There are millions of them and I am not exaggerating. They are swarming and surrounding our house and getting into every nook and cranny to invade us. This is the biggest Flood Flies day we have seen and we have been here every year for the last 10 years.
Flood Flies.
They keep on coming:
More Flood Flies.
As I write, they are crawling all over us, down the shirts and down the trousers. Ugghh…I dislike (using a very light term) that creepy crawly feeling. There are masses collecting around all the lights, flying amock and dropping their wings.
I am worried about the mess of wings in the morning.
All Gnome is worried about is the mass of protein that he did not catch this time to eat.
What a funny world we live in…each to his own worry!
This is the nuptial flight of the termites which like to eat wood and cellulose. I take back my words, in a previous post, when I said that this day only occurred in May. It can occur in June too! Beware of termites if you live in a wooden house (like we do); they can literally eat you out of house and home.
We were quietly having our morning tea with the sound of continuous rain beating down on our roof and the rabble of the early morning birds, when we were suddenly startled by the sound of the phone going off. It was 7am…from past experience, we only received early phone calls for medical call-outs. I picked up the phone and I recognised the voice of a guy that I knew from Punta Gorda. He was obviously very agitated and addressed me formerly as “doctor.” In my mind, I was thinking,” Yup…it’s a medical call.” Then he garbled on about trying frantically to find my phone number on the Internet. I acknowledged his efforts with some sort of noise indicating encouragement as I anticipated an ailment.
And, then out of the blue he blurted out,” I think I found a Stinkhorn Mushroom!”
I blanked out. Blinked twice. Brain activity stopped for a millisecond as I processed this statement.
I glanced up at the clock…it was 7.05am. In my mind I was thinking,” This guy is phoning me at 7 in the morning to tell me that he has spotted a mushroom in town?”
I don’t think that he even realised that I was taken aback by his statement and went into a frenzy with a description about a potrusion and a net-like thing. He enthusiastically asked,”which part can you eat?” and, “how do I cook it?” and, “Oh, do the Chinese like to eat it…yes I ‘ve heard it’s rather gelatinous…”
I quickly recovered from my surprise and politely corroborated with his description of the Stinkhorn, giving him helpful pointers on the harvesting of the edible mushroom. Afterwards, I put the phone down calmly and then guffawed silently at Gnome who had heard the whole conversation.
Gnome shrugged his shoulders and said nonchalantly, “I guess this is the emergency mushroom hot-line.”
Interestingly enough, in the last few days we have had many sightings of the Stinkhorn Mushroom on our farm. Here are some pictures of this unusual looking fungus.
Stinkhorn Mushroom.Double Stinkhorn Mushroom.
If you would like to read more about this mushroom, Gnome has written an engaging and humourous essay in the library on The Stinkhorn.
This morning (Thursday), we woke up to the distant rumbling of thunder. I suddenly remembered that I had written in the previous evening’s blog that I wanted it to rain. Well, what I should have said was that I intended it to rain at night to fill up our water tanks and that I wanted it to be dry and breezy in the morning for Gnome to fix the water pump. Since our plans were thwarted by the elements, we both agreed whole-heartedly to try to sleep in a bit more and managed to fall asleep again. “Sleeping in” is an extremely rare event for us but we felt the duress of the water shortage and needed a bit more time to come to terms with the situation. All morning wake-up calls were ignored as mad doggie “bow-wowed” and goosie honked to try to get our attention. We finally got up as the orchestra of animals and birds elevated to a crashing crescendo.
I opened up the back door to let the breeze in the house and saw the cat frolicking about in the back-yard eating and playing with a dead frog. He was the only one that did not make any noise. Since we were late he decided to do his own cat thing. As soon as he saw me, he casually walked into the house licking his chops and paws. He brushed passed me and went into the kitchen to chew on a piece of lemongrass to, presumably, freshen his breath after eating dead frog.
Meanwhile the rumbling of thunder sounded a lot nearer and the sky lit up with a lightning strike. The clouds were a dark, slate grey looming over our house. The plans of Munchkin and Gnome aften go astray….we were most upset with the whole situation. I bleated and lamented shaking my finger like a mad Chinese woman. Gnome gesticulated wildly in a well, hot Latino way. If you were a fly on the wall, you would have thought we were doing the “Hokey Cokey” at each other.
