Red Snapper Supper

Some of the staff at Off the Wall Dive Resort    Left to right...Mario, Eileen, Juan, Beverly

Have you ever met a cooking angel?  Someone who can create wonderful meals from very natural ingredients? One such angel, employed by Kendra and Jim at their dive resort, "Off the Wall", made our week on Long Cay a little sort of heaven.  With the most basic of kitchens...

And an outdoor dish washing station, reminiscent of our four bucket river system, she created breakfast, lunch, and dinner with homemade breads at every meal and wonderful native Belizian recipes.  Many things were made from the coconuts that were planted to supplement the crates of vegetables boated in weekly from the markets in Dangriga and the fish caught locally by professional fishermen.  Things like coconut flan, coconut lemon pie, roasted coconut appetizers, German chocolate cake with fresh coconut.  

Every day, Eileen would cheerfully shout, Juan or Junior, or Mario, bring me a few coconuts!  And they would rush to do her bidding, knowing something incredible was coming soon.

When the fishermen visited the island, they left with their pockets heavier and their boat a little lighter. 

Red Snapper being ready to be cleaned

Junior, dive boat captain and expert with a knife as well.

 You might think that the heads would be offered to the waiting birds, but no...while the fish was grilled, the heads were carefully poached with spices and served intact for the native Belizian staff to enjoy.  Feeling somewhat adventurous, I gave them a try!   No wonder they were not tossed to the birds, they were wonderful.  Especially served with fluffy rice cooked in coconut milk.

To make us feel at home, Eileen could also whip up mean pizzas and chocolate chip cookies.

Even with all the exercise we got diving and snorkeling, we all left several lbs. heavier.

Orchids, the National flower of Costa Rica

In 2012, Norm made a boating trip to Turrialba, Costa Rica and brought home some orchids which are doing very well in their new home in Albuquerque.  No blooms yet, but they are still pretty tiny even after a year. My daughter, Brittany, found this lovely jar which acts like a tiny greenhouse and creates its own rain.  I have only added water once.  

Costa Rica orchids

This year, we stayed at the historic Hotel Don Carlos in down town San Jose.  Along with gorgeous artwork from the colonial period, incredible tiles celebrating the important sites in San Jose, the Don Carlos is home to some wonderful orchids.  I took pictures, hoping when my orchids bloom, I will be able to identify what species they are. 

I am linking to Jane's "Flowers in the House" party with this blog post.  Be sure to hope on over there to see some less exotic, but no less lovely flowers.

 

Scuba or Snorkel?

Dawn from our little house on the beach.

Which would you choose?  For me scuba diving was not an option since I was never able to learn to equalize the pressure in my ears, but I just love to snorkel.  When we were in Belize, we took a boat to Off the Wall Dive Resort to spend a week in paradise...with a little "p" since we all survived encounters with enormous nurse sharks, Moray eels, lobsters as large as a two year old human, barracudas that found us more interesting than we did them, and an eagle ray that lazily circled me three times before heading off to feed (thankfully) somewhere else.  I do not have an underwater camera, but will post photos soon by my friends, Sarah and Betsy.

Dive Master, Matthew

Friend, Joanne and scuba instructor, Bev

Betsy and Joanne gearing up

Most of our group geared up for two dives a day with dive master, Matthew and off they went outside the atoll into the open water, with boat captain, Junior dropping them exactly over the dive site of the day.  While they were gone, the rest of us snorkeled off the shore, took naps, used the kayaks or sailboards, watched the hermit crabs in their borrowed shells, scurry about their busy scavenging, or taught the staff to watercolor (me).   

When the  scuba divers returned, Matthew took us out to the inside reefs to snorkel each day.  

On our return, we washed the salt off in these beautiful outdoor showers...

 And spent a little time lounging before dinner.....

Sarah and Bob ignoring the ospreys raising a ruckus (and two chicks) immediately to their right.

 

 

 

Pelican Beach Resort, Belize

On our recent trip to Belize, we flew into Dangriga to stay at the Pelican Beach Resort while waiting for the boat to take us the three hours to Long Caye for the scuba diving and snorkeling part of the trip.  Pelican Beach Resort was not as plush as Robert's Cove in Placencia, where we stayed last year, but very nice for about 2/3 of the cost.  The breakfast on the veranda facing the ocean was yummy. 

Tortillas with eggs, salsa, and cheese

Fry Jacks...similar to our sopapillas.

The grounds

The beach

The dining veranda

We like it so much, we stopped there for lunch again on returning to the mainland before flying off to Costa Rica.  Stay tuned for further adventures.

Dangriga, Belize

On a recent trip to Belize, we visited the Garifuna settlement of Dangriga.   "Sweet water is close at hand" is the loose translation of the Garifuna word Dangriga

Dangriga is the cultural center of the Garifuna peoples in Belize.  Beautiful, friendly folks who are kind to tourists and care about the education of their children  provide a colorful glimpse into the life of Central Americans.

School girls from the Anglican Elementary.  Most children were in uniform.

Selling handmade sifters and graters.

The Garifuna (/ɡəˈrɪfʉnə/gə-rif-uu-nə; pl. Garinagu in Garifuna) are descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people. The British colonial administration used the term Black Carib and Garifuna to distinguish them from Yellow and Red Carib, the Amerindian population that did not intermarry with Africans. The Amerindians who had not intermarried with Africans are still living in the Lesser Antilles; Dominica, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, etc.

