Author: ajeanneinthekitchen

Just a little something bright and orange to help brighten your day.

It was a non-diving day, not by choice, but because Mother Nature was having a little fit over the seas. The winds and currents were not safe to go out, so the dive shop cancelled all the diving for the day. At first I was disappointed, but what can you do, right?! But our disappointment quickly turned around and we had a great, fun day in town. We did a local food tour that showcased local restaurants and foods. It was call the Belize Food Tour. We had a blast.

The Belize Food Tour is a walking tour that began at the central park in town. Melva was our tour guide. She was definitely the hostess with the mostest. She had the perfect personality for this tour. We went to seven different places that were small, local, family owned businesses that we might have over looked otherwise. Most of these places were so small that our group barely fit inside. They may have been small in size, but they were huge in great foods and hospitality. This is a win/win for everyone. It exposed people to small little local businesses that we might have missed AND it helps and supports the local businesses. Our group was Melva, Larry and I and 8 other people. We got to sample food at all our stops. Melva warned us from the beginning to pace ourselves because we would be sampling A LOT of really good food.

Let’s get this tour started.

1. Our first stop was the Fry Jack House. A fry jack is similar to a sopapilla, and can be either sweet or savory. They let us try both versions, along with something cool and refreshing to drink. They were delicious.

The menu is simple, but everything is simply delicious.

Melva told Roberta, the momma and main cheffe, that I was a chef and the ladies let me go into the kitchen for a behind-the-scenes look at how they work their magic. Roberta has this down pat. I think she may have done this a time or two.

Once she flattens the dough, she fries it in hot vegetable oil at about 350* F for just a couple of minutes. Once the fry jack has puffed up and is ready, she drained off all the excess oil for a couple of minutes. Then she passed it on to the rest of the crew, who were her daughter and daughter-in-law, and they added the toppings.

This was every bit as good as it looks too. Larry and I enjoyed them so much we went back two more times before leaving the island.

2. The next stop was a tiny little shop where we sampled some sweet corn tamales.

Once again, we were in for a tasty treat.

3. Our third stop was the oldest ice cream shop on the island, Manelly’s. Manelly’s has been in business, serving homemade ice creams and fun since 1985.

It was a hot and sunny day and we were out walking around in the heat, so it was very cool and refreshing when we stopped in for some delicious homemade ice cream. We could either have ice cream or one of their ice cream sticks.

I chose blueberry ice cream, which was perfect.

Larry opted for a strawberry cheesecake ice cream stick.

There was even a little merry-go-round for the kids as they enjoyed their ice creams.

4. Number four on the list was Briana’s, where we had some local rice, beans and chicken. They even offered a cold local brew or lime water to help wet our whistles. Larry took the beer and I chose the cool and refreshing lime water.

Once again, our group took up most of the little restaurant.

The people in our group were very nice and we all had a fun, delicious time together.

And this is supposed to be the “sample plate”. We were already getting full. Most of us did not heed Melva’s sound advice about pacing ourselves until it was to late. But we all still kept eating everything, as full as we were. 🙂

5. Number five on the list was Saul’s Cigars and Coffee Cafe. We had some decadently delicious rum creams here. Walking around and taking a little break from the foods gave our tummies a chance to settle down a bit after all the fantastic food. Saul’s made us feel like we were in the Mayan temples.

Saul had us try three different varieties of their specialty rum creams. All were very good. We were all thinking up new and creative ways of how we would use them too.

Saul Sr. and Saul Jr. by the big coffee roaster.

Larry and I are not smokers, but for those who are, these cigars are all top quality.

Are you full yet? We’re not done. We still have two more stops to go.

6. Number six on the list was El Fogon’s, which means the fire hearth. A lot of the local cooking is done on these big fire hearths. It is the traditional way of cooking on the island.

El fogon, the fire hearth.

We started off with a round of rum punches, followed by some local appetizers. We had two different appetizers, but of course, I forgot to take pictures of them. We sampled the chicken salbutes and the salpicon. Both were very good.

Larry and I enjoyed El Fogon’s so much that we went back again for our last dinner on the island. These salpicons were one of the appetizers we tried while on our food tour.

We shared the salpicon, ceviche and a fish platter. Once again, everything was fabulous.

