May 1 to 22- Taking an Ecuadorian Cooking Class

At the beginning of May, I took Ecuadorian cooking classes. These were held at my friends’, Chavela & Lacey’s, condo and went on for 2 days every week for 1 month.

The first day, Thursday, our teaching cook, Sandra and her helper/daughter Adriana, cooked a complete 4 course meal- appetizer, salad, main course and desert.

 We four students avidly watched and took notes as she cooked all of these. There was a wonderful camaradie between us four students/friends and our instructors and our host Chavela. Much laughter, girl talk and best of all, mucho espanol! Of course, the very best part of all, was sitting down and eating this wonderful healthy complete meal- WOW!

                                  Mixed Ceviche in Plantain cups

                         Potato, carrot, pea & shrimp salad with home-made mayonnaise

                                  Cazuela ( Fish & Plantain stew) & brown rice

                            Fruit Salad & Blackberry Juice

The next day, Friday, we accompanied Sandra to the Mercado in La Libertad and shopped for any of the ingredients that we needed in order to repeat part or all of the menu items for our family and/or guests on the weekend. We handed her our shopping list and she led us to each of the best stores to get our items.

We saw many sections of the Mercado that we had not visited before. We also were introduced to the shops that would never charge us gringo prices- yea!

Week 2 was even better.  Again Sandra prepared and cooked all four items while we watched and took notes. Chavela does send us the recipes each week, but we take notes on the details so that we can duplicate these as closely as possible. As well as the recipes, she also sends us a list of all words used and their Spanish/English translation. Talk about a great lesson in Spanish as well as cooking!

                        Deep fried yucca filled with cheese & Swiss chard with aji (hot) sauce

                                                   Multi colored Salad

                                                   Fish Soup

                              Cake of 3 milks & lemon and Passion Fruit Juice

Week 3

                                                  Tomato, cheese & Basil salad

                               Pumpkin & potato soup with garlic bread

                              Fish with garlic sauce & brown rice

                             Sweet Potato Cake with whipped cream & lemon Juice

Week 4

                                   Salad with red & green Cabbage

                                   Cream of Spinach Soup

Chicken Stew ( Seco de Pollo) with brown rice & broccoli and deep fried plantains

                                                 Mixed Fruit & Melon Juice

I consider this cooking class one of the high lights of my time living here in Salinas. Who would have thought that there are so many recipes. My husband had jokingly said when I started the course, ‘so what are you going to learn to cook in four weeks- different versions of rice & beans’! Boy, did we prove him wrong. Not only did he have to eat his words- LOL- but the many wonderful dishes I cooked for him that I had learned in my Ecuadorian Cooking Class- muchas gracias, Sandra, Adriana and Chavela.

The classes have now ended in Chavela’s condo- we were the last session. However our instructor Sandra is available to give cooking classes in your home for 3 to 4 friends or maybe a couples’ lesson in cooking plus the resulting dinner party. Sandra also can shop and cook a week’s worth of specialized meals for you- for instance -vegetarian, diabetic, recuperating from hospital stay or just plain ‘don’t like to cook’- whatever. Please give her a call or email.

Cell: 0999397798     Email: sandryvera@hotmail.es

May 13- Visit to the Salinas Golf and Country Club

Our good friends Connie & Murray invited us to the Salinas Golf & Country Club where they had recently become members. To those of you in the Salinas area, you may have driven by many times and wondered as we did what lay beyond the guarded gates.

We took a taxi from the Malecon and when we arrived, found we were the only visitors so far at 9:45AM. First our friends took us all around the facilities. We were dumbfounded! Having seen it only when passing by on the road, it sure didn’t look like much but once inside…..

There were four asphalt tennis courts in pretty good shape as well as four clay courts in excellent condition.

 The pool was huge, beautiful and with salt water which was very important for me as I am allergic to chlorine. Plus there was a wading pool for the little kids. There were lots of chairs, tables and lounges around the pool and shady areas when you became sunned out.

Near the pool were men’s and women’s and family washrooms, showers and change rooms plus a shower outside by the pool to be used before entering the pool.

As well, a fair sized exercise room with weights, treadmill and various other exercise equipment were available. What was most surprising was that there were also two very modern squash courts.

A small soccer field covered in astro turf was used to teach soccer to children.

The main building itself was huge- a beautiful restaurant ( not open when we were there) and several large party rooms that could be reserved by the members for weddings/ birthdays/ anniversaries/ whatever.

And last but not least ( strange maybe-LOL) there was a nine hole golf course. It was like none I had EVER seen before. If ever the rest of the world admits we have a water conservation problem, they may want to follow this facility’s lead.

First of all, there was no grass! No grass, you say, how does that work? Obviously pretty well as we saw four golfers on number five who had no problem.

The tee offs had a small area of grass and there was white, blue & red tees.

The whole length between tee and green ( we are going to call it beige from now on) was hard packed earth sometimes with trees on either side.

And the beiges ( greens to the rest of the world) wow, what a concept. Talk about hating the sand, well, there seemed to be very little difference between the sand traps ( and yes there were some) and the beiges.

Uwe and Murray checking out the 6^th hole’s beige.

 Personally I can’t wait to try this course when I bring my clubs back from Canada. A  pro-shop to sign in for golf and a miniature course to practice putting completed the tour.

We spent the morning playing some tennis, swimming lengths in the pool and trying some exercise equipment. And all this without another soul being present. It was like we lived in a huge mansion with an equally huge pool. Loved it!

All in all, we were very impressed with the facilities. The grounds were well kept and gorgeous. The pool was large, clean and warm.  When open, there is both a restaurant and snack bar.

And all this for a $2000 per family initiation and $40 per month cost all inclusive-pool, tennis, golf, squash plus you can bring guests in free of charge any time. Pretty good deal and it has us thinking…..