Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts Salad with Marcona Almonds and Shaved Gorgonzola

Pomegranates feature in tasty side dishes for many recipes.  We especially enjoy them mixed with roasted brussels sprouts, accompanying grilled flank steak or skirt steak.  In this salad, we add our pomegranate seeds to a great mixture of kale, raw brussels sprouts, Marcona almonds, and gorgonzola cheese.

Ingredients

We slice the kale into thin ribbons and shave the brussels sprouts on a mandolin.

Shaving brussels sprouts, adding kale

We make our dressing by whisking together pomegranate molasses, Dijon mustard, agave nectar, and a pinch of salt.  Slowly adding olive oil, we continue to whisk to form an emulsion.

 

Dressing

We add the dressing to the brussels sprouts and kale and work the greens by hand to distribute the dressing throughout the salad.  We then add the pomegranate seeds, chopped Marcona almonds, and shaved gorgonzola.

Everything combined

What a great salad!

Dining in Costa Rica

Our meals at the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica Peninsula Papagayo are all fabulous. And, the setting, mostly outside, sometimes on the beach, is incredible

Dinner on the beach, at water's edge

We have a casual dinner in the hotel's café:  starters of wild mushroom flatbread, shrimp quesadillas, and duck carnitas tacos, followed by the daily catch (fish) on the grill accompanied by lobster mashed potatoes, coconut rice & beans, and grilled avocado.  Accompanied by a nice Beaujolais and followed by desert of papaya and cream cheese flan and a baked banana.

Starters

Entrée and sides

Deserts

For the birthday party (our host's, the reason we're in Costa Rica), we dine on the beach for a fabulous tropical feast.

     

Party!

It's been a short, but great time in Costa Rica.  We're glad we were able to join the party and need to come back on our own someday!

Visiting Diamante Eco Adventure Park

We continue our day in the Eco Adventure Park with more animal visits, starting with the crocodiles, who come out of the water and smile for us.

    

Crocodiles

Nearby, the butterfly farm offers a very different view as we enter the enclosure (no entrance to the crocodile enclosure).

       

Butterflies

From there, it's off the the toucan house, which we can also enter.

Toucans

For a great view of the area, and for some of the "adventure" part of Eco Adventure Park, we ride up into the hills and zip line back down into the park.

    

Zip line waiting and view

Away we go!

Soon, it's time to return to our hotel and we head down to the beach to find our water taxis.  The afternoon wind has come up and it's a wild ride back.

Taxi home

Diamante Eco Adventure Park in Costa Rica

We head out for a day of fun and adventure at the Diamont Eco Adventure Park in Costa Rica, starting with a water taxi ride from the Papagayo Peninsula over to Playa Matapalo in Guanacaste, about 13 km (8 miles) away.

Water taxi

We ride in the back of a truck from the beach into the animal sanctuary and wander.  Diamante's animal sanctuary is home to a large variety of Costa Rican wildlife, housing frogs, snakes, crocodiles, monkeys, many species of birds, sloths, butterflies, and a variety of cats, including pumas and jaguars.

   

    

    

Hello!

We learn a few interesting facts:  the sloths sleep 15-20 hours per day and can take up to a month to digest a single meal, leading to their low metabolism and slow lifestyle.

 

Wandering Around the Papagayo Peninsula

We start the morning with a stroll around the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo.  This is an incredible setting and the hotel is beautifully nestled into the landscape, with beaches on both sides, one on the gulf and one on the bay, and pools scattered around the grounds.

Beaches

Pool and hot tub

The hotel facilities are open and look out on the grounds, pools, and beaches.

     

     

Hotel facilities

We wander away from the hotel, further up the peninsula and find beautiful residences and views.

     

     

Views up the peninsula

Returning to the hotel, we watch the monkeys play in the trees on the beach.  We are told that the drought has caused them to come down from the hills and live near the beaches.

Monkeys

And, as the sun sets, we stop in the bar for a cocktail with local rums of Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Sunset in the bar

     

Local rums

A quiet day in a beautiful spot!