Meanwhile…the cat sprang up on a chair and started kneading the cushion in preparation for a whole day of relaxation…ahhh time to sleep.
More madness ensued as I complained about washing clothes with buckets filled with tadpoles. The tadpoles actually stuck to the clothes. I was most vexed with this tadpole-sticking situation…
Meanwhile…the cat finally noticed the commotion and mildly looked in our direction as if to “lend a kind ear” but then shrugged his shoulders and decided he didn’t want the cushion and settled down on the floor.
Cat Settling Down.
The rain clouds gathered and we knew all the yelling in the world would not change the inevitable. After the morning cup of tea, we hauled buckets of water (tadpole free) into the house.
Meanwhile…the cat was doing this:
More Sleeping.
The rain started with a gust of wind, a mild pitter patter and then it was a deluge. Gnome looked at me with a winning smile and told me that it wasn’t all bad. The water tank would be filled up with the heavy rains and he promised me that he would fix the pump problem. It was just not going to be Today! I smiled back at him and realised that everything was alright. These are the challenges of life and we have to get through it together.
The last few days, early morning rains have wreaked havoc on the plans of mice and men (and Gnome and Munchkin). So, what can mere mortals do under these circumstances when they are thwarted by the elements?
Munchkin rummaged around in the kitchen and came up with something tasty.
Dak “Chopped Ham.” Literally in Greek.
We ate Dak.
Dak is the Belize version of the familiar tinned chopped ham that you see on all supermarket shelves. I have no social qualms about broadcasting the fact that I eat this preserved flayed pork meat on occasion, as I grew up in a Chinese household where this food was seen as a legitimate food item. We used to steam it with rice and eat it with fresh green vegetables. Gnome, on the other hand, tells me that many other cultures do not deem this as a proper food. It is a food that might lurk in the back of somebody’s cupboard but most certainly, the harbouring of such an item should never be professed. It is eaten alone…in hushed tones with the lights dimmed down. Ooooh…sounds like fun…a secret society of underground Dak eaters!
Nobody is willing to openly admit that they eat Dak but those cases stacked in the back of Chinese supermarkets that we all see must be going into somebody’s belly! There are times of the year when there is not a single tin to be found on the shelf and everyone is hanging out for the Dak shipment.
So, today we ate Dak chopped ham cooked in onions, tomatoes and Italian herbs with cassava hash browns. Munch away quietly with dimmed lights:
Dak, Tomatoes and Cassava Hash-Browns.
We also had a nice dipping sauce which is so easy to make:
Munchkin’s Dango Dip:
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp soya sauce
Mix well and use as a dip.
You may have already surmised from the name “Dak” that this is Danish in origin. There is also a Chinese version available in Belize called Zwan; the label is written only in Chinese and to be honest, I am a bit wary of it! The name Zwan does not somehow hit the spot and cause me to salivate with hunger. This one definitely has to be hidden in the dark depths of the kitchen cupboard away from prying eyes!
A few years back, I tasted some Belizean food which incorporated this chopped ham. I was at a hospital medical meeting and we were given a buffet of sandwiches for lunch. All the sandwiches were one variety…they were white slices of bread with a filling of margarine and a whiff of pig. At the time, I didn’t say anything and just politely ate the food with no questions asked. The Belizeans were chomping happily away while the Nigerian medical staff had very dubious looks on their faces. Sometime afterwards, I enquired into the nature of these sandwiches whilst I was in the company of well-seasoned ex-pats (they had been around for about 20 years) and they explained that these were called “ham sandwiches” or even “Dak sandwiches.” The filling is made by pulverising the piece of chopped ham into a paste. Margarine is then spread on white soft bread and on top of this, a smear of Dak paste. Therefore, one tin of Dak (200g or 1/2lb) can go a long way and can economically feed a whole party of hungry people. Talk about Homeopathic Ham!
So there you go. How do you eat your Dak? Don’t be shy…we can form a secret society for eaters of forbidden Dak!
A visit to the Post Office in Belize is always full of surprises. First of all, I opened up my post box to find that a Christmas Card had just arrived, 6 months late. Inside, was written, “Hope your Christmas is full of wonderful surprises!” dated the 4th of December 2014. Wow, that was certainly a belated surprise. I wonder where this card has travelled, in all this time from Australia to its final destination in Belize? Mind-boggling, isn’t it?
