Traveling Walmart....

So, here's the thing....Belize is a second rate country! By that I mean that we get second hand stuff from other countries, like the states.  Stuff that Walmart couldn't sell and has given up on.   Anyways, I had earlier posted how important it was to be able to get the Belikan Beer Guy to stop so you could buy water, juices, coke, sprite, and other things.   When I was talking about this I thought it was good because at gas almost $13 BZ per gallon it would have been difficult for many of the people to go into shop, they would have to pay for the bus but then sometimes even that is too expensive because if you have to pay for the trip there and the trip back then you've spent money that you probably needed for the articles you wanted to buy.  I found out today that there is a truck that drives around with an assortment of articles for sale....like a traveling Walmart!!!

Traveling Walmart!

So, it was kind of neat to watch this guy travel down my road very slowly so all the people could flag him down if they wanted anything...

This reminded me of the days when Montgomery Wards would travel around delivering packages and selling articles off the truck, like maybe in the 40's.....So the real question here is....HOW advanced truly have we become as a society with our split level super malls?

The other thing a group of us were discussing today was the gringo's from Calvary were back in town....By that we mean that some Canadians that come down once or twice a year to "fix" things were back.  It's amazing how truly smart Belizian's are because they do accept the help and are not judgmental of this couple but quietly don't let them in on any of the real goings on....These people make me angry because they come down once or twice a year and say they are "helping" by bringing things like computers or books but they aren't here for the long haul....I mean the day in day out concern I have for some of the Belizian's and knowing how hard it is.  It's like putting a finger in the damn and knowing the whole thing could blow any time.  This couple were acting like they are all it and they are beloved endowments and they OWN the people.....it made me mad because I am here all the time and helping out in small ways but that these people were giving Gringo's a bad name...and I'm one of those gringos!!!

These people do not need someone to tell them how to make their life better, because truly they do have a good life here.  They do not need people to tell them how to do things, they can figure that out on their own. They just need a chance to be given the knowledge of things.   And if you come down here with a "Hail to me,  I am almighty" attitude what you will get is quiet people who will give you a smug look when your back is turned......truly, they have an amazing idea of what it takes to live and live well and they are resilient enough to figure out how to create a traveling Walmart....Wouldn't you give them kudo's for that???

I know I would!

Wouldn't you want to go without a Walmart once in awhile???

Frozen Veggies....

So, it’s passed, Thanksgiving is gone and I made it through it without a complete and utter break down like I normally do because I miss the folks so bad.  I thought this year would be harder still because the girls weren't around but the key to not letting a holiday get to you I think is to keep busy.  I think Mom would have appreciated how busy I've been keeping myself…..my body has been aching because I don’t sit as much as I used to and I like that to an extent…my feet have been protesting which tells me I need to take it easy on them….

Today, after church, we did what we've been doing lately and went to the market to try and buy enough fruits and veggies to get through the week.  Now this is really sad,  but one of the things I miss the most from the states I think is going into Wegmans and not having to think about what type of veggie to get, knowing I could put it in the freezer (I always bought the poly packs of veggies that are frozen) and then when I was rushing around in the rat race of life in NY I would simply throw a bag of frozen veggies in the microwave and be done with it.  Not so here!  Everything is fresh, you buy it fresh from the farm and you eat it quick before it goes bad. I've had stuff go bad and you feel the pain of it, thinking that you wanted to use it and then because of the heat here (they say it’s warm here but not much so to me anymore) everything goes bad quickly.   (Also, I didn't bring a microwave down here, why should I?  I am trying live simpler)

After my visit last week with my girlfriend Donna to Orange Walk and the Peoples Store and looking at the real deal as far as grocery stores I got to be thinking about how it’s so nice to eat fresh but knowing that sometimes when you buy something it will be going bad soon enough.   Like a head of cauliflower or broccoli, it doesn't take much and I love those two veggies and sometimes they are really hard to get.   So, today after Church when I was in the market I saw a full head of cauliflower!  I decided then and there I would buy the whole thing (usually they cut off how much you need) and I would “put some up”.   Now, we haven’t bought our property here yet so I haven’t started the garden and the lifestyle I want to attempt (trying to live as much self sustaining as possible)  but this small gesture could work to maintain my feeling that I would be more able to handle the care of produce and make it so I could live my words.   I bought some carrots as well (a staple down here and I think a healthy one, in church I was looking around and a lot of people here don’t have glasses, I think it’s because they eat so much carrots! ) and broccoli.  I put up a frozen bag or two of the veggies I brought and kept some aside for during the week. 

