Aguas Frescas and Drinks | Aguas Frescas y Bebidas
Small Plates and Snacks | Botanas y Antojitos
Rice, Soups, & Sides | Arroz, Sopas y Acompañamientos
Main Dishes | Platos Fuertos
Salsas, Sauces, and Spice | Salsas y Picantes
Desserts and Popsicles | Postres y Paletas
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Dolores Wiarco Dweck, known by her nearest and dearest as Lola, has a great appreciation for Mexican cuisine and culture. Lola's culinary mentors include her relatives and friends as well as some of Mexico’s great chefs and home cooks. She preserves and shares her favorite recipes through Lola’s Cocina.
Instagram Inspiration
I couldn’t resist buying some of these beautiful hibiscus flowers. In Panama they’re called saril and they use the fresh flowers to make tea, similar to our agua de jamaica.
What’s your favorite way to use flor de jamaica? After making agua fresca, I season and sauté the rehydrated flowers and use them to fill tacos and taquitos, and to top tostadas.
Happiest of birthdays to my love. We’ve been celebrating all week on a kid-free getaway in Panama. Cheers to many, many more years of travel adventures, love, health, and happiness!
Happy Thanksgiving! Today I’m thankful for a relaxing day at the beach.
Day 6 Highlights:
Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to spend the day at Isla Contadora, which is part of the Pearl Islands archipelago in Panama’s gulf coast. We never saw more than five people at any of the beaches and loved it!
GOOD TO KNOW: Panama City doesn’t really have beachfront hotels. We had to catch an early ferry that took us to Isla Contadora, which was about two hours away. The closest island to the city is Taboga, which is a 30-minute ferry ride away.
Name that flower! Hint: it’s one of my favorites. #nofilter
Today was all about food in Panama.
Day 5 Highlights: Discovering local gems on a @ptylife food tour.
We enjoyed passion fruit cheesecake, pineapple empanadas, appetizers and dessert in a hidden garden oasis, drinks on a rooftop bar with panoramic views of the city, empanadas from a street vendor, and topped we off the night with nutella cheesecake and Geisha coffee.
FUN FACT: Panama is famous for its Geisha coffee, which is the most expensive in the world. While it sells for approximately $7 per cup in Panama, you can spend $18 in NYC and $68 per cup in Dubai.
WHY IS GEISHA COFFEE SO EXPENSIVE? Geisha coffee can cost more than $600 per pound, and Panama’s geisha coffee beans are comparatively expensive for two reasons.
1. They require very specific cultivation conditions and are extremely demanding to both grow and harvest.
2. Demand for the very best Panama geisha coffee beans in the world has been growing consistently for some time now.
¡Hola! What’s everyone in charge of this Thanksgiving? If I were in the States, I’d be making my famous pumpkin cheese flan.
This flan is perfect to enjoy all year long, but is especially delicious in the fall. It combines the flavors and textures of three delicious desserts: pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and flan. Add it to your Thanksgiving menu and it’s sure to be a hit.
To make Lola’s World-Famous Pumpkin Cheese Flan, visit lolascocina.com // direct link in profile
Today we spent the day exploring Panama City!
Day 4 Highlights:
Getting lost in the Casco Viejo neighborhood, which reminded me a little of Cuba with it’s Spanish colonial buildings, some of which have been updated to house hip restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and boutique hotels, while others are dilapidated and condemned.
Viewing the enormous ships pass through the Panama Canal as we enjoyed the sunset (and drinks) at Atlantic & Pacific Cocina. The experience was a lesson in Latin American history, politics, engineering, and international trade, all in one hour.
TRAVEL TIP: You can pay $20/person to watch the ships pass through in front of the Panama Canal’s Miraflores Visitor Center viewing area or put that money toward food and drinks and have the same view from the Atlantic & Pacific Cocina. We arrived at 5:15 pm, right before the last few ships passed through. You do NOT have to pay for tickets if you’re eating or enjoying drinks at the restaurant. We also visited the Museo del Canal in Casco Viejo beforehand after reading that it was better and less expensive than the one at the actual canal.
On our last day in Panama’s Valle de Antón we took a quick trip to a scenic waterfall before heading back to Panama City for another week of adventures.
Day 3 Highlights:
Walking across the suspended bridge that leads to Chorro El Macho. The sights and sounds were incredible. FYI: chorro in Panama means waterfall, not diarrhea like we say in Mexico, but I’m guessing that’s where it derived.
Rocking out on our bus ride back to Panama City where we’ll be exploring all week. They play party music the entire 2.5 hour drive.
TRAVEL TIP: When touring the Valle de Antón, it’s a good idea to carry a bathing suit in your bag just in case you want to take a dip in the aguas termales (natural hot springs), or waterfall pools that are open to the public.
Today we walked over 18,000 steps and spent the entire day exploring El Valle de Antón by foot.
Day 2 Highlights:
Hiking up and down El Sendero de la India Dormida where we saw the loveliest vegetation, waterfalls, and butterflies. The views of the valley from the summit were breathtaking, to say the least. Well worth the three-hour trek.
Learning about all of the different butterflies at the Butterfly Haven, which houses over 250 mariposas (21 different species). Panama is home to over 1,500 butterfly species.
Snacking on pickled quail eggs after exploring the Níspero Zoo and Gardens.
Relaxing after a delightful dinner with an in-room massage.
TRAVEL TIP: I always pack a cute comfy pair of walking shoes for those full days of exploring. My trail hiking shoes would’ve killed all of my outfits and pics so I went with lighter, more versatile tennis for this trip.
