a chicken story

So here is the situation.  My husband loves chickens, and I do not (this has been well documented here).  Somehow he brings home "just a couple" of chickens, and before I know it there are 30 chickens running around the yard.  Our rabbits don't even multiply this fast.

Our latest bunch of chicks are a few months old, and every day Daniel runs out of time before leaving for work, and asks me to feed them.  So at various times during the day, I open the door and throw out rice or bread scraps or whatever is on hand.  Rather predictably, I have conditioned these chickens to come running at the sound of an opening door.  Sadly, these chickens also think it is their right to walk in the house-- perhaps to browse the pantry?

Add to this equation one active toddler who loves opening doors and chasing things.  We can see where this is going....

Yesterday I was occupied with something, when the screen door popped open and a flood of chickens raced in, followed by the babes, who was chasing them using a belt as a whip and yelling "SHHH, SHHH!"  (a noise they use here to herd animals).  This was followed by 20 minutes of me racing around the kitchen, trying to catch scattered running chickens (before they left me any 'presents' on the floor), while being 'helped' by a belt-wielding toddler.   Fun times here on the farm.

And that basically sums up why I have not been blogging as frequently :)

what I am reading: the harvard classics and the autobiography of benjamin franklin

When I came across the Harvard Classics collection while browsing around the internet, I was intrigued.  This collection is a compilation of books and essays, gathered by Harvard president Dr Charles Eliot in 1909. He stated one can achieve a liberal education by reading through these books (which famously can fit on a 5 foot shelf).  As all the books are available for free kindle download from project Gutenburg, I decided to amuse myself by working my way through the set. 

The first book on the list is the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, so that is where I started (though there is no set order; I think I might group books together by time period for my own sake).  I had never read this, and really only knew the basics about Mr Franklin:  he was a big figure in colonial America, he did something with electricity and a kite, and there is a fabulous science museum in Philadelphia named after him.  Though his autobiography is a rather fascinating look at the life of a person in the 1700's in colonial America, I wondered when reading why it is included in this collection.  Most of what I would think of as the important parts of his life, such as his experiments with electricity or his contributions to the Declaration of Independence and time as the president of Pennsylvania, are not included.  I realized that perhaps Franklin's autobiography is the first book in the first volume of this collection because Franklin, incredibly, was almost entirely self-educated.  He had two years of formal education from ages 10-12.  The rest of his impressive abilities in writing, thinking, and languages (he read latin, french, italian, and spanish) came from reading.  He taught himself to write properly by reading famous poems and essays, and then rewriting them in his own words.  He learned debate skills from the Greeks.  And throughout his life, he sought knowledge by forming groups of like-minded people who spent time discussing, debating, and encouraging each others interests. 

Benjamin Franklin was lucky for his time, because he grew up in the printing industry and later became a printer, thus having access to many books.  We have such a rich resource in the internet, and really it is only laziness that keeps me from reading more classics rather then poplar fiction.  I'll take Franklin's story as inspiration to try and improve myself a little.  Anyone else want to tag along? Next up for me is John Woodman's Journal.

Belizean style chicken tacos

There are many, many variations of chicken tacos here in Belize.  This recipe is one I developed, combining a recipe given to me by a Belizean friend and some other elements of chicken tacos I have eaten here.  It uses ingredients that are really common and used in many dishes in Belize.  I think the elements that make a taco "Belizean style" are a soft (rather than crunchy) tortilla, not too spicy, and not too many toppings.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

for the chicken

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cups chicken broth (mine was homemade, if you use store bought cut back on the additional salt)
1 tsp red recado powder
1 tsp allspice berries
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
dash of powdered jalepeno
salt to taste

for the onion topping
1 1/2 cups slice onions
1 tbs olive oil

for the tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups stewed tomatos (again, used homemade here- cut back on the salt if you used canned)
1/3 cup sliced onions (cooked)
1/8 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt

for serving
fresh corn tortillas

Start with the chicken.  Combine the chicken, broth, and seasonings in a large pan, and cover and simmer for 20 minutes or so.  Then remove the lid and allow the liquid to boil off.  Your goal is to get rid of all the extra liquid, leaving chicken that is moist but with slightly crispy edges.

Do all the onion cooking at once.  Fry the onions in the oil, and then turn down the heat, letting the onions soften and caramelize a bit.

Next is the tomato sauce.  Take 1/3 cup of your cooked onion, and blend it in a blender with the stewed tomatoes, cumin and salt.  Then simmer the mixture on the stove, low heat, for about 10 minutes to thicken the sauce a bit.