It is so easy to “Put away” veggies, I've been reading up on it and it doesn't require a whole lot of work, just general preparation.  You cut up the vegetable that you want and you par boil it in salted water and then put them in plastic bags and freeze them.   It was good because now that we are down to three people eating, buying one of those big bags wouldn't work anymore.  I love the fact that I could fill the bags with only as much as we would need for a meal.  Hey, this wasn't so hard!!!  And I was recycling too, cause I would keep using the same boiling water and just swap out which veggies I was boiling down….and then I used the boiling water to heat up my dish water (I don’t have a kitchen sink here, just two tubs, one with dish water and one with rinse and bleach)  and I felt good.  Then I figured something out…..In NY it was a rat race and I would race around like crazy working my butt off to make sure we brought in enough money to make it through another week,  here I am thinking things through and trying to live as cheaply as possible, it’s all about survival!  No matter where you are in life and what you do with your life you are trying your best to survive in that lifestyle that you feel is necessary….

What have you done lately to make your “survival” more successful?

Thanksgiving and Orange Walk....hmmm

So I've been down.   I get this way every Thanksgiving but maybe a bit more so today this year because I know I won't be like a lot of Americans, going to family and having this huge feast and while I cook watching Macy's Parade (It puts me into the next Holiday) then watching football and enjoying having the family around.....(Or not enjoying, whatever the case may be)  Thanksgiving has always been a hard Holiday for me simply because I am a busy bee....I love to cook and share  and this is one of the things I enjoy is cooking for my family....Mom always loved the stuffing and I would make it like she loved with plenty of sage and lots of spices.  Dad always competed with my father in law on the mincemeat pie and I think the girls loved the mashed potatoes, gravy and pies (Not necessarily the pumpkin, that was my favorite) and it was always a big preparation and planning time for me.  Not a reflection time like this year seems to be.

It's harder still on me because this is the longest I've been without seeing my girls.  I have 4 daughters and they've all grown up and gone on to their own interests and even if I was there for Thanksgiving I doubt they would be paying much attention to me.   Emily would be walking up to see her friend Garrett, Joanie would be in the kitchen for part of it but mainly her head would be on talking to her friends or boyfriend on Facebook and Heather has her own family and Holly was always going south to her friends.  Our "family" had grown and flown the coop in my mind, leaving Charlie and I staring at poor CJ ( our youngest) who felt he had to fill in the gaps.  My parents had died in recent year so that just made the last Thanksgiving horrible to us.  It had turned into an empty holiday.

Anyhow, thanks to some friends I think I am looking at Thanksgiving differently this year.....We are going to friends that have helped us to settle into our new life.  They have been so supportive of our decision to move here...knowing how hard this is to do.  They have filled in the blanks in our lives, given us information about the people here, shown us how this world is different and how we need to re think our lifestyle. It's funny that we are watching this old TLC show that my folks had on DVD called "Into the West" and it's like looking at how settlers and their movement into the creation of our nation and we are "settling" into a new country...I think I know the feelings from that time period.....

Today to kick off the Holiday "blues" I asked my Canadian friend to go with me to Orange Walk.  Now Orange Walk is a good hour to hour 1/2 away and a bit of a drive but it has some interesting shops and I wanted to check it out.   We went to this shop called Boundary which reminds me of a big Volunteers of America....it has lots of new to you stuff and I wanted to try and pick up Pie Pans because there isn't that many around here without paying a fortune for it.  We found the pie pans and I also found a dress across the street for a little girl that lives next door...I thought it was the prettiest dress and that she might like it and I bought it for her....(Made me feel good)

Then as we were walking to this fabric shop I liked called "Casa Economica"  which has cloth and lots of stuff that goes along with sewing I saw another shop that sold Tortilla's.  I've never been in one of these but this one looked so busy I decided to shop.  It was funny, I walked in there and you could see how everything was made, the machines they used and the fresh tortilla's coming out of there  (both flour and corn) and how they smelled so good!  I bought some taco chips,  a pound of Mesa (corn batter) and a pound of flour tortilla's just made (they tasted so good!) and the total for all this was $3.50...I looked at all the work it took for these people to make this and they only charged $3.50?

