Category Archives: Food

The Gate and The Chicken.

December 15, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! Another exciting update on Munchkin and Gnome!! Well, the gate is up and Gnome is none too pleased about it. The gate is now becoming a continuing saga (nightmare?); last time I mentioned that the 16 foot gate was too heavy for both of us to lift so Gnome had to resort to sawing it in half.

He did that and subsequently hung each side up. And guess what? I heard the lament of a Gnome; it was kinda whiny and desperate and I immediately ran to his aid.

Oh dear…with the two sides of the gate hung up, one side was too long so the gate wouldn’t close. We have had to overlap one side over the order in order to close the gate. You’ve got to laugh (or cry, in the case of Gnome). By sawing it in half he forgot to account for the extra space required to hinge two sides instead of one. So here you are; it still works…as a gate…it just doesn’t close snugly! I did try to make Gnome feel better but he would have none of it!

Okay, that’s just life and life is really okay. Oh, I have to tell you about the chicken! So, we are experimenting with cooking over coals since we would like to have Christmas turkey (camp-style)this year. As a test run, we have been cooking chicken. I rubbed a 8lb chicken with salt, white pepper and Italian herbs and placed it in our cast iron pot which was pre-greased on the inside. Gnome dug a shallow hole (about 6 inches) into the ground and proceeded to start a fire. Once he had coals he filled the pit with coals and placed the pot on top and then shoveled coal around it and on top so that it was completely encased in coals.

We also placed whole potatoes in brown paper bags (soaked in water) and put them under coals; we have done this before…Gnome (TM) idea which gives lovely, fluffy roasted potatoes in one hour. After about 45 minutes, the waft of roasted chicken made us feel soooo hungry, we had to start with some potatoes first. We finally decided to open up the pot at 90 minutes and the chicken was cooked…absolutely beautifully. The skin was roasted and crisped to perfection and the meat was succulent and tender! We tucked into it right away because we were starving by then and oh dear…I neglected to take a photograph. Sorry!! No picture but it was truly delicious and we both agreed that it was the best way to cook chicken and we swore that we would never eat chicken any other way from then on!

Anyway…since it was so good, we have decided (it didn’t take much to make this decision) to do another chicken test but this time we need to do a stuffing test. We have decided on the following for the stuffing: mashed potato with diced carrots, shiitake mushrooms and diced water chestnuts. Okay so this time round, I will try to to take a picture before stuffing my face. 🙂 Otherwise I run the risk of over-doing it with cartoony pictures to make up for my lack of real pictures (as I am doing right now). 🙂

After all these test runs, the Christmas turkey should be perfect!! 🙂

Amusing, Belize, Food, Plants

The Chicken Test…

December 13, 2017 Munchkin

Shhhh…it is quiet right now. We went down to Punta Gorda today and it was amazingly quiet; I actually got through bank queues in record time. Everyone is laying low before the Christmas and New Year festivities. It is so nice just to experience this quiet…and back on the farm, none of the animals know about Christmas so it is nothing different. So, shhhh…don’t tell the geese it’s Christmas soon…they might get rowdier and demand a Christmas party!

Anyway we are preparing for Christmas:

We are going to roast a turkey in a huge dutch oven for Christmas and we have never done it before. So, tonight we are doing a test run with a chicken. Gnome is going to dig a pit, fill it up with coals and then stick the dutch oven in the hole and cover it up…kinda like an underground cast iron oven. We managed to find an 8lb chicken so I think we are going to be eating chicken sandwiches until Christmas day.

Anyway, I also would like to show my usual pictures of plants and vegetables around the farm:

What beautiful plants: tobacco. I just like looking at these plants; the leaves are so big and luscious. The flowers have a unique exotic floral scent that comes out on balmy nights:

Peanut butter fruit; when these ripen to a deep red colour, they taste just like peanut butter. The birds always get them so you need to get up early for these ones!

Vetiver: the roots are distilled to produce the classic vetiver essential oil. You need lots and lots of these plants to get a 1/2 oz of oil!

Can’t help it: I love looking at my vegetables! This is serosi or bitter gourd.

Ooooh, another butterfly. Aren’t they lovely…

Hope the chicken cooks well….

Amusing, Belize, Food, Plants

Winter Time in Belize!!

