Big Waves

Rob Machado was all the buzz this week. As I mentioned in the previous post, he was staying at Mark and Dave's beach front surf lodge along with his family and a couple of big wigs from Hurley including, Bob Hurley himself.  (Anna, your favorite company!)  Ian had the opportunity to split a peak with Rob at Panga Drop's one fine afternoon and I got to feed him.  The baking job was a success.  I whipped up some puffy blueberry muffins on the first morning, my mom's delectable Russian teacake the second morning, banana bread the third morning, and for the grand finale on Friday, homemade cinnamon rolls that came out PERFECT.  (and I mean perfect.)  Marie, the friend who hired me for this culinary endeavor, emailed me a quote from Machado stating that the rolls "raised the bar to a whole new level."  Needless to say, I'm satisfied with my first paid baking job and Ian is stoked that I let five of the twenty-six cinnamon rolls stay home.

The waves have been huge and it looks like it's going to stay that way for awhile.  Ian ripped a handful of double-over head rides at Pangas two days ago.  That same day, the Hurley crew brought out the jet-ski and used a step-off platform to tow the boys into sets.  Yesterday, the middlemen who loaned the ski to Machado and his crew, were driving the machine back to Gigante when they thought it would be fun to take it to heaving Colorado's.  Check out August 21st's nicaraguasurfreport.com for pictures of the jet-ski going over the falls after stalling out in a very precarious spot.  I'll bet the boss man wasn't too pleased about that little stunt!

Not much else this week.  We are quickly approaching broke and it is seeming more and more likely that we will be returning to Hawaii a little bit earlier than we planned.  Poor us.  Trading one paradise for the other.  I'm sure ya'll feel really bad for us.  Thanks for reading everyone.             

Waves, Garden Boxes, Baked Goods, and Cabbage Patch Dolls

I slacked on updates this last week.  To my small but loyal group of devotees, I love you and I'm sorry.  There were fun, small waves all week at Colorados and I'm really becoming quite fond of the spot.  Panga Drops still rocks my world, as it did yesterday, tossing me around like a sweatshirt on spin cycle.  I did have one fun, small day there and was able to catch some rights.  Then the tide changed, some bigger sets came through, and I got stuck inside for an eternity.  This inevitably took all my energy, and I paddled in, humbled as usual.  Poor Ian has had to endure my frustrated tears more times than once.  What a beautiful, empty beach though.  Incarnadine sunsets and sand dollar heaven.  Not to mention, it's a dog's paradise.

Ian and Juan Pablo completed the garden box this week.  It looks really cool with the varnished, bamboo frame.  We don't have any seeds yet, but we transplanted some basil and cilantro and made a nice pasta with fresh herbs the other night.  Hopefully, we can get some vegetables started that will probably be ready just in time for us to leave.  Juan Pablo is the cuidador (night guard) of La Vista and he is excited at the prospect of maintaining our garden while we're gone.  Our banana plants are really starting to take off and the orange tree and papaya trees are going strong.  Unfortunately, the avocado tree didn't make it but, Juan Pablo planted a new one for us.  Ian gathered some Bird of Paradise that he planted along the back part of the house too - a little touch of Hawaii for our Nicaraguan 'hale.'  It looks awesome.

So, while Ian spends his time in the yard, I spend my time in the kitchen.  I have been dabbling in all sorts of baked goods.  My bagel shapes have improved dramatically and I think I've perfected a mix of recipes.  Our friends Gustavo and Marie manage a beach front surf lodge and have thirteen guests coming next week.  They asked me to do some breakfast treats and desserts for them which would officially make this venture, my first job in Nicaragua.  On the menu - cinnamon rolls, muffins, bacon and cheese biscuits, Russian tea cake, banana bread, brownies, cookies and cakes.  One of the guests happens to be pro-surfer Rob Machado and luckily for Ian, I'm nervous - so I've been testing everything out on him.  I never claimed to be a professional.  Wish me luck everyone.  We could use some grocery money.     

And in totally unrelated news, in 1983, the state of Minnesota sold out of Cabbage Patch Dolls.  Weeks later while on family vacation in LA, my mom found them in a department store and we had to have them.  It didn't matter to us that we were the only white girls in MN with black babies.  I'm pretty sure this is where my obsession with Motown started.  Here is a picture of a picture. 

 

P.S. - Happy Birthday to Ian's mom, Kathy!

Good Surf!

It's been a great week of surf here in Nicaragua.  Colorados has been offshore and perfect for the last seven days, and a fun little sandbar has formed off to the right that some of the locals call "muffin tops."  The afore mentioned spot has been a nice option for me as it is much more mellow than the reeling, hollow barrels that the peak tends to throw nearing low tide.  Ian has been crushing Colorados proper all week long, surfing two sessions a day and scoring a ton of quality waves.

Right now, we have our eyes glued to the National Hurricane Center website as there is a tropical depression forming off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua that is supposed to strengthen over the next couple of days, but then veer right towards the Bahamas.  Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't materialize.

Not much else.  I've been reading a ton.  Ian keeps joking that I have "book sickness."  I finally got my hands on some literature in Gigante and their pages have been keeping me pretty occupied.  Ian has been busy in the yard.  He found an endless supply of "cascaha" on the top of the hill in La Vista, so he's been shuttling the gravel in the back of the Trooper and making us a nice little walkway to our front door.  He and Seth also spent an afternoon gathering some plants along the beach and transplanting them at the house.  We've got a couple more plumeria trees and some really cool border plants that look nice along the pathway.  The night guard at La Vista also gifted us with five young banana trees.  Ian's friend Jaimie comes at the end of the month and we're stoked to have our first guest in the new house.  We've got a brand new queen size bed waiting for you girl!