BISCOTTI

                                        A favorite Treat

            Biscotti has been a favorite of mine for years. However, I never dunked until I was in Tuscany. Italy---you know the old saying when in Rome. In addition I had not been aware that today many dunk their biscotti in wine, particularly after dinner.

            Because biscotti has a long shelf life, the almond flavored ‘cookie’ was favored by  sailors, soldiers and travelers. Not only was it easy to carry and did not spoil, it also was light in weight. The name is derived from bis, Latin for bake and cotti, Latin for twice, thus a twice baked cookie. After biscotti is baked once it is sliced on the diagonal and baked again to dry the dough making it crisp. The browner it gets the harder it is. Biscotti is also a generic word for cookie in Italian.

            The fall of the Roman Empire in 455 sent this treat into the doldrums. But during the Renaissance biscotti had a revival in Tuscany and became a favorite in  Florence and Prato. The rest as they say is history. (Almond trees are grown in Prato.)  Cantucci is the term for biscotti in Tuscany and is found in every bakery window; in that area biscotti refers to any crunchy cookie in any size or shape.

How many people know Columbus brought biscotti to the new world?

            Today this original almond cookie bar has taken on a life of its own with numerous flavors and additives such as nuts and dried fruit, frostings, drizzles, etc. A creative baker can come up with her own rendition. Like fried dough, dried breads/cookies are unique in various forms in many countries.

            It is popular to dunk biscotti in morning coffee, afternoon tea and after-dinner wines. Having eaten much biscotti, my favorite treat is to eat the traditional almond bar crunchy and undunked. It is especially a treat in the evening. Yum.

PUNTA CORAL

                                      A Small Costa Rica Island
                                     
        In Costa Rica the catamaran, Calypso, took us on a 90-minute ride across the Gulf of Nicoya to Punta Coral. It was a beautiful day. We roamed the whole boat. Every few minutes a steward came by with fresh pineapple, papaya, or watermelon.

            Because the tide was low, the cat could not make it to the pier so we were ferried ashore in the panga. Once ashore, our guide briefed us about the facility saying,  “Punta Coral is set in a pristine Tropical Dry Forest and has a quiet beach on one side and a valley filled with flowering plants, interesting rock formations and numerous caves on the other. Troops of Howler Monkeys, Yellow Naped Amazon Parrots, a variety of hummingbirds and butterflies call this special place home. This delicate eco-system is a small part of the last 2% of Tropical Dry Forest remaining in the world today.”

We could go swimming in the crescent shaped sandy beach, snorkeling, or kayaking. After putting on life jackets my son gave me kayak lessons and we kayaked around the shore for awhile.

After we put the kayak up we went swimming. The water was very warm. It turned out that the owner was also in the water and she was telling us how it came about that she and her husband had bought and developed the island.

“We’re from San Francisco and were in Costa Rica in 1973. We fell in love with it, and kept figuring a way we could stay here. We tried several things, and finally my husband realized there was no boat available to take people to these little islands. So he built one. The old fellow who owned this property didn’t want to sell, but eventually after a few years he did let us buy it.”

She went on to explain how a local person took care of the place, had made all the walls with wire filled stone, and did all the gardening plus keeping all the tropical plants in trim and blooming. He was a real find, from the mountains and had only finished the third grade.

I asked, “ Did you speak Spanish when you arrived?”

“No, nada, not a single word.” The whole family is fluent now.

She described how this caretaker had just built her a mud oven. She had made pizza in it the evening before for someone who was visiting.

What a delightful story. I talked to her about writing. She had a wonderful sense of humor and if she can convey that in a book, she’ll have a best seller. She is beginning to record some things, although she said she had not kept a journal.

The wife was a chef in a Greek restaurant, and does the cooking at Punta Coral that was written in Gourmet Magazine in the mid 90s. As you would suspect we had a great lunch. The mushroom covered fish was excellent. The salad made with vine ripened produce had a delicate dressing. I can’t remember the whole menu, but I do remember the double chocolate brownie with real whipped cream for dessert. Each plate was decorated with a lovely flower.

After lunch I walked the hiking paths to the far side of the island for a view of the ocean. It was up hill going, but all down on the return. It was a delightful day, and all too soon Calypso came back to take us back to the mainland.