Our new Orosi Valley location is one of the most beautiful spots in Costa Rica. A snippet of the website description we are using for the program follows this great shot of the amazing panoramic view that greets the eye from the patio of the traditional Costa Rican style home that serve as volunteer accommodations.
Orosi Valley Paradise Experience
Service Vacations: Volunteer Work Projects in Costa Rica
About an hour from the city of San Jose, in a gorgeous, hidden valley (Orosi), rests the tiny community of El Yaz, known for its clean water, rich soil, eternal spring-like temperatures (about 75 degrees every day) and organic, agricultural way of life. Although the villagers love their natural paradise, they have struggled to make ends meet, as even low paying jobs are rare. Most villagers are not in abject poverty, but have no access to hot water, cars, or the quantity of protein sources to which a North American may be accustomed.
Globe Aware founder Kimberly Haley-Coleman knew immediately when she came upon this enchanted valley that Globe Aware would have its new Costa Rican program here. She says, “The great project opportunities, the gentle people of the community, and the incredible volunteer accommodations available just came together so beautifully that I knew we had found our next program site!”
Globe Aware feels this Costa Rican paradise will equally delight all those who travel here after her.
Globe Aware coordinates, organizes and leads volunteer vacations, service vacations, working holidays and service trips to two Peru locations (Andes & Cusco/Machu Picchu), Cuba, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cuba, Nepal, Brazil, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Jamaica, Romania, Ghana, Mexico, and other destinations.
Click here for a list of programs, dates and costs.
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Two student groups late this spring are set to experience the new one week cultural immersion program that will be offered in Martinique. Look for future newsletters to see photos and hear more details about how it went!
Volunteer Vacations Blog
In November, we unveiled Globe Aware's redesigned blog!
About Volunteer Vacations Blog
Launched last year, Globe Aware's blog has become a meeting and gathering place for volunteer vacationers who want to share their stories and experiences, videos and pictures.
Regularly updated with important news, colorful stories and interesting observations and insight, we encourage you to visit and sign up for our RSS feed. This will ensure destination and program news and updates are delivered to you in a timely manner.
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What was your favorite meal while on a Globe Aware volunteer vacation?
Vietnam: Spring Rolls
Vietnamese cuisine is a style of cooking where fish sauce, soy sauce, fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables are all imaginatively used to add flavor and richness to many dishes. Vietnamese recipes use a diverse range of herbs, including, lemon grass, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, and Thai basil leaves.
Traditional Vietnamese cooking is greatly admired for the freshness of the ingredients and for the healthy eating style. Meat dishes are somewhat common in Vietnamese cuisine where beef, pork, chicken, fish, and various kinds of seafood are wonderfully prepared. However, the Vietnamese also have a strong vegetarian tradition influenced by Buddhist and Chinese values. Vietnamese chefs like to refer to their cooking as "the nouvelle cuisine of Asia." And indeed, with the heavy reliance on rice, wheat and legumes, abundance of fresh herbs and vegetables, minimal use of oil, and treatment of meat as a condiment rather than a main course, Vietnamese food has to be among the healthiest on the planet. Eating right is certainly a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep you actively participating in the volunteer vacations you love, but an authentic fried spring roll from your favorite local Vietnamese restaurant can certainly be a delicious treat once in a while. We’ve found a free online video series, presented by expert Vietnamese chef Hui Yau, where you can learn how to make them yourself.
Get out your apron and cook like a pro: Vietnamese Spring Roll Recipe.
Ingredients For nuoc cham dipping sauce:
- 5 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce (preferably from Phu Quoc)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
- 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (optional)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 fresh Thai chiles (2 to 3 inches; preferably red; including seeds), thinly sliced crosswise
For spring rolls:
- 7 1/2 oz very thin bean thread noodles (in small skeins, also known as cellophane or mung bean noodles*)
- 2 oz dried wood ear mushrooms
- 1 medium shallot
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups grated carrots (4 to 5 carrots)
- 1 lb ground pork shoulder
- 1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (preferably from Phu Quoc)
- 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 lb shrimp in shell, peeled and deveined
- 25 (8-inch) square frozen spring roll pastry wrappers made with wheat flour, thawed
- 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
- About 6 cups vegetable oil
- Special equipment: a deep-fat thermometer
- Accompaniments: lettuce leaves and fresh mint and cilantro leaves
Preperation
Make dipping sauce:
Stir together sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Stir in remaining sauce ingredients, then chill, covered, at least 2 hours.
Prepare filling:
Put noodles in a large bowl and cover with hot water by several inches. Soak, pulling noodles apart and stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Drain noodles and cut into 2- to 3-inch pieces (you should have about 3 cups), then transfer to another large bowl. Put mushrooms in a bowl and cover with hot water by several inches. Soak 15 minutes. Drain and rinse mushrooms thoroughly, then drain again. Trim off and discard any hard parts from mushrooms. Finely chop mushrooms. (You should have about 2 cups.) Add to noodles. Pulse shallot and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped, then add to noodles along with carrots, pork, fish sauce, sugar, pepper, and salt. Pulse shrimp in processor until coarsely ground. (Do not overprocess or it will become pasty.) Add shrimp to noodle mixture. Mix with your hands until well combined. Chill filling, covered with plastic wrap, until cold.
Assemble rolls:
Line 2 trays with wax paper. Transfer one fourth of filling to a small bowl and keep remainder chilled, covered. Place 1 wrapper on a work surface, keeping remaining wrappers covered with a clean kitchen towel (to prevent them from drying out). Cut wrapper diagonally in half to form 2 triangles. With long side of 1 triangle nearest you, put 2 tablespoons filling along middle of long edge of triangle, and shape filling into a thin 5-inch log. Fold left and right corners of wrapper over filling, overlapping slightly and aligning bottom edges. (Wrapper will resemble an open envelope.) Dab top corner with yolk, then roll up wrapper away from you into a long thin roll, making sure ends stay tucked inside. Place on a tray, seam side down. Repeat with remaining triangle. Make more rolls in same manner with remaining wrappers and filling, keeping trays of rolls chilled, loosely covered, until ready to fry. Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a 5- to 6-quart pot over moderately high heat until it registers 365°F on thermometer. Fry rolls in batches of 5 or 6, keeping rolls apart during first minute of frying to prevent sticking, until golden brown and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. (Return oil to 365°F between batches.) Transfer as fried to a colander lined with paper towels and drain rolls upright 2 to 3 minutes.
To eat:
Wrap hot or warm rolls in lettuce leaves and tuck in mint and cilantro leaves. Serve with dipping sauce.
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