Here is the first course... a crostini sampler with mozo, tomato, cucumber, onion, fresh basil and caramelized pear.
12.25.2010
Feliz Navidad
My gift to everyone living and visting the Hibiscus Garden Hotel in Panama for Christmas Eve was a four course holiday dinner menu concluding with a homemade candy and fudge platter.
Christmas in Panama does not consist of snowmen or sledding, on the contrary we build sand castles and surf.
Here's the Cody Candy plate. Peanut brittle, dark chocolate fudge, a giant buckeye rolled in hazelnuts, coconut and rum truffles, vanilla fudge and candied almonds.
Once I had the meat and everything ready to plate I took a quick break to eat with the crew and exchange gifts. Here's Lotti waiting patiently for her gifts.
The grande third course. Platefulls of turkey or ham, stuffing, gravy, mashed or twice baked tators, green beans or creamed corn and croissants. Right below is the turkey option and the one below that is the ham option.

At the end of the big day (the 24th was our party and big dinner and the 25th is just another work day for me) things are back to normal... hanging laundry in the sun, playing with the animals, surfing, cooking lobster and king prawns instead of whole turkey and ham, and getting very little sleep. In 6 weeks the high season will settle down and I will able to breathe again. This is extremely hard work, twice as harder than Antarctica for many reasons, but I believe it good to give these people a taste of something new and help out. I am becomming a stronger chef, and more importantly I am becomming a stronger person. Luckily for me, the simple things in life (like right now, the pigs knocked out their water valve and depleted our 2000 litre ration of water, now we have none...) keep me entertained and well challenged.