Buddah

We love buddah. Not Buddha (although a little awakening did take place.) I'm talkin' about buddah: creamy, light yellow, a little salty. Yum. Buddah-loving goes back a long way in my family. Mom says, when she was little, Granny Boo would make her sugar sandwiches: white bread smeared with creamy soft buddah and a thick coat of white sugar. I don't think I could eat one of those today. The heartburn would probably kill me. Although, if presented with one at a friend's house, I would probably put my best foot forward and suffer quietly. Just so's not to be rude, you know.

Costa Rica does not know from buddah. Dairy here is a just not quite right, somehow. I'm not sure what it is, but cheese is flat, cream cheese is not. Have never seen cottage cheese. Yogurt is ok, but like in the states, it's really all gelatin and additives. At least in the USA, good yogurt is available. There are some good Costa Rican ice creams. God knows, I've not given up there.

Costa Rica's butter is off, somehow, more like margarine. Heavy, oily-tasting and a funny yellow color, like margarine was when it first came out. When you cook with it, it spits at you, like bacon fat, because it has too much water in it. Now, most people are not butter fanatics like we are, so probably don't think about it. I don't think ticos use a lot of butter; they are sold on margarine. Gross, frankly. But, if I'm a butter fanatic, what are these people? I mean, why didn't I think of making a butter cow?

Margarine will kill you, by the way. It promotes the very thing its supposed to save you from: clogged arteries. That's because it's full of trans fats. You know, that stuff that doesn't melt at room temperature. Nor at 98.6° in your body. Stays solid. Trans fats are poison all around and they are in everything. Try and stay away from them. Go back to buddah.

Going back to buddah in Costa Rica will cost you a pretty penny. We pay $8.75 a pound for the good stuff, imported from Denmark. Unfortunately, nothing else will do but the real thing and this is it, as far as we have been able to find. Now, I'm REALLY going to have to get a job...

You know, we weren't always such butter enthusiasts. But we ate at a cute little restaurant in San Antonio de Belen, Mighty Rivers Cafe... and it changed our lives. This brochure was on the table written by Weston A. Price, who espoused the benefits of butter. That's all it took. We were pretty much buddah lovers already, but harboring a bit of guilt about how butter is bad for you, way fattening and you shouldn't love it so much. Not anymore! Heck with that. Buddah is good for you. What a relief!

And we haven't gained an ounce since returning to butter. If buddah makes you fat, we'd be HUGE. We even bought a scale and so far, so good. Thank you, Mighty Rivers Cafe. The food there was excellent, by the way. Great big sandwiches made on homemade bread, wonderful soup, excellent deserts. Local prices, which is always a good thing. The only bad thing was: they served margarine with that great bread. I'll never get over that. Here we'd read this great brochure they gave us, were all psyched to dive into the butter which we were certain was on its way... and we get margarine. Go figure.

P.S. My Key West friend, Hansa, from India, who feeds me fabulous meals, always has an abundance of ghee on hand. According to Wikipedia, India turns almost half of its annual milk production to making butter or ghee. And Indians aren't fat! Gee, I wonder if Buddha ate buddah?