Phew…another busy day today in town! Crazy day with patients, in between dashing into very busy shops. It was so funny, in the Chinese supermarket, waiting in line and watching everyone buy “Christmas Goodies” including Aunt Gemima’s lemon cake mix, marbles, Pringles and basically anything appearing “luxurious” and decadent.
I walked into the Chinese restaurant:
Lots of Beer.
I looked over at the wall of beer and I said to the Chinese girl:
“Are you ready for Christmas?”
And she replied with a sheepish smile:
“Yeah!”
Well, I suppose with 1898 bottles of beer she is all geared up for Christmas! Are you Ready For Christmas?? Merry Christmas Everyone!!
The morning started off with a torrential rain which filled up our tanks. Yay…this means that we can continue to have long hot showers and keep on using the washing machine. We are thankful for small blessings! After the rains, we walked together with a wheel-barrow of seedlings to plant out (gosh…this is Munchkin and Gnome romancing!).
We planted out Carob seedlings. We are especially excited about these because these can be a nutritional chocolate alternative and the seeds are a source of guar gum. We planted these on high ground because they are not supposed to like “wet feet.”
Carob Seedling.
We also planted some good varieties of mangoes…I know that this sounds rather mundane for the tropics but on our farm we have NO mango trees! This also happens to be our favourite fruit so we are trying to catch up. When we first came to Belize ten years we spent all our time planting unusual edible tropical fruits and forgot about the ubiquitous mango.
Freshly Mowed Field Ready For Mango Planting.
We have found from our own personal experience as wannabee farmers that the best way to plant a seedling is to cut the bottom off the plant pot and set it in a shallow (6 inches) hole. This ensures that the roots are not disturbed and also you can weed-wack around it without damaging the plant.
Planted Mango.
Ooooh look our betel nut is flowering…not sure what to do with it so we will have to do some research on that one…
Betel Palm Flower.
And, last but not least, the mushrooms are coming out with the rains. This is Turkey Tail mushroom which can be boiled up for a tea and is rich in anti-oxidants.
Turkey Tale Mushroom.
This is Chicken of The Woods. We are waiting for them to get bigger so that we can harvest them to eat. When you cook them up, they taste just like chicken. Yummy…can’t wait!!
Oh what a day…phew I am glad that I survived it! We had a whole load of Christmas deliveries to send out today and guess what? The truck wouldn’t start!
This is when the Italian Gnome came out with lots of gesticulations towards the sky, gesticulations towards anything really…even the goosie got caught in the cross-fire. Goosie sort of looked at the ranting Gnome and edged away into the coconuts (now, that is something for a very aggressive goose who thinks that he is boss of the farm).
Mr. Goosie.
There was a lot of muttering about the “starter” and “connections” and then I slowly edged away too. It was all rather emotional, hairy with some heavy breathing. Not something a Munchkin can cope with so off I scurried into the house to look busy!!
It was really “touch and go” for the while! Eventually the car did start and I didn’t ask any questions. We just loaded the packages into the truck quick smart so that we could get a move on.
Poor Gnome…what a strop he got into…the emotions of an Italian can sometimes get so hot and overbearing (a bit like the dry season in the Tropics). Anyway, I finally got Gnome into a better mood with a coffee by the sea:
Punta Gorda Seaside.
Thank Goodness for the Duckie Bag!! Phew…saved by the Duckie Bag…all problems solved with a hot drink and plenty of love and encouragement by the sea!
It is a Saturday night and I am posting up pictures of terrapins…ha-ha…I have “tagged” this one as “Friday Night Stuck At Home Post.” As you already know, Gnome has been hard at working cleaning up the farm. The other day, whilst he was mowing, he found a big terrapin in the grass. These are so big compared to the tiny ones that I used to have as childhood pets.
Terrapin Top View.
Here are a few pictures of this lovely, cute friendly beast.
Terrapin Side View.
And, another one…
Terrapin.
Anyway, if you are also at home this evening, here is a tune to listen to whilst sipping a glass of red wine or port:
Since we have been doing a super clean up of the farm in this fabulous weather (bright and sunny with no rain) I thought I would take this opportunity to share some pictures of the farm. It is remarkable how great it looks when it is not all bushy with high grass!
When we first came to Belize, 10 years ago we ventured into the bush in search of rosewood seeds to start a grove on our farm. Over years, there has been much logging of these magnificent trees and they are dwindling in number. We have set up this grove as a “seed bank” so that there will still be opportunity to cultivate these trees in the future. Our rosewood trees are looking good and gives a shaded place for a cool picnic area.
Rosewood Trees.
The first young fruits of the soursop have just started which is a much-loved fruit of the Tropics:
Soursop
And this is roseapple which tastes of rose petals. They are actually very hard to spot because of the green colour…if only they would turn pink or red! I think all of our resident birdies taste of roses since they are the ones eating most of them…
Flowering Rose Apple.
