Whassup? Irina & Martijn's Blog

We have been thinking of an original way to wish you all a great holiday season and a happy New Year.

As most of you probably noticed we have done quite a bit of travelling during the past 18 months. We have collected huge amount of  travel impressions, which we shared with you on our blog. As a present for all of you (and in  memory of the outgoing 2011) we made this short movie using our collection of house numbers that we found during our travels.

Click on the move below for a Countdown to 2012 with 150 house numbers from around the world.

Enjoy and smile, I+M

When we came to Costa Rica 6 weeks ago one of our goals was to see a sloth, an amazing animal which is quite common here but rather hard to spot. Most of their lives they live far up in the canopies of trees and are not particularly active (understatement) and only move when necessary. Only once a week they climb down to the ground to “go to the restroom”. There are different theories about why they come down in the first place and not do their needs from up in the tree but nothing is proven yet (nice topic for a next PhD thesis perhaps?). In Costa Rica there are two kinds of sloth, the 3 toed and the 2 toed (not to be confused with the toad). The latter is a bit smaller than the other and has a more brownish fur in comparison to the grey fur of the former. Sloth fur is a small ecosystem of its own, hosting many species of non-parasitic insects. The hair of the sloth grow in opposite direction from that of other mammals. Hair of most mammals grow toward the extremities but because sloths spend so much time with their legs above their bodies, their hair grow away from the extremities in order to provide protection from the rain while the sloth hangs upside down.

But enough talk about their physiology. After 4 weeks waiting and gazing to the trees in the garden we finally spotted a fully grown 3 toed sloth sitting in a tree only about 15 meters from our veranda. The first 4-5 hours he didn’t move at all but closer to the sunset he probably got hungry and started showing some of  his “slothmotion” moves. It is quite remarkable how he can hang upside down eating fresh leaves from the branches below while scratching his back.

We were very lucky that he stayed for several days in the garden and we were able to observe this interesting animal. Please enjoy our short youtube “Sloth-motion” video (Irin(k)a’s debut).

Once in a while a sloth gets entangled in the tree and needs to be rescued. This is a close up of a sloth that Randy saved about 3 months ago (thanks for sharing the pictures, Randy!).

Isn’t he adorable? What are your experiences with the sloths?

Enjoy

I+M

Just outside of our bedroom window grow bananas. When bananas get ripe (almost always all at the same time) we indulge in banana frenzy as we suddenly have huge quantity of bananas to deal with. After a few hectic days of over-eating bananas we start to run low on bananas until the next bunch gets ripe. This “yes-bananas-no-bananas” cycle got us interested in all things around bananas. So, we did some research while listening to the 1923 pop hit “Yes! We have no bananas!”. By the way, this song is one of the best-selling titles of the 20^th century! Check it out.

Bananas are great, don’t you agree? They are delicious, healthy, versatile, cheap and you can eat them without making your hands dirty and without a knife (try that with a mango)… Did you know that bananas have many amazing qualities. Bananas can:

(1)    make you happy because bananas contain a type of protein called tryptophan, which is converted into serotonin by our bodies. Together with vitamin B6, serotonin relaxes brain and enhances mood,

(2)    cure your hangover, especially if taken as a smoothy (with honey) through stomach calming qualities

(3)    alleviate your stress by normalising potassium and increasing the oxygen flow

(4)    increase your brain power and make you more alert by boosting your energy

(5)    make you more beautiful through its anti-aging qualities. A facial mask of bananas mixed with some honey and freshly squeezed orange juice will make you look drop dead gorgeous

(6)    make your blood better with the iron that stimulates the production of haemoglobin and

(7)    even reduce your blood pressure! According to the New England Journal of Medicine eating bananas regularly can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%! Apparently it is so effective that the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims as to reduce blood pressure and stroke.

Other, less famous uses are: Constipation, heartburn, overweight,  ulcers, fever, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, morning sickness, even mosquito bites – you name it! – can all be dealt with if you have a banana at hand.

