We kept walking, my roommate and I, looking at the striking colors, my head filling with ideas that my limited cooking skills would never ever be able to make true... Cruel world.
Suddenly, the unexpected smell of fresh seafood: various kinds of fish fillets, octopus, a tray full of fish heads and more importantly, ugly rock-hard blocks of salted Norwegian cod fish. It is Holy Week and for most Costa Ricans that means a few dietary restrictions. Honestly, more than restrictions, they're chances for some traditional Tico cuisine, for example the unjustly infamous cod fish soup.
Personally, I wait all year for this stuff, but looking at these fishy looking bricks, I can't blame people for being intimidated. When prepared properly, cod fish has a delicate flavor, enhanced to perfection by its aggressive smell and the vegetables in the soup. However, to take full advantage of it, the devoted cook needs to soak it in cold water for at least 6 hours, changing the water every two, more or less. After that, they need to take the pieces of this very strong smelling fish and take them apart with their bare hands to remove the skin and bones. People will smell it on you for the next couple of days. I myself think it's more than worth the effort, especially since it's not me making that effort. I love you, mom.
Another seasonal delicacy that can surprise you here is the beautiful Flor de Itabo. This is a lovely bunch of white flowers you'll see hanging from the stalls during the months of March and April. My mom's Peruvian neighbor used to put them on a vase, God bless her. Their softly bitter taste will always say Holy Week to me. They're a must have if you're visiting around this time.
Tico readers, if you weren't lucky enough to have a grandmother or a mother who cooked this dish, please let me know and I'll try my best to get you to taste them. It's a true Costa Rican delicacy if you ask me.
Finally, another specialty of Holy Week, chiverre, as seen gloriously above. I guess the first person who accomplished the miracle of getting something edible out of this cement-hard pumpkin must have been either seriously starving, or his or her head was simply as hard as this freaking thing. It needs to be roasted, burned, beaten to a pulp (literally) and sometimes sun-dried before you even start the process of turning into the magical dessert that it can be. As a cook, taking on this titanic task is a real Holy Week sacrifice. As you might have concluded, this treat is rare nowadays. But I digress...
We rented a supermarket cart (C1000 with the nice lady at the entrance, C500 are deposit, that's just under $2, $1 deposit) and we went crazy and stacked up on the veggies. Basics: onions, garlic, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and other beauties. For fruit, we got pineapple, of course, watermelon and honeydew which we also got to taste from the hands of the growers themselves, limes, bananas, beautiful papayas, strawberries, juicy and sour Tico apples and suddenly, I saw one of my favorite market refreshments: pipas frias.
Again, I must face a man with a knife to get my desired treat. This time, a chatty youngster with an iPhone attached to his belt and a gigantic rusty machete in his hand. He's conversing loudly with his pal who runs the tomato stall next to his. When someone stands before him, holding money in his hand, he greets using traditional Tico chat. If you're a man, you'll be macho, bother, mop, compa or master. If you're a woman, you'll be reinita, mami, negrita, machita,or princesa. Please, don't be offended. I've explained before, it's like a reflex, he doesn't mean anything by it.
He dipped his hand in a tub of ice water to pull out a cold green coconut. Then, he patted it affectionately, placed it in the right position on his hand and started hacking away with his machete, making bits of the hard surface fly in all directions. Mind your eyes, people. Then, when he had uncovered the tender white interior layer, he pierced it with the tip of the machete and stuck a straw in it. Done. Refreshing, delicious and an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Fabulous for hangovers, believe you me.
We continued on our way and picked up a few indulgent items: sexy-looking eggplants, squash, yucca, corn on the cob with leaves and hair and the whole shebang, miniature veggies, green and ripe plantains, ginger, honey, Cala lilies for decoration, eggs, fish, Turrialba cheese both tender and smoked, fish, chicken and beef.This is most of the produce my roommate and I can consume in fifteen to twenty days, with the valued help of our occasional guest. The total came to about $60. Not bad at all.
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