All posts by Munchkin

Belize, Farming, Plants

Munchkin Update.

Gnome Magic!

Munchkin and Gnome have started the new year with hard work and lots and lots of hard work and there is still more work to be done!! The house is getting tidied up and we have a work schedule that has not been thwarted by the weather (only by a bunch of army ants on the 1st of January). Apart from that…the weather has been co-operating…that is a first!!

The only harvest that we have right now is tobacco; here is a picture of the leaves drying. This particular tobacco variety has a reddish colour.

Tobacco Leaves.

Another picture:

Cured tobacco leaves.

This stuff takes up a lot space so Gnome has been twisting them into tobacco rope:

Tobacco Twist.

Oh, before I forget…remember that Crazy Cat of ours (the feral one)? He is actually sitting now on our laps and likes to sit with Gnome when he is working with the tobacco. Have we tamed the wild cat??

Crazy Cat Lounging.

What else is happening? As I mentioned already, we don’t have much in terms of new vegetables. We are mostly eating moringa leaves for greens right now. We actually have this new vegetable…a bitter gourd (serosi)…an unusual white variety. This type is less bitter so I don’t like it as much…it is a matter of personal taste…

White Serosi.

Oh, yes…we are still make pasta/ noodles!! We are trying to work through a 50lb bag of flour. It might take a while. We have been experimenting with new colours and flavours…more about that soon!!

Chocolate Noodles.
Belize, Farming, Food, Pets

Happy New Year!

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Epic Adventure of Explosive Love.

Happy New Year Every-one!! We were all ready to start a massive clean up of the house today when the marching ants came marching into the house. Well, that thwarted the plans of Mice, Munchkin and Men. The marching ants are a massive army of ants (they virtually form a carpet as they move across every inch of floor and wall of your house) searching for debris like scorpions and insects. They carry all these things off to eat. This time they are taking ages to houseclean because we have a wasp nest that they are trying to take down and carry piece by piece.

Army ants carrying a scorpion.

Gnome says that this is a good omen for the new year since nature is helping us out with cleaning up the house. Besides, it is okay to take a day off and chill out!!

Chillin Out!!

Anyway, I will ,leave you with some pictures from the farm:

Moringa Leaves.
Sorrel Seeds.
Sorghum Sprigs.
Our Kittens!

Do you think the kittens are getting too fat? 😉

Wishing every-one a good start to the year. Let’s have a good one this year!

Belize

New Year’s Eve!

Happy New Year’s Eve!! Do you like the picture…a friend actually commented that we really looked like the cartoony pics…even the height difference! A reminiscing tune to bring in the New Year:

See you in 2021!!

Belize, Food

Short and Sweet!

We didn’t manage a second harvest of jujube (Chiney plum) since it was muddy, muggy and buggy…not always Paradise down here!! I still have our canned jujube all beautifully lined up on the shelf…aren’t they a gorgeous colour!!

Canned Jujube.

Just to remind you, here is a picture of the fruit:

Jujube.

Guess what I made!! Jujube Crumble!! It is so easy. I layered the bottom of a baking dish with our canned fruit and then sprinkled a crumble mixture on top (1 cup plain flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter made into a crumble mixture with the hands…messy, but worth it). I put it in the oven at 180oC/350 F) for 45 minutes. Look at that!!

Ooops…wrong way round:

Oh and I also put cinnamon on it…I just remembered because I put it there in the background! Very good!! Would be great with hot custard right now…

Belize, Food

Fasta Pasta!

Just when we were saying that it was time to get out on the farm again because it was drying up, we had a big glorious downpour last night. We can’t get anything done!! And it has been a recurring theme all year!! It’s wet outside…what are we going to do? I am still not done cleaning up but it isn’t a fun thing to do for an end of year finale. Oh, but of course…we can get the noodle machine out!!

Noodle Machine.

This noodle machine weighs about 20lbs (10kgs) and it even comes on a stainless steel stand. It is made of cast iron and stainless steel…the plastic bits on the sides are just veneer to hide the metal gears…Gnome has taken the plastic bits off already because he thinks that they get in the way. Besides, he would rather see the exposed gears.

