Christmas Treats in Honduras

Christmas treats for sale, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

Yep. Christmas is here and that means lots and lots of treats, cookies, candies and all kinds of goodies to rot our teeth. I was actually pretty hungry as were Papa and the kids when we walked up to this table at a local Christmas festival we went to last week. Pretty much everything on the table was for sale by the piece except for a few pre-bagged things. I think our rumbling tummies got the better of us and we were like, you guessed it, kids in a candy store. We'd buy a piece of this candy and take a bite and ooh and aah. Then turn our eyes to another candy we thought looked tasty. Some were much too sweet. Some used Anise, which is a spice that I am not used to so didn't care for much. It's a typical Christmas spice for baked goods and candy here. Maybe it's an acquired taste?

I picked out a piece of what looked like peanut brittle but it was a little disappointing. Oh, it was good and sweet, but it wasn't made quite how my grandmother makes peanut brittle. Papa bought up some coconut bars and some candied papaya. All good. But hands down the winner was these sweet little plantain candies. I have no idea how they are made, but they are perfect in my book of candies. Only slightly sweet, chewy enough but not so that they get all stuck in your teeth or the roof of your mouth. They seem to melt in your mouth once you start to chew. I've managed to have a few still hanging around because I've not been able to keep myself from these babies....

They are called Torrejas and they are about the most perfect dessert I've had to date in my life. Okay, maybe I'm talking them up a bit here possibly because I just don't get to indulge in American rich desserts that much and now that I'm thinking about it, there was that one chocolate cake that I had on a business trip at this bay side restaurant in San Francisco that was so good, if I wasn't sitting when I ate it, my face might have met the floor due to my knees giving out under me. My chocoholic co-worker had to ask where they got it and once back from the trip he actually looked them up to see how much a cake would cost to ship to MN. Oh...that was good cake, but I digress and back to these beautiful little slices of heavenly spice and everything nice. Torrejas...Ohhh yummy yummy yummy. I love you Torrejas. Can I marry you?

Let's see. They are basically white bread (French bakery bread would work good) that has been toasted (like french toast) dipped in this cane syrup that has a flavor maybe similar to molasses. I know molasses comes from sugarcane, but this stuff is sold in stores in a big block. It must be one step up in the processing of the cane from molasses. It's definitely sweet, if you eat it raw and you have even the slightest hint of a cavity it will send a zinger up into your mouth.

The woman that made these is a client of Papa's who owns a little restaurant. Papa says she has really good food and knows how to cook. For his Christmas present she gave him 20 slices. She made them perfectly. She added all the good spices. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves. It seems to be a sort of french toast - bread pudding type thing only on steroids. I think they can be served warm or cold. I prefer cold. But warm was really good with a cup of (unsweetened) coffee for breakfast.

So Christmas will be here in just a few short days (2 when I wrote this) and I'm not sure I'm going to get to another post so I'm going to end this one with a slide show of our night out at the Coca~Cola sponsored Christmas in the park night. It revived my Christmas spirit that has been low due to the lack of cold and snow.

Merry Christmas everyone!

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." ~Luke 2:14

Mittens

Mittens, originally uploaded by Honduras Sprout.

Poor brother had to have a time out. I was making salsa and one of Brother's favorite things to do is watch mommy cook. I was probably busy cutting tomatoes, I can't remember. I look over and see Brother, knife in hand, cutting open the jalapeño pepper. He has been scolded before with trying to play with knifes. Of course he wants to do what mommy is doing. Well, he got a time out with some little make shift mittens (socks) to wear to make sure he kept his hands away from his eyes after cutting up the hot pepper. He was not happy you can tell. It's hard to be 2.

Swing Batter Batter, Swing!

Brother Sprout is such a boy. Well, of course he's a boy but he loves all things boyish. I wasn't raised with brothers so I haven't seen it first hand. It tickles me to see this little man running around the house. He loves big trucks, motorcycles, sports and all kinds of shooting and gun play, running, finding bugs, digging in dirt, mud, sand, rocks or whatever as long as he can dig it, scoop it, scrape or hit it. Preferably with tools. Papa's tools are his favorite.

Lately he is loving baseball. The kids all play soccer in the neighborhood and Papa is a soccer player too and loves to get out there and play with the kids. But for some reason Brother has found he just loves his bat and ball. I cannot tell you how many pitches I've thrown lately. He is always got his bat in hand and begs with those big brown eyes, "Pay wih me, Mommy. Pitch it, Mommy. Pease."

Here he is playing with Papa and you can tell he is like every other boy. Hates to miss. But he keeps on trying and sometimes he sends one sailing. Pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old, I think.