I love the ocean, and I also LOVE ocean birds. Birds are beautiful creatures, predator or prey. Here are some of my favorites. Birds of a feather!
GUEST BLOG BY SUZANNE STAVERT OF Adventures of Empty Nesters! Check out her blog!
During our amazing vacation at the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort of Costa Rica, we were taught how to make ceviche ~ Costa Rica Style! Craig and I were treated to a private cooking lesson with Chef Hanier from the resort’s fine dining seafood restaurant, Ostra. We learned how to combine fresh fish with local ingredients to create the most delectable ceviche ever!
Ceviche (pronounced “seh-VEE-chay”) is a Latin American recipe for raw fish and seafood marinated in citrus juice, usually lime and lemon juice. The acid in the citrus juice breaks down the proteins in the fish, effectively cooking the fish. Because the protein is cooked by the acid, ceviche isn’t heated and can be served cold or at room temperature.
Chef Hanier made it very easy for us. All of the ingredients were already assembled, sliced and diced. The freshly caught fish and shellfish was cut into small, bite size pieces and the vast array of diced peppers, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, corn and garlic was resting in stainless steel bowls on ice and ready to go.
Both Craig and I could choose any combination of these types of fish: Red Snapper, Grouper, Tuna, Octopus, Sea Bass or Prawns. Then we added fresh lemon and lime juice, salt and pepper, cilantro and any of the other colorful ingredients. We mixed it all together and added several tablespoons of the chef’s homemade sauces. I don’t know how to make the sauces, but I could try based upon the ingredients list. Our Costa Rican recipe for ceviche was unbelievably delicious and so fresh!
Mango ~ fried plantain, avocado, rocoto
Spicy ~ jalapeño, panameño, rocoto cream
Classic ~ leche de tigre, red onion, cilantro, cancha corn
Yellow Pepper ~ jumbo corn, lemon, red onion
Caribeño ~ coconut milk, tomato, ginger
We had so much fun and honestly I did not realize how easy it was to make! After talking with some of the local people, we learned that ceviche is a very common dish to prepare in every Costa Rican household. Typically, they would mix fresh fish, lots of fresh lime juice, cilantro and maybe chopped onion and/or jalapeño. The family recipe is simple and once it was mixed together, they would put it in the refrigerator for about four hours. When the ceviche was ready to eat, they serve it in large bowls, family-style, with tortillas, chips and spoons to catch every drop!
We were served our own personal preparations in gorgeous glass serving bowls after the Chef had placed the perfect garnish on top. While drinking an icy cold Imperial, a Costa Rican Beer, we scooped up our divine ceviche with house made potato and sweet potato chips. Did I say it was delicious?!
Designed to emulate a personal residence, the exquisite Ostra, is the fine dining seafood restaurant at the resort. The service is impeccable and all of the elegant latin influenced dishes on the menu were out of this world. We enjoyed several romantic dinners there and it felt like we had engaged our own personal chef to create our perfect meal. I am still dreaming of our delicious experience!
Randy and I are on the beach, attending the wedding of the daughter of our close friends. Tonight the events begin…a cruise for a rehearsal dinner, the wedding tomorrow, and a brunch on Sunday.
I will be out of the sun today as I am practically purple with sunburn. I spent the day on the beach yesterday, and since I am usually diving or in a wet suit I didn’t sunscreen as much as I should have. Ouch!
I did find some interesting critters on the beach. And fab food!
Have a great weekend, and don’t forget to watch the film, REVOLUTION, available above this post!
We don’t think about it every day, but let’s think about this on Earth Day: our planet is in ICU, in critical condition. Watch REVOLUTION, a film by Rob Stewart, which explores the dire consequences the human race will face in the next 40 years. REVOLUTION follows up Rob Stewart’s first film in 2007, SHARKWATER, which brought attention to the fact that shark species had declined by 90%.
Revolution is a feature documentary about opening your eyes, changing the world and fighting for something. A true life adventure following director Rob Stewart in the follow up to his hit Sharkwater, Revolution is an epic adventure into the evolution of life on earth and the revolution to save us. Discovering that there’s more in jeopardy than sharks, Stewart uncovers a grave secret threatening our own survival as a species, and embarks on a life-threatening adventure through 4 years and 15 countries into the greatest battle ever waged. Bringing you some of the most incredible wildlife spectacles ever recorded, audiences are brought face to face with sharks and cuddly lemurs…the journey reveals a massive opportunity, as activists and individuals all over the world are winning the battle to save the ecosystems we depend on for survival. Presenting the most important information on human survival and inspiring people all over the world to fight for life, Revolution is essential viewing for everyone. Startling, beautiful, and provocative, Revolution inspires audiences across the globe to join the biggest movement in history that’s rising to the challenge of saving our world. Revolution premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and has already gone on to win ten awards, including the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Atlantic Film Festival, Most Popular Environmental Film Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Victoria Film Festival and the Social Justice Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Celebrate the Earth by watching REVOLUTION for less than $5.00. Find out what YOU can do…we have to do something, and soon.
There are only 6 Northern White Rhinos left on our planet. One is a male. They are all being guarded by rangers, and the horns have been removed so there is no point for poachers to kill them. I do not understand why our species is so cruel to every other species! There is evidence now that the Black Rhino is “officially” extinct in the wild. Humans seem to think we are special, somehow “above” the other life on our planet. If things continue the way they are going, in the next 50 years we will have no reefs, no apex predators in the ocean so very few fish, no rhinos, no sharks, and water rising everywhere. At that point will we wise up? I hope we wise up much sooner than that. Conservation means saving our own species…once we ruin all of the ecosystems that support life on this planet, we won’t last long, either. Today’s photographs are of animals headed toward extinction. Let’s not let it happen. Everyone….listen to Jane Goodall:
“If all of us would go through our lives thinking about the little choices we make each day as to what we buy, what we eat, what we wear – and how those choices might impact the environment, might impact child slave labor in other countries, might impact cruelty towards animals, we start making small changes… Billions of small changes around the world can lead to the kind of change we need if we care about future generations.” – Jane Goodall (http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/jane-goodall/photos/jane-goodall-birthday/)
Please. Start small, but start!
We need to wake up to the danger we are in by putting these animals at risk, by stressing the planet and causing it to warm, to plastic trash everywhere….to cutting down rainforests, etc etc. Or we are lost.