Remember a couple of weeks ago we had the big baby?
Jackfruit Baby.
And I had explicitly mentioned that all parts could be eaten…even the unformed arils:
Jackfruit Shavings.
Well, here is a recipe for this part of the jackfruit, which is usually discarded. I recommend that you do not eat this part raw because it still has some sticky latex attached to it. The best thing to do is to cook it and so this is a yummy recipe for Curried Ripe Jackfruit.
Curried Jackfruit with Lentils.
The ripe jackfruit caramelises nicely to compliment the mustard seeds, cumin, tumeric and paprika. Fresh curry leaves are used to enhance the flavour of the whole “sweet and savoury dish.”
We both enjoyed the curried jackfruit with lentils and agreed that NO part of the jackfruit should be thrown away!!
This is intended as an introduction to the unspoken customs of Belize. Car Hailing is a particular idiosyncrasy pertaining to the Toledo district, the southernmost part of Belize. If you ever go outside of the district, you will find that you can “car hail” amongst fellow Toledo people so it becomes even more esoteric and meaningful. Nevertheless, this is just a simple and friendly way of “saying Hello” to drivers on the road and it is of particular importance in such a small community where everybody knows each other.
Symbolism is a means of communication without words and so we have ascribed a name to each of the hailing types in order to give meaning to the gesture. Above all, it is just about having fun. So here are the Fundamental Five:
Rabbit Ears: Gentle but kind. Offers Protection to All on the Road.
Car Hailing in Belize: Rabbit Ears.
Double Gibnut: Double Luck. Gibnut are solitary creatures and are rarely found in pairs.
Car Hailing in Belize: Double Gibnut.
Pointing Snake: Projection of Inner Knowledge.
Car Hailing in Belize: Pointing Snake.
Jaguar Paw: Respect to the Power of the Predator.
Car Hailing in Belize: Jaguar Paw.
Upward Facing Dog: Companionship.
Car Hailing in Belize: Upward Facing Dog.
Ok, everybody, let’s start the car hailing revolution. Actions speak louder than words.
This morning, due to heavy rains, the maternity wing of the Paradise Pastures guinea-pig gated community was not inspected. Early afternoon, the maternity ward was found wet and sodden due to a leakage from a faulty water bottle.
All bedding was wet and most importantly, one baby was lying in the wet grass suffering from hypothermia. The piggie was found by Dr. Munchkin (DRCOG), who had come to the facility to conduct a ward round.
Dr. Munchkin
Baby Rogelio was rushed to SCPU (Special Care Piggie Unit) for intensive care.
Hypothermic Piggie in Douglas (SCPU) Suite.
Despite all due care and attention, the baby was not able to be resuscitated and died at 3pm this afternoon. Mother Matilda must now be brave and strong to give her best to her remaining two babes.
Matilda Piggie with Babies.
When asked to comment, Mayor Gnome declined. Apparently, he was out of office and is currently on the road starting his re-election campaign.
Mayor Gnome Declined To Comment.
This sad event brings ominous dark tones to the beginnings of the Mayor Election Campaign.
Grandma Stumpy on the right.
What does Grandma Stumpy have to say about all this?
Stumpy: We’ll get through this…we always have. Since I was knee-high to a grass-hopper Mayor Gnome has always pulled us through. He won’t let us down this time…
We hope for her sake and the community of Paradise Pastures, that she is right.
New Look Gnome. New Look Campaign.
The Paradise Piggies must soldier on despite the unbearable loss…what does the future hold for Paradise Pastures?
On Wednesday morning of this week, Mayor Gnome called an urgent meeting to discuss a serious maternity issue. After the last blunder with the homeless baby piggies, he has been extra cautious with decision making for the gated guinea-pig community of Paradise Pastures.
Mayor Gnome: Unsure.
The problem was this mother piggie…look at the size of her! A young teenager, in her first pregnancy, 10 days past her estimated delivery date.
Post Dates Matilda Piggie.
Mayor Gnome called in the Dr. Munchkin DRCOG (member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) for her expert opinion on the matter.
Dr. Munchkin
This is what Dr. Munchkin said:
Here in Toledo, Belize there are no facilities available for induction of labour simply because of the small population of this area. The council would have insufficient funds to maintain such a facility. I have examined the young mother and she has an unfavourable, unripe cervix and three foetuses can be felt high up in the uterus and at present, there are no signs of her going into labour. Since this is the first pregnancy for this mother, she would be categorised at high risk so I would recommend an urgent elective c-section.
Mother Matilda was admitted into the Susan B Anthony Maternity wing for observation with a view to a c-section scheduled for Thursday morning.