(I feel like I am writing a product review…Ha-Ha!!)

The Italian pasta machines were very light weight and had to be attached to the table in order to give them stability.

Another good thing (good thing because I am designated dough maker) is that you just need to mix the flour and water very quickly with a spoon. This machine is strong enough to do all the kneading. I can mix about a lb of flour at a time. With the Italian machine, it was about a 1/4lb at a time, the dough had to be kneaded by hand initially and then there was a lengthy dough working process with the pasta machine.

Be warned that using this machine still requires some arm strength but you can see that it has been designed with motorisation in mind. This machine is made in China…you may be surprised. Yes, but you have to realise that Chinese people eat noodles and there has to be machines properly equipped to meet the demand. This noodle machine is a commercial model or (according to their advertising blurb) can be used for large households to feed five or more people. It certainly does the job…

The other thing is…it is a noodle machine…not a pasta machine. You can make the following: one size of noodle (3mm…typical Chinese noodle size), ‘pasta’ sheets and dumplings. There is one noodle cutting attachment only. If you are looking for fancy mafaldine, you need an Italian pasta machine. Gnome has thought of ‘working’ the dough on this noodle machine and then passing it through an Italian pasta cutting machine but the widths of dough are not compatible.

Here is a picture of the noodle cutter in action:

Chocolate Noodles.
Noodles.

These are the noodle cakes that you get:

Chocolate Noodle Cakes.

We are very, very pleased!! Oh, and the price…some people might be interested. Italian pasta machines cost about USD$50.00. The noodle machine is about about USD$125.00. Definitely worth it if you are likely to make lots of noodles. 😉

Belize, Food

Winter Time in Belize!

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It is deepest, darkest winter in Belize right now. The temperature is around18oC/ 64F and it doesn’t get light until 6am in the morning. It is really hard to get up when it is so chilly. The scarves, woolly hats and cardigans are out now and the cats are fighting for a cosy position on our laps. Anyway, I trust you all had a good Christmas; we ended up with a ham dinner since there was a cold front and drizzly showers on Christmas day. It was hard to start a fire and cook our goose in coals outside. Oh, and I was so cold, I asked Gnome to make mulled wine. Of course, we didn’t make it the traditional way (God forbid!)…I walked around the yard to pick all the ingredients…this is what we used: cinnamon leaf, allspice leaf, calamondin peel, chilli pepper and sorrel.

Cinnamon.
Christmas Sorrel.

It was very warming and exactly what I needed for a cold winters day in Belize. All in all, Christmas day was quiet and the cats were so cold that they spent most of the time sleeping!!

Boxing Day was another cold day so we had the bright idea of bringing out the brand new noodle machine. Gnome cranked out skins to make ham and potato dumplings (from our Christmas leftovers!!). We spent the whole morning cranking and filling…ended up with 56 dumplings to freeze and managed to use up all of Christmas dinner. I will have pictures on a later post. Meanwhile, I will leave you with some pictures of our new noodle machine; Gnome is very pleased with it because it is a lot sturdier than the traditional Italian pasta machines. Perhaps this one will make it through a rigorous Munchkin and Gnome marathon! Ohhh…look at that!! Quite formidable looking…Made in China too!!

Noodle Machine.
Noodle Making Machine.

This one can take a pound of flour at one time, un-kneaded! Hours of fun!!

Belize

Merry Christmas!!

Munchkin and Gnome!!

A Very Merry Christmas from Munchkin and Gnome!! May your day be filled with joy and laughter. This is day to make gestures to all. Have a Good One!!

So, cold today (Brrrrrr!!! 20oC/ 68F). We actually made mulled wine. The chilled wine in the fridge will have to wait!!

Cheers!!

Chee-eeeers Everyone!!!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Something Festive.

Christmas Gnome Fairy.

Time to write something Festive since it is Christmas Eve!! We had our last day in town yesterday before the holidays.