Some people are allergic to bananas and cannot enjoy this delightful fruit. Interestingly, people who have latex allergy should also stay clear of bananas. We are wondering if it is safe for them to wear cloths made of yarn from the softest banana plant fibre, which are highly desirable for making, for example, kimonos?

The two issues with bananas are that a banana almost always get smashed in your bag or suit pocket (yeah, we had that experience) and it is hard to preserve ripe bananas as they wilt quickly (you cannot refrigerate bananas, right?). However, we are pleased to have found out that progress doesn’t stay still and that now there are solutions available to overcome any banana-related stress. For starters, a genius “banana box” is a simple way to keep your afternoon snack in perfect condition inside your bag (a Dutch invention, by the way). Secondly, we learned from a trusted source that you can refrigerate bananas. The trick is to roll bananas individually in plastic bags (after they are fully ripe) and keep them in the vegetable drawer of your fridge. The skin might get dark but flesh will be just fine. On top of that, it is OK to deep-freeze bananas. You’d need to take ripe bananas, peel them and chuck them in a bag. The deep-frozen bananas are great to put through your smoothy.

We discovered a few other surprising facts about bananas:

1) We all know that bananas are growing on a tree, right? It turns out it is not a tree but … a herb. In fact, it is the largest herb!

2) Through our extensive research (we googled it) we also learned that the banana fruit is “a berry” and on top of that bananas grow pointing up, not hanging down and this is not all…

3) Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive because of their high potassium content. Apparently the normal radiation of a modern nuclear power station is comparable to the radiation of bananas. That’s why “banana equivalent dose” is sometimes used by politicians who support nuclear power.

4) The vivid yellow colour, normally associated with supermarket bananas, is in fact a side effect of the artificial ripening process with ethylene gas, widely used by the banana industry.

5) Ripe bananas fluoresce when exposed to ultra-violet light. Green bananas do not fluoresce. Apparently that is how nocturnal animals which can see light in the ultraviolet spectrum (like almost all birds, many insects and … reindeer) can see ripened bananas in the dark.

In addition to the common expressions such as “Cool bananas!”, “Top Banana”, “Going bananas”, “Driving someone bananas” and “Banana skin” there are a few funny stories about bananas. We liked one story about Alfred Kahn, anti-inflation advisor to the US President Jimmy Carter who was told by his political superiors to stop using the word “recession”. Alfred Kahn agreed to substitute the word recession with the word banana; he was soon heard muttering about “the worst banana you ever saw.”

Have you heard expression “banana republic”? It is not a nice thing to say if you are talking about a country because it means a small poor country with corrupt government. To our knowledge no country voluntarily describes themselves as “banana republic” even though they are republics and live from growing and exporting bananas. This term has been applied to most countries in Central America but strictly speaking only Costa Rica, Honduras, and Panama are dominated by the banana trade.

Even though for most people (us including) bananas are associated with the Caribbean, Central and Latin America bananas they are actually originally from Asia (most likely Papua New Guiney) and were introduced to the Americas by Portuguese sailors from West Africa in the 16th century. The top 3 largest producers of bananas are all in Asia (India, Philippines and China).

The most popular commercially produced banana in the world is the Cavendish banana (also called Chiquita banana).  However, already in 10 years this sort of banana might disappear or become unviable for large-scale cultivation due to a deadly form of the Panama banana disease (OMG!). Through extensive production Cavendish bananas lost its “immune system”, all plants are genetically identical, which prevents evolution of disease resistance. Other popular varieties are the Manazano banana (with a mild strawberry-apple flavour, and the skin is black when it’s ripe), the Baby/Nino banana (about 10 cm long with a rich, sweet flavour, and creamy texture), the Burro banana (more rectangular in shape than Cavendish yellow banana, ripe banana has yellow skin with black spots, creamy white flesh, a tangy, almost lemony flavour), the Red banana (slightly sweeter than yellow banana, ripe banana has maroon/purple to almost black skin, pinkish to salmon colour flesh, raspberry hint of flavour. It also contains more beta carotene, and vitamin C than the regular yellow banana), and the Plantain banana (starchy and lower in sugar, usually has green colour, when ripe, it is almost black. The flesh is creamy and yellowish or lightly pink). We really hope that bananas are going to be around for a long time in many varieties but it seems that, like with many things, it may not be the case for the whole 21^st century. In the meantime we are eating bananas like there is no tomorrow. Our favourite is the Red banana but others are great too.