The next place we went to was this store called "The Peoples Store".  I had heard it was a good grocery store to go to but I was amazed....I walked in there and it was like going backwards in time....It was a store like they have in the states.   I looked around and my friend and I were exclaiming about finding things like chocolate cream cheese, nuts, Lays Potato chips, lemon in a bottle and Pedigree Dog food.  I saw Belizian's who live in Orange Walk staring at us and I was thinking how backwards I was...We were from the "bush" and living a meager lifestyle and I had been were they are, living in a city with a real grocery store that had things like Hershey's and other things.   We looked so backwards!!!!

It made me think of the thousands of times I would go grocery shopping in Wegmans and that I demanded a certain level of customer service and wouldn't accept anything less.  But in this store I didn't care about customer service, I only cared about the abundance of product....I think about how thanksgiving day is about how the pilgrims celebrated their abundance of harvest and how hard it was to live in a new land.  They were being Thankful for the people (American Indians) who helped them settle in the new land and how they were shown how to live in a new world and they had survived and all of the sudden Thanksgiving became something more than the yearning I had to see my girls or the loss of my parents or the wish I had to cook and please so many.   It was a bout celebrating having made it...hmmm, maybe God wanted me to look at the Holiday a little differently and decided this was the way to teach me.....

So, what do YOU think this holiday is about?  Do you think it's about time as a person you looked at the Holiday a little differently?

Feeling good...

So, today I am trying to explain (in Spanish mind you) what Thanksgiving means.

I went to a store that I found out later on I wasn't supposed to go to..(Something about the American Government and the war on Drugs and there was a warning issued that I never saw) to buy some pumpkin.  Now I have been all over Corozal looking for pumpkin of ANY kind for our Thanksgiving.  I am not doing a big one this year, a small group of us gringo's are getting together to celebrate the day.  I bought the turkey from the butcher's last week, got the potatoes (both white & sweet) and I even found olives! But darned if I couldn't find pumpkin anywhere!  So my friend Donna, who is Canadian took me to this store that I won't name and I found the pumpkin and lot of other things you can't find around Corozal ordinarily....hmmm
Anyhow, we had gone to a barbecue for our neighbor's son, Alex, because he needed to do a fund raiser for school.  If you ever get invited to a barbecue in Belize, go!  It's really great food. I had talked Donna into going with us and she took me to the store.  I felt good taking her with us because she doesn't get to go on her own often and we found some stuff she wanted.
At the barbecue we sat with our neighbors, something we hadn't been able to do because of all the things going on in both our lives right now.  It felt good to get together with them and just share some time...I even found out their daughter Narina has her birthday on the same day as CJ's!
On the way home I saw a woman walking with her child, a little girl.  We pulled over (something we occasionally do around her, but we are picky who we will do this for) and offered her a ride to Copper Bank, she was on the way to Chenoix (Pronounced Che Nu Ish) which is the next town over from us.  But we would take her at least as far as Copper Bank.
When we got to the ferry there was a guy broke down who needed some help and we helped him with getting something done under his vehicle, so he was up and running.  It felt good to know that we were able to help because it meant that we now knew what tools to carry with us for just such emergencies!
When I went to get off the ferry there was some issues with the ferry (the water is low right now) where I got stuck, that same guy that we helped helped us get out of the small ditch that was there.
After getting back to Copper Bank we dropped off Donna and then went to our house where Charlie jumped out of the car and took the groceries in and told me to go ahead and take the woman the rest of the way to Chenoix....It felt good going down the road speaking in Spanish and trying to explain to her what Thanksgiving meant!   The air was cooler than normal and the sky was a pretty color of pink and her daughter was so cute, with a shy little smile telling me how she really doesn't like her brothers (what a shocker) and that she want "una regalada" for Navidad...I said only 1 present?  She said yes, because she didn't want Santa mad at her for asking for too much!
On the way back from Chenoix I was thinking...Geez, I feel good!   It's one of those days that make you feel good...like you did something for your neighbors and still came out and enjoyed each other.....Don't you find when you work together that it feels good?

By the way, on the way to Chenoix we got stopped by some Gringos who pulled us over to ask for directions.  Because I had been speaking Spanish with the woman he looked at me and asked me "Do you speak English?"  I didn't realize I had been telling him directions in Spanish! When I answered him with a straight face "Un Pocito"  and said, "You do see my NY plates on the car, right?" he laughed!  Another feel good moment!

My daily diet...

My Daily diet….