I tell you what…Mayor Gnome must have been praying ALL night for a miracle because…
This morning, Matilda had a normal labour and gave birth to three sprightly new babies. Cor Blimey…it’s a Piggie Miracle!! As soon as the babies’ bums were licked, Mayor Gnome whisked the babes off into the Paisley Suite for a photo shoot:
Three Little Piggies.
Dr. Munchkin was seen shaking her fist at Mayor Gnome! How dare he snatch these babies away from the mother at such a critical bonding time!
She marched into the middle of the photo shoot to take the babies back to their mother! What a scene…angry Dr. Munchkin with her bulging eyes and Mayor Gnome with his “Devil-May-Care” attitude!
Mum Reunited with Babies.
What’s Mayor Gnome up to? Swiping these babies so quickly to get a picture?
TRYING TO WIN VOTES FOR….
THE MAYOR ELECTION 21st SEPTEMBER 2015!!! BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.
We have a sneaky suspicion that Mayor Gnome would rather not be square…
Today we were in Punta Gorda doing our delivering, “hailing” and the usual town stuff. In Punta Gorda, everyone knows you so you have to go through the custom of “hailing.” Ignore this at your peril! Basically, you need to say “Hello, how are you?” to everyone that you know…who happens to be crossing the street, sitting in their shop, driving in their car or standing in the queue in front of you. If you can handle a bit of small talk then that is an added bonus because every-one loves to stop and chat. If you ignore anyone who knows you, you are considered an “ignorant outsider” or just plain rude. These are the unspoken rules of a small community.
We delivered our Pet Products to The Farm Store in Punta Gorda. This particular shop is owned by Mennonites (Anabaptist Christian Group who emigrated originally from Germany and now settled in Belize) and run by local Mayans who have converted into this particular faith. The Farm Store sells anything to do with farming, hardware and pet supplies, basically, anything that is useful to man or beast! We delivered the following:
Jackass Bitters and Neem Pet Soap.
This is not the same as our same-name soap for people. This one has a higher percentage of active ingredients so that it is extra strong for the treatment of fleas, ticks and mites in pets (usually dogs and cats). Gentle but effective, without the use of strong chemicals.
We also took this opportunity to launch our new pet product: Lime Sulphur Pet Dip for Mange, Fleas, Ticks and Ringworm.
Lime Sulphur Pet Dip Label.
This is the label with the instructions. We used recycled beer bottles for this product because they are the cheapest thing to use so that we could sell the product at a rock-bottom price. Gnome created a tag to go with the product with regards to the philosophy of recycling; unfortunately, the network connection to the printer wouldn’t work so we didn’t get this part printed in time. So, this tag will be on the next order:
Lime Sulphur Pet Dip Wrap.
…Gnome Philosophy stuff in small writing for anyone who cares to read Gnome humour.
We use all our stuff on our own pets; they are very healthy and have the reassuring smell of sulphur to them:
Washing Dog with Sulphur Dip.Clean Cat.
This is a picture of the very friendly bossie of the Farm Store. He is a lovely young man:
Mr. Brian Cho at The Farm Store.
So, you can now get our pet stuff at the Farm Store in Punta Gorda. The products will be posted up in the Apothecary soon for those of you living outside Toledo or outside of Belize.
This morning, we got up a tad later than usual at 6am. We sat down to have a hot honey drink whilst drunken baymen (black stingless bees that buzz and bumble in a swaying motion) swarmed around us trying to steal honey from our mugs. It wasn’t that comfortable because every-time I took a sip, the bees would make a mad swoop for the mug and I would cough and splutter trying not to swallow a single bee! What a way to start the morning!
This is a typical day in the life of Munchkin and Gnome.
We mixed up a batch of soap; this time we made Chocolate Vanilla Cookie which is fragranced with a blend of essentail oils to give off the smell of oven-baked cookies. They appear marbled at first but with time, they assume a uniformity with a light chocolate brown colour.
Fresh Chocolate Vanilla Cookie Soap.
Gnome then went off to procure a large stick…wahooo!! The Big Stick is coming out so coconut products will be available soon!
Giant Green Bamboo.
I went off to wash the dogs…they were actually really well-behaved today as I soaped them and then doused them thoroughly with Sulphur-Lime Dip (a Gnome Bored-in-Belize concoction) which is used against fleas, tics, mange and ringworm. It is great stuff and works well…however, we all end up smelling of rotten eggs. Afterwards, I had a shower and doused myself in lavender oil.
Washing Dog with Sulphur Dip.
Next, we both donned our respectable clothes to go into town to assume our identities of Doctors Munchkin and Gnome (or “The Doctors” as we are known in Punta Gorda). We had an appointed patient review.
So, we did our doctoring stuff and as Gnome was walking down the path, he spotted a decaying tree with a whole load of oyster mushrooms growing on them. You have to be on the look-out at all times for mushrooms to pop up! They were such beautiful clean specimens. We picked the whole lot of them and I was so pleased with our find that I let Gnome store them in my town hat.