November 30, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! It’s winter time in Belize so temperatures are about 20 Celsius (that’s 68 Fahrenheit for Northern Americans and oldish British people…oh dear, was that politically incorrect of me to say that). Anyway, it’s woolly hat and jumper time, that’s what I am trying to get at. It is the last day of November and I am scared of December…I feel that it is going to whizz by…and another year is gone again. Gnome’s comment:

“How can you get scared of a month…I can understand if it’s a big hairy dog or something…but there are no claws and gnashing teeth…”

Yes he’s right and I can’t do anything about it except maybe try to have some fun and magic (Ha-Ha!!). Okay, more plant pictures:

This is great way to use up discarded paper and cardboard; I tear them into strips and bits and put them in between the vegetable plants. This stops the weeds from coming up (believe me…this is a brilliant idea because it saves me from weeding everyday) and the cardboard is great mulch. We have rocket and kale on the Munchkin menu right now:

This here is a very interesting fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, otherwise known as Miracle fruit. This fruit is amazing and great for party tricks…you give somebody a miracle fruit to eat and then you give them a sour lime; the lime will actually taste really sweet. This is because this fruit contains a natural chemical called miraculin which binds to the tongue’s taste buds causing sour things to taste sweet; the effect lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. It can probably be used as a natural sweetener for diabetics or people who want to cut down their sugar consumption. Apparently, this fruit originated from West Africa where they traditionally use this fruit to sweeten palm wine. This would be an interesting additive for one of Gnome’s fermented beverages.

We both like bitter gourd or serosi as they call it here. It appears to grow very well in buckets. We’ve managed to grow a third generation fruit (by natural selection) that is 2feet (60cm) in length. Normal fruits average about a foot in length. We are trying to grow the longest bitter gourd in the world…maybe get into the Guinness Book of World Records..Ha-Ha!!

Oh and this one is very interesting…this is the toothache plant. When you bite into the flower, you get a tingling sensation in the mouth followed by a numbing sensation. Good for toothaches hence the name. According to Wiki, the leaves can be eaten in salads; I might try experimenting with the flowers and leaves to use as flavouring for sauces and relishes.

These flowers are supposed to attract fireflies at night. I questioned the validity of the statement and said to Gnome: “I haven’t seen fireflies, have you?”

Gnome:

“We haven’t seen the fireflies at night because that’s when we close up the house and run off to bed!!”

Have a lovely Thursday and let’s all have a magical December…

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Hard Work!

November 25, 2017 Munchkin

The work is never done and there isn’t enough time in the day. There isn’t enough time to write blog posts either! Okay, so what’s happening…well, I will start off with my usual joviality. Since we have been so busy on the farm, I haven’t kept up with harvesting fruits and so the place is teeming with blackbirds and jays. They’ve been stealing all the starfruit and peach palm. They are not leaving a single one for us:

Munchkin: “This is daylight robbery. The blackbirds are robbing us blind!”

Gnome:

“Sing a song of sixpence

A pocket full of rye.

FOUR AND TWENTY BLACKBIRDS,

BAKED IN A PIE!”

Oh yes, we were willing to eat iguana curry because we were losing our vegetable garden to them. Well, now we have declared war again…this time, it is the blackbirds!

The cat does his job…now and then…catching birds (I mean)…but not consistently enough…

Okay, so we are painting the veranda and putting railings up. Also, there has been so much erosion, from rains, around the house that the ground is getting washed away! Gnome has come up with a great plan to make partially raised beds, about 1/2 foot in height, and filling them up with our usual sawdust and seaweed. Since water pools in these areas around the house, we have decided to grow peppermint and taro (or any other aquatic plants that we can think of) in these beds so that they can soak up all the water. That sounds lovely…imagine the aroma of beds of mint around the house!

Next on the list, is fixing up the gate because it is falling over. The list is endless! Anyway, we still try to add a nice touch to things so today we are going to go shopping in Punta Gorda (this is a rare event for Munchkin and Gnome…the shopping, I mean) and buy some Christmas lights for our new veranda.

