Pics of an incredible sunset over the Cay (a bit blurry..taken from a moving boat!), view from my back porch and one of our employee's Tracy's dog..she says Frisky is the oldest on the Cay....14 yrs old!
V&H made it back just fine, no weather glitches. They brought back all kinds of cool stuff for HH. So, of course that meant back to work today for me. We are way slow in the cafe due to the fact that a lot of people don't know were back open again. But they sure seem to know the Internet is back up! Ah, the lure of the glowing screen.
Last night the 3 of us went over to John and Barb's house for that turkey dinner we never made. We also celebrated Norman's birthday, he's one of the locals. Also made friends with their neighbors, Jeff and Marilyn. Marilyn makes such a mean vodka/cranberry/pineapple, that I had to tell her to put my cranberry in it. Damn that drink got me lit!
I finally got to make my famous sweet potatoes with marsmallows, which we promptly burned all the marsmallows on because us girls got talking and drinking and...one of us said...doesn't that smell like burnt marsmallows? Uh, yeah. We literally scraped off most of the burnt part and it still tasted pretty good.
But the dish that had everyone talking was my conch soup. I only made if for the first time a few days before that. I was walking down the pathway here and one of the local Garifunas (very interesting culture, http://www.garifuna.com/) asked if I wanted to buy a little baggie of conch for L50...about $2.60. Geez, that sounds like a drug deal. I was like sure...now, how the hell do I cook this stuff? But there was a recipe in the Utila Cay Cookbook that Victoria is selling and I tweaked it a bit. First though, you have to pound the conch (pronounced konk) so it's kinda flat, then you have to boil it for awhile until tender. Pounding was a crack up. Nothing like flying conch in your kitchen. But I added cayenne and honey to it, and that gives it that sweet and savory taste I love. Then yesterday, that same Garifuna guy (he's hip to my sucker buying now!) asked if I wanted to buy a MUCH larger bag of conch, to which I said let me see it first...wow, really sounding like a drug deal now. This bag was way full and was 200 lempiras=$10.50. Froze some of it and made a batch to bring to dinner. Norman said it was the BEST conch soup he's ever had! Hmmmm...wonder if that was Norman or the cerveza talking? But everyone raved over it. I don't think conch is that easy to get back home, but sure would like to make it again.
The rain is really getting old here, but when I saw a ray of sunshine yesterday I grabbed my snorkel gear and practically ran down to the dock only to find that the water was like a urine colored golden yellow! Yuck. Turns out sometimes the channel drains here and puts all this dirt into the waters..no way was I going to tempt fate. Divers said it is about 5 ft deep but they get under it. Of course today, while it is sunny again, and I'm WORKING..it's a beautiful blue again.
Xmas underway here and a few houses do it up light wise, just like back home. It's kinda comforting. I even bought some lights from a store on Utila..where no one spoke English...kinda proud of myself that I was able to purchase my lights and a little wreath with my espanol..which is muy malo. So, this Jewish girl is able to kinda put up the Xmas cheer...too bad there are no menorahs around here..I don't think so. I grew up celebrating both. What can I say? My Dad's Dad was a rabbi, but my Dad didn't like all that strict stuff. He loved the decorations of Xmas so I was the lucky girl on the block that got the 8 days of Hanukah and all these gifts at Xmas too!
Last night the 3 of us went over to John and Barb's house for that turkey dinner we never made. We also celebrated Norman's birthday, he's one of the locals. Also made friends with their neighbors, Jeff and Marilyn. Marilyn makes such a mean vodka/cranberry/pineapple, that I had to tell her to put my cranberry in it. Damn that drink got me lit!
I finally got to make my famous sweet potatoes with marsmallows, which we promptly burned all the marsmallows on because us girls got talking and drinking and...one of us said...doesn't that smell like burnt marsmallows? Uh, yeah. We literally scraped off most of the burnt part and it still tasted pretty good.
But the dish that had everyone talking was my conch soup. I only made if for the first time a few days before that. I was walking down the pathway here and one of the local Garifunas (very interesting culture, http://www.garifuna.com/) asked if I wanted to buy a little baggie of conch for L50...about $2.60. Geez, that sounds like a drug deal. I was like sure...now, how the hell do I cook this stuff? But there was a recipe in the Utila Cay Cookbook that Victoria is selling and I tweaked it a bit. First though, you have to pound the conch (pronounced konk) so it's kinda flat, then you have to boil it for awhile until tender. Pounding was a crack up. Nothing like flying conch in your kitchen. But I added cayenne and honey to it, and that gives it that sweet and savory taste I love. Then yesterday, that same Garifuna guy (he's hip to my sucker buying now!) asked if I wanted to buy a MUCH larger bag of conch, to which I said let me see it first...wow, really sounding like a drug deal now. This bag was way full and was 200 lempiras=$10.50. Froze some of it and made a batch to bring to dinner. Norman said it was the BEST conch soup he's ever had! Hmmmm...wonder if that was Norman or the cerveza talking? But everyone raved over it. I don't think conch is that easy to get back home, but sure would like to make it again.
The rain is really getting old here, but when I saw a ray of sunshine yesterday I grabbed my snorkel gear and practically ran down to the dock only to find that the water was like a urine colored golden yellow! Yuck. Turns out sometimes the channel drains here and puts all this dirt into the waters..no way was I going to tempt fate. Divers said it is about 5 ft deep but they get under it. Of course today, while it is sunny again, and I'm WORKING..it's a beautiful blue again.
Xmas underway here and a few houses do it up light wise, just like back home. It's kinda comforting. I even bought some lights from a store on Utila..where no one spoke English...kinda proud of myself that I was able to purchase my lights and a little wreath with my espanol..which is muy malo. So, this Jewish girl is able to kinda put up the Xmas cheer...too bad there are no menorahs around here..I don't think so. I grew up celebrating both. What can I say? My Dad's Dad was a rabbi, but my Dad didn't like all that strict stuff. He loved the decorations of Xmas so I was the lucky girl on the block that got the 8 days of Hanukah and all these gifts at Xmas too!
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