7. And our tour comes to an end. Our last stop was the Belize Chocolate Company. All the chocolates are locally made on the mainland and then brought over daily to San Pedro. We ended our fabulous food tour on a very sweet note indeed. None of us ate dinner this day. This was definitely a one-and-done type of day for foods, at least for us.

Coffee and chocolate are some of the main crops and exports of Belize.

Cacao beans in the table.

Larry ended his tour with a brownie and I ended mine with a lime chocolate truffle. Delicioso!

Our fabulous leader and guide, Melva, and the rest of our fun group. I highly recommend taking the Belize Food Tour to everyone https://www.facebook.com/belizefoodtours/ . We got to see and sample so many different local foods that we may have walked right on past otherwise and we learned a lot about the Belizian history as well. Melva was perfect. She was so much fun and really made our experience a memory to treasure. It also helped that our group was so much fun as well. I enjoyed this tour so much, I am seriously trying to figure out how to start doing this on my own, here at home. It works best as a walking tour, but we are very spread out here, so I have to really put on my thinking cap to figure out how I can do this and make it work.

And thus concludes not only our fabulous Belize Food Tour, but also all of our foods of Belize for this trip. I hope you enjoyed all the fabulous foods of Belize as much as we did. Til next time. 🙂

It was The Pirate’s meal for us. ARRRRR!!!! After driving up to Secret Beach and the northern part of the island, we stayed up north for dinner before driving back south to where we were staying. We stopped in at the Pirate’s Bar and Grill. Once the sun started to set, the place was hopping. We arrived at the in between times, but fortunately, that got us a great seat at the bar, so we could see all the action once it started.

While we were waiting for our meal, we met some American ex-pats who now call Belize home. They were a lot of fun. We told them we had been looking for crocodiles, and they said there is one that camps out in the back of the restaurant. But again, we did not see him. Though we did not see any crocodiles, again, we did see a distant cousin of theirs who was also there for a good meal.

We started off with a Pirate’s Rum. With drinks like this one, it is no wonder that Captain Jack Sparrow had to ask “why is the rum always gone?” It was loaded with rum and packed quite a punch. One was more than enough, but it was very good indeed.

When our meal arrived, we shared it once again. We love doing this, if we can agree on what to eat, which isn’t always the case. We shared another delicious version of Belizian ceviche as well as some fish with coconut rice and plantains.

With full tummies and being full of rum, we decided to hang out in the hammocks for a bit. As with all the other restaurants we dined at, Pirates‘ had delicious food and was full of fun personality and charm.

Thank you for yet another deliciously fun time. We will most probably see you again the next time we are in Belize. Save some rum for us. 🙂

Here are some beautiful, fragrant while plumerias sitting up high in the tree, getting as much sunshine as they can.

We were in Belize for a week, and we had to eat during the week. As always, we enjoyed all of our culinary finds. We did not have a single bad meal at all. We enjoyed so much good food and a wide variety of foods too. Everything we ate was so fabulous.

One such culinary treasure was the Garifuna Restaurant. Garifuna specializes in traditional West Caribbean/African food. The Garifuna are the Afro-Caribbean people who originated with the arrival of West African slaves who washed ashore on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent around 1635 while likely on their way to New World mines and plantations.  Garifuna communities along the Caribbean Sea live mostly in coastal towns and villages in the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The West African transplants were either ship-wrecked or escaped from the Caribbean islands of Barbados, St. Lucia and Grenada, depending on the source.  They intermarried with local populations of Arawaks and Carib Indians (Caribs), immigrants from South America, to become known as Garifunas or Black Caribs.

Originally we stopped for lunch, but decided it was more of a dinner place for us, so we went back again later that evening. So glad we did too. As with all the other places we visited, it was full of personality and charm with lots of delicious food.

This is the little hut we dined in. I call it the turtle hut. We dined on both seafood and ceviche, just like the sign says to do.

We went back later in the evening with a much bigger appetite so we could fully appreciate the meal. Once again though, we chose to share a meal and we still walked out very full and very satisfied. We made a meal of ceviche and hudut, a traditional seafood and conch stew.

Our waiter was very attentive, polite and friendly. He took very good care of us. He was dressed in traditional Garifuna attire.

The hudut came with cassava bread, mashed plantains and coconut rice.

We tried ceviche at a number of different restaurants. They were all very good and all very different. I think this was one of my favorites. It was very limey and I love limes.

Be adventurous wherever you are, be it at home or on vacation. Life is short. Do it all and experience as much as you can. That’s what makes life fun and interesting.

