Monthly Archives: December 2017

Philosophy

Recapitulation.

The years start running into each other and before you know it, time has passed.  In order to catch the moments and remember them,  I will attempt to write a bit about the past year:

  1.  We had no water worries this year with water tanks placed ready-to-go for dry season.
  2.   We kept a vegetable garden going all year round and had a bucket garden during dry season.  We also made rotating gardens from guinea pig concrete homes.
  3. We reared ducklings in guinea pig crèches with success.
  4.   Gnome single-handedly built a veranda and a wonky looking gate.
  5.   Gnome fixed the washing machine and saved money.  He also removed the cover and gave it to a broody goose to set in.
  6.   The geese are still tyrannical but we are managing to live with them…we love them actually!  They laid some eggs for us.
  7.  We have a camp area at the pond with a spaceship tent.
  8.   The brush-mower finally died on us this year.
  9.   We canned about 200 jars of food in July when it was really wet and depressing.
  10. We added Psychotherapy and Acupuncture to our medical repertoire.
  11.  Panda is settling down better and got a lot better towards the end of the year.  He is doing more rather than just talking about doing.
  12.   Munchkin and Gnome are fine but still need to work on being lighter and more humorous in their life goals.
  13.  I did not blog this because I was so devastated but a possum got into our guinea cages and wiped them all out.   We have to start again in the new year with brand new piggies.  After this happened, we decided that we will eat possum.
  14.  On the balance, we think that 2017 was a good year.

Auld Lang Syne: Three versions to take us into the New Year:

Trance:

Gregorian:

Traditional:

Wishing Everyone A Great New Year!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming

Last Pictures…

It’s a bit like in a British pub when they say “last orders” for the last round before it closes.  These are my last lot of pictures from the farm before the new year.

Toasted bread from Gnome’s charcoal stove:

Grilled Bread.

Akee are in season right now:

Akee Fruit.
Cleaned Plate of Akee.

When you saute sliced akee, they look like scrambled eggs.  Try an alternative breakfast with akee and toast!!

Scrambled Akee and Toast.

Look at these bunch of naughty, thieving blighters!!  Eating us out of farm and home…

Thieving Aracari.
More Aracari.
Aracari.

They are rather cute though so we are not going to war with them…

Belize, Energy Saving, Farming, Saving Money

Tin Smithing with Gnome.

Hello!!  Despite designating this time as “rest period” to get ready for the new year’s major work on the farm, Gnome is still tinkering around.  Right now, we are renovating (actually, we are always in this state and will remain in this state for a long time) and we are back to cold water showering  awaiting the re-location of the hot water shower.  Because it has been so cold (20C/68F), we have resorted to bucket washes with hot water.  Water requires energy to heat up so we were burning through a butane tank like there was no tomorrow (we bathe a lot).  So, Gnome put his “Saving Money” cap on and decided to try making a home-made charcoal burner made out of an old milk tin.  This is a prequel to Panda’s last entry about the Gnome Mk1 Charcoal burner.  We thought that Panda was in a similar situation with hot water requirements, so Gnome also gave him one of these to try out.

Pictures of Tin Smithing with Gnome:

Make holes in tin with hand drill:

Charcoal Hob Making.

Then make air holes, at the bottom of the tin, with a jig saw:

The square air holes are not completely cut out and are bent into the tin to form a shelf for mesh wire.  This is Panda’s picture which shows the air holes:

Captain Charcoal®

Charcoal (filled right up to the top) is then placed on the mesh wire and a fire is started:

Charcoal Hob Testing.

It is important to place a piece of metal on top of the tin to allow partial elevation of the cooking pot; we used an old hob ring.

Charcoal Hob in Action.

Viola!  Water boiling in a kettle:

Boiling Water.

Note: use manky camp-fire kettles and pots.  Do not use your fine cookware on these stoves or you will be scrubbing a lot!!  The tin full of charcoal lasts for about 1 or 2 hours so you can boil quite a lot water and then cook a meal afterwards.  Basic food can be made like toasting bread and cooking thinly sliced sweet potato:

Charcoal Gnome Cooking.

Cooking with the charcoal burner:

Cooking Over Charcoal.

This design is not perfect (yet!) and Gnome is working on a new model with air flow control and a handle.  Watch this space…

Amusing, Belize, Food

Good Food!!

