Easter Eggs?

Small Ode to a Small Goat

As I feed you from a bottle

I try to remember your future:

Barbeque.

bye little birds

This was taken the day before these little guys flew away.

Julia Child in Belize

This morning, I boiled a frog.

Not on purpose, of course.  To understand this, you will need some background on our living conditions:  First, we don’t have hot running water, so for bathing we boil water in an electric kettle to warm up our bath. Second, all our water is stored in a large vat outside which currently lacks a cover.  Frogs get into the vat, and then into our plumbing.  Daniel is occasionally surprised by a frog plopping out of the bathtub faucet and into his bath water, and more then one frog has been caught in- and survived- the spin cycle of the washer.

Anyways, apparently this unfortunate frog was included in the water I filled the kettle with this morning.  I did hear one loud croak, but thought it was coming from the washer, and inspected it without finding the frog.  When I was pouring the kettle into the bath, two stiff frog legs popped out of- and stuck in- the spout.  I admit it took me 30 shocked  seconds or so to  realize what had happened.  I stared at those little toes and could for the life of me figure out where they had come from.   Then I couldn’t decide whether to start laughing hysterically or freak out and scream.  As I was by myself, I settled for the less dramatic course of taking a few deep breaths and emptying the water and (fortunately) intact frog out the back door. 

So did that qualify as French cooking?

Farm Babies

Spring came a little early this year, all of a sudden there are babies everywhere...

Sirloin

"the juniors" (twin boys)

Parmesan

Rafael Benjamin, my newest nephew

baby birds....

The hummingbirds have hatched.....

Where I get my food: Part 1

Saturday Market, Cayo

I like to get up early on Saturdays and get to the market before it gets too hot out.  I usually catch a bus- saves me $2, although it takes about 20 minutes longer to get there then a taxi.  But it makes me feel thrifty.  When I get to the market, I have my routine:  first, go around to the movie guy and see if there is anything new, then circle around the back of the market too see if anyone is selling anything interesting (ie, books), and finally stop in at the tiawanese flower sellers to drool over the orchids and roses and silently curse my goats for eating about $100 worth of  my flowers. 

After that I get down to business: fruits and vegetables.  Bananas come from the little boy who sells a bag (about15 bananas) for a dollar.  Today I gave him a $2 bill and he asked me, “how much change do you get?”  Apples come from the vendor who sells 12 apples for $10- a bargain because apples normally are $1 a piece.   Cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, onions- I like to walk around and compare prices.  Usually I will go with the random farmer who has only set up for one day rather then the weekly vendors, cause their stuff tends to be fresher and I think they need the money more.  Potatoes can be bought “clean” or “dirty”- literally those that have been scrubbed, or those that still are dirty from the ground.  The clean ones, of course, are 25 cents more expensive per pound.  It’s the Belizean version of pre-prepped food.  I usually splurge and get the clean ones.

 If Daniel needs a treat, I stop by the roasted peanut guy who sells…roasted peanuts. And then on to the “El Che Hangout” run by a very polite and sweet older gentleman to get a weekly paper.  Finally, home by taxi! (I stopped taking the bus home after an experience where I was carrying multiple bags of stuff on a very crowded bus and ended up standing in the aisle because there were no seats. I couldn’t hold on to anything because my hands were full, and when the bus stopped suddenly I ended up in a very surprised old man’s lap :-)

Little Bird

At the clinic, we found a tiny little hummingbird in her perfect nest....

                              with two eggs about the size of almonds.

Morning Visitor