Here is another (besides the banana bread we posted earlier) great recipe with bananas. This is from the Tana Ramsey’s book “Home Made” (yes, it is the wife of). You need puff pastry and that is why we couldn’t make it here in Cahuita.

Banana tarte tatin

Serves 6

Prep time 10 minutes

Cooking time 50 minutes plus
5 minutes standing
INGREDIENTS

• 175g caster sugar
• 50g unsalted butter
• about 7 medium-sized bananas, peeled and halved lengthways
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
• plain flour for dusting
• 1 x 375g pack ready-rolled puff pastry

METHOD

1) Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/425F/gas 7. To make the caramel in a saucepan, put the sugar and butter in a small, heavy-based ovenproof frying pan on a low heat and leave until the butter has melted. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then raise the heat to medium and cook, tilting the pan occasionally, until the mixture becomes a rich, golden caramel. Pour immediately into a 20.5cm-diameter, shallow ovenproof dish, being careful not to let the hot caramel splash. Arrange the banana halves on top and sprinkle with the rosemary. Put to one side.

2) Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the pastry and cut a circle about 4cm larger in diameter than the dish. Lay the pastry on top of the bananas and carefully tuck the edges down the side of the dish, gently pushing the bananas together as you do so. Place in the oven and cook for 40 minutes until the pastry is golden.

3) Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the dish and invert a serving plate on top of the dish. Turn the dish and plate over and lift the dish off the tarte tatin. Serve immediately with lashings of vanilla ice cream.

And finally, two intriguing questions:

1)      How to open a banana correctly?

2)      Why are bananas bent?

To answer the first question we need the advice of an expert and who is more expert on opening bananas than our neighbours, the howler monkeys. If they don’t howl (the only animal louder than howler monkeys are the blue whales!) and are not busy with social grooming (higher status monkeys groom lower status monkeys) they love eating bananas while hanging upside down from their tails. And it turns out that for years we opened bananas from the stem but actually it is much quicker and easier (the monkey knows better!)  to open a banana from the tip. Just pinch it and peel it open using both hands. It works like magic.

The second question… Why are bananas bent? We will be waiting for your answers!

Enjoy, I+M

Today we want to share with you a couple of stories about food and interesting eating habits that we came across in Cahuita.

Giant Toads aka Cane Toads:

Imagine a huge toad (the largest recorded specimen weighed 2.65 kg with a length of 38 cm) that lives everywhere in South and Central America (including Costa Rica). They have poison glands and the tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested (Yak!). The giant toad has a voracious appetite, not only due to its opportunistic feeding (it eats both dead and living matter) but also due to their diet. They eat a wide range of food, including… At this stage we want to tell you that every day around dawn we feed the dogs. Except for Saturdays, when it is “chicken day”, we feed them healthy dried dog food. It is not their favourite but they have to understand (which they don’t) that it cannot be “chicken day” every day. When we give them their food they eat some bits and pieces but most of it they keep for later during the night. As soon as they leave their food and start enjoying the coolness of the evening the giant toads are lining up to conquer a piece of this delicious free dog meal. It is almost like a “drive-in”. They jump into the bowl, make themselves comfortable and start their candlelight dinner.

This eating habit of the giant toad seems unusual but nothing is less true. Even Wikipedia.com mentions “dog food” as one of the toads favourite foods.  They like it so much that sometimes it looks like they invited all the neighbour toads and their mothers-in-law.  Our record is 7 toads in one bowl. The dogs seem to know precisely that these creatures are poisonous and that they should not eat them and keep some distance. Although a simple bark would scare the toads away the dogs usually wait patiently until we come and shoo away the toads. We are not very keen to touch poisonous toads either so we use a very handy litter rubbish picker. When the toads realize what is going to happen they inflate their lungs, puff up and lift their bodies off the ground to appear taller and larger. Without any success of course, because we grab them with the picker and with a semi professional golf swing we send them over the fence and into the forest.