So I've been thinking about lately what it is that makes us go…..you know, what makes life bearable for you?  I personally am the happiest clam alive as long as I know my family is doing well...the true family that I care about on a day to day basis.  I have some feelings for some family that shall be left alone during this post…(WHEW, you should all breath nicely now!!)   But what does it take to make the day worthwhile for you?  I think I need to be challenged mentally on a daily basis.  Not just the OK  I need to think about what we are having for dinner but the thought process that makes you wonder about things like organic gardening, clean air, clean living, healthy choices, and making thing work in a day to day choice mode…

I've found that I am enjoying living in Belize so much.  It challenges me to think thing through.  An example is the “Washing Machine” issue.  We bought a washing machine (not your typical washing machine but one of these cheap Chinese things that hardly works but does something more than the wash board does for me,  at least it’s not rocks!)  This thing needs to be hooked up into the water (I used a garden hose to put water in it) and then it drains.  Now, I don’t want to do my laundry outside.  I have too many projects going on and although most of the women in the village do their laundry outside, which makes it easy for them to not worry about draining, they just let the water run on the ground… I have this issue where the drain site I am using (the shower area) sits higher up than the machine does…the draining is done by good old fashioned earth pull so therefore, I am a little short.  Normally I try but Charlie does pull up the machine so it drains…  I have been steadily asking him for a “box on wheels” to put this machine on so it would make it more mobile to move around (it’s light enough though that I could carry it) and make it elevated enough that I don’t have to pick it up to drain it off.  Sounds simple enough, right?

Nope, nothing has been done about this for weeks though.  I am frustrated and want to voice my frustration and feeling like I want to regurgitate some of the diet I've taken in in frustration….( see my point?)  Now the heartburn is setting in and the diet is unbalanced.  I needed to step back and think things through…..see it’s simple enough to just put the machine inside the shower stall on a couple of boards so it’s above the drain and the water isn’t near the long cord for the plug…..now why didn't I think about it before?  Because my diet was unbalanced and that caused me to be unbalanced…..right????

So here’s the other part of it.  I am finding that the one thing I miss so dearly from my life before and the life I am living right now are my friends.  You know,  the people that you talk to briefly during the day?  The jokesters at the office that play the pranks or the person that you call to say “You won’t believe what happened to me today” people.  It’s not that I want to move back or anything because I am loving it here.  But my social life isn't what it used to be anymore.  I miss my Bridget and our coffee sessions where we would talk about the work that needed to be done and what had transpired in the previous hours…. Don’t’ get me wrong, I do have friends here.  There are special people that I have met that I wouldn't trade the experience of meeting them for anything!

Now I am trying to adjust my daily diet but it needs a slow adjustment.  If anyone is up to this task I think I am.  I know that on a daily basis I talk to people (YES, more than Charlie!) here but they aren’t on an even keel with me yet.  It’s like eating meat and potatoes and switching to rice and beans…you have to give the diet time to work it’s kinks out…..Is there some way you could enhance your daily diet?  Could you meet someone new, add a dollop of clotted cream to your diet?

RePost of Earlier with additives, for my friend MMR!

Sometimes I think I have to think…….alot today.  I have been caught up in my own emotional state because of this week.  My parents 54^th Anniversary shouldn’t play on my mind so much but it does because Brenda (me) was always the keeper of the holidays….Meaning that when it was a birthday or anniversary or other kind of important date I was the one out there being the cheer leader, “C’mon, lets get a cake, who’s got the balloons, did someone get a gift and who is coming and what are we having to eat” person.   You know, the high energy type “A” personality that gets up running and goes on just 5 cups of coffee a day?   I would love to gently allow these days to fade from my mind, but let’s admit that to do that now would mean my mind was fading, not the memory.  I am not sure I am up to that yet!

Anyhow, back to where I started…I was caught up in myself today and started cooking like I used to cook.  Not for 3 but for 6 to 8…I didn’t think it through, I was into the cutting and cooking and smelling and out came this big pot of stew….Not the kind of stew I would make in the states obviously because it would be more meaty and more brown and full of the fall veggies that we would get in NY in the fall.  But I put in potato, jicama, carrots, onions, some celery and some garlic, browned those in a butter to capture the taste, browned the meat on the side (I add a little vinegar here because I think the meat is a little gamey and want to smooth that out) and then add them together and let the flavors mingle.  It makes the house smell so good and then you look at this big pot of wonderful stew (yes, I know, that is my opinion)   So,  I didn’t think it through.  I made this huge pot and not enough people to enjoy it’s goodness and so impulsively I did something else…..