Anyway, today I had to send a package overseas. I need to tell you about what all this entails so that you know what it means when I send something by post. I had been in the post office the week before with the same package to have it weighed and priced for delivery. At this point it important to mention that there is seldom a queue in the post office but as soon as you walk into the tiny Government building, you feel time suddenly stops and everything moves at an infinitely slower pace. Getting a package price means getting a weight done and a bizarre and mind-boggling calculation (which seems to change from week to week and is dependent on the pricing schedule whims of the clerk, the conjunction of the stars and blind luck). You are talking about a 15 minute wait to get this information.
Upon delivery approval, I brought the package into the post office today…open..to be inspected by the postal staff. The post clerk has to approve of all the contents and the packaging. I am so careful to pack well because I have been sent home a few times with “inadequate packaging” and it was also a very hot Friday afternoon and they were just about to close. I also have to go in armed with brown paper wrap, scissors and sellotape so that I can wrap up the box and have it sent on the same day. I have learned to speed wrap within 60 seconds…not that it actually matters because the rest of the post office world is going at a snail pace. Otherwise, after inspection, you can actually take it back home to wrap up to then return to the post office for final posting! This time, I got another surprise…the price of delivery was less than what was quoted the week before. I wasn’t really that surprised…sometimes it is hit and miss…and most times, I actually lose out with delivery cost and have to pay extra. Nevertheless, this time it was a positive surprise and I will have to get in touch with the recipient to tell them the good news.
The postal service is one of the challenges of Belize. It is not even something that you can complain or get upset about. I have to like or lump it and try to work with the system. I do still want to earn a little bit more money by sending our Apothecary items overseas so I persist with it and hopefully on each occasion, I can find something to be pleasantly surprised about.
This is an actual conversation which took place between Munchkin and Gnome which typically exemplifies the many talks that they have together.
Gnome: I fancy a nice Lancashire Hotpot!
Munchkin: Okay, Darling, I will make it for you.
Gnome: Ooooh, is it going to have lamb in it?
Munchkin: No.
Gnome: Ooooh, are there going to be carrots and potatoes, then?
Munchkin: No.
Gnome: What are you putting in it, my dear?
Munchkin: Pork.
Gnome: In what way is that a Lancashire Hotpot?
Munchkin: It’s slow-cooked in the oven like a Lancashire Hotpot. Mmmm…maybe it isn’t a Lancacshire Hotpot…it’s more like a Shepherd’s Pie.
Gnome: Ooooh, so its going to have mashed potatoes?
Munchkin: No. Mashed taro.
Gnome: In what way is that a Shepherd’s Pie, my dear?
Munchkin: Mmmm…maybe it isn’t a Shepherd’s Pie. I have a great idea…let’s call it Belizean Shepherd’s Hotpot!
Gnome: But Dearest, I asked for a Lancashire Hotpot!
And so this recipe was borne from this loving banter. It is slow cooked like a hotpot in the oven and it has mashed taro (like mashed potatoes) so you could say that it was a very distant cousin, thrice removed, from the Lancashire Hotpot and Shepherd’s Pie. Or, you could argue that there is absolutely no relation to these dishes at all! Nonetheless, it makes a hearty, tasty meal and Gnome did indeed enjoy it, even although it wasn’t what he had asked for!
Baked Meat and Onions in Casserole Dish.
It kinda looks like a purple Shepherd’s Pie from this picture:
Hello There!! I will try to catch-up with this post and bring you up to date. On Tuesday night we had a scary, gusty storm that resulted in a power-cut for most of the night and of course, the Internet went down with it. The storm has brought cooler weather with grey clouds and it even rained heavily this morning. The Internet started up again today…yay…it is so insidious how we feel that “we need Internet” and life just isn’t the same without it. When I down-loaded my bunch of late emails, they weren’t all that exciting and most of them were spam, anyway!
