Costa Rica - Caribeans Chocolate Tour

On our last day in Puerto Viejo, I had to choose between spending more time at the ocean or experiencing a chocolate tour. It was a hard choice, but I am sure I made the right one. It was a pretty special experience to visit such a small scale operation, where I could see the process from the flower buds on the cacao trees to the chocolate bars just out of the mold and everything in between!

The tour started with a hike through a cacao forest that is being painstakingly restored after a fungus took its toll on the trees and their crop on this farm and many others across the country.

We learned that cacao tree leaves are "nature's plastic wrap". If you are caught in the rain near a cacao tree, you can grab a leaf and wrap up your valuables to keep them dry! You can scrunch it up and release it and it doesn't break.

This is what raw cacao looks like. I got to eat a bunch of them. The white jelly around the bean is really sweet and fruity.

After the cacao pods are split open, the beans are wrapped up in banana leaves and left in open air bins to ferment.

After the beans have fermented, they are spread out to dry in a greenhouse structure.

At this point in the tour, we took a break for a chocolate tasting at a magnificent overlook on the Caribeans property.

In addition to growing cacao on site and turning it into chocolate, Caribeans also buys beans from local farmers. The economic model they employ is one that values quality and pays a premium for it. Their mission statement involves paying living wages to local farmers who practice sustainable ecological farming practices and deliver high quality product. Amen to that!

One of the ways this company is creating a specialty product is by making single source chocolates. The recipes and process are all the same, yet the resulting chocolate varies greatly depending on whose beans they use. We tasted 4 chocolates that were linked to the farmer and the farm's location. Making chocolate from one farmer's crop allows the grower to taste what they grew. Creating this connection closes the circle (most farmers sell to co-ops and never taste the chocolate made with their beans) and increases pride in the quality of their crop.

After we tasted each chocolate as it was, we played around with flavors, mixing and matching herbs and spices with chocolate. It turns out that dark chocolate and raw garlic taste great together!

For the final leg of the tour, we saw the open-air factory where the beans are roasted, ground, sorted and then turned into chocolate bars. Since they are such a small scale operation, they've created some interesting, low cost ways of grinding and separating the cacao from the shells. It doesn't translate well to photo so you'll just have to trust me that these are some clever folks.

And, of course, we were encouraged to share the love by getting some bars and taking them home. I happily obliged!

Feeling the Birthday Love

Way back in December, I was treated to a series of birthday treats, celebrations and events. The weekend showed me once again how fortunate I am to have people in my life who set aside time to celebrate with me.

It started with yoga, baked goods and a sushi lunch with my mom.

It included dinner out with Jamie and Sylvia.

And, of course, a day of Paul-planned surprises. I awoke to flowers and a vegetarian eggs benedict, salad and twice baked potato.

After breakfast, Paul, Uli and I headed out to a dog park we had never been to before.

Uli loved it and it was fun for us humans to have some new paths to explore.

From there, we went to the Science Museum for an Omnitheater movie about whales. Its a fun place to visit and the lobby is full of interactive displays.

The musical stairs are always a day-brightener, too!

I may or may not have eaten a birthday lunch that was centered around guacamole. So. Good.

After a stop home to drop Uli off (he napped in the car during the museum and lunch) and to open some presents (I got a juicer!), we went out to dinner.

Nicollet Island Inn, our dinner location this time was a bit of old school classy. While we were sitting at dinner, a horsedrawn carriage went past the window!

As has become customary, we asked for someone to take a picture of us and expected it to look wonky as it has in year's past. This one wasn't too terrible!

Then, just last week, one of the birthday gifts I was given happened! Lately, I have been into giving and receiving gifts that are more focused on shared experiences. My mom honored that with an awesome jewelry making class that we took together.

We got to learn a lot of skills including how to solder. My mom was a little skeptical but she shouldn't have been. Her skills were great and her project turned out just how she wanted!

Sarah of Quench Jewelry Arts was a great teacher and kept out class moving along on pace, so we all finished the night with our own fidget/spinner rings. Mine is on the top and my mom's is on the bottom of this photo:

What a lucky birthday girl I was!

Making Soap and Celebrating Birthdays

In what has become an annual tradition, Jamie, Charleen and I got together to celebrate their birthdays, make soap, craft together and have an old school birthday sleepover.

This year we were really ambitious and made many batches. We learn a little more about the best way to do this each year and can fit in more batches each year. I am fortunate to have come away from the weekend with enough of this super gentle, goat's milk soap to tide me over until we do this again next year!

And, of course, we ate really well at Charleen's house. Our dinner included a sampling session of the many interesting ferments Charleen has been making. The surprising winner for me was fermented fennel. Putting that one on my list for next year's farmers' market season!

Up North for the Fall Harvest...and Kittens!

I am quite certain that those who monitor weather statistics would agree with me that Minnesota was treated to an amazing summer and fall this year. The weather has been mild and the transition from one season to the next was gentle. I have been enjoying the unusual flexibility Mother Nature is allowing me when it comes to harvesting the last of my backyard garden and getting the chickens ready for the winter.

We also had time to go up to my dad's house to help (and benefit!) from his fall harvest. Our trip up to Wisconsin came with the very fun bonus of meeting his 2 new kittens!

I wasn't sure what to expect because these cats have a role that is quite different from our Fanny's life. These cuties are outdoor, farm cats who are expected to earn their keep by hunting mice and other pests. My dad named them Shakey and Fatty based on how they presented themselves when he first got them. I was super pleasantly surprised that they are as curious and affectionate as can be with outsized purr motors!

Uli got to meet them as well. Shakey was a lot more interested in playing with Uli than Fatty was.

It was an entertaining site, watching them try to figure out how to play together. Shakey's attempt at catching Uli were slapstick as she only jumped at him well after he had zoomed past her.

Fatty kept his distance likely wondering why his sibling wasn't more afraid of this newcomer.

They alternated play sessions with sniffing breaks and timeouts under the car where Uli couldn't get at Shakey.

The kittens slowed down our harvesting productivity quite a bit with their adorable antics.

Photo credit to Paul

I am glad my dad has some new buddies around and I certainly enjoyed having the opportunity to love them up. Powerful kitten purrs are good medicine.

We usually take a few walks when we visit and this time Fatty wanted to come with us!

He still didn't want Uli to get close to him, though.

Cat in the tree!

Uli had a grand time once again, running and playing on the acreage.

Unfortunately, we didn't bring any treats with us to reward his recall. As the weekend wore on, he got less and less responsive to us and more and more wide in his range around the woods. It got to the point where he wasn't coming back at all unless he wanted to. We let that happen to each of us once and then to the tie out he went. Thankfully, as soon as we got home and intermittently rewarded recall with treats, his consistent obedience returned. He didn't much enjoy his confinement, so hopefully he put together a little bit of cause and effect for future reference.

"I got up here but I don't know how to get down! Help!"

After the harvest, we loaded the car up to the brim with awesome veggies and cases of honeycrisp apples.

Since we got back, the dehydrator has been humming away drying apple chips, the oven has been busy roasting root veggies, potatoes and squash and our appetites have been satisfied.