Today the Garifuna live primarily in Central America. They live along the Caribbean Coast in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras including the mainland, and on the island of Roatán. There are also diaspora communities of Garifuna in the United States, particularly in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and other major cities. (From Wikipedia)

Selling handmade dolls

Belizian vegetable market

We were lulled to sleep at night by the waves and sound of Garifuna drums in the distance.  Next time I post,  I will share a few photos of the colorful houses and flowers in Dangriga.

Another lovely frock!

When my daughter, Camille, (who loved dresses that would stand straight out when she twirled around) had her fourth birthday, we invited her little friend, Carl, who lived across the street, to her party.  Carl watched Camille open the first four packages with some anticipation.  With a bit of disgust on the fifth one, he declared, "Oh my, another lovely frock!"  All the adults at the party were stunned that a five year old boy knew what a frock was and furthermore could use the word appropriately.  When we thought about it some more, though, we were not as surprised.  

Both of Carl Minzner's parent's were Harvard trained lawyers.  We would frequently hear his dad's booming voice on sunny days outside our window as Dick and his son's, Carl and Max, headed for the park.  Dick would be explaining why the sky was blue or how the trees turned sunlight into chlorophyll.  His mother, Pam, later became a New Mexico Supreme Court Justice...one who wore her own lovely frocks under that not so charming Justice gown.

This fond memory returned to me when I visited the Mariposa Gallery in Nob Hill. One of the artists, Marcia Sednek, whose creations were being showcased in a show titled "Jingle Bell Frock" had created wonderful little sculptural frocks out of all sort of recycled materials.

Photo via

Just a little touch of whimsy for a sunny day.  I was rushing from one errand to another that day, reminding myself a little of the white rabbit..."I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date," but I can never resist this contemporary gallery that celebrates both folk and fine art.  So I popped in for just a minute.  Thirty minutes later, I really was late.

A Not So Secret Obsession

Most of my friends actually know about my slightly shameful and very acquisitive obsession with linens.  Some of them because they have been with me on my garage sale expeditions and visits to antique and vintage stores where I stop at every linen display.  When we had a house fire many years ago, the thing I mourned losing the most was my great-grandmother's crocheted lace tablecloth.

A few guests know about this obsession because they have accidentally opened the dedicated closet for my napkins, tablecloths and odd pieces of rarely used silver serving pieces when looking for a new roll of toilet paper or a fresh towel. This closet was added during construction by our good friend and builder Ray Holland, who suggested that adding a few feet to the back of the house would help make the laundry, master bath and master closet much more usable.  It also made room to store my collection of linens in the office bathroom which opens to the dining room.

My daughters just shake their heads when visiting and are asked to get the green napkins...."no, no, not that shade of green!" when setting the table. They anticipate the day when they will have to find a new home for all these linens when I move into a retirement community. 

For several years, I sublimated my desire to purchase new napkins as I built up the hospitality closet at St. Mark's by asking everyone to check their own closets for napkins they no longer needed. But at some point, even a large church has enough cloth napkins.  Poor me, now I can only admire the displays in stores and firmly chide myself with..."Heather, nobody needs 200 napkins! 

Paper napkins are anathema to me.  I don't like the way they look.  I hate the way they feel, and I dislike filling up the landfills with them.  So I cheerfully haul out the iron every few weeks to restore order to the linen closet.  My friends think that I am crazy. My daughters carefully edit their own possessions in order to not be accused of hoarding like their mother!  But I just blithely reach for clean, ironed napkins to go with almost any theme I chose.  By the way I "set the table."  What in the heck is a tablescape anyway?"  I paint "scapes"... landscapes that is, not create them. Here is the table set for a Mardi Gras theme dinner we hosted last night to plan one of Norm's excursions.

  

I had taken most of my decorations to St. Mark's in preparation for this party...

If you live in Albuquerque and want to come, there are still some tickets available, but they are going fast as last year's attendees are inviting all their friends.  Call on Tuesday to reserve a spot! The office is closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Holiday.

Captain and wife in costume 2012

Court Jesters 2012

 

Incognito 2012

Party Animals 2012

 Sadly, I missed last years party when we were diving in Belize. But this year, we are getting into the Mardi Gras Season, which in many cultures lasts from Epiphany to Shrove Tuesday.

Because I had no masks, beads or other sparkly items, I improvised by layering colored napkins, using my brass candlesticks with purple and green candles, adding some gold with the brass napkins rings and piling some real jewelry in the antique wedding basket centerpiece which my grandmother  (tiring of polishing silver in Hobbs where the air is full of natural gas) ill-advisedly gold leafed!  My friend Jan, who used to live in New Orleans, lent me the wind sock to use at St. Mark's party and I still had it in the car, so hung it from a light fixture for the evening.

And have I stopped acquiring linens?  Not exactly.  When my sister was clearing some things out of her closets and no one else wanted these lovely ivory linen napkins, I rescued them from the Goodwill box.
I will enjoy using them with my wedding china (don't you love the way they echo the design in the china?) and someday perhaps one of my granddaughters will love to iron as well.  

Do you collect something...maybe even a little obsessively? I would love to hear about your collection in the comment box below or by email.