Oyster Mushrooms.
We also spotted White Goods on a Pick-up! Our Pick-up game that we like playing where we spot white goods on trucks for points.
Munchkin: Sloooow down! What do you think it is…a washing machine? Or a mini freez…
Gnome: Quit blabbering! Take a picture now!! We’re turning left now!! Pronto!
Mystery White Goods on Pick up!
As we were leaving Punta Gorda, we stopped off by the sea to have a hot drink together (yes, I brought my food bag with the thermos flask…no biscuits this time). We stared out at the choppy sea and marvelled at the enormous amounts of seaweed on the shore. This will be a Munchkin and Gnome project for the future…this particular seaweed is called “sargassum.” It is of particular interest to us because it is actually used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is named Hai Zao and it is used to dissolve phlegm, act as a diuretic and relieve oedema.
Sargassum Seaweed.
Homeward bound back to the farm where I cooked up curried ripe jackfruit and lentils for lunch:
Curried Jackfruit with Lentils.
Will post recipe this week! Too much to write about…
And that was just the morning of a typical day with Munchkin and Gnome!
Hello Everyone! Just something short and sweet because I am knackered. I have been doing some spring cleaning and I am gutting out the house. It is absolutely amazing how much stuff accumulates because we keep everything in the vain hope that one day it might come in useful. In my opinion, it never does because you always forget about it or you can’t find it! Chaos reigns…
I have to pull this face again because the day started thus:
The day began with Gnome trying to make “Secret Gnome Stuff” and he chucked a maddy when he couldn’t find his ¼ inch chisel. He was doing his “Hokey-Cokey” again with his left foot in and his right foot in and shaking it all about! I thought he was going to explode.
At this point, I need to point out an important house rule that we have. We can “ chuck a maddy” but the cardinal rule is, only one person at a time. That way, we don’t get into too much trouble with one offering kind support. So, it was his turn this time so I proposed to remedy the situation by buying a chisel.
So off we ran into town.
How mad is that?? By that time we reached town, Gnome had claimed back most of his faculties (although his hair was a bit boofy and his eyes were bulging somewhat) and was starting to speak a bit more coherently. We went into the Farm Store to buy the chisel; they only had a 3/8 inch chisel which Gnome promptly bought because I shot the Chinese woman look of “we came all the way into town…you better damn well buy it!” The main bossie of the store hailed me and said that our Pet Soap was sold out and he placed an order with me. That was a bonus at least.
So, left to his own devices, Gnome made his secret stuff. He won’t tell me what it is. He thinks that it keeps the romance alive to have mystery between us!! I am sure he will write a post on this one.
Other mystery Gnome stuff…some kind of mound with smelly fermented stuff and cardboard. Gnome won’t allow me near it…I will let you know once I figure it out.
Secret Gnome Business.
Anyway, since we can’t find anything and we are literally tripping over buckets everywhere, I have decided to do a big clean up. I am chucking out lots of stuff to get some space around here! It feels somewhat liberating…
Gnome: Is there any “Shepherd’s Pie” to this meal?
(Gnome is referring to the well-known dish of baked minced beef topped with mashed potato).
Munchkin: Yes, the mashed potato on top.
Gnome: Well, there you go. One can not go against the word of a Munchkin! Shepherd’s Pie, it is…a la Munchkin!
(Gnome distinctly dislikes using French terms…I think he was being facetious, if you ask me).
So, here we go: This dish is made with minced (ground) pork (instead of beef) and mango (instead of the tomatoes in Shepherd’s Pie) and shiitake mushrooms (instead of button mushrooms). This gives it a sweet, tangy exotic taste. It is baked and topped with mashed potato with coconut cream (instead of butter).
The authentic part of the recipe is the potato!
I used these little wild mangoes for this recipe; as they say here in Belize they are Sweet Sweet Sweet!
Today we planned a day out to a plant nursery in Stann Creek and set out about 9am for our two hour leisurely cruise. Gnome laughed at me when I packed our “food bag” which consisted of a thermos flask of milky tea and some digestive biscuits. I just shrugged and said that there was simply no place to stop for refreshments (except for supermarkets and bars) on the way to Stann Creek. I didn’t want a beer, I wanted a cuppa tea!
Anyway, as we trundled along in our pick-up truck, we couldn’t help but notice that it kept on making a screechy, high pitched noise every-time he went over 100kph. So, Gnome spent the whole drive trying to keep the noise at bay. The sound was aggravating and we spent the entire drive worrying about ball joints and universal joints and God-knows-what-joints! Gnome is not skilled in fixing mechanised vehicles so if the truck happened to break down, we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere!
