Honduras Trip part uno: la comida

Hola from Honduras! I'm just hanging out at Susie's apartment before I catch my ride to the areopuerto. (I like Spanish cognates so I will be throwing them in periodically. Don't worry, you'll figure them out;)

So this was a quick spring break trip to Central America but I saw and ate enough to make dos blog posts. So this one will cover the food, as the title states, and the other will cover the travel and sights.

Meal numero uno was great! Susie couldn't meet me at the airport (see, I used this word in Spanish earlier, it's like I'm giving you hints;) so her lovely amiga Julie picked me and took me to the place in la pictura. Many places here are open air/patio like seating because the weather is wonderful! Julie said my dish probably wasn't authentic Honduran but close enough. It was basically the good version of the Taco John's taco bravo. A hard shell taco wrapped in a flour tortilla with refried beans. It was topped with guacamole and chismol (what we usually see labeled as pico de gallo). We also drank passion fruit juice - super good!

Sorry for the out-of-focusness. All pics are from my phone.

Susie led me around an older part of the city called El Centro before we left for Roatan. We stopped and had frappés at Espresso Americano. This place pops up about as often as Starbucks does in the States. It was about half the price though:)

We also grabbed lunch at a small, probably family run, food joint. We had baleadas and fresh OJ. The orange juice was soo good! Not just because it came in a bag with a straw, but it was just juice. No added junk. And baleadas are homemade tortillas with cheese, refried beans and crema. Crema is their version of sour cream, kinda.

That afternoon we flew to Roatan and got moved into our little cabin for the weekend. The section of the island we were on has several restaurants within walking distance. After scoping out the main road, we decided to stop at Thai Place; yep that's the actual name. We sat on a deck over the water and enjoyed cashew chicken and ginger chicken. 

Our favorite food find of the whole trip was a cute German Bistro. We went tres times in the tres days we were there. Too much? With views like this, the answer is no. Plus, the name of the restaurant is Porque No? = Why Not?

Spatzle at Porque No?

Oh, I want to go back. I miss that water and sun! Not the water in the glass...you know what I mean. Being German-born, Susie loved having authentic food from her homeland. I thought it was quite tasty too. We also had bratwurst and crepes with bananas and Nutella. This was the only place on the island I got coffee, which was actually an Americano (espresso and water) but still met my coffee needs. 

Little French Key is an island of the island. Really though, it's a small but beautiful island we went to for one afternoon on the opposite side of Roatan. We took a water taxi out to the island and looked around a bit. The package we purchased to get on the island included a meal, pictured above. The lobster, shrimp, and chicken were great but the beef, which is hard to see in the pic, was very overcooked and tough. The restaurant was open air and surrounded by the beach! 

Another beach we wandered to was at West Bay. It is ranked 15th best playa (beach) in the world by Trip Advisor! The sand was clean and the water clear. We didn't get a full meal here because there aren't many restaurants in this section. There were more resorts with restaurants but nothing stand-alone. 

One thing I really wanted to do was drink from a coconut! I had seen a picture of someone doing that when I was researching the island and figured that was the most tropical thing I could do! So, at West Bay, we saw some men selling coconuts, chopping the top off with a machete and plopping a straw in. We shared one in some beach chairs and got the full island experience!

After finishing the coconut water, the same machete-wielding, coconut-selling men chopped the coconut in half and created scoops with pieces of the coconut shell for us to scoop out the flesh of the coconut! The coconut flavor was more mild than I expected but still refreshing.

We did eat more than I mentioned but I had to choose the highlights rather than posting a food diary. 

So, if you made it through all that reading, congrats and thanks! If you simply scanned the pictures, I understand, I do the same sometimes;)

Breakfast Crostini

Hello again! Yeah, it's been forever since I've been on here to post anything. This semester of teaching has gone quickly! It's been a fun semester though. I have great students and fellow teachers to work with. With teaching comes the great perk of Christmas break! I love my students but we all want our vacation time regardless of what our job is. So, I'm hanging out with the parentals in Creston for about 5 days. We're enjoying too much food, playing board games, watching movies, and just spending time together. 

My church is doing an advent series via a book called..."Behold the Lamb" maybe..it's not in front of me and I don't want to get up to look at the title. Anyway, it has 25 days of reading and has gone from Old Testament to New reviewing Israel's history and preparation for their (our) Messiah. It's a pretty simple read but it's just a good reflection on who God has used as part of the line of Jesus. Their individual stories are unique but all give glory to God by displaying great obedience and faith. Abraham standing out to me with all the tough decisions he made and how incredible that God counted his faith as righteousness to him. That early example of salvation through faith and not works is significant. His faith is recognized in Hebrews 11 and Romans 4 to help Gentiles understand that God wants our belief and trust to be in Him and not in our works. 

