A while back, we received a few interesting and useful gifts from a visiting friend. Since a lot of these things can’t be found in Belize, I’d like to go through them (if you will allow me to indulge). Good quality items are hard to come by in Belize so we were really pleased to receive this stuff.
This is a “MicroPlane” zester. If you make limoncello, you will understand why this one is a God-send. Previously, we used a sharp pocket knife to pain-stakingly zest lemons and limes for our Elixirs. I am not trying to be an advertisement for this little gadget but it I can now remove the zest from a lime (sans pith) in less than 60 seconds!
Great fun in the kitchen…
We have been looking for a cherry pitter for years. I made the mistake of asking somebody from North Carolina to purchase one for me and he replied with:
“Down South, we don’t have no cherries to pit!”
At that point, I made the realisation that Northern America was a very big place and I had to look further north for a cherry pitter! Anyway, this one is for pitting suriname cherry (a sweet red, ridged cherry with a distinct resinous taste) in Belize.
Yes, you can get vegetable peelers in Belize but they are your usual Made In China Piece of Crap (MCPC, for short!). Yes, I am going to rave on about a potato peeler of all things because so far, after peeling about 22lbs (10kg) of Cassava it’s still intact!
The last item is a bottle of Absinthe which we had never tasted before. It boasts a complexity of herbs which we thought would be interesting. However, for our personal tastes, we would have liked it better if it was bitter because we like the taste of wormwood. This particular brand has a very strong anise flavour ;)…Hic!! Thanks For The Gifts!!
Fry Jacks are puffed up fried dough eaten traditionally in Belize for breakfast. They are usually served with refried beans or eggs. I love fry jacks but I have never been able to achieve a good result with recipes found on the Internet. I mentioned this in passing to a Belizean friend and she was aghast at the fact that I had not mastered the art of Fry Jacks after all these years and promptly organised a lesson for me.
The heat is Punishing; It’s stifling hot and we are suffering in the midst of dry season in Belize. I’m not whining for nothing…it has been a real feel of 117F (47C)! Phew!! The Piggies are whining in Paradise too…with squeals, squawks and prolonged weeeeeeeeeees! Mmmm…maybe we should do a Piggie Haircut Day…anyone for a mow-hawk!! It’s not a joke by the way, we do shave their hair as an annual event..
Hope you are having an enlightening Good Friday! Well, it’s hot and we are definitely in the midst of dry season which means it is time to tap copal (Protium copal) for the resin. The most popular use for the copal blocks is as incense. To use, just break off pieces and burn over charcoal. Another use for copal is as a skin treatment for rash, inflammation and itch; copal has been used by the Ancient Maya for centuries as a traditional remedy for skin ailments. It also has natural anti-septic qualities so can be used for minor bacterial and fungal infections. Here are some pictures of fresh copal:
For the people of Punta Gorda, we have a fresh batch of coconut cream at Green Supaul’s. You can’t miss it…it’s in the same freezer as the ice cream and the almond Snickers bars. Here is a snapshot to remind you!
We have been waiting for the “Iguana Rains” for two days now. At 5pm today we had a slight drizzle but not enough to fill two large water tanks. C’mon then…let’s have a downpour, if not for us, but for the sake of the iguana population; they need wet ground to lay their eggs:
Oooooh! We got a whole load of goodies from Singapore. It always feels like Christmas when we open up the box and let all the lovely South-East Asian jars, bottles and silver-foiled packets roll out. We really miss Real Chinese food!!
