Aprender una cosa nueva/ Learning a new thing

When we first moved to Costa Rica almost a year ago we tasted a typical Latino food called "Empanadas" for the very fisrt time. Empanadas,  usually consist of chicken and cheese, refried beans and cheese or just cheese. Our empleada Etelvina makes the best empanadas and she makes a pico de gallo to go with it. I have watched her make them many times to see how she makes them but today I watched the entire process. As much as I wish we could take her along with us to Honduras she will be staying here in Costa Rica, which means after this week...no more homemade empanadas by Etelvina.

So, with that she proceeded to  teach us how to make everything. Starting with how you cook the chicken and with what veggies and spices to get a good broth. Then after the chicken has cooled you cook it again in onion, butter, garlic, cummin, oregano and some other things. Then you set that aside and start to work on the "masa" or the dough. It is a very long process that takes a lot of work and yet there are devoured up in no time at all.

While having my hand in the dough making part, Mark thought it funny to laugh at me for how slow I was going. I proceeded to explain to him that it is not as easy as it looks to shape this dough into a perfectly flat circle ready to be stuffed with cheese and chicken. So, I suggested that he give it a whirl....we laughed....he tried....and we laughed some more...he agreed that it looked easier than it was but he did manage to make a few to be cooked. We both enjoyed learning how to make a yummy treat that we have become acustom to eating here during our stay. I must say though,it is a time consuming job but they are very yummy. Maybe one day if you ever come to visit us in Honduras...we will make you some of our "empanadas".