CookingDiva

I am not sure when shaved ice was first introduced to our country Panamá, but going back on history it could had been during the railroad construction days when hot, exhausted workers needed a way to cool off.  They would shave a block of ice with a hand plainer and flavor it with juice.  The concept has stayed the same but the process has changed a bit in some places.  Nowadays, it is still commonly found sold in shaved iced stands or “carrito de raspao,” and also it’s being offered in its “gourmet” presentation made in a machine to shave the ice finer and faster.

Although I have not tried the gourmet version, I was told it’s sold for up to $3.00 each in some new spot in the Causeway zone in Panama City. The most common version, a delicious kind of “colorful street food” costs between $0.35-$0.75 each, some of them still use the original flavor recipes from long ago.

A couple of weeks ago I finally had the time to visit one of my favorite spots in my country Panama: the (republic)...excuse me, the province of Chiriqui in the highlands of Panama, sharing beautiful land with our neighbour country of Costa Rica. The photos posted today were taken there. Yummy Shaved Ice, 0.35 each…had two though! 

If you have not been there yet, well, what are you waiting for?

Enjoy now the pictorial delight, you can lick the computer screen under your own risk! LOL

Big hugs from the tropics to you and your loved ones!

Chef Melissa

Luis Carlos Diaz from Periodismo en Paz is from Venezuela, and like me, he is one of the Global Voices' Latin American Team authors. He went candy shopping in Caracas the other day, then just to torture me he sent me the photos. I found myself drooling over my dearest Mac after identifying all the candies and goodies shown in the photos he took. (From let top: preservas de guayaba-guava preserves, cocada, preservas de platano-banana candy, guayaba candy, milk candy with guava, dulce de leche, dulce de toronja-candied grapefruit, coconut and papelon kisses-coconut molasses candy, red cocadas, white cocadas). The second photo was taken in Panama, and as you can appreciate, we heart cocadas too!

It reminded me of my always-mandatory visits to markets in Latin America, and the candy shops in Spain and Portugal. Oh my sweet tooth! There is something magic about it which brings up the spirit along with the memories of childhood. Yes, those days when we would eat candies and sugar as if there were no tomorrow. Sugar high is how I would describe it,...sugar high from the cotton candy aromas, candied fruits, cocadas and dulce de leche. Sugar high and happy.

Now, ...close your eyes and imagine the breeze under a nice, perfectly warm sunshine bathing you, with all the blessings that Mother and Father Nature can send you at once! Ahh! Picture the lonely beach, the coconut trees and all that sense of freedom you instantly get when you are in paradise...It sounds like a dream right now, but how about if you transform that dream into a beautiful, delicious cocada? Lets share the sunshine with our loved ones! After all, coconut is the tree which gives all that is necessary for living!

This is a very special recipe, it is nutritious, simple and delicious. Actually it has what I trust as the three main ingredients for a recipe worth keeping close to our heart.

A very good friend reminded me how unsatisfactory dinner parties could be and the cause of much grief. She told me how upset a few guests were at a dinner they attended during the carnival days here in the city. The problem, she said, was the eccentricity of the dishes which were not catered to the crowd. Anyhow, it reminded me of the following quote:

They make a rare Soop they call Pepper-Pot; its an excellent Breakfast for a Salamander, or a good preparative for a Mountebanks Agent, who Eats Fire one day, that he may get better Victuals the next. Three Spoonfuls so Inflam'd my Mouth, that had I devour'd a Peck of Horse-Radish, and Drank after it a Gallon of Brandy and Gunpowder, I could not have been more importunate for a Drop of Water to cool my Tongue. (Edward Ward 1667-1731)

That being said, let me show you what I found the other day while visiting La Chorrera, a city 30 minutes from Panama City, during their annual State fair.

I normally go there during the last days to purchase organic roses and orchids, as they have an array of "viveros" or greenhouses just for the event, AND...during those last days they offer better prices. For example, here in the city the orchids are sold for $25.00 US, at the state fair the same ones are sold for $15.00 each and the last day you can get them for $10.00! The roses and other flowers /plants are very inexpensive there, you can get them for $1.00 - $8.00 according to the size.

I remember four streets full of little improvised restaurants or "fondas" and many people walking selling their goodies too. The offering was mostly regional food, the kind that is prepared in the countryside with all the spices and traditional methods they have been using for decades.

In the photo to the left, the sign of the vendor reads "Rey del Tasajo." Tasajo is a kind of smoked seasoned meat, which is air-dried, then heated in the grill and sliced. It is served with boiled or fried yuca (cassava) or patacones (fried plantain).