Nica Nite!

Hey, it's Grant writing this post (I know, shocker!) mostly because Carrie said any post about anything to do with Nicaragua should be done by yours truly. Anyway...
After looking through the pictures, there's a story on them that isn't contained on the blog. A week or so ago, Carrie spent all day making a new dress for Cairn. Here she is showing it off:

And wouldn't you know it, she happened to learn a brand-new trick the same day: She can climb into one of our failed-gardening-experiment flower pots all by herself!

  I just thought that was funny. And cute. But the real story is about yesterday. I was supposed to spend all day with the sheriff's department for my Criminal Procedure class, and had to show up at 6:00AM. So I got there five minutes early to watch a couple of cop cars pulling out. I figured, "no way would they just leave without me" so I walked up to the front and rang the doorbell... and a second time, and a third time, for ten minutes. No answer. So I spent another five walking around the building and looking for lights on or open doors, without any luck. Then I tried the front door again for another five minutes, and when there was still no answer at the door, I gave up and went home.
  Two hours later I get a phone call from the officer I was supposed to get out with, who said he went all around looking for me, and that "sometimes they get busy with stuff" and can't answer the door, and not to leave next time. I'm fairly certain that my persistent doorbell ringing would have disrupted any meeting, so short of an escaped prisoner I can't imagine what prevented from promptly opening the door! We rescheduled and I emailed my professor, so I guess I get to turn my paper on it late (during finals, when I should be doing other things). Sigh.
  So instead, and I guess partially to make me feel better, we went up to my parents house to have Nica Nite, which is the annual cooking of Nicaraguan food I remember from my mission (sometimes with extensive internet research to find the recipes) and sometimes the sharing of a mission story. After about three hours of straight cooking this is what we ended up with:

Going from the top in clockwise order to the center, we have chile relleno, which is a fried breaded green pepper stuffed with cheese (rare to nonexistent down there, but we thought it would be fun). Next, Nacatamale, which is like the Mexican tamales, but with different stuffing and steamed in a banana leaf (yes, that's actual banana leaf underneath, we found out they sell them at food city).
  To go off on Nacatamales for a second here: They are FAR, FAR superior to tamales. The banana leaf adds its own distinct flavor, and keeps the masa moist and flavorful, as opposed to the dry, crumbly, often gross-tasting masa from Mexican tamales. Carrie and my parents are in full and total agreement with me here, so stick that in your assumption-of-bias and smoke it. Better yet, go try them yourselves:

Nacatamale Recipe

Okay, back to the wheel of food: Next is fried cheese (an everyday part of meals down there) a mango-pineapple-kiwi-red banana mix (all found down there except the kiwi... mangoes are so common buying them is almost ludicrous) Fried plantains (yummy!) and guacamole in the center.
  This is a less than traditional meal. Mostly you get rice and red beans (fried, often mixed) with one or two sides of one of the following: Plantains, fried cheese, guacamole, gineo (like a plantain but short, fat, and tasteless... Nicaraguans say their full of vitamins and good for you if that's any indication) and some sort of fruit juice (watered down, usually). My favorite was passion fruit, which you can get here except that it's about half white grape juice, and to be authentic you really need the seeds still in your glass.