Another day, another dawn, and so it goes. Dawn on Saturday, February 12 was intense and stunning. I took tons of photos and pared them down to 2 for your eyes.
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| So intense it was almost scary. |
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| Mellowing a bit. |
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| The lovely light shows off our refurbished beach (with the cement blocks are protecting the red mangrove seedlings we transplanted). A newly designed turtle ramp will go at the bottom left. |
Finally, the preserved lemons were ready to use. I made chicken tangine using 2 recipes from the New York Times as guides. I used the cooking method of one recipe and the additional ingredients of the second recipe. Lots of spices involved - cumin, ground coriander, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, allspice, and fresh cilantro. Also kalamata olives, green olives, tomatoes, onion, garlic. And don't forget the preserved lemons! It was not difficult and tasted fantastic. Next time I will omit the kalamata olives, they were too dominant, and I will be sure to have turmeric on hand. And I won't hold back on the lemon! The flavor of the lemon made all the other flavors dance together, especially on the second day.
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| Chicken tangine, ready to serve. |
Dawn on Sunday was slightly more sedate.
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| If you click to enlarge, you might be able to see Venus, just to the right of center in the upper third of the image. |
Finally, one of the parrots that we hear every day cooperated by sitting on a bare branch in the gumbo limbo tree behind our back veranda. I thought is was a yellow headed parrot, but Nikki Buxton of Belize Bird Rescue told me it is a red lored parrot. Still hoping for a photo op of a yellow head.
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| What a beauty! Its mate was hiding in the leaves and friends were scattered throughout other nearby trees. |
The weather changed on Monday, with clouds and rain moving slowly in. Not good conditions for photography. But at least there was no wind to speak of and the sea has been calm. It is still gloomy and drizzling today.
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| Not the conditions the passengers on the cruise were expecting! |
Even now at midday, it is quite cool. I have a lentil casserole in the oven to get the house a bit warmer.
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| One blanket may not be enough! |
Stay warm and cozy where ever you are.
I know the challenge of paring down photos of views like that. So glorious! And your refurbished beach looks exceptional.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's tough to limit the photos, but ya gotta do it! The beach is a delight to walk on now.
DeleteI love your beach, also how you study and take care of the wildlife. Such a beautiful place. It's in good hands.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Boud. We would have done a few differently if we had know then what we know now! Life is like that, isn't it? But we learn and carry on, doing our best.
DeleteI'm sure your chicken tangine was amazing! So many things are better the second day, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteYour pictures of the dawn are so striking and dramatic. They remind me of the sunsets in Cozumel and sometimes, when I'm there watching them I think, "Really, sunset. You don't have to try THAT hard. But thank-you."
Do you swim much at the beach?
The sea makes such a wonderful foreground for sunrise and sunset, doesn't it? We don't swim, per se, but I do play and wade in the water pretty often, especially when the sea is calm. Before we moved down here, I thought I would swim most days the conditions were good, but there is just too much boat traffic coming to within feet of our dock. Turns out the route for the local tour boats to miss the coral heads and shallows is RIGHT HERE! So instead I wave to tourists and do my best to make them envious! Lol.
DeleteI can feel the heat off of that first panoramic Wilma.
ReplyDeleteIt looks almost nuclear, doesn't it? Wait - the sun is nuclear!
DeleteSuch beauty! Thank you so much and your food sounds amazing too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, e! The food turned out very good and I will be making it again. I try to give due appreciation for the beauty right at my doorstep.
DeleteThat sunrise does look almost nuclear! The tagine looks familiar from my years in Morocco -- the chicken/olives/preserved lemons combo is very traditional.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the cruise ship reminds me of my own trip to Belize several years ago -- I was on a cruise with Dave and my family. I blogged some photos at the time!
Again, I love seeing all this tropical color. :)
As I said to Roy - the sun is nuclear! It was almost scary!
ReplyDeleteI liked the green olives in the chicken, but the I may have overdone the number of kalamata olives. Anyway the kalamata flavor was a little out of balance. Were you in Morocco very long? That sounds like a wonerful adventure.
I will have to search your blog for your trip to Belize. Never a lack of color here in the tropics.
Great photos. I've never used preserved lemons but I imagine they have quite an intense flavour.
ReplyDeleteI was very pleased with the flavor of the preserved lemons. I need to remember to wash off more of the salt next time I use them!
DeleteI love the parrot and the dog!
ReplyDeleteI thought you might like them, e, knowing your fondness for animals.
DeleteWhat out-of-this-world sunrises, Wilma! And I can almost taste the zestiness of those lemons; the dish looks delicious. I'm a big fan of Kalamata olives, but can see they might not be right for this tangine. Thank you for visiting my blog!
ReplyDeleteI love kalamata olives, too, but they were too much for the other flavors. I always enjoy visiting your blog and getting a glimpse into other places that I can't see in person.
DeleteHello past MN dwellers. I've come to check in and say Hi. Keep your groom from doing to much to soon. Everything looks wonderful and so much work you have both done. Love seeing the native Red Lored Amazon(sadly mine passed away last year/he was 40). Thank you for sharing BBR with me when you first moved, I follow them on fb.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you found BBR on FB. They continue to do great work. Sorry to hear that you lost your longtime companion bird,
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