A “Whisk Hunt” in Panama

Wait, is that a whisk the witch is riding on?  It’s difficult to tell, she’s so far away.  It doesn’t look like a broom, no – - it’s a giant whisk! I am looking for a whisk exactly that same size.  I want to use it in my new huge, flat-bottomed  stainless steel bowl to make fluffy meringue, like Lauretta made in her cooking class.  Why not go on a “whisk hunt” ?

It’s almost Halloween and with any luck, I’ll find that witch’s whisk!

This morning was beautiful up on the side of Volcan Baru, I could see the Pacific Ocean from my kitchen window and the sky was clear.  That’s my way of forecasting the weather each day, if I can see the ocean in the morning, it’ll be a good day. But, if I want a more detailed report, I go to www.boqueteweather.com; there is no television reporting of local weather available here in Boquete.

Boquete has limited supplies of kitchen tools.  Our local La Reina Department Store doesn’t carry whisks at all, I always try to buy things in Boquete, if possible.

Because the weather was good, I headed to the city of David, 45 minutes south of Boquete, to begin my “whisk hunt”.  It’s less than a week before Halloween, so this is the best time for my hunt.

There are several large home-improvement stores that have recently opened in David and my favorite is Novey, located on the Panamerican Highway.  Novey had the cutest little whisk.  I had to buy it because it’s just right for beating an egg in my Pyrex measuring cup.  No big whisks at Novey.

Near Novey is Arrocha, a large modern department store with a big housewares department.  Unfortunately, the entire store was dressed up for Christmas and the housewares department was condensed into one aisle, my bad luck.  No whisks at all, but I did find heavy glass candle holders for $2.00 each and got 3 of them.

My whisk hunt continued to the far side of David to ERA, the only restaurant supply store west of Panama City. Luck was with me, I found the biggest, most beautiful, long-handled, delicate, grey and purple striped whisk you could imagine.

Guess what??? The lady who found the whisk in ERA’s back room was dressed TOTALLY IN BLACK!

When you come to my kitchen, you’ll see my gorgeous whisk hanging next to my other 3 whisks, waiting to be used to make a lovely meringue for Meringue Kisses.  They’d make good “Trick or Treat” candies, don’t you think?

For Best Flavor – Head to Sabroson

This was an ordinary day for us, we awoke early and decided to head to David for a day of shopping. I was looking for a couple of whisks, the ones like Lauretta used in the cooking class she presented in my kitchen on Thursday.

I was missing a big stainless steel bowl and big whisk for her class, and I was determined to find them in David.

We stopped at our favorite breakfast restaurant in Boquete, Sabroson, located on the main street near the church.

We were not disappointed, the place was swarming with locals, everyone getting their morning meal; scrambled eggs, toasted chorizo, hojaldres, local country cheese, fresh orange juice and coffee.  Sabroson offers one of Boquete’s favorite coffees, Duran, prepared any way you’d like.  I like mine con leche and they always put a couple packets of sugar on the side.  Refills are not free, but the flavor is so intense you may not want more than one cup.

The atmosphere is moving, everyone seems to have their own plan for the day, children are laughing and the mood is upbeat. The food is well prepared, hot, tasty and very reasonable.

I have my plan also, and it’s getting to David to look for my whisks, what a lovely way to start my day!