After an hour’s drive up the Southern Highway, we finally reached the first civilisation stop: “Tommy’s Superstore” in Bella Vista. This Chinese supermarket is the size of a K-mart and looks like a regular supermarket (this is a big deal in Belize because most of them don’t…not that I care).
Tommy’s Superstore, Bella Vista, Toledo.
We stopped at the car-park and I suggested having a cup of tea with a biscuit. If in doubt…bring out the hot beverage to calm the nerves! We romantically sipped our tea in front of the Chinese supermarket laughing and making light of our harrowing journey. We both agreed that it was best to turn back home in case anything happened. Before we left the car-park, a local farmer on a bike laden with pineapples approached us. You should have seen him…he strung the pineapples in lots of three and hung them from the handle-bars of the bike. He must have had at least thirty of them hanging like Christmas bobble decoration. We bought 15 pineapples just because we were so impressed by his superior co-ordination with the bike-load! And, they looked so sweet and tasty. Gnome was thinking about fermentation whilst I was thinking about dessert!
Pineapples on Strings.
On the way back home, we saw a fridge on a pick-up…1000 points!! Here are two views of our auspicious find.
Munchkin: Slam on the breaks Gnome. I think we got us one here!
Fridge on Pick-up Truck. Back View.
Munchkin: Slowly…slowly….
Gnome: Hurry, hurry before you miss it!
Fridge on a Pick-up. Side View.
For anyone out there who has the vaguest interest in this crazy game that we play, we like to spot “white goods” and various paraphernalia on the back of trucks and we award a points system according to the item. This is our idea of fun (I like to write about it in the vain hope that other people would consider playing the game with us…but alas, nobody seems to get the “fun” part). Anyway, a fridge is awarded the highest score hence the reason why I make Gnome sloooowww down to get a drive-by picture for the blog. Very auspicious!
We got home in one piece, thankfully…
Most of the pineapples have been pared, cut into pieces and frozen. Weather permitting, I will try to dehydrate the rest. I made pineapple cobbler today..I am going to pour some of our wonderful elixir (liqueur) onto it before serving!
Hi Everyone! More wild mushrooms in Belize and we haven’t even stepped outside our farm! I have called these mushrooms “Chinese” because they are eaten mostly in Asian cuisine and they are commercially cultivated for this reason. The wonderful thing is that I can harvest them fresh in my own backyard rather than buying the dehydrated form from China via container transportation to the little known country of Belize.
This one is known as “snow ear” or “silver ear” fungus in Chinese. Yes, even I know this one because it is so popular in Asian cookery. If you ever find yourself in a Chinese household, you will be sure to find a packet of this dehydrated fungus secreted in their food cupboard. It is usually used in soups (pork soup in my household). Wiki states that it is cooked in sweet dishes…I have never heard of it being cooked in this way. Tremella fuciformis growing on a dead branch on our farm; it is slowly getting bigger day by day:
Snow Ear Fungus.
You can buy this mushroom in the dehydrated form in Asian supermarkets. It looks like this:
Dehydrated Snow Ear Mushroom.
The next one is another very popular Chinese fungus called “wood ear.” This is another “must have” in the Asian kitchen cupboard. Again, this one is used in soups and stews. Both the snow ear and the wood ear fungi have the texture and bite of soft and succulent ligamentous tissue…again, you have to be Asian to appreciate this. This is why we like eating them (Gnome likes them too…that’s because he is a wannabee Chinese). Auricularia auricula fungus growing wild on our farm:
Wood Ear Mushroom.
Shop-bought dehydrated form of wood ear mushroom:
Dehydrated Wood Ear Mushrooms.
There is a spelling error on this packet: “Dride Black Fungus.” Gnome figured that it was a Scottish-Chinese who made the spelling mistake. Ha-Ha!!
And, of course, there is the paddy straw mushroom, which I have mentioned in previous posts, which preferentially grows on cacao trash (which we get from the Chocolate Factory in Toledo for manure). These are the egg-shaped mushrooms that you get in Chinese food and stir frys. Volvariella volvacea on our farm:
Paddy Straw Mushrooms.Paddy Straw Mushroom.
You can buy these mushrooms canned in Asian Supermarkets. But guess what…we have fresh ones to eat…yeah!
What an auspicious three-some to find on our farm. Such delectable wild treats…who needs a restaurant when we have the best food right here at home. Whenever I mention going out to eat, Gnome laments and says: Wah!! Our Food is fresh fresh fresh…what more do you want? Why waste money eating bad food outside?
Sometimes he sounds just like my mum! And so we feast a plenty at home…
Remember a couple of weeks ago we had the big baby?
We both enjoyed the curried jackfruit with lentils and agreed that NO part of the jackfruit should be thrown away!!