Hello Everyone!!  We made it through the Camp-fire chickens and Camp-fire turkey!!  The 8lb turkey turned out to be rather big (bigger than an 8lb chicken??) and I had to literally squeeze and squash it into the cast-iron pot.  The thighs were monster-humongous…. anyway, this one took two hours to cook under coals.  We dug up some sweet potatoes in the morning and cooked these in the coals also.  Cooked turkey  under coals was a success; the turkey was delicious and succulent.  I lined the turkey with bacon (modified Jamie Oliver recipe) which added to the juiciness of the meat.  I did not take any pictures because I thought that a squashed-up, lop-sided turkey would not be appreciated…Ha-Ha..what would the neighbours say??!

Cooking Over Coals.

Oh, but I do have other pictures to make you go Ooooh and Ahhhhh!!!

By the way, a Gnome is not just for Christmas…(sorry, couldn’t help sticking this one in…I think I am being really funny…you probably think I am just plain silly).

Christmas Gnome Fairy.

Home-made bamboo Christmas tree with decorations.  Munchkin and Gnome went all out this year:

Tropical Christmas Tree.
Christmas Tree Close-up.

Oh, and a Christmas duckie too.  How auspicious…

This one is very well-behaved and sits quietly.  No Star Trek with this one.  In fact, not much noise at all because we haven’t been watching anything.  This will be a New Zen-Christian Duckie…

New Duckie.

Christmas Duckie.

Christmas Chicken bites with citrus peel:

Christmas Chicken Bites.

Oooooh….prosciutto, salami and cheese courtesy of Gnome’s Mammy and Papa…thank-you so much:

Salami, Proscuitto and Parmesan Cheese.

Ahhhh…oh yes, I did get my salmon…at last.  I have been dying for smoked salmon.  This is a lovely Gnome display!  Salmon also a gift from Gnome’s parents!!  Oooooh and Ahhhhh!!!

Smoked Salmon.
Amusing, Belize

A Quiet Day…

We had a Pre-Christmas camp-fire dinner last-night with friends including Panda.  We had everything perfectly timed because we had rehearsed the cooking about five times already.  The bread was 15 minutes and the chicken was 90 minutes under coals.  It came out really well.  But, now I think that I have stuffed myself rather prematurely and I am not sure if I can make it until Christmas.  Gnome:

“…but we haven’t had the Christmas Day extravaganza yet!!”

I know, I know!!

I need to keep on going…for this…(Ha-Ha).

Today, I am strictly on water and fruit only!!

More Christmasy Pictures:

Oooh, spotted another one in the sorrel:

Angel in the Sorrel.

Oh, another one in the vegetable patch:

Okay, peppermint water is the order of the day today…

Amusing, Belize

Garden Varieties…

Oh, look what I found in the mustard…how did it get there?  Anyway, must be that time of the year when they come out.  The Garden (Variety) Angel…much like the Garden Variety Munchkins and Gnomes that come out all year round.  I guess you just have to pay attention and keep an eye out for these special ones…

Christmas Angel.
Amusing, Belize

Left Overs…

Hello!!  I mean left over pictures…there are no “left overs” at our place since we started cooking over coals…I had to post this picture again because it was very nice indeed.

Camp Fire Chicken.

We have decided to kinda wind down for the year so have been taking a few leisurely photos around the farm.  (The gate can wait until the new year!!)  Also, have Festive Season pictures to get us all in the mood.

Big Bossie Goosie Richard II.  The King of the Wheel-barrow.  He actually flew into the wheel-barrow during meal time the other day because he was so excited.

Goose in a Wheelbarrow.

We have a bed covered with these wild edible mushrooms: bamboo pith aka stinkhorn.  They start off as these round eggs (witches’ eggs) and then blossom into these interesting looking mushrooms.

Stinkhorn Eggs.
Stinkhorns for Christmas.

Christmas mugs are out courtesy of Papa Dudley (Merry Christmas Papa).  🙂

Christmas Mugs.

When you don’t have a Christmas tree…

Christmas Decorations.

And yes of course. His and Hers for Christmas!!  Can’t wait to put on my new wellies!!

Christmas Wellies.

Okay have a lovely day!!

Amusing, Belize

Oh Chicken!

Hello!  This is definitely my last entry on the chicken experience…I actually had a dream (bad) last night that I was in a hotel room and there were chickens running amok after me.  Gnome says I have chicken in the brain (?medical term) and that it is best that I stop eating chicken for a while. (Or should I play number 22 in lotto??!!).

Okay, so I have pictures this time!  Gnome dug two pits; one for bread and one for chicken.

Cooking Over Coals.
Double Pit.

