Friday, May 16, 2014

Belizean Foods

Because Belizean life (as I have experienced it) largely centers around the kitchen, this post answers many peoples questions about culture, traditions and family life. However, Lauren asked for recipes, so this post is mainly dedicated to her and anyone else who loves to try something new! 

Four eggs, ladies and gentleman, only four. Those are Double yolks!
The Diet


Before I get to recipes, here is a basic Belizean diet. The staples of Belize are: rice, beans, tortillas, bread, – in short, the starch/carbohydrate food group. In the mornings, I have had everything from beans and rice (not to be confused with Rice and Beans*) to hot tortillas to fry jacks to pancakes to johnnycakes. Lunches are extravagant affairs. Belizeans eat the big meal of the day at midday. At lunch, I have dined on rice and beans, salbutes, pollo con consumme, turtle soup, gibnut, fish, and crab. Did I mention the Toledanos have cooking down to an art form?? Yum. Dinner is a repeat meal. Either you have leftovers from lunch or something similar to breakfast (starch). Think of it this way: the cook is done for the night. After slaving away all morning for lunch and then cleaning up after it all afternoon, mom is tired. Belizean women are smart; they make dinner easy because no one wants to cook at the end of a long day. 

As for the local foods found in Belize...
One common profession in Belize is farming. When the Mr. Toledano was younger (he is 90 now!), he had a farm. Today his son has a farm, and many other Belizeans earn their living off the land. Typical food grown in Belize are: carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers (pronounced: coo-coom-ber), cassava, potatoes, cilantro, limes, mangoes, plums (the same name, DIFFERENT *sour* fruit), pineapple, papaya, oranges, grapefruit, watermelon and so much more. There are plenty of fruits and veggies I don’t recognize at the market and this surprised me. I figured shopping at the all-powerful Wal-mart would have exposed me to the variety of produce in the world. Silly me. I’ve never seen Soursop or kennep in Wal-mart, but they are very common here and so tasty!
 
Like a hairy potato, but sweeter

I didn't expect kenneps to be ORANGE on the inside!

Soursop - used for juicing but can be eaten as well

Now for the recipes! Like most great cooks, the Toledanos don't really follow recipes...Therefore, some of these recipes below are from online sources. Rest assured; the essence is the same!


Tortilla de Harina (flour tortillas)
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons shortening or 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water (lukewarm)

Directions:
1 Mix flour, shortening, baking powder, and salt.
2 Gradually stir in water until crumbly dough forms.
3 Work with hands until dough holds together.
4 On a floured surface, shape into a ball and knead until smooth.
5 Divide dough into 12 roughly equal parts.
6 Roll into sphere and let stand ("sleep") for 15 minutes.
7 Using either the palms of your hands or fingertips to flatten into 8 inch circles.
8 Cook on ungreased griddle on medium heat, to cook, when it starts to bubble, flip it over, when it starts to bubble, pat it down with a clean towel or spatula, when the entire tortilla starts to inflate, take it off the grill.

Fry Jacks
Ingredients
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    3 teaspoons baking powder
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
    1 cup water
    Vegetable oil for frying


Directions
Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut shortening into flour. Add water, a little at a time, to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Divide dough into small balls. Let rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Lightly flour counter top or cutting board. Pat dough out with hands into circles.  Cut circle in half. Heat oil and fry on each side until golden brown. Serve hot with honey, jam, sugar or refried beans and cheese.
 
Beans
1 lb of beans of your choice (kidney, pinto, black etc)
1 onion, cut into rings
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
oil, I prefer coconut 
salt 
water
 
1. Clean your beans (which means picking out the rocks, dirt and no good beans). Rinse with water and pick out the ones that float.
2. Add beans to crock pot along with onion rings and garlic. Fill crock pot with enough water to cover the beans by 1-2 inches. 
3. Cook on high for 3 hours or overnight on low. 
4. When beans are soft, add oil and salt to taste. Enjoy!

Stewed Chicken
Ingredients

One chicken, whole or cut up
1 Packet (1 TBSP) Chicken Broth or Bouillon Granules
2 TBSP chopped Onion or more to taste
1 Ball Red Recado 
1 TBSP Black Pepper

Method

Cut up and pepper the chicken well and brown it in some oil. Take out the pieces and brown the onion.  Make broth with the granules, add it to everything, and bring to a boil.

In a little dish, dissolve the Recado.  Take care, this can stain your clothes, fingers, towels, etc.  Use your fingers to work it into a paste or soup.  It will wash off your fingers eventually.  Add Recado and cook chicken until it's starting to fall of the bones.
Rice and Beans
  • 3 cups of beans and water from the crockpot
  • 1 8oz can of coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil
  • 5 tsp All Seasoning Salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 lb regular long grain rice (4 cups of dry rice)
  • ½ small onion diced
  • 3 cloves minced garlic (or more to taste)
  • 10 stands of diced fresh cilantro (separate, use some as garnish)

In a pot, mix together beans, coconut milk and coconut oil; bring to a boil.
Add seasoning salt, black pepper and salt to taste.
Mix in rice, onion, garlic, and cilantro.
Add water until level is 1-1/2 inches above the rice and bean mixture. Cook at medium heat until water disappears, set to low heat.
Add more water, if required, to completely cook the rice.

Stir frequently throughout the cooking process., approximately 30 – 45 minutes.

Mayan Eggs
Eggs (2 per person)
1 medium onion, cut into rings
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 T coconut oil
pinch of salt for flavor

Fry onion, garlic and tomato in coconut oil until tender. Add eggs and scramble. Sprinkle with salt. Serve with bread, corn tortillas and/or beans. Enjoy! 