Warm the corn tortillas to serve, adding the fried onions and tomato sauce on the chicken.

december is done... and we're still here

Well sadly for all those who attended the fancy (and super expensive) end of the world party at the Mayan ruin of Caracol, nothing exciting happened.  The Mayan community sent an editorial into the paper saying that even though the world didn't end, people still should seek to learn from the ancient wisdom of the Mayans.  Hopefully this does not include how to DIY jade tooth inlays... blech.

Meanwhile, we have been mostly doing not much here.  I made 75 chocolate truffles for christmas presents, and baked the world's tastiest ham (orange juice, honey and cloves, sooo good), but the sum total of our decorations was the felt Christmas tree my mom guilted me into completing while she was visiting.  It turned out nice, but had to be kept well out of the grabby reach of the babes.

Daniel is off for Christmas break, and we've been taking some walks, teaching the babes how to herd various animals.  My work will be done when we've taught him how to open and close gates.  Then I can retire from farm work.

In random news, we are baby-sitting my brother-in-law's agouti.  Here is the  not very informative wikipedia link if you don't know what one is. Basically it's a nocturnal rodent, about the size of a cat, and people like to eat them.  Also, it has a very scary growl and teeth, which is why the picture is blurry.

And finally, a few weeks ago the end of the rainbow was in my back yard.  Still haven't found that pot of gold....

odds and ends

1.  For all those wishing to avoid the electronic babysitter (or, as in my case, about to claw their eyes out if one more second of Dora echoes through the house) may I suggest chickens?  This is our routine:  scatter some rice for the chickens, close screen door, plop baby in front of screen door.  Guaranteed 10-20 minutes of baby entertainment.

2. This is not only a huge tarantula in my bathroom, it is evidence that I am not the same person I was four years ago.  When I yelled to Daniel that there was a tarantula as big as a baby's head in the bathroom, he said, "Well chase it out."  And I did. By myself, with a broom and no shrieking.  Who am I?

3.  And here we have much cuteness.  The babes was supervising Daniel in watering our corn.  We're quite sure he will grow up to be a farmer.

Thanksgiving, Belizean style

Today was a bit of an unusual Thanksgiving.  Belize doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but we are lucky to be included in the big Thanksgiving meal Daniel's school hosts for the American volunteers every year.  Normally there is roast chicken or turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, pie-- the traditional stuff.  Everyone contributes a side or desert, and everyone stuffs themselves to the brim.  This year, for some unknown reason, we had barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, and baked beans.  While I am quite thankful for a nice meal that I did not have to cook or clean up after, I now need to make stuffing this weekend to fill the Thanksgiving stuffing hole in my psyche.

BBQ

The babes brought his own seat.  He travels with staff and accessories.

My contribution today was cupcakes.  I like to stick to a few desserts that I do well.  I've never made a pie, but I've got cupcakes with delicious frosting that doesn't melt in the heat (KEY) down pat.
I added some festive sprinkles to make them Thanksgiving-y though.

Pinterest says you can dye sugar to make sprinkles.  This kinda worked, but not really well, fyi.

Grace from Camp Patton is doing a what-did-you-wear for Thanksgiving link up, which I decided would be fun to participate in.  However, when it came to the actual picture-time things got a bit complicated.  My husband was confused (you want me to take a picture? of you? and your shoes? right now??) and the baby decided that moment was a good time to throw a fit because those rocks over there needed to be in his mouth, dang it, so let him go!  Hence the very odd leg position and sun squint.
 

Outfit:

top: thrifted dress tucked into my jeans

jeans: old navy

shoes: Born

bottle: gerber baby (high fashion)

Happy Thanksgiving!

one day

A lot has changed in my days since the last time I did a day in the life post.   A link-up on Hollywood Housewife  inspired me to carry my camera with me, and document all the ordinary things that I see.  I love reading about other people's routines,  head over to her post of you would like a glimpse of other days-in-the-lives

****

1. discarded diaper  2. what the table always looks like now  3. in-house fashion consultant

1. sunny day  2. no paparazzi please  3. laundry lines

6:45-8am

able to sleep in a bit this morning as the baby is playing contently in his crib.  When the bottle banging on the crib rail gets insistent, take the baby down stairs and set him up in the pen with a bottle and some scattered cheerios. It’s sunny outside after 3 days of rain, so I start a wash.

Quickly check email, and hear a curious squelchy sound.   The baby has removed his diaper and tossed it.

1. sleep  2. lists by us, bite by destruct-o-baby  3. beans

8-11 

Put on beans for dinner (eventually will be chili), do dishes, have chocolate-banana shake for breakfast, rinse baby off after he experiments with eating baby powder,  take out trash, hang out laundry, clean up spilt milk, put baby down for nap, finally bathe and get dressed, sweep, pick up house, sit.

