In the grounds of the Hotel Matama the air heavy with the fragrance of white lilies and snapdragons and orchids and roses but set apart in a stony clearing there was a caged ocelot its smooth tawny fur covered in a tangle of black stripes and bars and chains and spots
the iron bars on all four sides of the cage offered no shelter from the heat of the sun and as the day drew on its nostrils were taunted by the rising scent of the rolling sea and of the wild rainforest to the rear where it should have been free to roam and to hunt by night
back and forth I saw it pace its majestic muscular pride so cruelly and hopelessly curtailed as in silence its paws pounded the sad dry dust of its humiliation
but at night as the moon rose and stars filled the barren skies its howls could be heard for miles around and they pierced my heart
The unsullied garden of language purity of utterance a seeing and believing we are after all compositions coming into this world not fully formed but shaped by the love around us we are by definition yet to be defined : first fruit of love brushed by the wind and the rain mere air and blood we are not Compact in its ignorance the mind hums with thought and feeling foundlings as we are clinging to the safety of our innate certainties but we are the idiom and speech of investigation we are the origin of man and woman of child who else could ever sing of the rose or the face that launched a thousand ships who else could ever die for the love of love We are in our awakening fortuitous and yet sensitive to the perfections of nature which remain unmatched
In the town of Liberia northern Costa Rica all those years ago I heard the cock crow as the day broke heard it call me to my necessary resurrection and in the main square the trees fruited with the song of birds gently stirred under a palpable sun that burnt my brow that singed my soul— there is no final elegance but words simple words have been a consolation
To the immortal words of Hank Williams’ unforgettable song, our old sea-dog Jonah decides he’s going to share one of his culinary secrets. How come these old timers in Central America, who don’t have two beans to rub together, live to the ripe old age of 90 or more? The answer is diet, and hard work. You all know the saying, “Hard work never killed anyone.” The fact is that hard work saves more lives than it kills, way more!
So what about diet? What do the peasants in Nicaragua and Costa Rica have for breakfast, lunch and dinner? The answer is gallo pinto: a basic mixture of rice and black beans fried together with a little garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Eat it with maize tortillas, an egg (fried or omelette), or maybe a little meat (not too much) or on its own with plenty of chile sauce and you’re away. Live forever!
So how’s it done?
You need to cook your rice and your beans separately and remember that for gallo pinto they will be mixed 50/50 so I won’t give precise weights. Once the beans are cooked you drain off the liquid and let the beans dry.
Then in a large frying pan you fry a little minced garlic with a little finely chopped onion in a generous dose of good oil (sunflower or extra virgin), adding a little salt and pepper to taste. Once the onions are soft you slowly add the beans on a moderate heat. After a minute or two, you add a similar portion of rice and with the heat still low you stir the contents of the pan, noting how the beans and the rice are getting drier all the time. As the moisture begins to evaporate, the rice will take on a reddish hue having absorbed some of the colour from the beans. What this translates into is flavour. You now need to reduce the heat as low as possible so that the mixture continues to dry out, taking care, however not to burn it. Believe me, the mixture of rice and beans in gallo pinto is a marriage made in heaven!
Gallo pinto is often served with sliced fried plantain (either sweet, when skin is yellow, or savoury, when skin is green). Eggs, meat, tortillas are all optional extras. The beauty of this dish, apart from its simplicity and divine taste, is that it delivers in a very simple format, all the protein and carbohydrate you’re going to need if you intend to do a hard day’s work. And there’s an added bonus. By taking your main protein shot from pulses rather than from meat, you’re actually helping to save the planet. So go for it!
gallo pinto Jonah made for lunch today
Ingredients Black beans Cooked rice Clove or two of minced garlic Half onion finely chopped Cooking oil Salt Pepper
Final point. Keep the leftover gallo pinto in an airtight container in the fridge. When next required gently warm through. You’ll find that with every warm-up, the mixture will get drier, the rice and beans will eventually become crunchy and you will cross the taste barrier into ecstasy. By the way gallo pinto means spotted rooster in Spanish.
johnjosephlyons 