Thanksgiving in Nica

It started with a Thanksgiving party at the school I work at. It was an interesting even that gave us the feel of prom merging with some sort of wedding. We were in the school auditorium yet there was a tequila cart going around serving teachers dressed in their finest shots.

The next day we celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends. It was a pot luck of thanksgiving food and a rotisserie chicken. For some it was a little taste of home for others it was their first Thanksgiving dinner.

The following morning we left with some friends for Ometepe, an island of two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. We shared a little cabin on the lake and climbed one of the volcanoes. It was a fantastic escape from the city.

Here are some pictures to share :)

Omotepe - island in Lake Nicaragua

Thanksgiving - rager at Lincoln & mellow turkey-day potluck

Trip to Selva Negra coffee plantation

This past weekend we went on a really nice weekend trip north to a german run coffee plantation/ eco resort. It was so nice to breath fresh air, to wear a fleece and use a blanket and walk a bunch. Things we dont really get to do here in Managua,

The coffee plantation Selva Negra (black forest) is completely sustainably run. We hiked around in the cloud forest on their property stared at some amazing plants, birds and monkeys and took a tour of the plantation including workers quarters and processing mill. All the food for the workers, their families and the hotel is raised and grown there . . . we had some good cheese!

anyway some pics of our weekend

Selva Negra

Pineapple Coffee Cake

So this weekend were elections in Nicaragua and it was recommended to stay home. The elections are quite corrupt and some are fanatical about their parties so there is unrest around election time. Matt was gone so I decided to pass the time by cooking and baking. We had a really ripe pineapple and I decided to make a pineapple coffee cake. I must admit, it turned out pretty good :)

Ingredients
* 1/4 lb butter or margarine
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 egg
* 1 cup milk
* 15 ounces crushed pineapple, drained

Topping
* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 lb butter or margarine

Directions
1. Cream sugar with butter.
2. Sift flour and baking powder.
3. Add to creamed mixture alternately with egg/milk mixture.(place egg in cup and add milk to make 1 cup).
4. Spread in 9x13 pan.(or if you are like me and dont have one, just spread it in a sauce pan that can go into the oven)
5. Cover with well-drained pineapple.
6. Mix topping ingredients till crumbly and sprinkle over pineapple.
7. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Ants and Cops

So if there are two things I could really live without in Nicaragua, its the ants in my kitchen and the police. Both just seem to be around all over the place not doing much but creating a sense of anxiety.

The ants crawl all over the place no matter how clean the kitchen is. When another one dies they carry it off on their back so you have a double, extra big, huge ant.

The cops stand all over and just pull us over because we are gringos for no reason and let us go once we pay them . . and when you actually need their help they cant help you but instead give you a lecture.

frustrating!

My Favorite Place in Nicaragua

Is in the giant hammock in our living room!

Matt's boss gave us a beautiful hand woven "matrimonial" size hammock. The town he lives in, Masaya, is known for their hammocks so he gave us one as a wedding gift. Its so big that Matt and I can be in it head to foot, barely touching feet, its great!

It's my favorite place to be after a long day at school and a great spot to watch the debates.
(picture: me in my school uniform)

Finally a lake to swim in!

Saturday we went to Laguna de Apoyo. Its a crater that filled with fresh water that is heated by hot springs really really deep down. There are some endemic species of fish that call the lagoon home. It felt great to go swimming in the lake. Nicaragua has many beautiful lakes that are unfortunately so polluted that you cannot swim in them. These are some pictures of our afternoon.

Weekend at the beach

A couple of weeks ago was a holiday here in Central America. As a teacher, I get the holidays off . . .very different from ranger days :)
We decided to get out of the city for a few days and went to San Juan del Sur. It is a traveler hot spot for surfers and . . what we didnt know on this particular weekend a hot spot for partying high schoolers (including my students) which we were able to avoid.
We stayed in a nice little bed and breakfast run by a funny lady from South Carolina. During the day we rented bikes and rode 20 km on bumpy dirt roads that our car wouldn't have survived to get to some quieter beaches away from town. At night we were exhausted and had beer, fresh fish and ceviche for dinner. We got back home after three nights and still had a day to hang around the house. It was really nice to get away for a bit.

I like cold beverages!

So Im not a big beer drinker. But . . . .for some reason since I have moved to Nicaragua I find myself enjoying a cold beer. Its not that the beer is really good, its simply because its cold :)!!

A great way to have it, believe it or not is on ice (even colder!)
its called a Michilada a nice, cold, spicy, fizzy great after work or on the beach drink and here is how you make it.

Coarse salt
3 cubes ice
1 lime, juiced
1 12 oz. can or bottle Mexican beer - we are going with Nicaraguan beer Tona
1/2 tsp. steak sauce or sangrita
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 dash black pepper
1 pinch dried oregano
1 pinch dried basil

put all the ingredients in a glass, some ice and poor in the tona
Cheers, Salud!

Back into a Whirlwind!

So a lot has happened since I last wrote on the blog. The big thing is – I got a job!
I am teaching high school science at an international school here in Managua. I teach three sections of seventh grade life science and two sections of eleventh grade chemistry (to be honest I don’t know chemistry, but Im learning as I go). I have experience teaching seventh grade life science in the classroom when I taught in Guatemala, but Chemistry is new to me and Im finding it hard to make it fun for the students.

The school is really pretty and Im starting to meet other teacher. Its just nice to get out of the house and have something to focus energy on. I am definitely very busy. It is hard to teach when you didn’t start with the students in the beginning of the year. The beginning of the year gives you an opportunity to lay down some ground rules etc. Another challenge is that the teach whom I took over for left because she thought it was too much work and didn’t do the things that need to be done before the students even start . . like annual plans for instance . . so Im also trying to play catch up. I hope that in a month or so I will get into a groove.

