

NIAGRA FALLS

A first for both E and myself....amazing!!!

pie and projects...

Independence Day has come and gone, and so has the heatwave that nearly melted us the first week here...this week it is again a scorching 90 plus degrees and we are filling water bottles with ice and leaving them in the fridge to keep cool.

I made my traditional dessert for the 4th of July, a strawberry and a blueberry pie served with whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream). Both flavors were big hit, and in two days the pie dishes were emptied. I admit that I helped the process along : )

Things also look pretty different here around the house...E, being the active personality that he is, has undertaken several big projects around the house. The pine bushes at the front of the house are trimmed and neat, and the handrail by the front door is repainted. In the backyard you can actually see the chain-link fence that runs around our property, and the jungle that separated us and our neighbors has been tamed with a machete. All the neighbors are immensely pleased, asking E to come and clean up their yards as well...!
The next big project was cleaning and re-staining the deck in the back. After power washing and repairing several boards, Dad and E brought back a beautiful mahogany stain that matches the red trim of the house, and it is so beautiful that looking out the backdoor you can hardly believe that the deck is the same one that was there last week. It looks completely different!

Later this week E and I hope to make a trip to visit my grandma, and next week family vacation is scheduled, our annual trip to Wisconsin. I am looking forward to returning to the beautiful Northwoods!
The last few days were a preview of seeing our extended family, as our house was FULL with cousins visiting from Virginia. We were a houseful of 17 people, and it was wonderful to see so much activity and spend time with everyone...!!! There were some cousins that I had not seen or talked to for quite a while, and it was great to catch up, even briefly. I wish that family was closer, to be able to see each other more.
Make the most of your time with one another!
I have enjoyed a few outings with my brothers to the movies and out on a local lake with the boat...I haven't lost my old waterski skills, and that is another reason I am looking forward to visiting the lake : )

Pura Vida

Miami and machetes

Well, for a time I will again be here in good old Ohio visiting with family and friends, this time accompanied by my husband.
We left Costa Rica on June 25th around 5am (on a very delayed flight, as we were due to leave at 1am but had some technical issues with the plane and then an airport closure!) and arrived to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida around 11am. We decided to rent a car, but opted not to get a GPS and instead went the traditional way with maps and a sense of adventure. We saw all of downtown and some of Little Havana, lots of Miami Beach and drove in circles a few times before arriving to our hotel and crashing for a 4 hour nap! After our nap we left exploring on foot and got dinner and saw Bayside Market.
The following day we again visited Bayside Market and Miami Beach, laying out on the sand and feeding the parking meter for our little rental...at the end of the day we drove slowly down Biscayne Blvd toward Ft. Lauderdale watching the sunset and stopped at a little motel about 10 minutes away from the airport. We managed to consolidate our bags into one single suitcase, and extra items went into our carry-ons...it was much easier to check one bag instead of two! And a little cheaper.
In the morning we had an early wake up call and headed to the airport to return the rental and get on a flight to Dayton! When we arrived in Chicago our flight to Dayton had been cancelled, so after some haggling we were both able to get on a flight to Cincinnati and let my family know about the changes in time for them to come and pick us up...our luggage made it too, which was a miracle! Otherwise we would have had to go buy some clothing for the next day, as we had checked our carry-ons free of charge heading to Chicago due to our fully booked flight and limited overhead space...!
Overall our trip to Miami was great, and it was a great transition from CR to the USA..for the first 48 hours I still felt like I was in a Spanish speaking country! I would love to come again and spend some more time just exploring on foot, especially some of the smaller neighborhoods.

So far so good on the homefront, introducing my hubby to my family for the first time and settling into family life again. It has been great to spend time with my parents and brothers, drive around and visit places and roads I haven't seen in a while...! And getting to show my hubby "my world," so to speak.

He is adjusting very well too! He practices English with my Dad and brothers, and is finding ways to make himself useful here around the house...! My parents both working and being older have not been able to keep up with maintanence around the house, so E has stepped up to the challenge, buying a machete and tackling some overgrown areas around the house, as well as consulting with my Dad about some other big projects.

Enjoying the hot summer (hotter than Guanacaste !!! ) and familiar environment...and the company : )

Pura Vida