I have no idea what type of flowering tree this is, but I found it very intriguing and beautiful. I love all the little curly q’s it produces.

Too much good food and too little time. But we did out best to make a dent in sampling all the good restaurants and food places around the island. While we were strolling around town after we had showered and changed from another day of diving, we ran into one of our dive masters and asked him where to go for lunch. He suggested Jambel. Jambel was a a very good choice indeed. We enjoyed our delicious Jamaican style meal with a gorgeous view of the sea.

As with many of our adventures while traveling, we often only eat one real meal per day, so we make it a good one. This was definitely a very good, very tasty meal too. I ordered shrimp creole with just a cool, refreshing glass of iced tea. As you can see, it was loaded with fresh shrimp.

While Larry ordered the fried fish. Both came with rice and beans and vegetables.

I need to find a way to get paid to travel and write travel reviews. I could so easily get used to this way of living.

Life is short. Enjoy it while you can and make the most of all your days.

Not everything in Belize has to do with diving or fishing or the beach. There are mangroves all over Belize too, and not just on the islands.

Mangroves are one of the only types of trees that can thrive in partial seawater submersion. They survive by perching above their submerged anchor roots. They also have evolved complex methods to get rid of salt: either excreting salt from their leaves or by excluding salt in the first place via their taproots. They also grow knobby aerial roots stretching above the water to collect oxygen. Millions of these toe-like roots provide structural support for Belize’s coastlines, trapping and filtering sediments and preventing erosion. 

The dense growth habit of mangroves also provides breeding and nesting havens for many types of birds in Belize: anhingas, neotropical cormorants, brown boobies, white ibis, a multitude of herons and others. Large populations of lobsters and crabs lurk in the mangrove’s shadows, and more than 70 species of fish feed and spawn in the mangroves, providing the basis for marine ecosystems and local human communities’ diets. 

We saw many beautiful birds on San Pedro. We saw everything from the city birds, to two different types of pelicans, to cranes and herons, to the beautiful pink Rosette Spoonbills.

There were plenty of sea birds that we saw all along the coastal shores.

There were city birds.

And then there were the birds of the mangroves.

We saw beautiful, elegant cranes.

We saw two types of herons.

And we saw some beautiful pink spoonbills, known as Rosette Spoonbills. Like their cousin the flamingo, they get their beautiful pink coloring from the shrimp and algae they eat.

One well-loved marine mammal that browses its way through the mangrove channels, and the nearby seagrass beds, is the manatee. Belize is home to the critically endangered Antillean manatee. Due to habitat destruction, entanglement in fishing gear, and boat collisions, scientists believe there are only 2,500 Antillean manatees left in the wild. We looked for manatees, but we did not see any this trip, though I was told they were around. Maybe next trip.

The marine reserves in Belize are sanctuaries for some of these manatees. Each day, a manatee may eat up to 100 lbs. of vegetation, mostly seagrass. Seagrass beds are also carbon sinks, with deep and rich carbon sequestration occurring beneath their roots. Rising water temperatures encourage algae growth, however, which can smother seagrass beds and take away important feeding, breeding, and calving grounds for the manatee.

Besides the birds and the manatees, the mangroves are also home to the crocodiles. There are many crocodiles in these mangroves, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to catch their prey off guard. We picked up a couple and drove them home, and they had a video of a huge 14 footer. He killed their neighbor’s 160 lb dog. Again, we were on the lookout, but we did not see any crocodiles either. I would have liked to have seen one, but definitely from a safe distance, and out of harm’s way.

This concludes my sub set of my Belizian series, Life in Belize. I still have a lot more to share with you about the foods and flowers of Belize. So don’t go anywhere. There is still plenty more good stuff coming your way. 🙂

This picture is actually from a tree, and not a flower. It is a Kapok tree. The buds open up to little “cotton balls”. My friend’s yard used to have a whole bunch of these when we were growing up. I always loved those beautiful trees. They looked so gorgeous when the whole trees popped with cotton balls. This brings back fond memories from my childhood. 🙂

There were so many brightly colored flowers all over the place in Belize. Some are very familiar to me while others are very different and exotic. They were all beautiful though. I loved seeing each and every one.

I have no idea what these flowers are, but I fell in love with them all the same. they were right in “our own backyard too” at our hotel.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I LOVE flowers. They always brighten my day.