Monthly Archives: February 2016

Amusing, Belize, Food

Novelty Jesus Packets.

Together.Eating

Another gift from our missionary friend which we have coined Novelty Jesus Packets.  On one hand, we are always grateful for the gifts bestowed on behalf of Jesus.  On the other hand, we are aghast at this type of processed food in a packet.  Each pack is supposed to hold one meal of pasta or rice.  We found out that you can buy these rinky-dink things for $5.00 Belize Dollars.  Do you know you can buy 5lbs of rice with that money?  Or, five packets of pasta?  Scary!!

Novelty Packets.
Novelty Packets.

We tried the Chicken rice one…apparently you have to add your own half chicken and 1/2 lb slab of Monterey cheese to complete the meal.  Am I missing something then?  What is the point in buying the packet when you have to buy all the ingredients for it?  Might as-well just buy rice, right?

We did attempt to cook it as a meal.  However, I did not have the chicken and cheese to go with it:

Packeted Meal.
Packeted Meal.

The original meal was supposed to be the rice portion on the upper left side.  I had to add the rest because it looked rather pale, anaemic and sorry-looking.  I added the greens to the rice to give it a bit of colour.  The eggs and bread were a “last minute” make-over because the rice meal lacked ooomph!!  Our verdict of the packeted rice:  very, very salty and no interesting or pleasing flavour.  Rather mundane.  Nonetheless, the gift still provided an experience that we would otherwise not have and so I can now be certain that we are not missing out!

Amusing, Belize, Pets, Philosophy

Emergency Meeting With Paradise Piggies.

Mayor Gnome called an emergency meeting with the Paradise Piggies earlier in the day.  If you have been following the events, you will know that Mayor Gnome is in the process of building a Zen garden to house the Zazen Duckies.  The Paradise Piggies have made a special request to move to the Monastery.

Zazen Duckies Inspecting Zen Monastery.
Zazen Duckies Inspecting Zen Monastery.

Today Mayor Gnome explained to the piggies that the moving of their gated community of Paradise Pastures would be no mean feat as their home weighs a whopping 100kg (200lb).  This would entail the movement of their home across a distance of 100 yards!  He explained to the piggies:

A Very Serious Mayor Gnome.
A Very Serious Mayor Gnome.

“Piggies, you need to convince me that you are serious about your spiritual goals because moving your house to the monastery will be a lot of hard work…”

Are the piggies ready for the next move?  These are a few answers from members of the Paradise Pastures community.

Treshawn Piggie:

Mother Piggie.
Treshawn Piggie.

“I’m ready…just need to have a baby first…”

Bob Piggie:

Georgie Piggie.
Bob Piggie.

“I’m ready…spirituality is the most important thing in my life but I need to grow some mmm…organic tomatoes first.”

Barbie Piggie:

Fifi Piggie.
Barbie Piggie.

“Yes I know I am ready and it is time to take the next step.  Yay…I want to be a Zazen Piggie!  It is all about being Jedi, right?  With the way of the Piggie, I will find the way…love and light.  The force is strong in this one…WEEEEEEEEE!”

In amongst the general piggie noise of squealing and squawking, these were the most intelligible answers that Mayor Gnome managed to get.  This was his reply:

“Piggies, you don’t seem know what you want.  Come back to me when you can all agree on a spiritual goal!”

Mayor Gnome.
Mayor Gnome.

“Jedi Piggies, huh?  Hmmmm…..what next?!”

Emergency Piggie Meeting.
Emergency Piggie Meeting.
Belize, Food

Fried Bread Sticks.

Munchkin.Eating.Bun.Smile

This is an easy snack made from very simple ingredients.  Use your favourite bread recipe to make about 1 to 2 cups of dough (depending on how much fried yum yums you desire) and roll it out on a flat surface.

Mixing Dough.
Mixing Dough.

Cut the dough into strips and then leave uncovered for about 2 hours if you are in the tropics.  If you are in a temperate country, leave it out for about 4 to 6 hours.

When you are ready to fry, brush the surface of the strips with egg.  Now, this is the inventive and exciting part and it is up to you how you flavour your breadsticks!  You could try sesame seeds, anise, basil, garlic powder, Italian herbs, etc, etc.  Just use your imagination!

This is what I did:

I separated the dough strips into three batches and with batch 1, I sprinkled rosemary and salt.  Batch 2 had sprinkled paprika and salt and Batch 3 had brushed egg only; once fried and drained, sifted icing sugar was added.

Heat the vegetable oil to about 400F.  Fry the bread sticks in the three batches.  They should puff up nicely and cook within about 2 to 3 minutes.  Drain well.

Fried Bread Sticks.
Fried Bread Sticks.

These are great as a snack or as an accompaniment to a meal.  Our favourite was the batch sprinkled with icing sugar…savoury sweet!

Fried Bread Sticks With Icing Sugar.
Fried Bread Sticks With Icing Sugar.
Belize, Food, Plants

Dissecting The Brain!

The Brain!!
The Brain!!

If you recall in a previous article, there is a certain ground root that we coined “The Brain” because well, we thought it looked like a big brain!

Elephant Foot Yam.
Elephant Foot Yam.

Kind of…you really have to be a doctor to appreciate the brain thing.  Other names are Amorphophallus paeoniifolis or elephant foot yam.

This is what the plant looks like:

The Brain.
The Brain.

It has a characteristic spotting on the stem and it also produces a beautiful flower.  Ours hasn’t flowered yet so sorry, no picture as yet.

The good thing about this yam is that it can be harvested and stored for about 3 months.  This is great for the tropics because most ground vegetables have to be processed soon after harvest or else they go bad…take for example cassava.  Anyway, I left this brain out on the veranda for months before I found the time to sort it out.  This is how you prepare elephant foot yam:

Wear a pair of gloves whilst processing as the uncooked root contains oxalic crystals which can cause itchy dermatitis.  Firstly pare the root with a sharp knife and then cut into uniform cubes about an inch in size.  Wash thoroughly with water.

Pare and Wash Elephant Foot Yam.
Pare and Wash Elephant Foot Yam.

Next, place in a cooking pot with a teaspoon of salt.  Bring to boil and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes.  After this, add about 100g (3oz) of cream cheese to the pot and boil for another 10 minutes.  Traditionally, in Indian cuisine, curds or tamarind paste are added at this point to further remove the itchy sensation caused by the oxalic acid.  I had neither ingredient in my kitchen, so I opted to use Philadelphia Cream Cheese which seemed to work in the same way.

Processing The Brain.
Processing The Brain.

Once tender, drain off the water.  You can eat it at this point or bag it into smaller portions to store in the freezer.  The yam can be eaten as a substitute in any potato dish and there are numerous traditional recipes on the Internet; usually in the form of wet and dry curries.

Cooked Elephant Foot Yam.
Cooked Elephant Foot Yam.

This yam grows prolifically in the Tropics and so I recommend that every self-sufficient person should have a patch of this growing somewhere on their land.  This is great survival food because there is so much of it!