Punta Gorda Town.

It was quieter than I imagined but there was the usual hustle and bustle of last minute shopping at the Chiney. This year, there were plenty of imported hams and turkey. Oh, and weirdly enough, there were so many imported berries…strawberries and blackberries and that kind of thing. That is quite a phenomenon here because berries are very uncommon. I was told last year that there was a shortage of flour during this season…this year, it was cream cheese…seems to be a big deal…what do people do with cream cheese??

Everyone that we met tried to evoke some Christmas cheer despite the new COVID-19 curfew for this season with no parties allowed and no mixed households for Christmas. There was the usual exchange of black cake (in our case, it was soap and oils).

No Parties Allowed This Year!

So, what’s happening for Christmas lunch…mmm…it’s gonna be goose this year with home-made wine. This is our Christmas plant this year…calamondin…look, they are like orange bobbles…who needs a Christmas tree on the farm?!

Calamondin Bobbles!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Just a Shortie!!

I am a Shortie!!

Hello and a Happy Wednesday Mornin’ to y’all!! Just a shortie to sneak in some pictures from the farm. By the way, it has been raining so we haven’t been able to clean up the farm once again. Awwwhhh…what can we do…we can laugh or cry about it. Some pictures for your enjoyment:

Very trendy coffee table picture of our cheese rolls:

Our Cheese Rolls!

Dried tobacco from the farm; Gnome has been twistin’

Tobacco Twist.

We are waiting for our sesame seed to seed…very nice looking plants, by the way:

Sesame Seed.

Oh and looky here (Gnome just commented on the fact that ‘I sound like somebody trying to be a Southerner but not really a Southerner’).

Look what we got!!

The next thrilling instalment of Munchkin and Gnome!! Yes!! Hand Noolde Machine!! Let the marathon begin!!

Amusing, Belize

Bumper Ride!

We had a right old bumper ride a few days ago! We were driving along the highway and we suddenly heard a scraping, dragging noise coming from the back of the truck. The bumper came half way off!! To make things worse, it was pouring down!! Gnome stopped the truck by the side of the road and ran out to assess the situation and quick smart, ran back into the shelter of the truck.

Gnome: ‘Munchkin, the bumper’s handing half way off! What are we going to do?’

Oh Dear!!

There was no place nearby to take shelter from the pelting rain. So, I thought the this was the most sensible thing to do:

Munchkin: ‘Let’s have a cup of tea!’

It wasn’t the response that he was looking for but it seemed logical enough so Gnome agreed and we sat down in the truck and had a cup of tea.

It was quite funny…we were actually really cool about it and we didn’t get annoyed about the situation. Gnome asked me if we had anything in the truck to fix the bumper problem temporarily…something like rope or string. I reached down underneath my seat and pulled out a burlap sack…a fairy must have packed this for us…inside the bag, there were two ponchos, 3 large belts for securing loads and a whole lot of string. The first thing I said was:

Munchkin: ‘Do you want the purple or the blue poncho???!!’

(Ha-Ha!!! I was trying to be funny!!)

Gnome didn’t quite get that I was Humorous Munchkin at that point and he said,

Gnome: ‘…this is not the time or place to be choosing colours of ponchos!!’

(Ha-Ha!! Guffaw!!!)

I am trying to be funny!!

It stopped raining after a while and we both donned the ponchos and went outside. The bumper was still welded on the left side but loose on the other side. It was a shame that it didn’t come off entirely because that would have made it easier. Anyway, it was the usual Gnome Magic.

Gnome Magic.

He just made it look easy and simple…he secured the belt with the bumper and added a bit of string for support. An old man came along to help us which was a very nice gesture. Hey Presto:

Belize Bumper Fix

Now, we are driving about like this. It’s not anything unusual in Belize…some people are driving around with a belt or rope securing something loose on the truck. We have joined the ranks of Belize-rigged trucks!! Now, Gnome with have to learn to weld…mig or tig?? We are not sure because we both know nothing about welding!! We better learn quick…