Well, since it was a Rainy Day, we made Pineapple Melomel (mead with fruit). Yesterday, I had bought 20 ripe pineapples from the market for BZD 30.00 (USD 15.00) in an attempt to excite Gnome into making some more booze (nice, sparkling, champagne-like stuff) for me. After I got the pineapples loaded onto the truck, he gave me a whiny look and said that he was hoping that I had bought the plantains instead of the pineapples. That remark got him a “Chinese Woman Look” and stopped the complaints quick smart.
This is what we did.
We removed the heads and scrubbed them in the sink:
Washing Pineapples.
I then started chopping up the pineapples. Whilst I was doing this, I kindly asked Gnome to take some pictures of this process. All the pictures were soooo baaaad!! They were out of focus and made my hands look stumpy and small…or, are they really like that? I had to re-take some photos:
Chopping Pineapples…Look No Hands!!Pineapple, Chopped.
Gnome put the pineapple chunks through the juicer to get the juice and the pulp:
Juicing Pineapple.
We ended up processing 10 pineapples in all because it was actually a lot of work and the juicer was over-heating and complaining with the work-load. So, we managed to get about 6 litres (1 and 1/2 gallons) of juice from it all.
Frothy Pineapple Juice.
We got an extra 2 litres (2 quarts) of juice from the squeezing of the pulp:
Squeezed Pineapple Fibre.
We waste nothing!! We gave this and some pineapple peel to the duckies this morning. It was a Pineapple Feast…look closely at silly white duck…he even has a bit of pineapple stuck to his head.
Pineapple Fest For Duckies!
We have noticed that our duckies are totally neophobic with food unless it is yellow in colour. So, I was received by joyful and frenzied quackings today when I brought out the basin of pineapple waste.
Duckie Eating Pineapple.
While I was out playing with the duckies, Gnome proceeded with the making of his pineapple melomel; honey and fresh Toledo rainwater (very fresh!) was added to make the batch up to 5 gallons. Gnome will be posting up the recipe in Bored-in-Belize over the next few days.
Heating Melomel:
Heating Melomel.
Yes, I know…it all looks very yellow (just like all the other pictures) but believe me, this will taste great! Tomorrow, we will be processing the rest of the pineapples and adding honey and fresh ginger. In the words of Gnome, “Make it a Metheglin.”
This whole week we have been running back and forth to another farm because we were asked to do tests on the grapes. It has been a real organisational week trying to fit in the tight schedule on our farm with driving out at designated times and days. I have learned more about grapes in one week than I have ever in my entire life; the tests that we did were Brix or Specific Gravity which is sugar level, pH which is a measurement of acidity or alkalinity and TA (Titratable Acidity) which is a measurement of all acid, even in the bound form. All these tests are helpful in determining an ideal picking time for grapes in order to make wine.
Ripening Grapes.
We had to conduct the tests all week so that we could determine a trend and then consider the perfect harvest day, the last test date was Friday morning…what a day!!
We got up early in the morning to brush-mow, do coconuts and all our usual stuff. The heat was on…by 9am we were in the car zooming off to collect grapes and then back to our farm to do the tests. After that, we were on the road again…to Placencia this time for a Birthday party. Phew…it was just non-stop!! We gave our friend a gift of Gnome’s Home-made Mead with Happy Birthday Commemorative labels!
After the Birthday party, it was another two hour drive back to Toledo. By that time it was getting dark so we had to get back to the thinking about the grape picking again. From our results we had determined Sunday as the harvest date and so we wrote a schedule up en-route back to Toledo. We were so tired, on the road, and did not feel up to it but nonetheless we organised a run down of events. Gnome said that it was important to make a schedule because it involved so many different jobs which had to be co-ordinated at the same time. To Gnome, it was about efficiency of time and so he didn’t want all of us sloppily trudging about with buckets of grapes in an aimless, meandering sort of way.
Anyway after a whole week of running around and testing grapes, the harvest was cancelled. We kind of felt a bit of an anti-climax after all the energy we channelled into it. Partly because of that, we lost our momentum and fell crashing into a heap of exhausted tiredness today. We slept all day…I was so tired, I was blowing bubbles!!
We feel a bit more human now and have recovered some of our energy. Glad to have spent the whole day on the farm without needing to leave.
“Home is where the Heart is” …this was affirmed by the birth of two new piggies in the maternity ward; this morning we were greeted by mother-piggy licking and cleaning up her brand new babies! Mayor Gnome gave the mother and new piggies his blessings and then promptly fell asleep…with a smile on his face!
