Vacations!!

We are on vacation (15 days off) of course we wont be here the whole 15 work days, we'll spend our free time between Los Cacaos and the city (can you tell we are attached to the place).

Our year working there is coming to an end, but we decided to stay for a couple of more month to finish the health project in the community, that will make it easier for future doctors that come and hopefully doctors will keep coming. Los Cacaos is 2 hours away from the big hospital so having doctors right there is really important!!

Yesterday we loaded our car with boxes of milk and meds left from the medical operative we had and went up in the mountain to give it to the people that were unable to come to the operative. We went as far as the vehicule allowed us and then I started going house through house, people were SO happy to recieve this things :)

Today we are back in the city and I had Yaroa for dinner (then I ask myself why I dont loose the weight!). Yaroa is a dump dish originated in the north of DR :) made of either french fries or yellow plantain, your choice of meats, special sauce, mayonaise, ketchup and melted cheese, it is ohhh so YUMMY!The picture does no justice to this delish Dominican dish :) If you ever visit me I will buy you one myself and you will thank me forever ;)

Disney??!

This kind of things only happen in this country (Dominican Republic), I went out last night to a famous club here and all of the sudden look at what I saw:

A cute big gloved hand, could this really be who I though I was seeing?!

Yes it was!!! Mickey himself :) or at least a fake mickey ;)

But this one could dance Merengue, Salsa and even a little Regueton!

I {HEART} Cooking- Habichuelas con Dulce

Did you though I forgot my promise for the Dominican Easter Dessert? I was just waiting for Easter to be over, because we had some visit over for Easter and the house was crowded and lots of things to do :)
This recipe is called Habichuelas con Dulce (Sweet Beans), a lot of people have a first reaction when they hear this: yuck! Beans that are sweet!, but trust me on this one, because this taste nothing like beans, so if you are feeling adventurous and want to try something new and 100% Dominican/Caribbean this is for you!
You have to start the night before you want to do it...
Get one pound of red beans and one cinnamon stick in a large bowl. Remember that you have to rinse those beans first to make sure they are clean.
Cover them in hot water, like 2 inch above the beans.

I told you it was hot, see that smoke coming out :) Cover them and go to sleep!

Next morning they will look like this...
Add some more hot water and boil them in a large saucepan for 1 hour (check the water level and add more if you need).

While you are boiling those beans, get 1 pound of sweet potatoes; peel, cube and boil them in salty water.

Turn them off and set aside once they are soft. See you later sweet potatoes!

Blend the beans in the water that you cooked them.

Pass the blended beans thru' a colander. You probably wont be able to blend them all together, so you will have to divided them.

When you are putting it thru' the colander, help yourself with a spoon, because it will be thick, but you want to make sure you got all the liquid out. It should look like this in the end, and that is what you will discard.

It's normal for the liquid to have white foam (bubbles) so dont freak out!

My saucepan is a caldero is made here in DR, but you can use any saucepan or pot.

Add 2 cans (2 2/3 cups) evaporated milk and 1 can of coconut milk.

Taking pictures while pouring liquids is hard!!!

Turn the heat on and ignore the fact that my oven looks old and dirty (bean water spilled on it before :P).

Add 1 cup of sugar.

1 can (1 1/2 cups) of sweetened condensed milk.

And spices: 1/2 tsp. nutmeg powder, 8 cloves and 2 cinnamon sticks.

Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes and stir every once in a while ;)

This should give you time to rinse the salty water out of your sweet potatoes!
Here in DR sweet potatoes are white, but I am sure you can use anyones you find.

Add the sweet potatoes.

1/2 cup of rainsins

1 tsp. salt

2 tsps. butter

and 1 tsp. vanilla essence

dont worry those butter stains will dissapear :)

Stir...

Cook on low heat for 15 minutes more and dont forget to stir every now and then :p
This is my family's personal touch, some people here in DR do it, some people dont (so it is really optional) add a pinch of ground ginger...

After the 15 minutes it should have a the right consistency.
You can serve them hot or cold (I like mine warm, but Bayo loves his cold!)

To serve them add some milk cookies; people here eat them with this cookies or cassava bread.

The cookies have a milk-y flavor, try to find something similar and crunchy!
This cookies are sooooo famous for this easter dessert and practically is the only brand people buy for them, that they even come with a little cross!

Cute, ha!!!
So have a bowl...

or two...

or 3 like Bayo did!!!

Enjoy!!

I want to dedicate this post to my sweet sister, who LOVES beans but DOES NOT miss DR and her family... or is it the other way around??

I wont be back until I take my test, after the 25th; please pray for me that day :)

Tostones!

I am sorry but I cant resist posting this link :p
It is another Dominican dish, and also really popular!!!
It is called Tostones, wich are twice fried plantain :) Bayo loves them and he ususally eats them at least 1 a week.
What I do is I fried them one time, smash them and freeze them and when I need them just take them out and fry the second time!

Around the Blog World... I {HEART} Cooking

I follow a couple of blogs, and one that I do posted a recipe that brought a BIG smile to my face :) Dominican Rice and Beans (the girl is not Dominican wich gave me an even bigger smile), this is a dish we eat EVERYDAY, not me, but Dominicans in general -I used to back at home when I was little- and I love doing it once in a while for Bayo, for us is nothing special, but when you havent eaten it in month you miss it like CRAZY :p
If you want to try it out go here, and she also has some other great recipes for $5 or under!!!

Did he really said THAT?!?

When I saw this it made me really angry and sad, I am thinking about all the people that dont have a clue about Dominican Republic or dominicans and saw this too... I just hope he explains himself a little better!