Of course, another food post from The Munchkin. Well, when you live on a farm and you grow your own food, it seems like the next logical step is the cook the wonderful harvests. This is bitter gourd or bitter melon and is known as serosi in Belize. It is renowned for its distinctive bitter taste.
Fresh Serosi.
The variety that is found here in Belize resembles the “Indian” variety. The Chinese type tends to be larger and smoother looking. Serosi is used also in traditional medicine in many cultures to lower blood sugar and to treat infections (particularly parasitic infections eg. worms). A tea from the leaves can also be consumed for its therapeutic value.
Thank-you Mum for teaching me to cook. I really appreciate the fact that we can eat healthy home-cooked meals everyday. It’s all about the love and passion that you put into it!!
We’re back again with The Brand New Munchkin and Gnome Adventures!! Let’s start with a yummy recipe; These are Cacao Butter Cinnamon Buns:
Cacao Butter Cinnamon Buns.
The cacao butter gives a rich and velvety texture and the chocolate flavour seeps through to give a unique experience to the ubiquitous cinnamon bun. What a treat!!
Hello Everyone!! Just some administrative information since we have recently changed web hosts. Our website address for the Blog is now blog.casamascia.com. Page links to the rest of the site are not available yet but we should be updating this soon. You can still read the Blog posts!! You won’t be able to find us on the search engines yet so Gnome has suggested I start writing again so that we can re-establish our web presence.
Okay…will be starting the usual farm stories again interspersed with the odd picture of a welly boot (or two). Oh what fun!!
Thanks to all who responded to my test post yesterday. I am glad that the posts are getting through. Things still aren’t quite perfect yet but we will hopefully get everything sorted out in the next couple of weeks.
Hello!! Is there anyone out there? This is a test post to check if our followers are getting our blogs again. We have been temporarily (one month!!) off line changing hosts and setting up a shop (yeah, a shop that actually has a cart…more to come soon). Please can any of our WordPress followers let us know if they are getting this test post! Thank-you very much!
Our Internet has been a bit dodgy for the last two months or so; it is on and then suddenly it goes off (for minutes, sometimes hours) and then it comes on again. This is because a tree fell on top of the antenna a couple of months ago. And it is still there! Now you are probably wondering why we haven’t removed the tree already…well, it is because a bird has built a nest on the fallen tree. Gnome saw the cute little twittering bird feeding a a whole bunch of little twittering birdies (you can tell that we are not “birders” because the only birds we can actually name are toucans and parrots) and so he came back into the house with his un-used chainsaw. He said:
“We must save the birdies!”
The Gnome has spoken. That’s why we have dodgy Internet right now!!
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.
Coco-Prune Residences.Johnny Daybreeze.
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!!
it’s Not Working!
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!
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.
Mangoes.
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!
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!
it’s Working!
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.
Jackfruit.Jackfruit Baby.
We are still making pasta…black pasta. This one is called Black Opal No.3…made with charcoal.
The Gnome has spoken. That’s why we have dodgy Internet right now!!
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!
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.
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!