Mayor Gnome Exhausted.
Sunday Harvest, Ripe New Piggies:
Blanc du Bois and Cab-Sav.
Brix level 24 = super sweet!! (wine joke).
Mayor Gnome gave a gift of grass; triple grass like “triple salad.” All Paradise Piggies were rejoicing and weeweeing in unison. Mayor Gnome is well on his way to another term.
Mayor Gnome. Harvest Time. Reaping the Rewards of his Hard Work!
Hi Everyone!! Just something short and sweet today because we are both hot and knackered from our town day. It is was our usual frenzied running around seeing patients in between delivering soap orders, opportunistic coconut cream selling and buying supplies. Sometimes it gets so funny…I have a bucket of coconut cream in one hand and a doctor’s bag in the other!
Anyway,”Soft Lilacs For Springtime” is the kind of title that a well established British boutique would use to sell expensive furnishings and perhaps soaps! So, I just wanted to see if I would get more traffic into The Apothecary with a title that promises elegance and panache!
Furnish your bathroom with these delightful soft-lilac soaps:
Stacks of Lilac Soaps: Indulge in Sophistication.
Gentle swirls inspire calmness and serenity:
A must for the discerning; Gentleman’s Shaving Soap:
When the lady of the house hosts her fabulous dinner parties, visitorswill see this remarkable soap in the bathroom and she will be praised for hersoap discernment. Her social standing will surely be raised as a result of this…
Munchkin of the House Knows Her Soaps.
Our new soaps are Clay Artisan Soaps made from the purple clay from Bladen, Toledo area of Belize. They are gently exfoliating and have a lovely and luxurious scent of sandalwood. The Gentleman’s shaving soap is back by popular demand as the clay acts as a good slip which results in an even, smooth shave.
Raw Bladen Clay.
Come on everyone, show that you know good soap…show your discernment. Buy our soap!! 🙂
I pondered over getting a hand-held vacuum cleaner for a long time. The main reason is because I live in Belize and it isn’t a matter of going down to the shopping mall or going online and ordering it on 24 hour delivery. Making a decision to buy something which can’t be bought in Belize entails ordering it on-line, sending it to a shipping company which transports to Belize, sending the invoice to the shippers, waiting anywhere from 2 to 6 months to get it shipped here, paying duty and transportation and then driving to the final collection point which is a 2 to 3 hours away.
And so I cogitated, procrastinated and then did some more thinking and finally told Gnome that I really, really wanted a Eureka hand-held vacuum cleaner. I went on-line to Amazon and noted that in some of the reviews, many people mentioned that it was very heavy for a hand-held machine. And so I told Gnome that the vacuum cleaner was 5lbs in weight but I wasn’t sure if this was too much for me to handle. With a glint in his eye he mentioned that the Cat was 5lbs in weight (at that time). He said rather nonchalantly, “Try the cat.”
The Cat.
I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that comment so he further explained that I should lift up the cat with one arm and shugle him about like I would a vacuum cleaner. And so I did, with the kind permission of our pet cat, Ewan. He didn’t seem too heavy to handle and he didn’t seem that bothered by my man-handling. And so Gnome concluded from my cat-vacuum cleaner emulation experiment that the Eureka was to be bought and I should go on-line immediately to purchase it and fulfill my cleaning requirements.
Six months later we collected it and brought it home. I was beaming with hope, pleasure and excitement as I unwrapped the box like a Christmas present (a belated one at that). It didn’t turn out to be heavy at all…Munchkin power can handle a measly 5lbs in weight and it worked like a charm.
Now the funny thing is that it is a running joke that the Eureka and the Cat are both sucking up all the crumbs on the kitchen floor and under the dining room table. We have a good old laugh about it…which is which? We have even started calling the cat “Eureka!”
Which Eureka?!Eureka and Ewan Lounging.
HaHa…we know how to entertain ourselves out here in the middle of nowhere!
There are millions of them and I am not exaggerating. They are swarming and surrounding our house and getting into every nook and cranny to invade us. This is the biggest Flood Flies day we have seen and we have been here every year for the last 10 years.
What a funny world we live in…each to his own worry!
