hey, hey, BooBoo! I see a pic-a-nic basket...

I am glad I decided not to pun picnic into picnicaragua. It would have been too much. anyway, it's snacktime! In addition to 3 meals a day, plus bocas, I've designed a picnic lunch for guests that take tours (the most popular is Mombacho Volcano, visible from our private island). 
I've used an American sensibility in creating a picnic with local products to maximize caloric consumption & replenish sugars while hiking around the country.


a few standouts in the picnic:
The hard salami. Serving a hunk of meat with a knife was a new concept for our tour guide, but he jumped on board rather quickly. We get ours, nationally made, from Bavaria Delicatessen in Managua: a German influenced store -I choose to say store, because they don't make sandwiches here, it is more of a meat counter- that sells imported meats & beers as well as those made nationally. They sell the Nicaraguan hard salami as spicy or mild, and sometimes have both in stock. I also use their domestic salami in our breakfast sandwich.


Tropical Dried Fruit Cookie Bars. Sweet and chewy with a crunchy oatmeal topping, these are great for energy when taking a break from a climb to soak in the view of Lake Cocibolca. When I send a car to Manags to get the sausage, I organize to pick up goods from a handful of purveyors out that way, including Naturaleza, which offers natural, unprocessed products and Eastern remedies. We use their brown rice, organic oats, spices and seeds. This recipe also uses dried fruit from Sol-Simple, another one of my favorite local purveyors which solar-dries and hand packs organic fruit. This company focuses on renewable energy: solar energy for food drying, bio-digestation to convert waste material, and electricity powered by used vegetable oil as well as focuses to employ single mothers in marginalized communities. We use their dried fruits, all natural guava pulp (for cocktails) and certified organic cashews. also,
Bah-duhduh-daaaa! I'll be adding recipes to my blog! for example, 

Dried Fruit Cookie Bars

note: normally when I cut butter into a recipe, I will give the visual cue of the butter being mixed in to look like small peas. No one on my staff has eaten, nor seen peas before- so instead, we use the cue of tiny nancite or small baseballs.

for the cookie

2 eggs

3 onces dried pineapple, chopped fine

5 ounces dried banana, chopped fine

2 cups AP flour

3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

6 ounces melted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp. lime zest

1 tsp. lime juice

for the topping

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup AP flour

3/4 cup whole oats

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

5 ounces cold butter, cut into small cubes

1. Preheat oven to 325° F. Grease and flour an 11 x 11” baking dish.
2. Mix together eggs and dried fruit in a small bowl.
3. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
4. Whip together butter and sugars together in a medium bowl. With a rubber spatula, stir in the egg mixture. Finally, stir into the flour mixture until well incorporated. Spread cookie batter into the prepared dish.
5. For the topping, mix the brown sugar, flour, oats, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Using a fork, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Evenly sprinkle the topping on top of the cookie mixture.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 hours before cutting and serving.

the smarter than the average bear is going to be dan akroyd with justin timberlake!