Have a lovely weekend!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

The Usual Farm Stuff…

October 28, 2017 Munchkin

Hello!! Yes we did attend the British High Commission reception a few days ago. Well, we kinda thought that it was a good idea to show our faces since we hardly leave the farm. Gnome:

“…well, we haven’t been seen in public for a while…people might start to believe we are fictional characters…”

Somebody asked me why I was attending and I said that it was because I was Scottish…somehow I think that there was a joke contained in the question…

Anyway, back on the farm, It has stopped raining for a few days but it is still very grey. At least we can walk out and not be sloshing about in wetness!! I’ve got some new pictures…mostly vegetables and plants…ha-ha…we are soooo exciting…but what pictures could we possibly have to show you if we have a farm?

We are growing horseradish which also doubles up as mustard greens. They are in buckets on the veranda…this is to ensure that we always get our greens even when I can’t get out with the heavy rains or if the geese are plotting to ambush me downstairs.

The peppermint is growing really well. And hey look…my pictures are getting better…

Finally, at long last, we have managed to get the sage and rosemary going. Yes, these are more plants on the veranda that need shelter from the heavy rains.

The akee are starting too:

Oh and here is a picture of our back yard. We do indeed live in the bush…

Okay, last farm picture; the summer squash is going crazy with the rains. I guess you can’t complain too much about the weather when you get this:

Have a lovely weekend.

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Waiting…

October 6, 2017 Munchkin

We are waiting for the tropical storm Nate to pass over so we are trying to stay out of trouble by having a quiet day. Right now, looking outside, you wouldn’t think that there was a weather alert…there’s a little gusty wind and no rain at all. So what have we been up to? We went through a dry spell and managed to clear a chunk of bush behind the house; we even managed to burn a few wood piles because it was so hot and sunny. This clearing up is in preparation for rotational goosie pastures which we should hopefully have ready by laying season early next year. The last week has been very, very wet with overnight downpours; the whole place has turned to mud so we had to stop the clearing this week.

Yes, that’s why we wear wellies all the time!

Anyway, I would like to show pictures of the new vegetable garden. If you have been following our Blog, you’ll know that we have been rotating our guinea pig houses and planting vegetables in the unoccupied houses which are full of lovely piggy mulch. I am very pleased with results! We have okra, endives, rocket and aubergine.

Piggie Houses:

The Vegetable Garden:

Not For Eating…tobacco…

Keep safe everyone!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Where Does The Time Go?

August 23, 2017 Munchkin

We are soooo busy we haven’t had time to write. I am either doing something (so can’t be at the computer) or doing nothing (so can’t be bothered because I’m too tired). It’s either 1 or 0 at the moment! Gnome is getting better from his shoulder injury so I’ve got him on “light duties” right now. This still entails moving wheel-barrows of dirt and filling up new vegetable beds. We are dismantling the current piggie beds which are full of wonderful mulch and building new temporary homes for them. It in other words, we have rotational concrete “pastures” for the piggies; the piggies are fed grass and all things nice, they poop and do their thing for 3 months, we then move them along to another home and grow vegetables in the old home. So on and so forth….the piggies are doing their job on the farm! Piggie mulch is fantastic; the earth is black, black, black and there are fat worms wiggling about everywhere!

My lovely Piggies:

So, I’ve got a whole load of seedlings ready including tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, kale, endives and fennel.

I’ll try and write more this week!!

Belize, Food

A Waffly Sunday!

July 23, 2017 Munchkin

Oh, one day it’s sunny, the next day it’s raining the whole day. The weather can’t make up its mind and it’s driving us crazy! We have to make up contingency plans for rainy days now…mostly canning things in our freezer right now…chicken feet done…next we are going to make cassava miso and can black beans. We are actually almost done and will probably be retiring our old freezer this week.

Ha-Ha…now we need a bigger pantry. More jobs for Gnome to keep him busy.

Anyway, we’ve got these wonderful new cast iron waffle irons and going crazy with them. I make up the batter and then Gnome makes them on the stove.

We are having a waffly good time:

These are great; we love them because waffles can be so versatile and it’s great to chuck in all sorts of things into the batter. More about waffle mixes in a later post!!

Oh and a lovely breakfast for a Waffly Sunday (with our duckie eggs of course).

Have a lovely Sunday!!

