Festival de Importados - Really!?

My local grocery store - Mas x Menos (More for Less) - loves to hold a good theme party. Every now and then I will wander in and they'll be celebrating something random. But when they celebrate, they go all out with decorations, banners, and merchandise aligned to said celebration. Recently they had the Festival de Mexico...so they had lots of salsa, jalepenos, and "mexican" related items.

Today, I was visually assaulted by red, white, and blue paraphernalia when I entered the store. This was odd considering that they did not have this up for the 4th of July, but now, afterwards. This week's theme party? "Festival de Importados - Lo mejor de U.S.A. a tu alcance." This translates into "Festival of Imports - The best of the U.S.A. at your fingertips."

My first thought was "ummm..ok, this is interesting." And, as a somewhat homesick girl, there was a small voice inside of me also going "Hooray! Yippee!!" But what I quickly learned is that Mas x Menos has NO idea what the best products of the US are!

I mean, yes, they had a bunch of US products filling the shelves of their displays. But, this Southern girl was quite upset that Sun-Drop and Dukes Mayonnaise did NOT make the cut! How dare they??!! What? No Luzianne tea? No decent chocolate? Who are you people and how could you call these the BEST products of the US?

And, really? We're going with Old Milwaukee as one of the best beers we produce? In college, Milwaukee's Best was known as "The Beast." Other featured beers included Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft, and Coor's Light....SERIOUSLY!??

The whole thing, while horribly disappointing, also made me laugh. I would have loved to been around when they were deciding which items to feature. "Hey Carlos, Charmin toilet paper is from the US, right? Ok, I'll put it next to the dial soap. The Gringos are gonna LOVE this!!"

Just another interesting experience here in Costa Rica. Although, while it was not all I could have hoped for, I guess I should be grateful they at least tried!

<3,
Amber

El Granizado

The granizado is Costa Rica's equivalent of a snow cone...only a heck of a lot more delicious and dangerous! I FINALLY had my first granizado today from the famous Soda Tapia. Soda Tapia is a diner-esque little joint just a few blocks down from my office. It is famous - and I'd never been. That's a big "tsk tsk" to my colleagues. Anyways, we rectified that today.

Today, we took a short afternoon break for a run to Soda Tapia for granizados! So, the snow cone of Costa Rica is different than the one we're used to the US in many ways:

1. It comes in a cup - no cones here folks!
2. There's milk involved - powdered and condensed (and this is where it gets dangerous.)
3. The ice is thicker - I have actually seen granizado vendors around the country. Usually its a guy, with a cart, and a giant block of ice that he chips off to make each granizado to order.

The most favored flavor here is red...or cherry....at least that's what we're calling it. They pack the cup with ice, put this cherry liquid/syrup in there, layer in some powdered milk, put a little more ice and cherry stuff, then drizzle lots of sweetened condensed milk on top. Sound weird? It's not! It is actually ridiculously delicious...and sweet.

The use of powdered milk was interesting enough to me. Although my amigas tell me they like to curl up on the couch with a bag of the stuff and a spoon sometimes...Maybe its the equivalent of our bag of chips?? But, the sweetened condensed milk bit I really liked. Why? If you've ever baked with the stuff, I bet you've found yourself wondering why it would seem inappropriate just to eat it with a spoon. What's so wrong with that!? In Ticolandia - NADA!! And I fully appreciate that.

Below are some pics. I realize the up close and personal ones of the stuff in the cup don't really look too appetizing...quite the opposite actually. You'll just have to take my word for it until you can swing by my corner of the world and try one for yourself! (At Soda Tapia, they give you your own little tiny can of condensed milk to do with as you please - how nice!)

You don't get the full effect from these pictures because I ate half of it before I realized I should take this as a photo-op...Sorry!

I thought I'd throw a little more condensed milk on top...just to enrich the sugar coma coming my way. Why not???

<3,
Amber