You'll have to forgive the low-quality pictures. I wasn't planning on blogging at home so I don't have the nice Canon to use. 

Anyway, I am dangerous in a grocery store. Dangerous to my bank account, not others, don't be concerned. If I don't have a list or a plan, I cave and buy the beautiful, less commonly used food items. I sort of justified it because I wasn't going to be buying groceries for a week and would be living off my parents for the holiday.  

Mom and I got to enjoy the breakfast crostini! Explanation: toasted baquette, brie cheese, lox (salted salmon), and an over easy egg. 

It was fabulous. Runny yolk over salty salmon and creamy cheese...it just pairs so well!

Daniel and Clinton

I couldn't go without showing off these adorable little guys! 

We had the big Walker family Christmas on Saturday which was Jason and Clinton's first! They loved the paper and bows of course. 

Jason

Sorry, no recipe for how to get the cutest nephews ever but you can enjoy the pics at least.

Breakfast Crostini

-For two-

4 slices of baguette bread, toasted

two eggs, cooked over easy or medium, or hard

a few ounces of brie cheese

two slices of lox

This is really just a matter of assembly and very little cooking. I toasted the bread in a pan with a little butter. Spread the cheese on the toast.

-if you aren't familiar with brie, it is the consistency of cream cheese but not as sweet in flavor. 

Cut a slice of lox in two and place one on each slice of bread. Our bread was pretty small so you may want more lox depending on the bread. 

Cook the eggs for a few minutes at a medium heat until desired done-ness (if that's a word).

We placed the egg over 2 slices of bread and cut it, letting the yolk run over it all. So good! 

Enjoy!

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

 Yum. This was so good! Perfect for a lazy, rainy morning. I love breakfast and blueberries so I'm really glad I don't have to share this with very many people;) The blueberries were on sale at Fareway for $1.88. I should buy more and freeze them. Blueberries are probably my favorite fruit and definitely my favorite berry! We used to have a blueberry bush at home and picking them was the best chore you could get. Apples took more work and you had to avoid the rotting apples at your feet and hungry bugs everywhere. Anyway, this is easy to make and super tasty!

I've read a few more chapters in John this week and there are the many accounts of Jesus healing people to show that He is who He says He is. In the case of the blind man in chapter 9 and Lazarus in chapter 11, Jesus says that the blindness and death happened so that God's work might be displayed. I believe that is always God's overall purpose in everything. He wants us to see His faithfulness when life stinks and when it's great. I haven't had severe suffering but I've watched others deal with it. Cancer, stroke, death, unemployment, difficult relationships...etc. I'm encouraged when I see others plow through their trial and come out with joy by God's grace. God is my hope and I'm so glad He is faithful!

These guys are so flavorful! I was sad to discover that my last blueberry purchase from Trader Joe's was flavorless. The berries were big but just tasted like water:(

This can be made vegan but I'm not so I used an egg and butter. I'll include the original recipe though. I also think it calls for too much milk because I had about a 1/4 cup left that would not fit in the dish. Might be just right for a 9x9 rather than an 8x8. As you can see below, we were bulging out of the dish!

Recipe:

-Vegan recipe in black, my simpler version in green-

• 2 cups vanilla almond milk (or any non-dairy milk) - 1 3/4 cup almond milk or regular milk

• 2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats - same

• 1 tsp. baking powder - same

• ½ tsp. kosher salt - just salt, the one with the umbrella girl

• 1 tsp. cinnamon - I didn't measure, but I'm sure it was more than 1 tsp!

• 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (or butter for non-Vegan) - I used butter

• 1 flax egg * (or 1 egg for non-Vegan) - 1 large egg

• 1/3 cup Vegan cane sugar - 1/3 cup coconut sugar

• 2 cups fresh blueberries - almost the full pint, left some for snacking:)

• juice of one lemon - yep, but couldn't taste it much

• *1 flax egg = 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons warm water (stir and set aside 5 min. until gel-like)

Mix oats, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a different bowl, combine milk, egg, butter (oil), sugar, and lemon juice. Oven should be preheated to 375° F and an 8x8 dish greased. Pour half of the oat mixture into the dish and then add half of the blueberries. Pour on the rest of the oat mixture and top with the rest of the blueberries. Slowly pour the milk mixture over the whole dish. Bake for 40 minutes. 

Blog source