The New Year Begins

On New Year’s Eve, Richard took me by boat to Placencia so I could get online at the Business Center.  I had not been able to check my work email since Dec 15^th when I discovered that the international plan I had on the 4G Samsung Galaxy Note for this very purpose did not cover data any longer.  I had racked up a whopping bill of $1600 dollars in 6 days accessing email and downloading documents!  Fortunately, since the contract AT&T had with Belize Telecom had changed without my knowledge, AT&T decided to waive the charges.  Whew!!!  We also did grocery shopping to last us for 10 or so days.  I scored big at the Fishermen’s Cooperative – they had just finished cleaning the morning’s lobster catch.  I picked out 2 nice ones to have for New Year’s Eve dinner and bought some frozen conch for later.  Also got to a produce stand just as a new delivery was being unpacked and was able to get nice fresh veg and fruit, including okra, plums, and sapodilla – a real treat.

Soon after we returned from the trip, the heavens let loose with a massive downpour.  We were thrilled because our water vats, in which we collect rainwater as our only water source, were getting low.  We had more rain throughout the night.  For New Year’s Eve dinner, Dennis baked the lobster with butter, chili powder, and Kaffir lime leaves off the tree we planted some years ago.  I made flat bread with garlic, similar to garlic naan. We opened a bottle of French white table wine.  Wine is expensive in Belize and the quality and variety are spotty.  This was a decent, reasonably priced wine that we will have again – if we can find it …

Dennis, happy with the flat bread.  ;-)

A nice wine to complement lobster.

Dinner is served.

We, including Max, managed to stay up to welcome the new year, listening to music from my IPod and watching from our veranda as the moon rose over the Caribbean.  The sea was quite rough and the moonlight was wildly shimmering as it was reflected off the baffled sea.

Sapodilla with a piece of white fruit cake from Joy.

Today is the first day of 2013.  We have stayed close to home, just puttering around getting settled in.  For brunch we had an omelet using leftovers.  An inauspicious start to the year you might say, but you would be WRONG!  We used leftover lobster with free-range eggs Christian Beck sells at the banana farm store, flavored with a smidge of truffle oil. Followed with sapodilla fruit spooned right out of the skin.  Imagine the flesh of a perfectly ripe pear combined with a slight butterscotch flavor and you have a rough approximation its taste and texture. Life is good.  J 

Fragrant Limes and Conch Ceviche

A friend of Richard’s knows how much we like the fragrant limes from a tree in his yard so he very thoughtfully brought us a bag full of them.

 I have never seen limes anything like these – they are orange inside, but taste nothing like oranges. They taste like kafir lime leaves used in Thai cooking smell when you crush them, heavenly. If anyone recognizes them, I would be delighted to know what the varietal name is.

I have used them in cooking, at times a little too liberally according to Dennis. Mostly I have used them to make lime juice. The juice from these limes is so potent, you can dilute it 1:10, add a fair amount of sugar or sweetener, to make a wonderfully refreshing cold drink. Lime juice from regular limes is very common on restaurant menus along with watermelon, guava, grapefruit, and orange juices. Street vendors also sell juices, especially on market days.

It is conch season right now. We bought 3 conchs (out of the shell) and I made conch Ceviche from them using juice from the fragrant limes. First, you chop up the conch into small pieces, put them in a bowl and add enough lime juice to cover them. Then, you chop onion, sweet peppers, garlic, tomatoes, and a bit of habanera pepper to add to the bowl along with some black beans if you like. Season with salt and let marinate at room temperature if you plan to eat it soon or in the fridge if you eat it more than 4 hours later. Just before serving it, add fresh cilantro. If you need to tone down the hotness of the pepper, you can add avocado at any time.

Serve it with tortilla chips, soda crackers, or plantain chips as an appetizer. Marie Sharp’s Hot Sauce, a product of Belize, can add some zing if you dare. A nice gin in lime juice (my favorite) or Campari and soda (Dennis’ drink of choice) are compatible drinks.

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