I made the bread with 3 parts flour and 1 part oats and placed it in a greased cast-iron pot.  We aimed for 45 minutes but at 22 minutes, I sniffed the air and smelt some burning.  We quickly opened it up and the upper crust was burnt.  Nevertheless, the bread was cooked perfectly to a hot fluffiness.  We cut the top part off and juggled pieces around to get the freshly baked bread into our mouths.  Oooh scrumptious hot bread…

Campfire Bread.

Next time, we will bake the bread for 15 minutes and Gnome says we should put raisins in it for something different.

And, we did the potatoes in the usual way; put in paper bags soaked in water and then placed under shallow coals for about 45 to 60 minutes. The skin gets hard on the outside like a shell and the coals give it a charcoal flavour.

Camp Fire Potatoes.

The chicken; this time it was a smaller 5lb chicken and our estimate of 60 minutes was a bit too much so the skin got slightly burnt.  It was still very, very tasty and dripping with juice and flavour.  The test stuffing was composed of mashed potato, carrots, shiitake mushrooms and water chestnuts.  We also added raisins since Gnome’s mother suggested that some dried fruits would go very well; this was a very nice addition.  The stuffing was a success and absorbed the flavour of the chicken very well.

Camp Fire Chicken.

We think that it should be 10 minutes cooking time per 1lb of chicken so the 5lb chicken should only need about 45 to 50 minutes next time.  We also halved unpeeled onions and placed them around the chicken…these caramelized (??burnt really to be honest with you) too much but still tasted good.  The onion was so so soft that it could be scooped out of the onion shell.

Cam Fire Onions.

Verdict: we are getting quite confident at cooking with coals…it is practice, practice, practice as per usual.  Here are some (coffee table  magazine) pictures for you to look at so that you can live vicariously through the Munchkin and Gnome Blog (Ha-Ha!!).

Firewood.
Chicken Pot.

Okay, this ends the chicken experience and I will endeavour to write on a different topic and then get funny dreams about that too…

Amusing, Belize, Food

The Gate and The Chicken.

Hello!!  Another exciting update on Munchkin and Gnome!!  Well, the gate is up and Gnome is none too pleased about it.  The gate is now becoming a continuing saga (nightmare?); last time I mentioned that the 16 foot gate was too heavy for both of us to lift so Gnome had to resort to sawing it in half.

Gnome Work.

He did that and subsequently hung each side up.  And guess what?  I heard the lament of a Gnome; it was kinda whiny and desperate and I immediately ran to his aid.

Poor Gnome!

Oh dear…with the two sides of the gate hung up, one side was too long so the gate wouldn’t close.  We have had to overlap one side over the order in order to close the gate.  You’ve got to laugh (or cry, in the case of Gnome).  By sawing it in half he forgot to account for the extra space required to hinge two sides instead of one.  So here you are; it still works…as a gate…it just doesn’t close snugly!  I did try to make Gnome feel better but he would have none of it!

Gate.

Okay, that’s just life and life is really okay.  Oh, I have to tell you about the chicken!  So, we are experimenting with cooking over coals since we would like to have Christmas turkey (camp-style)this year.  As a test run, we have been cooking chicken.  I rubbed a 8lb chicken with salt, white pepper and Italian herbs and placed it in our cast iron pot which was pre-greased on the inside.  Gnome dug a shallow hole (about 6 inches) into the ground and proceeded to start a fire.  Once he had coals he filled the pit with coals and placed the pot on top and then shoveled coal around it and on top so that it was completely encased in coals.

Dutch Oven Under Coals.

We also placed whole potatoes in brown paper bags (soaked in water) and put them under coals; we have done this before…Gnome (TM) idea which gives lovely, fluffy roasted potatoes in one hour.  After about 45 minutes, the waft of roasted chicken made us feel soooo hungry, we had to start with some potatoes first.  We finally decided to open up the pot at 90 minutes and the chicken was cooked…absolutely beautifully.  The skin was roasted and crisped to perfection and the meat was succulent and tender!  We tucked into it right away because we were starving by then and oh dear…I neglected to take a photograph.  Sorry!!  No picture but it was truly delicious and we both agreed that it was the best way to cook chicken and we swore that we would never eat chicken any other way from then on!

Anyway…since it was so good, we have decided (it didn’t take much to make this decision) to do another chicken test but this time we need to do a stuffing test.  We have decided on the following for the stuffing: mashed potato with diced carrots, shiitake mushrooms and diced water chestnuts.  Okay so this time round, I will try to to take a picture before stuffing my face.  🙂  Otherwise I run the risk of over-doing it with cartoony pictures to make up for my lack of real pictures (as I am doing right now).  🙂

After all these test runs, the Christmas turkey should be perfect!!  🙂