Last but not least, our lovely pond area where we would like to house a gaggle of geese! One day, we shall have loads of geese a-honking in our pond!!
Gnome-Of-All-Trades is doing all sorts of things. You would think he was a super hero or something with all the work that he is getting on with. Super- Gnome (TM!!). Mmmmm, with all the Super Hero films that are being churned out of Hollywood maybe they would consider this as a movie…Ha-Ha!! Could be plausible…after-all, they have done an Ant-Man? What’s next…Mosquito-Man?
Anyway, excuse the rant and let us move swiftly onto the subject of Gnome-Rigging. This is what happens when something breaks and there is no 24 hour Amazon delivery to get parts needed urgently. The main switch for the brush-mower has fallen apart (from age, tropical weather, somebody else borrowing it and not using it properly, etc, etc) so now Gnome switches it on by fusing two wires together (like hot-wiring cars). Like so:
Gnome Rigging.
The main switch does not work anymore…so connections now have to be made manually. Hence the reason for the “bird’s nest” of wires attractively sticking out the back of the mower. Artistic…
Bird’s Nest Wiring.
Please be warned that Gnome-Rigging does not comply with safety standards and regulations. Yes, you better Belize it!!
More Gnome Rigging: No proper table to work on so he balances plywood on two crates:
Gnome Working.
Against all odds, he is doing it all on the farm! He is also panelling the inside of the house! Yippee!! Of course, all this work is intermittently interrupted by hissy fits from a poor frustrated Gnome trying to get things done despite all the imperfections of living in the bush!
Are you sure you want to….Follow us into THE JUNGLE??….
Oooooh!!! Munchkin was let loose in the kitchen to make a Christmas Cake! If you follow the Blog, you will know that there have been many baking disasters in the past…especially around the Festive Season when she has good intentions in baking but they never turn out! This “Christmas Stollen” was fortunately rescued and morphed into a Monster Christmas Chaos Cake!
Trying to work yeasted dough for baking in a 35C (95F) kitchen is bound to end in disaster. The sticky dough expands within seconds, doubles in bulk within minutes and if you don’t get it into the oven quick smart…it is bound to explode all over the place. Not a pretty sight to see a red-faced, hot Munchkin anxiously trying to mix dough quickly before it all splatters on the walls! Arrrgh!!!
Anyway, the Stollen was rescued and become a gorgeous Christmas Cake decorated with dried sapodilla from the farm:
Christmas Chaos Cake.
Enjoyed indulgently with vanilla glaze drizzle. Mmmmm…what a save!!
What a treat and a carbohydrate lover’s delight to make yummy stuff with a pasta machine. Yes, every now and then we have a total carb blitz and Gnome cranks up his pasta machine.
Rolling Out Dough.
My contribution is the making of the dough which just takes a couple of minutes. Now, the real Italian way of making pasta is actually to use the machine to “knead” the dough. So, no need for Munchkin to knead…just a quick mix is required:
Mixing Dough.
And the rest is Gnome know-how with the pasta machine (taught diligently by his mother). He has been churning out some lovely fresh pasta and pies!
Fresh Pasta.Gnome Mini Pies.
Pasta machines are actually very versatile because, besides the pasta, you can also make pastries for pies, croissants, puff pastry, filo pastry and whatever else you can imagine. We have been eating pasta (noodles) everyday. Getting bloated and sleepy but still getting the farm work done at the same time. Well, we still have to work off all the calories!
Hello Everyone!! We would like to offer our support to Richard and Alisa Atkinson (for all our British readers, they are the ones that appeared on TV with Kevin McCloud). They are holding a Christmas Fair at Tumul K’in Centre of Learning in Toledo.
Some stuff that we have donated for the Christmas raffle:
Casa Mascia Donations.
Hopefully we will see you there!! Mark Sunday the 13th of December on your calendar for the most spectacular Christmas event in Toledo!!
Here’s a medical one. An eponymous syndrome is an ailment named after a person. During medical school, it was a favourite past time amongst us all (yes, we were a bunch of sad buggers with no mates) to memorise as many eponymous syndromes as possible and rhyme them off whilst intoxicated with alcohol. Of course, I didn’t do that kind of thing (Ha-Ha) but I did study up on the syndromes like a swotty Munchkin.
Ulysses Syndrome comes to mind because it is rather the way that I have seen Medicine being utilised everywhere.
And so the Ulysses (Odysseus) story and syndrome goes like this…
After the Trojan war Ulysses, King of Ithaca, had many dangerous and perhaps pointless adventures before he returned to his starting place. Similarly, many patients with incurable diseases start with a problem and end up with much the same problem. This is usually after many dangerous and pointless tests. The Ulysses Syndrome describes this over-investigation.
To investigate or not to investigate. Before you embark on your adventure you may want to speak to us about it.