I called friends of ours.  Now we’ve been going back and forth for years visiting these people.  We have our reasons for coming to Belize and they have theirs.  Ours are fairly simple, we wanted out of the rat race we were in.  It was killing us both not only emotionally and mentally but physically it was killing me and we needed to be in a lot less stressful environment. We figured out that we were working to pay others and it wasn’t really living.  Now, we are the type of people that like to interact with others.  We always enjoyed doing for others as much as we would do for ourselves.  It was always in our nature to spend time with other people and enjoy their company.    But not everyone is the same as us……some people move to Belize simply because people overwhelm them.   Some people move here to be left alone.  Some people move here just to retire and enjoy their days doing not much of anything and some people come here to be with others in their own little cliché.  Some expats come to become preppers, with the idea that the world will end or that there will be a zombie apocalypse!

I didn’t think about how much time this week we’ve spent together and how often these really great friends of ours really interact with others so I called expecting a “YES, I would love to have some of your delicious stew” and got a “well, I have to check and see what the spouse thinks” answer.  Looking back and thinking it through I remember how often they have interacted with us and it was never more than once or twice a week.  We have been together about 3 times this week doing things.  They live really far out in Bush land and seem like solitary people and here I was being my over abundant self and now I feel bad.  Charlie says I am paranoid but when I explained what I really thought he agreed, maybe I’ve overstepped and interfered and put someone in a bad position without realizing it.  I didn’t think it through.

Now, I could let that eat me up and quite literally when I was in the rat race I would have.  I would have let it bother me so much more.  But being here I get to think…..I get to think things through and I find myself being excited with life again…..I am enjoying being able to think and have quiet around me and the sound of the waves in the lagoon, the sound of the roosters crowing and kids riding their bicycles by and having fun and the quiet hum of the refrigerator are all that I have to disturb me.  I can enjoy the smell of the stew that is quietly simmering on my stove and be thankful that I HAVE the stew.  And I can let go of the small things like, did I bother my friends too much because in Belize, they don’t sweat the small stuff and I know my friends will only politely smile at me and know that in some ways I am trying to break the traditions of the rat race and slow the “f” down Belizean Style………Have you ever just wanted to slow down Belizean Style?  Could you find a way to make that happen for you?

P.S.  God works in mysterious ways....my friend called and said that she wanted us to come over with the stew and we did..as it is, she runs a small cabana/bar with her husband.  I agreed thinking what the heck, but when we got there she suddenly had unexpected guests and needed help fixing up the rooms and getting them set up with everything.  I think that God makes us do things in certain ways sometimes!

Sometimes I think I have to think…….alot today.  I have been caught up in my own emotional state because of this week.  My parents 54^th Anniversary shouldn't play on my mind so much but it does because Brenda (me) was always the keeper of the holidays….Meaning that when it was a birthday or anniversary or other kind of important date I was the one out there being the cheer leader, “C’mon, lets get a cake, who’s got the balloons, did someone get a gift and who is coming and what are we having to eat” person.   You know, the high energy type “A” personality that gets up running and goes on just 5 cups of coffee a day?   I would love to gently allow these days to fade from my mind, but let’s admit that to do that now would mean my mind was fading, not the memory.  I am not sure I am up to that yet!

Anyhow, back to where I started…I was caught up in myself today and started cooking like I used to cook.  Not for 3 but for 6 to 8…I didn't think it through, I was into the cutting and cooking and smelling and out came this big pot of stew….Not the kind of stew I would make in the states obviously because it would be more meaty and more brown and full of the fall veggies that we would get in NY in the fall.  But I put in potato, jicama, carrots, onions, some celery and some garlic, browned those in a butter to capture the taste, browned the meat on the side (I add a little vinegar here because I think the meat is a little gamey and want to smooth that out) and then add them together and let the flavors mingle.  It makes the house smell so good and then you look at this big pot of wonderful stew (yes, I know, that is my opinion)   So,  I didn't think it through.  I made this huge pot and not enough people to enjoy it’s goodness and so impulsively I did something else…..

