Our resident yoga teacher, Johnny Daybreeze, at Coco-Prune Resort and Residences, left today to take up a new position at the bright pastures of San Antonio.
Goodbye Johnny Daybreeze and good luck with your choreography career!
There is now a position as Yoga Instructor available at Coco-Prune Resort; application is open to guinea pigs only with yoga certification. Please send your curriculum vitae (with two passport sized photos, police report and character references) to Casa Mascia!
Yes we are still here and we didn’t leave the country. I just took a break from writing because often things can become a routine, a chore and it takes the fun out of it all. So I am back and ready to continue with the Chronicles of Munchkin and Gnome!
We have had weeks of hot and dry weather so we’ve been clearing again…oh, and guess what…the brushmower has done broke again. We had to have one of those “live chats” with the manufacturer and after much to-ing and fro-ing, managed to figure out that it was the voltage regulator. Can you believe it?? We have never managed to do a full round of mowing in the last two years. Dearest Gnome is battling along with the weed-wacker (with a 10 inch circular saw-blade attached to the end). Ha-Ha!! The ingenuity never ends!!
Oh and we have been without running water for the last two weeks. Hauling buckets of water in this hot, dry weather is no fun!! I had to carry 8 five-gallon buckets of water just for the washing machine…phew…it was hard work and I really worked those muscles!!
This is the ubiquitous Pigtail Bucket of Belize. If you own a farm, you never ever loan these out because they are soooo precious and useful!
Good Night Everyone!!
A good old authentic curry is made from onions and Indian spices…slowly, slowly cooked…trust me, I should know this since I am Scottish! This recipe uses the same cooking process but instead of just onions, mangoes are also used to make the curry sauce.
This curry recipe does not take so long (compare with 48 hour Venison Curry!). This one is relatively fast and can be enjoyed after 2 hours cooking…yum!! Check out the link Mango Chicken Curry for the recipe. The mangoes add a fruitiness to the delectable taste experience…with the Indian spices tumeric (yellow ginger), cinnamon, cumin and clove you simply can’t go wrong!
Lovely, Lovely….can’t beat a good curry!!
We have had a good run of hot sunny days so we have been able to start mowing and cleaning up the farm again. Gnome managed to fix the brush-mower…he used a die to fix the stripped threads on the spindle…in other words he used his Gnome ingenuity to save money!
Oh, and we have been getting so many jackfruits…I had to process five in 2 days. Look it the size of them! Phew…a lot of work but lots of food.
We are still making pasta…black pasta. This one is called Black Opal No.3…made with charcoal.
Here are some new pictures from the farm taken by Gnome! He has made improvements in leaps and bounds in his photography…his former pictures used to be blurry and out of focus. Hmmm…maybe it is because he changed his glasses?!
This is Redhead (Hamelia patens) which is known for its natural medicinal properties; The flowers, leaves and stems are boiled in water and skin conditions such as wounds, sores, rash and insect bites are bathed in the decoction. Furthermore, the oral consumption of the decoction of the flowers and leaves is supposed to relieve menstrual cramps.
The berries from this plant are also edible…get them before the birds!
Ear mushrooms (Auricularia auricular); these wild mushrooms are edible and much loved by Asians. Great in stews and stir-frys.
A beautiful ornamental. These produce seedpods that resemble woody roses.
A Big Thank-you to Ruri-chan for a late Christmas gift all the way from Singapore! Just arrived in Belize last week and it was a lovely surprise to open up a box of pressies at the post office. As usual, I had to go through the rigmarole of opening up the package in front of the Postal Worker.
When I opened up the box with the extremely blunt knife, the worker looked at this funny looking purple case and said, “What’s that?”
I confidently said in an even tone,
“It’s a Smiggle Bag.”
He shifted slightly, coughed politely and said,
“Yes it’s a Smiggle Bag.”
He wrote “Smiggle Bag” on the customs form and then waved me out of the postal room. Outside the post office I just cracked up laughing because neither of us had a clue what a smiggle bag was but yet we both insisted on pretending that we knew what it was!
I had to do a Google Search on Smiggle Bag and “Smiggle” is actually an Australian based retail store that sells well, Smiggle stationery!
Thanks for the Smiggle Bag!!
Just writing to let you know that NJV Pharmacy on Front Street, Punta Gorda has stocked up on our Casa Mascia products. A Big Thank-you to the Vernons for continuing to support locally-made natural products. You will find our usual goodies including Copal Medicinal Soap, Oil and Ointment, Lemongrass Insect Repellents, a selection of our Massage Oils and lots more!
It’s the quiet before the storm; we are preparing for Tropical Storm/ Hurricane Earl. This one is really for friends and family because communications may be down for the next couple of days. Well, we have everything boarded up, kerosene lights ready and plenty of food. I baked a whole tonne of bread today too! Gnome will hold a special meeting with the fowl this afternoon to remind them to keep their feet firmly planted on the ground…with demonstrations! Got to get some humour in it otherwise we could easily whip ourselves up into a frenzy!! Good Luck to all of us in this position!
Hello There!! We made it through the hurricane; just some light drizzles and no damage on the farm. We are really grateful that everything was okay down here. Our hopes and well wishes go out to the rest of the country.