Jazz Tour/Pineapple Farm
This week Nora is busy with a group of folks from Canada who came to Panama for the Jazz festival.
Sunday we took them to a pineapple farm and processing plant near
Arenosa. Later this week, there will be a full account with lots of
pictures in the Living in Panama section.
Frankly, I was a bit skeptical about the pineapple farm tour, but it
proved to be a very nice experience. We were received on top of a hill
with a large rancho and small weekend house. The panoramic view is
striking and there was plenty of seating and tables for all 28 of us.
We were warmly welcomed by the proprietor and his family and treated to
a sumptuous spread of fresh fruits, ceviche, coffee, drinks, and the
best home made chicharrones (fried pigskins)) I've ever tasted.
We were then treated to a tour of the farm and a side trip to the goat
ranch, where there were enough kids to entertain children of all ages.
We also visited the processing plant and everyone received a couple of
ripe pineapples to take home. Afterwards, we returned to the rancho for
a delicious lunch and relaxation. All in all, the pineapple farm
excursion was a very enjoyable trip.
Bad Neighbor
We
have a new and unwelcome neighbor. Cable and Wireless bought one of the
vacant lots just up the street from our house and have installed a cell
phone tower on it. Quite aside from the fact that we and our other
neighbors bought here, in part, because it is zoned "Residential", this
is one ugly structure, looking like a maximum security lockup, with
concertina wire along the top of the fence. The roughly 100 feet tall
orange and white tower adds nothing to the ambiance and while the
neighbors are concerned over possible radiation hazards, I'm a lot more
concerned over how the electrical requirements for a cell phone tower
will affect our already none-too-reliable electrical service. Looking
on the bright side ( a bad habit of mine) maybe they will force the
electricity folks to fix that bad transformer that's been blowing fuses
about every 2 months for the last 22 years.
Pain Killers
Since my bypass surgery in March and eye surgery in June followed in
August by a second eye surgery and three months of surgeon-induced pain
and blindness in my left eye, and yet another major eye surgery on
October 31st, I've become a bit of an expert on OTC pain killers.
For my eye pain, the most effective OTC pain medicine I've found is
Aleve, but unfortunately, Aleve is not sold in Panama, or if it is, I
can't find it. I did, however, discover that there is a generic
equivalent called Naxen 500 which is sold in Panama. If you have a
favorite OTC medication that you can't find here, you can do what I did
and search Google for generics. Just type in the name of your preferred
medication and you should get a site on the first page listing
generics. Write down all the generic names you find and take the list
to your pharmacy. It worked for me.
New Year's
We were fortunate to have our son Henry, daughter-in-law, Dayanara, and
grandson Henry 4 with us for New Year's this year and celebrated as
usual with an Eat Texas New Year's tradition, Black Eyed Peas with ham
and corn bread.
Most years, we have leftover turkey for way too long, so this year I
decided not to bake a whole turkey. That decision coincided with
reading a recipe for baked chicken from Leo Ross. Leo has found his
piece of Paradise on the Azuero peninsula, and like many of us old
timers, tries to get the biggest bang for his buck. To make a short
story shorter, I tried Leo's recipe and it was delicious, producing a
perfectly done, juicy and tasty baked chicken. Here's Leo's recipe.
Mix about a half cup of salt and two large spoonfuls of sugar in
about a gallon of cold water. Wash the chicken well then submerge
in the salt solution, refrigerated at least overnight, better if you
can leave it for an entire day and night.
Remove it from the solution and toss that stuff down the drain.
Rinse the chicken briefly then arrange on a roasting pan exactly as
you would a turkey. Roast in a moderately hot oven and with a
thermometer in the breast, remove at 170F. If you don't have a
thermometer, remove when you can grasp one of the drumsticks and it
moves freely in the thigh joint, or poke a knife into a thigh and
check that the juices run clear, or if nothing else, remove a thigh
and see if there is any pink in the joint itself. (a very slight
pink is normal due to the saline solution though so remember if
cooking with a thermometer, trust it)
If the skin starts to brown too much during cooking, just cover with
aluminum foil.
Amazingly, the brining adds a lot of juiciness and a nice flavor and
roast chicken takes on a new meaning.
A
lot of folks have written and asked about my health and the missing
newsletter. Recovery from the last eye surgery has been slow, but is
progressing and hopefully, I will be able to put our a newsletter more
frequently. I probably will not go back to one a week for some time to
come, but I promise the next won't be two months from now. To all who
wrote, I will get around to answering and thanks for your concern.
Our next Newsletter will be sent via a new mass mailer and you will
receive an email requesting you to confirm your subscription. You will
NOT be bombarded with SPAM and your email address will NOT be shared
with or sold to anyone. This change is just to make life a bit easier
for me and hopefully the newsletters a bit more enjoyable.