I called friends of ours.  Now we've been going back and forth for years visiting these people.  We have our reasons for coming to Belize and they have theirs.  Ours are fairly simple, we wanted out of the rat race we were in.  It was killing us both not only emotionally and mentally but physically it was killing me and we needed to be in a lot less stressful environment. We figured out that we were working to pay others and it wasn't really living.  Now, we are the type of people that like to interact with others.  We always enjoyed doing for others as much as we would do for ourselves.  It was always in our nature to spend time with other people and enjoy their company.    But not everyone is the same as us……some people move to Belize simply because people overwhelm them.   Some people move here to be left alone.  Some people move here just to retire and enjoy their days doing not much of anything and some people come here to be with others in their own little cliche.  Some expats come to become preppers, with the idea that the world will end or that there will be a zombie apocalypse!

I didn't think about how much time this week we've spent together and how often these really great friends of ours really interact with others so I called expecting a “YES, I would love to have some of your delicious stew” and got a “well, I have to check and see what the spouse thinks” answer.  Looking back and thinking it through I remember how often they have interacted with us and it was never more than once or twice a week.  We have been together about 3 times this week doing things.  They live really far out in Bush land and seem like solitary people and here I was being my over abundant self and now I feel bad.  Charlie says I am paranoid but when I explained what I really thought he agreed, maybe I've overstepped and interfered and put someone in a bad position without realizing it.  I didn't think it through.

Now, I could let that eat me up and quite literally when I was in the rat race I would have.  I would have let it bother me so much more.  But being here I get to think…..I get to think things through and I find myself being excited with life again…..I am enjoying being able to think and have quiet around me and the sound of the waves in the lagoon, the sound of the roosters crowing and kids riding their bicycles by and having fun and the quiet hum of the refrigerator are all that I have to disturb me.  I can enjoy the smell of the stew that is quietly simmering on my stove and be thankful that I HAVE the stew.  And I can let go of the small things like, did I bother my friends too much because in Belize, they don’t sweat the small stuff and I know my friends will only politely smile at me and know that in some ways I am trying to break the traditions of the rat race and slow the “f” down Belizean Style………Have you ever just wanted to slow down Belizean Style?  Could you find a way to make that happen for you?

La Dia Del Muerte

So, today is La Dia Del Muerte or as Catholics would have you call it All Souls Day.  It’s a day usually celebrated by putting out good foods and things that loved ones who have passed would enjoy.  Usually they make cookies and other items in the shape of skulls and name the skulls in honor of their loved ones.  I thought, OK, so let’s get into this one, since Halloween was such a damper with CJ not feeling well.  I was thinking of making cookies in the shape of skulls and baking them with my chicken (better to only heat up the house once a day because it takes so long to cool down) so I took out my Joy of Cooking cookbook to look up a recipe and found one for Coconut Macaroons.  Wow, I hadn't done the Macaroons that often when I was in NY because Coconut was so expensive, here I was with coconuts all over my yard! 

I pointed out the recipe to Charlie and said, I want to do this one.  He said great, let’s try out the grinder that our landlords left on the table in the back yard.  Out he goes and about 10 minutes later comes back in and has almost 2 cups of coconut ground up.  He says it’s easy; the hard part is breaking up the coconut.  But my recipe calls for 3 cups so he’s out there now, plugging away at breaking up a coconut.  Now, I know you don’t use the ones that have fallen off the tree already, they are overripe, but I never knew how he got the fresh ones so I am watching him.  He takes one of the fallen ones and throws it really hard into the tree and down falls two ready ones.  I have yet to ask him why he picked one over the other but he does…(all I know is I am glad he didn't get hit in the head with them, one almost did)  He then takes the coconut that he’s chosen over to this big  stump like thing that’s in the ground, it’s got a point on it and it’s been there (I found out later on after I moved that the majority of the block uses this one tree stump) to remove the husk.  He slams the nut on the point and pulls and eventually the husk comes off.  Once that’s done, as he put it, it’s a matter of gravity…we live in a concrete house with a concrete floor.  He puts a hole in it gently with a screw and drops it until it cracks, then you pry the shell apart and using the grinder you grind it.

So, I am making these coconut macaroons in the shape of skulls and I've put little M&M’s on them for the eyes and mouth holes and they are in there.  But a note to self, when using fresh (and I do mean fresh) coconut, you need so much less liquid….so they are coming out watery and they have to bake a bit longer….we shall see.  I just know the flavor is spot on and like everything in Belize, you gotta try it at least once….Has there been anything new in your life you would like the adventure of trying out?  Don’t wait till tomorrow because tomorrow never comes….