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Adventures in Eating…

July 12, 2017 Munchkin

Hello There!! It’s a bright and shiny day today so I feel a bit brighter and shinier. How interesting that the weather has a lot to with your mood. Anyway(s), we are doing okay although our never-ending construction has come to a temporary stand-still due to massive pond formations around the house. Nevertheless, we have braved the days with our usual creativity and Munchkin & Gnome interesting ideas. Since, we were both stuck inside the house together (with rains), we decided to have some adventures with food. So, here’s some of the stuff that we got up up to in the kitchen, messing around.

Lotsa aubergines from the farm:

These are very nice cooked on a cast iron grill and served with a little bit of olive oil drizzled on top. Yum!!

Ahhhh….this one is for the Chinese or the very adventurous; these are stinkhorn mushrooms (aka bamboo pith). These come out with the rains especially near bamboo patches but generally speaking, they do come up fairly commonly everywhere on our farm in Toledo.

This is a very pretty specimen with a lacy veil.

These mushrooms can also be picked at their young stage (aka known as Witches’ Eggs).

Clean them up, chop them up and put them in soups and stews. This mushroom imparts a slimey texture kinda like eating fish eyes (ooooh…that’s the Chinese coming out in me…I’m trying to tell it tastes really good….but, you probably think that sounds really awful). On the other hand, you could also describe them as “land oysters”…there, does that sound more enticing??

We are still going with the gelato; this one is made from canistel which is in season right now.

Canistel kinda tastes like cooked sweet potato. There is a lot of carbohydrate content in the fruit and this provides a firm texture to ice-cream. Oh, and we made this on with ground fresh jalapeño. By the way, I just noticed that the picture looks a bit like a pair of breasts(!). It wasn’t my intention but there you go!!

We still have more messing around in the kitchen. Our 27 cubic feet freezer is in its last death throes. It’s moaning and groaning and making awful gurgling noises all the time. Plus, it’s sucking up a whole lot of electricity. So, the plan is to to can (in ball jars) everything in the freezer until there is nothing left. Switch it off and let the old freezer rest in peace. That’s no mean feat if you can guess how much food a Munchkin is capable of hoarding!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Back To Cast Iron Baking.

July 10, 2017 Munchkin 2 Comments

We are going back full circle again. When we first came to Belize, I didn’t have an oven so I used to bake in a cast iron pot on the stove top. Anyway, the cooker (the oven and the knobs dropped off one by one until there were none) carked it a couple of months ago. So, I have gone back to cast iron baking again. It’s not actually difficult at all and it takes less gas (butane) and time. You don’t spend a whole 30 to 60 minutes (with a Mabe oven) waiting for it to heat up to the correct temperature. It just takes five minutes to heat up the cast iron pot and lid.

Just use your favourite bread recipe (of course Munchkin doesn’t have a recipe…she just chucks flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt and whatever exciting things she can find (miso, grains, anything really….oh…great tip…old condiments or end bits of jam in jars are great to chuck into bread). Mix it all up, knead into dough and that’s Munchkin’s Chaos Bread.

Please remember that my “chaos cooking” started off with following recipes and doing it over and over again. In order to get to improvising and creating, you need to put in the “10000 hours” of cooking. BTW, I may not have mentioned that I worked as a cook whilst I was in medical school so have been cooking for a very long time.

If you require a bit more structure to your cooking methods, here is a standard bread recipe courtesy of Fannie Farmer Cookbook:

Take a large mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup of lukewarm water and 1 package of yeast.
Let stand 5 minutes then stir to dissolve the yeast.
Put in another bowl: 1 cup milk, 1 cup boiling water, 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp salt. Stir until lukewarm and then combine with yeast mixture.
Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir and add more flour if needed to make the dough.
Knead, let rise, shape and bake (see below).
This recipe makes about 8 to 10 rolls.

Okay, so this is what you need to do:

Heat up cast iron (12 inch diameter will do) pot (grease bottom well) with lid for 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
Take bread, shaped into rolls, and place in cast iron pot.
Turn heat down to lowest and bake for 8 to 10 minutes with lid on.
Take lid off and flip bread over with a metal spatula. Bake for another ten minutes.

Et viola:

Cool on wire racks as you do with any old sort of bread.

Enjoy:

Casa Mascia Apothecary