I think for now this is a good position. It is still in my field and gives me the opportunity to get my Spanish to fluency, as well as find out what different environmental organizations are up to in the event that after the school year I want to get back into more the environmental field. Vacations off are always nice so come on down and visit ☺

From the Fischer-Daly Cocina: Crispy Yucca jazzed with Spicy Aioli Dip…

Egg Yolk, desiring-to-be-red in color, to garlic-punching dipping sauce (okay, dip, I first shopped at Krogers, so “dip” clearly connotes concoctions such as ranch or my introduction to artichoke, lost in a gurgle of parmesan) is a fast, easy and yummy transition: Drop the yolk in a bowl (blender) with a couple teaspoons of mustard (use Dijon unless you share my absentmindedness, in which case yellow gets the job done). Whisk slowly, then furiously, but always steadily (or start blender on a medium speed) and begin to pour a cup of olive oil, not all at once but a clean regular pour. As concoction emulsifies, finish the steady pour of olive oil. Then add garlic (5 small/medium cloves) and pepper (1 small jalapeño or a serrano) and continuing whisking (or blending). Shift the dip to a bowl and set in the fridge to cool while you heat some oil on the stovetop…

Pre-fry, have your yucca pealed, cut into chunks that fit your pan/pot, and boiled for approximately 5 minutes…then the fun part. Drop your yucca into hot oil (and minced garlic clove or two if you’re into the excessive side of flavor) on the frying pan (use enough oil to cover the pan and maintain it smoothly covered in oil throughout the fry) and have a little faith in the wonders of hot oil. Turn your yucca chunks side to side until their color takes on a yellowish (thank you, oil) – brown (oh, right, it’s a tuber) shade. Once your yucca looks bronzed, it’s outside slightly crunchy, and maybe your skin aglow with a little spray from the frying fun, serve the yucca chunks on a plate with the spicy aioli.

Dig in, and enjoy! By the way, just what are you enjoying: yucca? cassava? The answer seems to be yes. As noted by Mark Bittman, author of the how to cook everything guides, “taro (yucca) is a tuber with brownish gray fiber-covered striped skin and gray-white flesh with purple stippling, more flavorful than potatoes”. Bittman then describes cassava as a tuber with an “elgongated, tapered oval shape with a dark brown, woody, and often waxed and shiny skin; flesh is white, crisp, and loaded with starch”. In our neck of the woods, the later description fits to a t the item labeled “yucca” in all markets, restaurants and grocers. If anyone has interesting insights into the world of yucca vs. cassava, the floor is yours…

Saturdays

The first saturday here we drove an hour outside of the city to a small town on the beach. Nothing like a beach without the smell of sun tan lotion in the air and without two thousand umbrellas covering the sand, it was nice and quiet. We walked around and ate some great fresh ceviche and catch of the day and washed it down with cold Donas.

Last Saturday we went to a town an hour outside of the city called Granada. It reminded me a lot of, Antigua, the town I lived in Guatemala, colonial style architecture with lots of vibrant colored buildings and a central square. There was a festival going on so all the fritanga ladies were in full force in the park. Fritanga is fried food. There were tons of ladies frying up chicken, plantains, potatoes, empanadas, chicken gizzards, really anything you can throw into a pot of oil and fry up, they do! We opted for fruit smoothies

This weekend Matt had to be away for work so I decided to play around with our new food processor. I went to the market and bought a bunch of fixins for gazbacho. I chopped, and diced, and shredded, and processed, all in one machine, it was great. The only problem was . . .our fridge decided to break . . .so instead of cold gazpacho it will probably be warm, spicy tomato soup when Matt gets back. I also picked up a bunch of peanuts to make some peanut butter. That didn’t turn out quite as I hoped for either . . the peanuts tasted like bleach, maybe the lady at the market stored them near cleaning products??? Ill just give it another whirl soon.

A tour of the Neighborhood

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood Altamira, our home, and some pictures of a day-trip to the beach a couple weeks ago

Adventures of the Fischer-Dalys

A whirl wind followed by down time

Wow, we have a fantastic time in Vermont at our wedding celebration. Thanks so much to those of you that were able to make it out all the way to the Northeast Kingdom. It was everything we could have dreamed of and more.

After driving to Maryland the next day, we spent two days packing up our lives, shipping some of it in boxes and stuffing the rest in our big back packs. So now we are here in Managua. I spent some time hanging pictures and making our house a bit of a home.

Adjusting is a bit more challenging than I had expected, but I know it will get easier with time. Hence the blog. . . . I have lots of time on my hands right now so visit and visit often. Im sure there will be lots of updates :)

Im finding little projects to keep me busy. Im planning on building a vegetable garden in our back yard/patio. To get my Spanish going again I started some Spanish classes an hour twice a week and we are also thinking about getting a dog. Now is a great time to have a puppy since I can be around to be with it and train it.

So come back to our blog for pics, stories, rants and raves that make up the Adventures of the Fischer-Dalys!

If you're interested, here are some pictures of our Vermont celebration that friends have posted. We think they are fun

Wedding day hike/ice-cream social:
http://www.shwup.com/album/the_hike?_ut=B6H0v8T5jOi&utm_campaign=rel3&utm_source=button&utm_medium=email

Ceremony:
http://www.shwup.com/album/the_ceremony?_ut=B6H0v8T5jOi&utm_campaign=rel3&utm_source=button&utm_medium=email

Reception:
http://www.shwup.com/album/the_reception?_ut=B6H0v8T5jOi&utm_campaign=rel3&utm_source=button&utm_medium=email