You Better Belize It!

Even with the rain, bugs and humidity, I had a really enjoyable week in Belize. For those of you who don't know, it's a former British colony that's in Central America -- so people spoke English and the flight wasn't too long. I started off in the Cayo district of the country -- this is the lush jungle area of the country and stayed at the campsite of this really nice eco-lodge, Chaa Creek. My "tent" was a wooden structure with a screens and a tarp roof. I had kerosene lamps for lighting inside at night, as well as my headlamp. But what I loved, was the deck -- complete with my own hammock. While I may have been "roughing it," the staff at the campsite was great, as were the communal meals. And it wasn't really roughing it, since the bathrooms, showers, and dining facility had electricity. The actual lodge was a 5-minute walk away along the Medicinal trial, which labels ands explains the uses of the various trees and plants for various aliments. While I was in Cayo, I mainly visited Maya ruins, which were amazing. Tikal in neighboring Guatemala seems to the big draw, but I went to the Belizean site of Caracol, which despite a bumpy ride and requiring going with a military caravan, was quite fascinating. Again, I think the success of this trip was owed to a good group and an excellent tour guide.

Apparently, I was in Belize during a holiday, which meant that most people (including me) were worried about my taking local bus transit to my next destination, because no one was certain of the times. It actually turned out really well. I grabbed a bus (a repainted school bus) in San Ignacio to Belmopan and only had wait 5 minutes for the bus that would drop me off at Caves Branch Lodge, my 2nd eco-lodge of the trip. I had signed up to stay in the bunkhouse, kind of like a hostel room that had outdoor showers, which was very Gilligan's Island, but again still in the jungle, except with no hammocks and lots of bugs. Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate and a lot of what I was hoping to do while I was there didn't happen. I did sign up for a Waterfall tour inside a cave. It was a fun trek to a cave and then we entered the cave, snaking our away along side, but mainly in the brook/stream/small river of water, climbing over rocks and crawling under low rock overhangs until we reached a series of waterfalls. I made it up the first small one, but couldn't climb my way up the big one. Still it was fun, and while those of us who couldn't make it up that fall waited, it was actually the one time on this trip that I got cold (I found it quite enjoyable). We even had lunch in the cave, complete with white linen tablecloths. I was supposed to stay 2 nights at Caves Branch, but I had had enough and caught the bus to Dangria late that afternoon and crashed at Val's Hostel.

From there I made it to South Water Caye, a great island right along the South Water barrier reef. I could swim from shore to some excellent snorkeling sites. This was my last eco-lodge, Pelican Beach Resort, and I actually stayed in a cabin right on the water, which on my first day got a great water breeze, and a deck with a hammock! (Do you notice a theme?) I'm not the biggest beach fan, but it was really beautiful, it was a small island, and I could kayak. I even saw a ray (both while snorkeling and while in the boat -- did you know they could leap out of the water?) Even the day it rained was an opportunity for me to sit in my hammock and read. It was the restful part of my vacation.

New Year, New Resolution

Well, it's been awhile. But I think I figured out my resolution for 2010 -- it's 20 for '10 -- in other words, this year I'm going to try and loose 20 pounds. Still running, that's the plus. But my negatives are higher -- I'm eating meat again - Shake Shack in NYC was one of the first places I went to in January! Yummy burger!



The other negatives were that, due to my now working oven, I went on a littler cookies baking spree. The December snowstorm aided in the baking-palooza. I made different cookies, including the traditional peanut butter blossoms, holiday butter cookies, and I even tried mexican wedding cookies. I also branched out and baked walnut pear cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. (I figured it was the best to use the pears.)


The running is coming along. My first race of the season is the NYC half marathon, which was moved to early spring from the middle/late summer. Weather-wise it should be much nicer! I'm supposed to be doing a long run this weekend, but snowpacalypse/snowmagedden/snowMFG may prevent that from happening. Still, I went out for a walk in the snow. It's really quite beautiful and the streets of DC are empty. I'm looking forward to seeing it in the morning.


Now if only it didn't take me overnight to upload the pics!

Oven Overdrive

I've finally got a working oven!! In honor of the oven -- well, really to test it -- I baked brown sugar shortbread cookies. It's a recipe from The Washington Post. It's really quite simple. Blend two sticks (or 8oz) of butter, 1/3 cup of light brown sugar and 1/3 cup of sugar. Add a teaspoon or so of vanilla and a half teaspoon of salt. Mix. Then add 2 cups of flour. I actually used my hands when it came to the last cup of flour -- I'm sure a stand mixer would have been fine. Spread in a 13x9 inch pan and cook in a 325 degree oven for about 55 minutes. Let cool in the pan and then cut into squares.



It's definitely shortbread -- dense, buttery, dry but with a nice sweetness to it.

Now that the kitchen work is done, I also cooked some dinner. I stumbled on the Penn Quarter farmers market. I thought it had closed -- it does next week. I picked up some radishes, arugula, apples, and trumpet mushrooms. I sauteed the mushrooms and radish tops in olive oil and garlic. It was tasty!



An experimented with the radishes and apples. I keep seeing apple fennel slaws or salads on menus. I thought I'd try an apple-radish salad with a light lemon vinaigrette. Not really great - but the sweetness of the apple did balance the tartness and almost pepper-iness of radish. It was worth trying but I think I'll use the rest of the radishes in a salad!

No Bake Desserts

As you may or may not know, my oven hasn't been working. I'm getting a new one -- actually from the sounds of my landlord a new kitchen entirely -- soon. But I still tried to bake. As you can see -- the results haven't been good. The oven doesn't get too hot, it doesn't maintain the heat, but it manages to burn the top. That was a banana bread. The one that went straight to the trash. The other I covered with tinfoil. It took about 2 hours but I got something that was edible. My latest attempt were cupcakes -- pear and walnut with a cream cheese frosting. The cupcakes didn't work out, but I did manage to get some mini-cupcakes baked all the way through.
I've been experimenting with no-bake desserts. I've been using a chocolate ganache torte as my basis and done a couple of different variations. I got the idea form a chocolate peppermint torte I did a couple of years ago. I've made a gingerbread crust and then did a mix of milk chocolate and bittersweet for the ganache. It was good but really rich and heavy. I tried a new recipe -- this one has a layer of caramel. Now, I've not had luck with making caramel in the past, so I was a bit apprehensive. But I finally got the amber color you're suppose to get! The trick, I think, is not stirring. I just let it boil away. And seeing it turn that beautiful amber color was incredibly satisfying! After adding cream and butter and getting a caramel look and taste, I mixed in some chopped nuts. On the second try I salted the caramel a bit -- I really enjoyed that taste -- and then topped it with the ganache. I got second place at my work's holiday party dessert contest!