After a couple of weeks of training we are getting better and better. The funny thing is that we believe the toads really enjoy the “fly-away” experience and return every day to get more of the fun and adrenaline. Fair enough, if you are a toad where is fun in your life? At the same time we realise that any addiction is not healthy. We are currently thinking that we should mark the toads with colours and schedule a flight plan (each toad gets one flight per week).

Green Iguana aka Common Iguana

Although green iguanas can be large (they can get as big as 1.5m in length from head to tail), heavy (they can be up to 9.1 kg) and vary in colour (they exist in many colours and not only in green as their name would suggest) they are all the same species. Besides the green iguana there is only one other iguana species.  The green iguana live pretty much everywhere from South America to South Florida and California. Because they are calm and look exotic they are the most popular pet reptile in the US. We read somewhere that annually ca 800,000 green iguanas are imported to the US.  Seriously, people, admit that you eat them! In Central America, where iguana meat is considered one of delicatessen iguanas are referred to as “bamboo chicken” or “chicken of the trees”. As tempting as it sounds we prefer the common chicken though. Nevertheless we became very interested in iguanas, especially when we saw that a couple of juvenile ones are living in the hibiscus tree in the garden.  When iguanas hatch from their eggs, they dig themselves out of the ground and then they are on their own to survive, their mother never meets them.  A rough “beginning”,  we would say. In the Animal Kingdom, males often have the brightest colours but not among green iguanas. Here, the males have a dull colour, females are brighter, and the juveniles are the brightest, which is probably why we saw them in the first place. It seems that they have a very regulated live depending on the heat of the sun. Every day when the sun reaches their tree they get active and start elegantly climb along the branches of the hibiscus in search for food. Iguanas are herbivores and feeding on leaves, flowers and fruits. Well, our friends here only eat flowers, fresh red hibiscus flowers to be more precise. We count ourselves lucky that here in the rainforest new flowers are growing every day and there is never a shortage. Like circus animals they manoeuvre to reach the most juicy part of the flower, the pistil. They enjoy them like smoking a cigar. Below some photos of our dear green iguanas friends and their eating habits.

Now it is time to shed some light on our own eating habits. We must say that without our two most favourite foods (cheese and wine) we have no choice but to get creative to make our diet interesting. We make our own salsa (your recipe, Rob!), guacamole, tzatziki from the home-made yoghurt, chutneys, starfruit/orange/lemon marmalade and even chocolate.  With the raw materials in abundance (especially fruits) we also became very fond of quick and delicious smoothes and the most delicious flavourful delightful banana bread with red or yellow bananas from the garden. (Jennie – we recommend this as a treat for your spoiled wwoofers, maybe even with some blueberries or plums, mmmmm!).

If you want to try it at home here is the fool-proof recipe. It is extremely simple to make and the result is always great:

Ingredients:

½ cup butter; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; ½  tea spoon vanilla essence; 1 cup normal flower; 1 cup oats; 1 teas spoon backing soda; ½ tea spoon salt; ½ tea spoon cinnamon; 1.5 cups ripe (!) bananas; ¼ cups milk; raisins; ground nuts (optional)

Instruction:

-          Mix everything well together (except flower, raisins and nuts) until mixture is almost homogeneous (consistency reminds of porridge)

-          Add flower gradually, mix until nice and smooth

-          Add (washed) raisins and nuts, mix

-          Put the mixture in a backing tray (ca 20cmx30cm, 4 cm high), smooth out the surface

-          Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (or 175 degrees C)  and bake for 1 hour

-          Serve warm or cold (we think it would be great with ice cream but since we don’t have any here we cannot confirm. If you try it with ice cream will you let us know if you liked it?)

Hope you enjoy reading this post as much as we enjoyed writing it (while eating the banana bread).

Next post is about … chocolate!

Stay tuned, I+M