1. BEANS!!   2. car distraction  3. chocolate fail

11-12:00 

Baby wakes up.  Feed beans to baby (the only thing he’s guaranteed to eat right now), get things together for road trip, wipe down and dress baby, get out of house! A little nervous about running errands in Spanish Lookout, cause it is farther than I have ever driven by myself with the baby.  Fingers crossed!

12:45-2:30 

Arrive at Spanish Lookout with only about 10 minutes of whining/crying.  Stores are closed for lunchtime, so buy some snacks and have a car picnic.

Realize chocolate bribe-cookies  + warm baby hands was a bad idea.  Rookie mom fail.  Wipe down baby, quickly stop into store and get vanilla flavor. 

1. Lots of big machines around  2.  The main street  3. Feed mill

Spanish Lookout is probably the most developed community in the country.  It is the farming center of Belize, and mostly populated by Mennonites who have immigrated over the last 50 years or so.  It reminds me a lot of rural Pennsylvania, only with palm trees.  You can find most anything here.  Today  I stop at the tin smith, feed mill, agric supply store, and car parts store.  I'm the only woman at the car store, and I get a lot of funny looks.  

1. favorite stretch of highway  2. new grocery store  3. robbery

2:30-3:30

Heading home,  and decide to stop at a new grocery store.  Wipe vanilla cookie crumbs off the baby's hair, eyelashes, and back of neck before going in. This store is pretty clean and well stocked... and I even find some ginger ale, which is hard to come by and a huge treat.  Not a treat: stopping for gas.  $50.00 for 4 gallons of gas, enough to fill 1/4 of my tank.  

1. racing the rain  2. chasing the baby  3. Daniel is home

3:30-5
Rain is coming, race to get laundry in when I get home.  Put away groceries, and sit for a few minutes to drink my ginger ale.  Then start dinner while chasing a hysterically laughing baby in circles around the table.  Daniel comes home!

1. off to do chores  2. sunset  3.  sign for more food!

5-7
Daniel takes the baby in his carrier while he feeds the goats.  This is the highlight of the baby's day!  Then dinner.  We've taught the baby some sign language, and the most-used is "more." Still working on "please."  The baby gets a bath and a bottle, then off to bed a little early cause he is a bit cranky.  I put away leftovers, and wash the dishes.  

7-10
Sit down to edit pictures and check my email and google reader.  Maybe l will read a book later, although I don't have anything interesting lined up.  Then off to bed...

And to end, my favorite picture from the day, taken at sunset.

switch

The annual temperature drop has arrived.  It is my favorite time of year in Belize.  I can bake apple pies and pretend that it doesn't still get up to 85 degrees at noon, cause it was cool enough to wear a sweater for about an hour yesterday morning!  A few days ago I put a blanket on my bed, and today I switched out my warm clothes for my cool clothes.  This consisted of putting away my light pjs and taking out 1 pair of jeans, 2 long sleeve t's and a cardigan.  Then I looked at winter coats online at Old Navy for a while.  Ah, memories.  On the coldest day of the year here, a sweatshirt and a pair of socks works fine, but I can still dream about layering and mittens.  

little steps

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog because things have been quite busy at home.  We have a little guest who will be staying with us for a few months, and he has quite taken over.  Daniel and I call ourselves slave number one and slave number two.

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook know a bit more about our situation, but for privacy reasons I won't be going into detail on the blog.   Instead, I will probably be talking about things like how a toddler who throws food + crawling + ants is a bad, bad combo.  This was not something that ever crossed my mind before.  My floors are cleaner then they have ever been, which is still not clean enough some days.   Most babies learn No! really quickly, this one will probably learn Ants! Ants! Move!!

the best dairy-free chocolate banana shake

It is quite an irony that I live on a dairy farm, with milk and fresh cheese available whenever I want, and I happen to be lactose intolerant.  When our goats are milking I am able to drink that milk (something about a broken-down form of lactose makes that possible) but we only milk them for 5 or so months at a time.  In between, I search for substitutes.  Soy milk is not a big thing here (and quite expensive when it can be found) and other products like almond milk have yet to be introduced.

 I was really excited when an experiment with coconut powder gave me the perfect milk substitute for smoothies and shakes.  The powder adds that creaminess which I love, but surprisingly there is not any coconut flavor.  The powder is also quite cheap; a pack costs about 80 cents and lasts several weeks.  The following recipe is the result of several weeks of experimenting to get the best texture and taste :)

dairy free chocolate banana shake (makes 1 shake)

1 ripe non-frozen banana
1 ripe frozen banana
2 tablespoons coconut powder
2 tablespoons chocolate drink powder (milo or nestle or whatever)
1/2 cup water

mix and blend!