Category Archives: Food

More Pasta Colours in Belize!

January 16, 2021 Munchkin 1 Comment

I wrote a blog post titled Pasta Colours in Belize a couple of months ago. We hadn’t finished our experimentation at that point because the pasta machine couldn’t take the Munchkin and Gnome marathon. Anyway, I promised that we would continue with the pasta colours on a later date. Now that we have the noodle machine, we re-started our research on other pasta colours in Belize. I mentioned that we needed a tomato red/orange alternative…this is what we have come up with. First we tried powdered annatto and this it the result. It’s isn’t your typical orangey tomato…it is more rusty brown-orangey:

We still thought that it was a palatable and vibrant colour for a dish. Annatto powder is bland so you don’t get much in terms of contribution of flavour. The next experiment was carrot juice….this one we have fallen in love with…carrot pasta/noodles!! What a lovely colour!

We have also been looking at sources of green coloured pasta. Just as a re-cap, we’ve had spirulina pasta:

We have tried calaloo, an popular green amaranth that is grown in Belize:

We have also made chaya pasta. Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) is a green vegetable found in Belize…everyone in Belize says they love it and it’s heaps good for you but I have never seen a Belizean dish with chaya in it. This is what the plant looks like:

We got very nice results with chaya; oooh, such a beautiful mottled look!!

Chaya is a good source of protein, vitamins, calcium and iron. Using it as an ingredient in pasta/noodles boosts the nutritive value. We are also very pleased with this colour.

Belize, Food

Holiday Pictures!

January 12, 2021 Munchkin

I am sure that you have taken down all the Christmas decorations by now but I still have some holiday pictures to catch up with. Just one festive one and the rest are just things that we did around that time. How time passes quickly…Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye.

This a picture of a piece of black cake that we received from a friend. I don’t want to talk like I am any authority on black cake (because I am not) but it seems to me that the main ingredients are sugar (brown or white, plus or minus molasses), caramel colouring for the black colour, fruit, nuts and rum. Every household has their personal black cake recipe and every household has the best black cake recipe!! It is hard to compare because they can be so different…some people prepare their own fruits months ahead and some don’t even bother with fruit and nut. Essentially (I think) the most important thing is that it is black in colour. Anyway, this year we had the pleasure of a few of these as gifts…Thank-you to all!! A slice with a cup of tea is quite nice…this one has a drizzle of our Chocolate Velvet to make it even more sumptuous.

I think that I mentioned that we had Christmas ham and that we had a lot of left-overs. On Boxing day, we made dumpling sheets from our wonderful Chinese noodle maker:

We made ham and potato dumplings with the skins. It took us the whole morning but we managed to finish up all our left-overs.

We froze most of these so that we can have ‘fast food’ now and then. They are delicious deep-fried or steamed. We had them deep-fried for a treat on Boxing Day. It was a nice way to pass the day…just Munchkin and Gnome with the cats!

Oh yes…the cats…peace (for one day) on Christmas Day…they slept the entire day and night because it was sooooo cold!!

Belize, Food, Plants

Some Interesting Plants!

January 11, 2021 Munchkin

I am trying to keep a captive audience (Ha-Ha) but it isn’t always easy to come up with a catchy title…you know, one where you will definitely click to read the rest of the post! Well, I do have some interesting pictures…if you want to have a nosy…

This one is called a kiwano (Cucumis metuliferus) which is originally from Africa. It is a very unusual fruit because it has horns…the horns are actually very sharp and one fruit is considerably heavy at about 1/2lb in weight.

(Gnome says that it would make a very dangerous fruit weapon. I told him not to worry and that I wouldn’t try to throw one at him even if I got into a bad mood!!)

This fruit is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family. This is our first planting and we have found them very easy to germinate and grow in Belize. They are highly productive but prone to caterpillar infestation. So far, we only have the unripe green ones. They have the same texture as cucumbers. At this stage, they still have a mild tropic fruit flavour which makes them more flavour-some than a cucumber. We have a lot of them right now so we have just been eating them raw as shown in the picture. They are supposed to turn orange-yellow when they are ripe…seems to be taking ages. We can’t wait to try them because they are supposed to have a passion fruit/banana/ tropical fruit type of flavour. We will keep you posted on this one.

Okay, the next picture is amazing. We have been waiting two years for this vine to flower and it was well worth the wait. This is plant is from the Aristolochia genus and this particular variety is called Dutchman’s Pipe.

Wow!! It really does look like a pipe and it is so pretty. The origins of the name comes from a Greek individual called Aristolochos who dreamed that the plant could be used to treat snake bites. Apparently, this plant was an ancient remedy for uterine problems. Now, it is considered toxic and poisonous. This is one of the few ornamental plants that we have. That’s it for now…

Belize, Farming, Food, Pets

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2021 Munchkin 1 Comment

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.

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!!

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

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, Food

Short and Sweet!

December 30, 2020 Munchkin

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!!

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

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!

December 29, 2020 Munchkin

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!!

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:

These are the noodle cakes that you get:

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!

December 28, 2020 Munchkin 2 Comments

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.

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!!

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

Belize, Farming, Food

Something Festive.

December 24, 2020 Munchkin

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

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).

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?!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Just a Shortie!!

December 23, 2020 Munchkin

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:

Dried tobacco from the farm; Gnome has been twistin’

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

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’).

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

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

We Herd Geese!

December 19, 2020 Munchkin

This is a funny conversation that we had today. At least, it made me laugh and guffaw!! I was looking at recipes on the Internet because Gnome said that the chances of finding a chocolate eclair in Belize was very, very slim (almost impossible). I have cravings for chocolate eclairs and they consume my thoughts entirely sometimes!!

Anyway, that part wasn’t really the point of the story. I decided to look at recipes for choux pastry (I made it before a long time ago when I was a medical student…I went through a crazy phase of making profiteroles). I think that if I really want to satisfy my need for a chocolate eclair (and stop the day dreaming) then I have to make choux pastry and stuff them with cream and then put on the top chocolatey layer (mmmm….yum…yum!!).

That part still isn’t the point of the story!! To get the point, I found a very nice choux pastry recipe (it was explained very well with the scientific principles behind the reasons for the ingredients and manipulation of ingredients). When I scrolled down and read the profile of the writer, it was really cool…the description included working in organic farms around Italy ,etc, etc and the finally he mentioned that he once herded 200 sheep on a mountain top (for how long, I don’t know…but it sounded too cool, right!!). So, I got all sucked in about cool blog profiles so I told Gnome about it and mentioned:

‘Can you think of something cool to say about us?”

Gnome’s response:

‘We herd geese!!’

Yes Indeed!! Picture Munchkin and Gnome herding geese around our farm in Belize!! So Cool…Ha-Ha!! Now, we have a blog profile to brag about!! 😉

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Category Archives: Food

More Pasta Colours in Belize!

Holiday Pictures!

Some Interesting Plants!

Happy New Year!

Short and Sweet!

Fasta Pasta!

Winter Time in Belize!

Something Festive.

Just a Shortie!!

We Herd Geese!

Everything Handmade in Belize.