*And just what is the difference between Rice and Beans, and beans and rice? As you may have noticed from the recipe, Rice and Beans are cooked together, along with other ingredients. Beans and rice on the other hand, are the only two ingredients, cooked separated, but eaten together.


“Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The Lay of the Land

Here's some pictures of Orange Walk because some were curious about the geography of my fair city. There's no way I can describe it - with words or pictures. Yet here is my attempt to do both. Orange Walk is a mixture of dusty streets interspersed with the most amazing splashes of color. At first glance, the streets might not seem particularly impressive- until you're left to your own devices. Then you realize you're lost in a maze. You could play "Where's Waldo" forever here! For example, my house is across from a shop and a church. There are two other churches that I know of (there might be more...) on my street, as well. I know of six tortilla factories in this one town (does the US have any??). Businesses and residences and vacant lots randomly line every street. Every so often, you'll find a bright pink building...or green or blue. As I've said before, EVERYTHING blooms here. If you take the time to stop (and smell the roses), you see lots of plants poking out of odd places. That's Orange Walk in a nutshell: mazes of color. 

Rainbow!

View from Nancy's roof

Flora and Fauna


Why yes, I have taken a picture of the same tree three times. No, it never gets boring
There's a pot of gold at the end of my street!

...which is San Francisco Street

My house!

Down Town Orange Walk

The bright green building is city hall

Near the Ministry of Education

Also near the Min of Ed
 
Around town (I'd tell you the name of the street, but I don't know it!)

also around town, same street

Me, in town

Yet another view of San Francisco Street

Along San Francisco

The park near down town
These next pictures were taken near the river





Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Thursday, May 1, 2014

"...O'er mountains and valleys where prairies roll....through coral isle, over blue lagoon..."

My blog title is an excerpt of the Belize National Anthem and fits my Easter break perfectly.


I had the pleasure of visiting coral isles and traveling o'er mountains. I must admit it is true: "Nature has blessed thee with wealth untold (except I would change "nature" to "God")." What a jewel Belize is, Father God!

San Pedro (also known as La Isla Bonita) 
For Sulmi (and Gineli's) 15th birthday we took a two day trip to San Pedro. It was such a treat to visit an island. You have to remember: I grew up in landlocked Colorado.Therefore, I find large bodies of water, beaches and balmy breezes fascinating. I could have spent my whole time taking pictures of the sea and it STILL wouldn't have captured the amazing vastness or vividness. Thank You God for the time I got to glory in your creation! I did other things too: dining in restaurant with sand on the floor and a tree in the middle, swimming in the hotel pool, reading my book, swinging in a hammock, celebrating the girl's birthday with a fancy dinner, shopping in town and walking the beaches in my bare feet. Yep, I had a good time being recharged.


Our transportation to the airport? A pickup truck!

Kathy ready to go!

Birthday girls, Gineli and Sulmi, with friend, Kristel

We're on vacation!

Tropic Air airport

My seatmate for the plane ride, Kristel!

View from our plane

Belize Coast

Sulmi on the pier

La Isla Bonita!

Nancy and Kathy

The girls



Downtown San Pedro (S.P.)


Our Sunbreeze hotel room

Swimming at the pool :-)


Relaxing in the hammock

Theme verse of Easter break

Their library is on the beach! How cool is that?!?
Kathy, Gineli, Yosselin (from S.P.), Kristel, Sulmi and Me (AND photographer, Nancy :-) )

That'd be a good place for a picnic

Take a minute with me and be AMAZED at the colors of the sea



Jaguar Creek 
 
There are mountains...

Faraway...

...and up close!
Silly me, I thought because I hadn't seen many mountains in Belize that they weren't there. Wrong! I got to experience them during the last half of Easter break when the Central America region missionaries met for a retreat. Some were from Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. I'm so thankful for the new friends I have made and the insight each person added to the group.

Sheila (interpreter for the retreat!), Nancy and Kathy after our morning stroll

Big leaf, big as my head!

Sulmi, Yelsi and me
Some insights from our time together: 
-Someone mentioned that love and sacrifice are connected. The more you love the less you feel the sacrifice. When you are fully charged, this is so true.
-Put margins in your life. I take this as a way to be both task-oriented, but still allow for relational connections (Holy Spirit connections). It is good to have both.
-It is okay to rest because if, "your output exceeds your input" you're not helping anyone.


Did anyone else know that pineapples grow this way??

The theme for the retreat was, "working from a place of rest." I believe that is what the theme of Easter vacation was for me too. After going nonstop, it was difficult to take that break. Sometimes I didn't want to. I would have rather got caught up on the loose ends I had been neglecting. God had other plans. I spent time alone, but God also called me to spend time with people. Being relational was a good thing. I enjoyed the many meals I helped the Toledanos prepare (and eat!).


Looking back, I cannot believe (though I really shouldn't be this surprised) how God used this break. It wasn't like I imagined it at all. When I saw all that I had planned on doing, I was worried that the time would nothing but busyness. Would I need a vacation from my vacation? Instead, it was most relaxing and refreshing break I've had in a long time! 
Kathy, Yelsi and I stayed in the Armadillo Cabana

The Blue Hole



My Hobbit quote this time is rather sentimental as it looks forward to the coming of the King. I believe that God really has blessed Belize with a little bit of heaven. The Creator simply shines through His creation! I'm glad I was forced to stop and see it. 

The streams shall run in gladness,
The lakes shall shine and burn,
And sorrow fail and sadness
At the Mountain-king’s return!”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit