The local traveling Farmer’s Market…

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By the time I walked to the produce truck, it was surrounded by no less than 10 locals residents, anxious to buy their weekly supply of fruits and veggies.

Last Thursday, upon returning from Pescia with enough groceries to last two weeks, there was a produce truck parked across from the lot where we park the rental car.

Locals had gathered around, purchasing their fruits and vegetables. Having already purchased all the produce we needed at the time, it made no sense to make any additional purchases.

Without the use of chemicals on produce to enhance its preservation or ward off insects,, the vegetables we’re purchased seem to spoil quickly, except the cabbage and carrots we use almost daily for our coleslaw. Although we enjoy lettuce salads, we’ve found the lettuce spoils in a matter of a few days whereas the cabbage, if left uncut, may last until we shop again.

It felt awkward taking photos so I did so discretely.  Unquestionably, I was the only tourist in the bunch as I heard the locals chatting on endlessly in Italian.  I did my usual head nodding, hiding my camera under my shirt.

Having used all of the produce we bought last Thursday, we’re now down to only the cabbage, a few carrots, onions, and garlic.With our limited diet, a wide array of fresh vegetables certainly enhances our nutrient intakes but also the degree of enjoyment of our meals. 

Making chow mien a few nights ago, we used cooked cauliflower, cut into pea-size pieces as the base, as opposed to rice or chow mien noodles. It was delicious! Cauliflower can be used as a base instead of pasta, rice, beans, or grain for any meal. It takes on the flavor or the main dish without imposing any special flavor of its own.

Also, with a masher or food processor available, it can be mashed to appear and taste similar to mashed potatoes with the addition of butter, salt, and pepper. Once on the plate, one forgets it’s not potatoes and can enjoy it along with the other items in the meal. Unfortunately, an Irish potato loving guy, Tom’s not sold on this concept. I’ll give him credit for trying.

More fruit than vegetables, I was unable to replenish our supply of cauliflower.

In desperation, we do have a supply of canned green beans on hand. Certainly not a favorite but with no freezer space for frozen vegetables, we’ve had to adjust our objectives to accommodate our current needs. 

(Unsure of the exact arrival time of the produce truck, I kept checking outside to see if it had arrived. Last week, when we returned from shopping it was outside at about 3:30 pm.  Hopefully, the schedule is the same each week.  We shall find out soon enough).

In the US, most canned produce contains tons of highly processed salt. Not adverse to salt, we prefer to add our own Himalayan salt which is not chemically processed. Having used Himalayan salt for years so far it has traveled with us with our determined effort to avoid cooking with commercially processed salts.

In Italy, we’ve found most foods befitting our way of eating to be exactly as nature intended; plain. Of course, the markets are filled with the usual “junk processed foods” although considerably less than we’re used to seeing on the shelves in the US.

The baking section in the aisles is less than five feet wide as opposed to an entire aisle in the US.  If one is hoping to bake a boxed cake mix, there are few, if any options.  We were unable to find unsweetened baking chocolate, necessary to make our allowed “fudge” for an occasional treat. 

Plus, there is literally no coconut in the markets:  no raw coconut, no coconut flour, no coconut oil, further limiting some of our cooking and baking options.

Tonight for dinner; seasoned homemade chicken salad with onions, celery, hard-boiled free-range eggs, and of course, the finest pure mayonnaise we’ve found anywhere, made without chemicals; no HFCS, no sugars, no corn oil, no by-products.

Here’s what I purchased today for a grand total of Euro $4.09, US $5.33.  Prices were better at the grocery store but the freshness and convenience made it worth paying more.

This morning, for an additional entrée for tonight’s dinner, I cooked a pork loin roast, shredding and seasoning it with the fabulous Italian pasta sauce we found without sugar. This is a replacement for the usual sugary barbecue sauce. The end result: some mighty fine tasting “pulled pork,” minus the bun. 

Needing change, I handed the vendor a single bill for Euro $50, (US $65.10), concerned she’d refuse the larger bill.  No problem!  She had a fanny pack filled with money!

Throw our staple, coleslaw, into the mix, a big bowl of “fresh” steamed green beans for a hearty, healthy meal for tonight’s dinner with leftovers for tomorrow night. Yes, it might be an odd combination of items but who’s to say what we “should have” at any given meal? 

At 3:25 Tom saw the produce truck coming down the winding road heading toward our neighborhood. Grabbing my grocery bag, camera, and Euros, I headed outside to the vendor, thrilled I hadn’t missed its arrival. 

It was obvious that a stop to our tiny neighborhood might be toward the end of their route for the day with the resulting several empty bins. But, I was able to find carrots, green beans, and eggplant. This should be enough to last us with what we have on hand to get us through the next several days until we leave on our road trip next Tuesday to grocery shop again.

Going forward, we’ll purchase produce every other Thursday at the market in Pescia, enough to last a week, no longer dealing with spoilage, supplementing with what the produce truck has on hand on the alternating Thursday.  This is a perfect solution to our spoilage issues.

There’s nothing like food and love. In abundance, they fill the belly and the heart, both of which hunger for replenishment, while never losing interest in the in the prospect of the next opportunity to savor in their delights.

Food repetition…List of 10 meals we repeat…Especially while traveling the world…Especially with our limited diet…

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Mezzaluna Knife, translates to half moon…

This knife was part of the kitchen equipment available for our use in the house in Boveglio, Italy.  Its sharp and with two hands on the handles making it impossible to cut oneself. That fact, in itself, makes it a must for me. The bonus is the ease in which it cuts and chops just about anything. 

Years ago I read that the average household eats the same 10 items for dinner over and over, week after week, month after month, year after year, with little variation. 

Think about how few items we eat for breakfast! This, of course, refers to cooking at home.  But then again, it may not be different for those dining out several times each week, whether breakfast, lunch, or dinner. We tend to repeat.

I suppose if we made a list of the meals we prefer to prepare at home, that our family or household prefers to eat, this most likely would be the case.  Although it sounds rather boring, many of us find comfort and ease in the repeat of the use of familiar ingredients, spices, and flavorings.

With our limited way of eating, the further restriction is incorporated into this theory. Here’s our list of 10 dinners, all within the confines of our diet (low carb, grain-free, wheat-free, starch-free, sugar-free), not necessarily in order of preference. 

(Please comment at the end of this post and send us your list of 10.  We’d find it interesting to see what others eat).

All meals are made using local ingredients, grass-fed, free-range meats, and organic vegetables when available.

1.  Pizza with a side salad, cooked and/or vegetables
2.  Italian meatballs with sugar-free, wheat-free pasta sauce, topped with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.  Side salad and cooked vegetables.
3.  Chicken breasts or whole chicken with a side salad and roasted vegetables
4.  Steak with sautéed mushrooms (this could include various cuts of steak, prime rib, filet mignon) with a side salad and cooked/steamed vegetables
5.  Pork which could include pork chops, pork roast, baby back ribs (rub type seasoning, no sauce), side salad, and cooked/steamed vegetables
6.  Pot roast/roast beef with roasted carrots, onions, mushrooms, with a side salad and additional roasted seasonal vegetables
7.  Mexican taco salad with chicken, shrimp or leftover pot roast, olives, tomatoes, onions, grated cheese, sugar-free/wheat free taco sauce (no chips, no shell) topped with sour cream, avocado, or homemade guacamole
8.  Seafood to include crab legs, shrimp, salmon, and cooked fresh fish or crustaceans with a side salad and cooked/steamed vegetables
9.  Hamburgers topped with nitrate-free bacon, sautéed onions and mushrooms, cheese with a side salad, and additional cooked/sautéed/steamed vegetables.
10. Chicken salad, tuna salad, or seafood salad made with onions, celery and mayonnaise atop a bed of fresh greens with a side of coleslaw and cooked/steamed vegetables

When reviewing the above, you’ll note that all we’re really missing with our dietary restrictions is:  potatoes, rice, grains or beans, bread, corn, fruit, processed side dishes, and dessert. When we want dessert, we have nuts (preferably raw) or cheese (preferably hard, unprocessed as much as possible).

Yes, it’s a repetitive menu. Why? For us, primarily for convenience. I can whip up most of these meals in less than 30 minutes of prep time. The most time consuming is the meals that require considerable chopping and dicing, now all done by hand with no access to kitchen gadgets for reducing prep time.

In a perfect world, the side salad we’d have would vary in ingredients and flavors. In both Belize and here in Tuscany with the inconvenience of grocery shopping, we are unable to keep our favorite, romaine lettuce (or other types of greens), fresh for more than a few days. 

In the US, I’d buy cello bags of uncut romaine lettuce easily keeping it fresh in the crisper for a week. Not the case here. It spoils, as do other fresh vegetables in two to three days.

I’m now convinced that some type of spray is used to keep greens fresher longer in certain parts of the world. 

With our current situation of grocery shopping for two weeks at a time, we purchase fresh vegetables, using them quickly with no alternative but to purchase some frozen vegetables for the remaining days. 

While living in Belize, with no car and grocery shopping once a week by cab, we discovered the benefit of making homemade coleslaw, faced with the same lettuce spoiling dilemma. We’d have some type of lettuce salad the first few days using it before it spoiled, then turning to the homemade coleslaw as the repeat alternative.

Green cabbage and carrots that we prep most days for our repetitive coleslaw recipe, a favorite while traveling the world with the ease of finding and keeping the vegetables fresh.

Cabbage and carrots seem to keep easily for two weeks if left uncut and unpeeled until the day of use.  So here’s the repeat.  Except for the first few nights after shopping while the greens are still fresh, we may have taco salad, or the other salad meals above, i.e. #7, #8, or #10.  Once the lettuce spoils (it always spoils before we use it all), we revert to the coleslaw.

I know I’ve mentioned this coleslaw in prior posts.  After all, we make it almost every day of the month.  Over time, we’ve perfected the process of preparing it (cutting the cabbage and carrots) and adding the ingredients for flavor which are few.

We’re posting this recipe once again after many email requests from readers.  The above photos illustrate how we cut the cabbage and carrots, a crucial aspect in producing the perfect crunchiness factor and the mouth-watering flavor. In the US we’d purchased the bags of precut cabbage and carrots which are unavailable as we’ve traveled. Plus, the taste truly is considerably improved by hand cutting, especially the carrots in small chunks.

The eyedropper bottle is a mixture of liquid stevia and sucralose. Unable to consume any form of sugar or quantity it is a staple for me to use in moderation. You can easily substitute other sweeteners that you prefer to use as shown in the recipe below.

After hand cutting the cabbage and carrots since last February (except while cruising, of course) we’re rather pleased with the results, each of us eating a large bowl each night with our dinner. I prefer to eat mine after the entrée. It tastes so good that it tricks my brain into perceiving it as a dessert.

Jessica & Tom’s Repetitive Coleslaw Recipe for World Travel (large portion for 2)

1/2 head small (or less of a large) green cabbage, shredded from small chucks, after removing the core

4 medium-sized carrots, trimmed and  peeled, cut into small cubes

5 T. real mayonnaise (look for a quality brand made with real ingredients without HFCS, wheat, or chemicals)

10 drops liquid stevia or another sweetener or if you’d prefer, 1 T. real sugar or more to taste

Salt to taste

Mix the carrot bits and cabbage well.  Season with salt (we use Himalayan Salt) to taste.  Mix the mayonnaise with choice of sweetener and toss into cabbage and carrot mixture. 

It may be stored in the refrigerator a few hours before serving but best if cold and freshly made, although it will keep fresh if refrigerated overnight. This recipe may vary from any previous posting as we’ve perfected it as we go. 

This recipe is not runny nor does it contain vinegar. The only time-consuming aspect is the carrot and cabbage prep, well worth the extra effort. We take turns cutting it every day and have it down to about 10 minutes, especially using the Mezzaluna knife we found in the kitchen here in Boveglio.  We’d love to carry one of these knives in our checked luggage but doubtful it would pass security.

(Yes, I know artificial sweeteners have been given a bad rap but my diet restricts any foods that contain sugar in any form including fructose found in fruit.  Plus,  Dr. Robert Lustig’s book, The Real Trust About Sugar, a profound life-changing book that we read after we’d already given up sugar, confirming other reputable reports and studies we’d reviewed over a period of time. Not a morsel of sugar has crossed my lips in two years).

There it is, the most repetitive food item in our repertoire of meal repeats. 

Let’s face it, food is fun. Dining is an integral part of our daily lives. It sustains us. It gives us comfort. It gives us joy. It brings us together. It inspires memory and emotions. If done correctly, it can give us good health, renewed energy, a sense of well being.

If you were coming to dinner at our home in Tuscany tonight, we’d be having a string tied grass-fed beef roast, wrapped in fresh herbs from the garden, served with natural au jus, roasted carrots, onions, and mushrooms, stir-fried seasoned eggplant, tomatoes, and basil (from our garden) and of course, a side of Jessica & Tom’s Repetitive Coleslaw Recipe for World Travel.

Repetitive meals are comparable to a happily retired couple being together day after day, night after night. It’s looking at the same face, hearing the same voice, and hugging the same, less than a perfect aging body, and, it still feels good.

Date night at the pub…Photos..Great website for downloading movies and TV…Adapting our pizza recipe for Italy…

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As we walked to the pub, we found new roads to explore.
The neat trim look of many of the homes caught our eye.

There’s no doubt that our social life is lacking in Tuscany. Located in a tiny village at the peak of the mountains of the region of Lucca, we are far removed from contact with English speaking residents and tourists. With few tourist activities within a two-hour drive, we’ve resigned ourselves that making new friends while in Boveglio is unlikely.

For a week, an American mom and her two adult daughters were our neighbors, but with only a one week stay, they crammed in as much sightseeing as possible, attended a cooking class, drove to Pescia taking a train to Florence (which is on our to-do list sometime soon). 

Chatting with them only a few times between their activities, they were wishing they had more time to relax and enjoy the scenery here in Boveglio. They, too, dined in most nights except when they were in Florence, due to the distances to drive to restaurants and the winding road back up the mountain at night.

This was one steep road to walk down, but back up was more challenging.

We’d hoped that stopping at the local pub, Bar Ferrari, a short walk in the neighborhood which we described last week in a post, would give us an opportunity to meet English speaking people, whether local or tourist.

It’s unfortunate that homeowners have to find other areas to park their cars, especially when it snows in the winter.

Arriving at Bar Ferrari last evening at 5:00 pm, we thought that happy hour may begin at 5:00 pm as is common in the US, to later discover that we were wrong. Happy hour apparently begins at 6:00 pm.

Two lookalike cats live here often hovering around the entrance to the home.
With the loud Italian soap opera playing loudly on the TV in the bar, we decided our visit, although pleasant, with the great prices and the extraordinary view, we decided to head home to make dinner, rather than hang around. 
Of course, no more than two minutes after we walked out the door, we noticed a group of people entering the bar.  Maybe with a crowd, the owner would turn off the TV so people could chat among themselves. We never found out. Most likely, we return another night at 6:00 pm to give it another try.
It appears that narrow tractors and trucks can make their way to home to deliver wood and building materials.

In any case, the walk to and from was enjoyable as usual, both of us getting a good share of exercise especially on the return walk.

Another simple but clean looking entrance.

Are we bored with one another? Hardly. But, we’re both social animals and love to meet new people, making what has proved to be lifelong friends along the way, as we did with our wonderful friends in Belize and people we met on our cruises, many of whom we’ve continued to stay in touch with via email.

Tom had an Italian beer. I had the “fizzy” water. Can you believe the price for two drinks at Euro $1.50, US $1.95?  We were the only patrons in the bar. Next Friday, we’ll arrive a little later and perhaps meet some of the locals who were arriving as we left. No food we’d be interested in was served in the bar.

In reality, the issue is more the language barrier than a lack of people around to meet. We adore Lisa and Luca and her parents, Cicci and Dano. Without the language barrier, I’m certain we’d have spent time together building lasting relationships.

Tom enjoyed his beer while I particularly liked the bubbly water. It may be a possible replacement for me when we’re out of our Crystal Light ice tea sometime in the next few weeks.

Although Tom has some reservations about our upcoming three months in Kenya, we’ll be living in a gated community with ample opportunity to socialize. Plus, Kenya, primarily, is an English speaking country is our next stop from there three months later, in South Africa.

Tonight, we plan to drive down a very steep road to this area which includes the larger church bell tower to hear it chime as it does only on Saturday evening, at varying times around 5:00 to 6:00 pm.

I wish I had started learning to speak Italian some time ago, but that wouldn’t have helped Tom. Its conversation with others we’d enjoy and if I could speak it and translate for Tom it still would be awkward and cumbersome.

The road at the bottom on the steep incline that we’ll explore later today.

The next time we’ll be faced with a language issue will be when we arrive in Madeira, Portugal next May for two and a half months where, of course, they speak Portuguese. At least here in Italy with my ability to read and understand French, I can translate most road signs, restaurant menus, and other written notices in part since there are many similarities in the two languages.
 Flowers are in full bloom this time of year in Tuscany.
It was funny when I was negotiating the cleaning job with Santina, I kept responding using French words. My brain was searching for a response and the French language was all I could come up with. I’d studied French for four years in high school. Ironically, it’s all coming back to me now.
Zooming in for a better look from the vantage point of the pub’s patio.
It would make sense for the homeowners to use their tractors to get from the few parking lots to their homes, especially in inclement weather.
While sitting on the patio in the bar we were swarmed by flying things, including, noticed by us for the first time, mosquitoes that were on a feeding frenzy on my bare arms. Several bites later we left.
The house attached to the bar. As we enjoyed our drinks on the patio, the owner had the TV blaring inside while he was watching an Italian soap opera.
Our evenings at “home” are enjoyable for us, friends or no friends. Recently, we signed up again to Graboid, the online download center for TV shows and movies, highly rated by BBB and numerous publications. For $19.95 a month, we can download unlimited shows and movies.
 FYI: Graboid offers a free one month trial period during which one can download and watch several recent movies and TV shows.  We are not associated with Graboid in any manner, other than as a customer paying the monthly $19.95).
It’s difficult to determine which homes are occupied.  None of the homes have window screens or screen doors. Any wide open window or door in a rundown building doesn’t necessarily translate to a vacant property.
More beautiful flowers filling the air with heady scents.

It’s easy to use. If you try it and have difficulty, their customer service is impeccable or, if you’d like to, feel free to contact me on Facebook for instructions.

While in Scottsdale in November and December, we’d signed up for Graboid enabling us to download many movies and TV series to our external hard drive primarily with the intent of watching what we’d saved on the quiet evenings while in Africa, where we’ll have no TV at all. (Here, we can only watch  BBC News and CNBC to stay abreast of what’s transpiring in the world).

One of the few relatively level narrow roads to home, a welcomed relief.

Unfortunately, the Internet signal was weak in Scottsdale requiring us to download the shows during the night with many movies taking several hours to download. Now, we can download most movies in less than a half-hour.

We cannot use Graboid with our portable MiFi. The service doesn’t allow download of videos due to the extensive bandwidth requirements. With the better signal here in the house, we’ve been fortunate to be able to add to our repertoire of shows for Africa, while watching some episodes of our favorite TV shows at night which include:  Dexter and The Borgias. 

Each night we’ve watched one episode of each of these shows, entertaining us for a full two hours. Having missed the last few seasons of each of these, we expect to continue to catch up over the next several weeks.

Having paid little attention to movies in the theatre over the last several years, we’ll look up movies on IMBD, read the synopsis and the reviews to determine if it is a genre appealing to us before taking time to download it.

This house didn’t seem occupied. We wondered how long it may have been vacant.
In old lives, our cable bill was $234 a month.  Paying $19.95 a month for Graboid is a far cry.  Whether using one of our two laptops or our portable HD projector, we enjoy this quiet time to get outside of our heads and become wrapped up in more mindless drivel for a period of time in our day.
Not every moment of world travel is filled with wonder and life changing events. Many hours are spent in the routine and mundane activities that most of us have incorporated into our daily lives. Fortunately, for us, we both enjoy the “routine” and “the mundane” with the same fervor that we enjoy the unique and enriching.
Thus, tonight, we’re having yet another repeat of our homemade pizza, which we haven’t had since Belize almost three months ago  Making our low carb, sugar-free, starch-free, grain-free recipe in Italy was surprisingly a challenge. 
There is no such thing at the grocery stores we visited as “grated or chunk US-style mozzarella cheese” that we always used for the top. Also, there is no such thing as cheddar cheese that we always used for the crust. The mozzarella cheese we purchased is the damp big balls of mozzarella.
I drained the balls on paper towels, replacing the towels every 15 minutes over two hours, resulting in the balls firming up. Then, I was able to cut them into slices to place atop the pizza crust I’d made using highly flavored provolone cheese.
We were fortunate to find a chemical-free, low carb, sugar-free, gluten-free red pasta sauce for the pizza, Italian sausage, fresh mushrooms, organic onions, and the best green olives we’ve ever had, topping the pizza with all of these after we’d precooked the crust and, precooked and drained the sausage slicing it into bite-sized pieces. (The sausages came tied together with string. Love it)!
An overlook from one of the few parking areas.
 We’ll see how it comes out tonight while we have a “movie night” with pizza.  It’s odd to experience replacing “processed” items with “the real deal” requiring a bit of adaptation in the preparation. I’m anticipating that making pizza this “new” way, will be our method in the future, wherever we may be.
Happy day and evening to all.

The road to Pescia, Pistoia, Tuscany…Grocery finding expedition…How’s the budget?

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Our view of Boveglio from the winding road as we began our descent to Pescia.

Pescia, a larger village with a population of approximately 20,000, is located 35 minutes south of Boveglio, our destination today. Less on a mission to explore historic villages, we chose Pescia to find a larger grocery shopping that may have offer some of  the items we’d yet to find at the medium sized grocery store in Collodi or at Vivienne’s tiny store in Benabbio.

Dining out only twice in the 11 days since we arrived on June 16th, with few restaurants in the immediate area, we’ve cooked the remainder of our meals.Delighted with the quality of ingredients we’ve purchases, the use of our own herb garden on the patio, cooking has been relatively easy. It helps that I love to cook.  Its also helps that Tom is an enthusiastic stirrer, chopper and dicer.

Food is a big deal when traveling. As our dear friends Peggy and Lane mentioned in an email to us in the past few days, the food was a motivating factor in their visit to Tuscany some time ago…the pasta, the bread…and of course the wine, none of which we consume.

We took this photo when we found a spot to stop as we maneuvered the winding road.  This is the little village, Boveglio where we’ll live for the summer that we can see on the ascent back up the mountain after grocery shopping in Pescia.

Why would we choose such a place to visit in light of the fact that we exclude these wonderful items from our diets?  The areas we’ve chosen to visit provided an appeal for us in their rich history, their people, the overall beauty, its abundant wildlife and prolific vegetation.

Years ago, I gave up drinking alcohol for health reasons although on a rare occasion I may have a “taste.”  Sadly, the taste of a good red wine sends my taste buds on a holiday, often inspiring me to drink two or three glasses in a sitting. 

The end result? A horrifying hangover, starting in the middle of the night, keeping me awake, plaguing me during the day with thirst, general malaise and constant discomfort, only to dissipate after the second night’s sleep. 

 Zooming in Boveglio from the winding road.  Its interesting how many of the single homes in Tuscany actually share a common wall and yet they are considered single family homes.

It’s just not worth it to me to lose a day of my life feeling out of sorts from drinking a few glasses of wine.  For this reason, I said goodbye to wine years ago. Occasionally, I may consume a light beer when not the designated driver. There again, if I have two beers as opposed to one, I’m a mess the next day.

Tom doesn’t care for wine although he has the tough he-man constitution to handle it well. Instead, he prefers a good beer or cocktail on occasion, never suffering from a hangover. His preferred drink of choice is odd:  Courvoisier and Sprite on the rocks, lots of rocks. The questioning look from bartenders is amusing as he tries to explain this peculiar concoction.

Food, as opposed to wine, with its necessity of sustaining life, becomes a huge factor in most of our lives not only for sustenance but for pleasure, for interacting, for celebration and for many, for reward.

Driving around Pescia for a restaurant that served breakfast was fruitless. Italians drink espresso or a coffee concoctions with a small pastry for breakfast.  One won’t find bacon, eggs and pancakes at any Italian restaurant unless staying at an “Americanized” hotel.

Perhaps, our distance from the larger city restaurants may prove to have made my restrictive diet easier to maintain in our two and a half months in Tuscany. With our limited experience in dining out so far, we’ve realized the difficultly of my having an opportunity to partake of the foods indigenous to the area. 

Cooking our own meals adapting recipes to fit the array of special meats, cheeses, sauces, produce and spices one finds in Italy, provides us both with a sense of the true flavor of the region, although certainly not as rich and fulfilling as one may experience in local restaurants.

Giving up on the idea of breakfast, we decided to take advantage of our proximity to a grocery store in Pescia, the largest we’ve found so far stocked full of fabulous produce, meats, deli and general merchandise. 

This is the nature of our lives, our chosen path to travel the world with these limitations, adapting in the best ways we can and, above all, not complaining in the process. 

We’ve done this well, not making food our main area of focus. Any yet, we shop, chop, dice and stir with the same enthusiasm as a cook with less restrictions. Dinner time for us is as enjoyable as  for others dining in a local restaurant with the freedom of choice. 

Amid all the charming old buildings there are abandoned apartments and commercial buildings.

Last night, as the smell of our chicken with homemade pesto topped with the finest cheeses and fresh herbs filled our senses with anticipation, leaving us heady and anxious for the first (and last) bite.  r hearty plates of fresh organic vegetables and salad added perfectly to the mix. Do we miss pasta, bread and wine? Not at all.  It never enters our minds.

So today, off to the big grocery store in Pescia, we were content. The only items we couldn’t find… Tom’s preferred powdered non-dairy creamer for his coffee (I use real cream, here non-pasteurized, spoils quickly) and Crystal Lite Ice Tea.

Many of the villages, such as neighboring Colognora are imbedded into the hillside have a clock tower, many of which continue to chime centuries later. 

Tom also warned me about an article he’d read that clearly stated that grocery shoppers don’t mess with the produce:  no squeezing, no holding it in one’s hand spending time checking out it’s quality and viability.  

“Put on a plastic glove, place the item in a plastic bag provided, weigh the item(s) on the scale which prints a price sticker after selecting the item from a list and carefully place the sticker on the plastic bag ensuring it won’t fall off.” OK.  I did this!

Many simpler less decorous homes are adorned with flowers of the season.

Today, we purchased a small bottle to try of the Italian version of Crystal Lite, already prepared lemon flavored iced tea. We’ll see if we like it. We’re fast running out of the Crystal Lite packets we brought with us.

With a backup plan in place, we may end up ordering the Iced Tea online and having it shipped to us while we’re here, not the worst solution, albeit pricey.  But there again, it leaves us more to pack. Our rationale? We don’t have to give up everything we like! This life we’ve chosen is not punishment or banishment from all familiar products.  We feel we’ve adapted quite well without most of our “creature comforts.”

Apparently, a devastating storm had an effect on vegetation in the area. Piles of wood indicate it may have occurred in the past few years.

Shopping in a totally non-English speaking environment is challenging especially for the few packaged or bottled items we may use, although we’ve be able to decipher many of the verbiage on the labels. Buying meat, dairy and produce is a breeze. 

Tom recently read that there are strict etiquette rules in Italy. For some of these in regard to dining out click here.

The big challenge today was determining which coin we had to place in the lock of the grocery store cart to free it from the bunch in the parking lot for our use. The amount wasn’t posted. A kindly woman stopped by (no English), giving me the single Euro required when I handed her two Euro $.50 in its place. 

With the warmer weather and the long ride back, Tom drove fast on the long stretches making it difficult for me to take photos.  On the narrow winding stretches of road, there was no safe way to stop.

When bagging our plethora of groceries, for which they took a credit card (yeah!), the checker counted the plastic bags we used, charging us Euro $.35 for the seven plastic bags which translate to about US $.45. 

Yes, it cost about US $2 right out of the chute for the cart and the bags. A consolation is that the cost of food is about 20% less from the US which certainly makes up for the difference. 

Even the less appealing is appealing in its own way.

Our average food bill is running at approximately $200 per week including dining out twice.  We’re satisfied with that as it falls in line with the $2400 we’ve budgeting for food, eating in or out, for the 12 weeks we’ll be here.

I should mention that we only eat twice a day, a hearty breakfast and dinner. Neither of us are hungry again until dinner. Our way of eating has a propensity to kill the appetite for hours after eating with nary a thought about a “snack.” Plus, we no longer have any dessert after dinner, especially now that we dine around 7:00 PM most nights, preferring not to retire on a full belly.

One’s reactions must be quick when encountering a batch of road signs such as this.  The winding road often prevents turning around for another look.

With all the groceries put away in our tiny refrigerator and freezer, we’re content to spend what remains of the day, taking care of necessary business matters, prepping for tonight’s dinner, reading our books and catching up on US news. Tom found an English speaking news channel on the now working old fashioned TV! We’re so out of the loop these days!

A walk around the hilly neighborhood…My new form of exercise…Maintaining health while in Tuscany…The simple things…

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Lisa and Luca presented us with this basket of cherries from the tree growing in our yard, after they’d seen us admiring the tree.  Lisa, speaking no English and us, no Italian, it was impossible to explain my restrictive diet that forbids any fruit sugars. Tom, fortunately, may have a few each day, while I’ve merely enjoyed their beauty.We thanked them profusely, impressed by the thoughtfulness they have shown each day since we’ve arrived.  For more information on Lisa and Luca and their properties, visit them at their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/casasottolatorre.villabasilica?fref=ts
It appeared that this house may be occupied, one of few dilapidated entrances in the area.

Without a health club within an hour’s drive from Boveglio and certainly not carrying any exercise equipment in our limited space for packing, I was in a quandary arriving here 10 days ago.

This hill is much steeper in person than it appears here.
Many individual houses are attached, a common occurrence we’ve observed in certain areas of the world, such as Dubrovnik and Mykonos.

Having worked out most of my adult life, the thought of not having access to a facility and equipment for my twice-weekly High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) worried me. Some time ago, I changed my workout routine, as I’ve mentioned here in the past to concur with the research presented in Jonathan Bailor’s Smarter Science of Slim, a profound life-changing book of both healthful diet and exercise.

Rushing by this flowering plant to avoid the hovering bees, I caught a whiff of pure heaven.
Obviously, no cars fit between these narrow pathways to the houses. Its no wonder that the Italian people appear slim and fit.  The parking area, as for us, is a bit of a hike from the house.  Add the hills to the walk and it becomes quite a workout on a regular basis.

With a medical condition that has since been resolved after almost two years of a strict adherence to my diet, combined with exercise, not being able to do so, is a big deal to me. After days of becoming familiar with our house and the neighborhood, a solution to this dilemma presented itself. 

More blooming flowers.  In a few days, the many lavender bushes in our yard begin to bloom.  Photos to follow.  I wish we could do online “scratch and sniff” for the sweet smells in Tuscany.

HIIT required excruciating workouts at the maximum possible energy expenditure for 10 minutes twice a week, utilizing as many muscles as possible, working to the point of exhaustion. This has been easily accomplished at a health club by performing a series of specific exercises, working for the major muscle groups. 

Ah, a flat stretch on which I can catch my breath.

In conjunction with HIIT’s strenuous short bursts of exercise is combined with a commitment to expending approximately 10,000 steps per day, one can maintain an excellent level of fitness.  The steps per day, in part, are accomplished by walking in this lengthy house along with going up and down the many flights of steps indoors and outside all day.  

Add a daily walk in the steepest neighborhood I’ve ever seen, walking briskly up the hills, twice a week, while on a more normal walk the remaining days and I’ll almost be where I need to be. 

This is my favorite hill (yea, right!)

I recently found two identical weight logs for the fireplace in the wood pile which I’m using for my twice-weekly HIIT arm exercises. And, I’ve instituted the dreaded lunges twice a week.

The weight lifting logs, the perfect weight, considering my bum shoulder which seems to be improving.
Maintaining a sure footing on this walk is more important than the exercise factor.  The stone walkways are rugged and uneven inspiring me to keep my eyes down as much as possible.

The hills? The most difficult of my routine. Walking down is easy. It’s the trip back up that pushes me to my limit, exactly what I need.  Tom prefers to lounge at home while I’m on this twice-weekly mission. But, he will walk with me on the less strenuous days. 

Good grief. He’s walking, something he swore he’d never do. I’m thrilled about that! He’s now back down to his 45-pound weight loss after dining-at-will on each of our eight cruises and now eating mostly what I do for the past 10 days.

Nothing like stopping for a sniff along the way.

Yesterday afternoon, alone on my strenuous day walk, I took these photos on the way down, many of which don’t fully illustrate the intensity of the walkways. On the way back up I stay focused and stop only for a moment to catch my breath if necessary.  My goal is to be able to make it back up without a single breath-catching stop which I should be able to accomplish within a week or two. 

Tom quit smoking for hopefully the final time shortly before we left Minnesota in October. He now walks several times a week, mostly when we are exploring. He’s rid of 45 pounds of belly fat. He’s relaxed and relatively stress-free (except for hauling luggage on moving days) and most of all, like me, happy. 

This old tracker and trailer occupies a spot in the shared parking area.

Perhaps, we’ll be lucky that all of this attention to health will ultimately pay off with long and healthy lives. All of our efforts are, by no means, a guarantee that we’ll avoid illness or injury, not for us, not for anyone. But, somehow, it may prove to be instrumental in our continued enjoyment of the quality of our lives into our old (older) age.

An inviting doorway.  Wonder what’s on the other side?

Also, when a basket of cherries can offer so much joy, even if they are “to look,” not “to touch,” it must have a positive effect on our well being. It’s the simple things in life, isn’t it?

Soon, I’ll climb up to our “terrazzo” on the dangerous steps over the stone stairway, hang a batch of laundry that is currently in the washer and pick a big batch of basil for tonight’s dinner of boneless chicken breasts topped with the finest locally made mozzarella cheese and my own homemade pesto, a huge side salad with homemade dressing and a platter of steamed veggies.  Yes, it is, the simple things…

Happy Easter! Let them eat cake…

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Last year’s bunny rabbit cake, chocolate on the inside, fluffy white frosting and coconut on the outside.  The little ones are the baby bunnies of which there were six, for each of the grandchildren to take home.

Our old lives consisted of a series of cakes, gooey, fattening and mouth watering.  Not particularly skilled with small handiwork, the decorating was often uneven, messy and at times, laughable.

Oh, what a mess!  We should have turned the air conditioning on for me to make this cake
this morning.  As hard as I tried the decorate it, the Cool Whip slipped off the cake in the heat and humidity.  Hurriedly, I placed it in the fridge with the hope of“fixing” it when it hardens.  The Cool Whip we bought a few days ago must have been frozen and refrozen.  I defrosted it in the fridge yesterday but today it was runny withgobs of liquid at the bottom of the container.  Oh, well, another laughable cake that hopefully will taste great for our guests after tonight’s Easter dinner.

They were always made with love to please the palates of whomever would experience them, invariably to rave reviews in the flavor department amid chuckles on the actual décor.  The design attempt was always playful and at times clever but the execution less so.  This didn’t prevent Tom or any of our kids and grandkids from enjoying them any less.

      Each year on the 4th of July I made this flag cake white cake with Cool Whip, fresh strawberries and blueberries
With our new way of eating the days of baking cakes, pies and various confections has long since wafted away, leaving my love of baking in the dust.  I’ve discovered it wasn’t the eating of the cake that I missed but the preparation and subsequent somewhat braggadocio displaying of my most recent “prize.”

Every year at Easter I baked the bunny rabbit cake, chocolate on the inside, fluffy white frosting on the outside, all covered with coconut, comparable to a Hostess Snowball.  The cake was big enough for everyone to take home a substantial portion (our Tammy always took the tail) leaving us a generous piece to devour over a few days. 

In our old lives, I frequently made this ice cream cake for Tom and I during the summer.  We’d eat the entire thing in four nights!  Piglets.
In my old “low fat” wheat eating days, I’d splurge for a few days while Tom and I hovered over the remains after dinner, graciously deciding which of us should take the slightly larger piece.  I always insisted I had to “watch my figure’ and shoved the bigger piece at him. 
  Ah, once in awhile it was pie as opposed to a cake. This is an old recipe from Tom’s family for butterscotch pie.  Making the filling over the hot stove was challenging but making the meringue was a easy using 12 egg whites, sugar, 1 tsp of cream of tarter

In time, Tom packed on the pounds from my baking leaving us relatively cake-free in our new lives. I counted calories to keep my weight at bay (no  more!).  Since our new way of eating began, he’s lost the 45 pound of cake that had gone directly to his belly. 

Today, he’ll eat cake and again and I’ll send our guests home with a piece for later.  No, I won’t take a taste.  It’s not hard for me to resist anymore, feeling as well as I do. But, its fun to make it, fun to be a “cake voyeur” and fun to share it with others.

   No, I didn’t bake Tom’s retirement cake.  Raven, who worked at the Cub Foods store in Shorewood, Minnesota, made this cake merely with an idea and a drawing I’d given her.  Amazing, job!

Oh, here’s our menu for today, a real mish-mash utilizing foods easy to find here in Placencia Belize:

  • Homemade Crunchy Red, Green Cabbage & Carrot Salad 
  • Tomato, Cucumber and Feta Salad
  • Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna (will post recipe later if its good)
  • Sautéed Buttery Garlic Locally Caught Grouper (thanks Nancy & Roger!)
  • Mozzarella, from Caves Branch Cheese Factory in Belmopan, Belize, stuffed grass fed organic ground steak meatballs, topped with low carb marinara sauce and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese, also from Caves Branch
  • The above messy chocolate cherry cake, hopefully to be “repaired’ before serving.

So today, eat cake, eat Peeps, eat chocolate bunnies and have a wonderful Easter filled day with memory making events and love.  Tomorrow is another day.

No cooking for over two months, beginning in 11 days…

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The sun reflecting on the sea created the white line of the horizon.

Something startling dawned on me yesterday as I responded to a sweet email message from my new friend Nancy, who left Placencia, Belize a week ago today. Gosh, I miss her. I wrote that when we’re leaving Belize on April 9th, we won’t be cooking another meal until after June 16 when we arrive in Tuscany, Italy.  We’ll be cruising most of the time.

It was around 7:30 am.

What an odd reality, especially for me, the proverbial foodie, ambitious cook, and hostess. It’s hard to wrap my brain around it. 

Cooking has always represented love to me; creating and preparing great recipes, considering the nuances of a loved one’s dietary needs and interests all the while presenting a mouth-watering array of selections at each meal.

We’ll miss this view that we awaken to each morning.

At the end of each day, I’ve padded around the kitchen, banging cabinet doors, leaving the refrigerator door open too long, dropping morsels of food on the floor, and more in my hair, enjoying every moment of the preparation of the next meal.

I’ve never tired of the grocery shopping, putting the groceries away, chopping and dicing, mixing and stirring, standing over the hot pan or oven to eventually plate the delectable meal, proudly handing it over to Tom to partake.

Yesterday afternoon, around 5:00 pm, there was another wedding here. We didn’t want to intrude, taking this photo from our veranda which was much further away than it appears.   

He seldom comments about the food.  Our routine is that I ask if he liked his dinner when he puts down his fork. He looks at me and smiles, “It was OK.”

If the sound of the “OK” is uplifting and cheerful, he liked it.  If the sound of the “OK” is a monotone, not so much.  I won’t make that dish for him again. Ah, the language of love. He never needs to criticize. He knows it may hurt my feelings. That, he wouldn’t do.

Yesterday, we hitched a ride to Placencia village for our final grocery shopping trip, taking a cab back when we were done.  I’d made a list, as usual, on the grocery app on my smartphone, reviewing it frequently as we hustle through the store. 

This view as well…

With the Easter holiday upon us, the shelves were well stocked.  There wasn’t an item I couldn’t find including fresh ricotta cheese for a new low carb zucchini recipe I’m making for Easter. I’ll post the menu tomorrow, the recipe after we tried it, to ensure it’s worth posting. You never know. Tom won’t eat zucchini, but perhaps our Easter dinner company (there will be four of us) will like it. I’ll test it on our guests.

After spending our usual $160 at the grocery store, plus another $15 at the vegetable stand and $15 for the cab, we found ourselves well stocked. With plans to dine out twice with new friends, tomorrow night and again next Tuesday, we’ll be left with nine more dinners to prepare. 

Then, I don’t cook again until June 17th, the day after we arrive in Tuscany, Italy, shopping within the first 24 hours of arrival. 

With the upcoming 13 days living in Dubai beginning May 21st, we may not cook.  Instead, we may choose to dine out in order to experience the vast array of extraordinary international cuisine within walking distance from our vacation property. 

It won’t be worth the expense of purchasing spices and other cooking supplies while in Dubai, the only “short stay” of under two months in our upcoming travels. Himalayan Salt, pure, unprocessed, chemical-free salt from the foot of the Himalayan Mountains, is the only seasoning that we pack in our bags, the only salt we use when cooking.

Letting go.  Letting go of people.  Letting go of “things.”  Letting go of that which we know and love is a part of our journey. It’s not all “vacation-like.”  It’s not all romance, sunrises, sunsets and smiling photos.  We miss our children and grandchildren, more than they will ever know. Do we even have a right to say we miss them?  We’re the ones that left. 

All the quotes espousing “living the dream,” all the life-enhancing seminars attended in one’s career, all the wish-fulfillment sayings one ponders in their lives have come to fruition for both of us.  So, we won’t cook. 

Planning our last two weeks in Belize…Today’s photos…

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A walk along the beach this morning on a cloudy cool day.
Man-made breakwater we encountered, rocks wrapped in mesh casings about 75′ from shore, utilized to protect the shoreline from the crashing waves.

The next two weeks will fly by. I can feel it whirring by already as we’ve begun counting how many days of groceries, we’ll need to get us through. With the hope to use as much as possible of our food on hand. We speculate that we won’t be dining out again.

The bar at the end of the long dock at Robert’s Grove Resort.

Tomorrow, Wednesday will be our last trip to the village with Estevan, our cab driver. Going through the freezer and refrigerator, we’ve counted that we currently have almost enough meat to go the duration. With a few trips to the vegetable stand, we’ve got it covered.

With Easter on the horizon this Sunday, we’re planning a special dinner inviting our yet-to-remain-in-Belize, Minn Roger, our friends who returned to Minnesota last Friday, left us a good-sized package of grouper they’d caught while fishing here. 

Local carving popular in Belize.

Safely tucked away in the freezer, I’ve looked forward to serving the prized fillets one night soon, and
alas, the time has arrived, Easter dinner.  With Tom diligently back on our stringent way of eating until we’ board ship on April 9th, all of our remaining meals will be low carb, grain-free, starch-free, and sugar-free including the Easter dinner.

The traditional Easter dinner as we knew it, is a thing of the past both health-wise and, due to the lack of
availability of the many ingredients necessary to make the ham and many side dishes. Our lives are different now.

This style of carving is frequently seen in Belize.

Tom will be able to indulge a little on the ship, although we don’t eat more than twice a day. Many cruise passengers live for the lavish multiple meals and decadent desserts available at all hours. We’ve chosen a more modest approach with so many cruises ahead of us. 
 
It would make no sense for Tom to outgrow his new slimmer wardrobe.  We’ve already replaced all his clothes for many sizes smaller while in Scottsdale in December.

An abandoned building, part of a resort that most likely failed due to poor economic conditions.

I strictly adhere to our way of eating at all times while Tom occasionally tries some bread and desserts which don’t appear to present any ill effects for him when consumed in moderation.

Together, today, we’ll plan the meals for our next two weeks, grocery shop accordingly taking the one mile each way walk to Seine Bight to buy additional fresh vegetables again in another week.

This little abandoned shack may have been a food stand or dive shack years ago.

Once the food situation is resolved, we’ll begin the process of making to-do lists for our departure from Belize City on April 9th.  Booked on two back to back cruises with the partial day layover in Miami on April 13th, we’ll take care of the tasks we have planned as described here, in prior posts: go to the bank, ship three of our large suitcases to LA while picking up an awaiting box with supplies at UPS and stop at a drugstore for miscellaneous toiletries.

When we disembark the ship, we’ll have to go through customs with the three bags.  When we return to the ship a few hours later, we’ll have to check in on the second cruise as would any passenger with the box of supplies we picked up at UPS. 

Another abandoned resort.  Someday these properties will be sold and brought to life again, as the economy in Belize hopefully recovers along with the remainder of the world. It’s sad to see the loss of local employment and potential generated revenues in the many abandoned resorts throughout the country.  Luckily, many well managed and funded resorts continue to thrive today.

This morning, while writing this, I suggested to Tom that we bring one empty suitcase with us.  This way, we can open the box at UPS, place everything in the suitcase, ditch the box, and check-in for the second cruise.  Once aboard the ship, we’ll return to our awaiting cabin (same cabin as a prior cruise) where our remaining luggage is already unpacked and put away.
 
Gosh!  Writing this down adds clarify to these multiple steps, a necessary reality we’ll always face, getting to and from our various destinations. In actuality, it’s the only part we don’t like. In time, it may be our undoing. 

We met this fun-loving group of travelers (one wasn’t in the pool) that had just come off a one week charter on a giant catamaran with a private gourmet chef and full crew. They were all from Chicago with one, a former native of Minnesota. We enjoyed chatting with them. Unfortunately, they all left the next day. Yes, those are my feet in the photo! The sun was so bright, I could see to take the photo. Glad my toes were polished!

For now, the excitement of our next adventure drives us on with a fervor and passion neither of us has
ever known.  The inconveniences occur in only several hour segments, leaving us days, weeks, and months to revel in the rich experiences.  Life is good.

Walking for Jell-O…We’re having a party…Photos and recipes below..

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Tom’s big decision of the day: Should we get the cauliflower now and carry it, or shall we get it on the way back.  I said now.  He said later.  He won.  He was the “carrier” of the bag. Luckily, it was there when we returned.

Friday night is fast approaching and we’ve invited our Minnesota friends on either side of us for dinner.  Granted, we don’t have a dining table and chairs other than the small two-person set on the veranda, plus three bar stools indoors.  But, we’ll figure it out.  Improvise is the name of the game.

Another small concern, we only have three dinner plates.  Most certainly, we can borrow plates from the neighbors.  The restaurant staff here at Laru Beya loaned us two placemats and two linen napkins for our personal use.  I supposed we could ask for more. 

Entering the small village of Seine Bight

The menu is challenging. We’d suggested a homemade pizza with our GF cheese crust (a staple we frequently prepare). They loved the idea, curious as to how a pizza would taste without a traditional crust.  All of the ingredients are readily available in the local grocers.

As for the side dishes (of which I always make several), I was in a quandary. When shopping in Placencia it makes sense to plan the menu based on what is available in the stores, rather than pre-plan a menu, trying to find the ingredients. 

Yesterday, feeling rushed as we shopped with Estevan patiently waiting outside the grocery store, it wasn’t easy to plan the side dishes.  In my “old life” I’d plan a menu for dinner guests over a number of days, contemplating a well-balanced menu with a wide array of delectable options.  No longer do I have that luxury (among others).

Restaurant along the road as we walked into town.

Flustered as we scurried about the store, we hurriedly decided on the following menu:

  • Carrot and zucchini sticks with homemade salmon, cream cheese dip
  • Our favorite Cauliflower, Bacon, and Almond Salad with homemade sweet (Splenda) and sour dressing (recipe follows at the end of this post)
  • Traditional Cucumber and Onion Salad
  • Homemade Pizza with locally made hot Italian sausage, onion, mushrooms, and sliced green olives with sharp cheddar cheese crust, tons of mozzarella cheese, and hand-grated (no grater on hand) fresh Parmesan cheese we purchased this morning from Mathieu’s Deli.
  • Homemade grilled garlic bread made with raw garlic, more Parmesan cheese atop a fresh-baked loaf of Italian bread made by Gunter early this morning at Mathieu’s Deli. (I will be a “voyeur” this item.  No tasting!  Tom’s on a bit of a splurge right now for another few days, but back to GF, low carb soon).
  • Dessert:  my favorite Strawberry Oreo Dessert (recipe follows at the end of this post. Another item suitable for the “voyeur”).

After the shopping expedition yesterday and unable to find fresh cauliflower after visiting four vegetable stands, I was ready to forfeit the recipe.  Yesterday afternoon as we unpacked the groceries it dawned on me that I had forgotten the required strawberry Jell-O.  With the other ingredients on hand, we had to figure out a way to get to a grocery store without wheels. 

It made no sense to call Estevan back to pick us up to buy a box of Jell-O or, for that matter, to rent a golf cart for $35 for a half-day. Our budgets offered no room for such frivolity. Thinking about the Jell-O into the evening, I suggested to Tom that we walk to the grocery store in the next town in the morning, north of us in Seine Bight. He agreed. 

Cloudy today, the temperature was ideal for walking.  At 9:00 am we were on the road, re-usable grocery bag in hand with a bottle of frozen water in tow just in case.  The walk along the busy highway to Seine Bight was pleasant with an occasional local warmly greeting us with a cheerful, “good morning!”  The narrow shoulder required, we walk in single file, stopping from time to time to take a few photos.

The square water tower in Seine Bight!

Alas, the first store we encounter had fresh cauliflower, one medium head, and one half of a smaller head but no Jell-O. Tom suggested we purchase the cauliflower on the way back rather than haul it for whatever distance may be required to find Jell-O.  Walking out the door empty-handed, I groaned, fearful it would be gone when we returned. It wasn’t.

An abandoned cement building that may have been damaged in a past hurricane.

As we continued our walk through the small town, it dawned on me that we also needed lettuce for the salad.  What’s wrong with me, unable to remember the ingredients for some of our favorite recipes?  Have we been out of touch for so long?  Reassuring Tom that we’d find lettuce, we continued along the road to the vegetable stand several blocks away.  He didn’t complain about the “store hopping.”

Two small but fresh heads of iceberg lettuce were awaiting us at the tiny vegetable stand.  Would we get lucky and find a bigger head of cauliflower here?  Not the case.

The little vegetable stand where we found the two heads of lettuce.

Continuing on, we entered another small grocery store to find a large box of strawberry Jell-O, directions in Spanish. No problem. I’d convert the “litro” to cups and we’d be good to go.

This box of a Jell-O equivalent is Belize $2.45 which results in US $1.23.

Turning around, we headed back to the first store with the cauliflower.  Much to my delight, it was still there.  A bunch of green onions, the two chunks of cauliflower, and US $2 later, we were out the door and on our way back to the deli for our loaf of bread and Parmesan cheese. Our menu is intact!

Maya prophesy reminder from December 2012, on the walk to deli.

On the walk back, we stopped at Mathieu’s Deli purchasing the load fresh baked Italian bread, a chunk of Parmesan cheese for the pizza, and a variety of cheeses made at Caves Branch in the Cayo District. The owner, Ian Anderson, whom we met about a month ago at the wine and cheese party, had invited us for a cheese and wine tour of his cheese factory. We just might take him up on his kind offer.  Perhaps, soon.

It felt as if we’d walked for miles.  Having worn my FitBit pedometer on my belt loop, I’d estimated we’d walked three or four miles when in fact it only revealed a paltry two and a quarter miles.  

Tomorrow night, we’ll be ready for our guests, recipes prepared with our seating, and plate situation somehow resolved.  We’ve found that a part of the joy of our lives as we travel the world lies in the pleasure that we discover in the minutiae.  The big items, we’ll plot and plan. The few items, we’ll wing it!

Jessica Cauliflower Salad

1 head romaine lettuce, sliced in shreds
1 head raw cauliflower, cut into small pieces
1 pound lean bacon, cooked and diced

4 green onions, chopped

1 cup almonds, slivers toasted in oven or skillet

Dressing

1 cup mayo

3 T. red wine vinegar

12 packets Splenda

Prepare all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Pour dressing over salad and toss until everything is well coated. Amazingly, this salad keeps nicely for 3 days if its refrigerator as soon as you serve it.

Enjoy!
Jessica’s Strawberry
Oreo Dessert (not low carb, sugar-free or gluten-free)

1 12 oz package Cool Whip

1 small package frozen strawberries, partially defrosted (1 hour) and drained

1 small sugar-free raspberry Jell-O

1 large package Oreo cookies or a box of Oreo crumbs

Dissolve Jell-O in 1 cup boiling water

Refrigerate until cool but not set

Crush Oreo and press into a 9 x 13” pan

Whip Jell-O until frothy in a food processor, add frozen strawberries, and then fold in the Cool Whip.

Cover with remaining Oreo and refrigerate.

Delicious!  You can easily double this recipe.

Shopping in Belize…Shopping in the US from Belize and more photos…

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Karel’s Barber Shop doesn’t open until 10 am.  We’ll come back next week for Tom’s much needed new “do!”  Of course, we’ll post photos of that!

It was a fine day. We love the charming little village of Placencia.

Once again, Estevan appeared at our door promptly at 9 am to drive us to Placencia Village for our weekly errands which this week included a haircut for Tom, a trip to the fish market, a stop at the drugstore, a visit to the vegetable stand and finally a trip to the largest of the grocery stores in town. 

Tommy’s Restaurant.  Guess who got a kick out of this?

The neighbors on either side of us are from Minnesota and Friday night we’re having a Minnesota Potluck dinner making the shopping expedition all the more enjoyable.  What would we find that would be reminiscent of Minnesota?

As it turned out, the barbershop doesn’t open until 10 am and the fish market was out of fish.  We asked Estevan to drop us at the end of the peninsula, leaving us to walk the full length of the road through the village, stopping along the way. Next week, we’ll arrive later for Tom’s haircut and again check with the fish shop nearby.

Another quaint shop along the main road in the Village.
Cooler today, the walk was pleasant and relaxed. With Estevan picking us up in two hours from the larger grocery store at the opposite end of the peninsula, we had plenty of time to take photos, stop at each of the several small grocers along the way looking for ingredients for the items we’d planned to bring to the potluck dinner.  We kept the dishes simple knowing certain ingredients may not be readily available.
 Tom, outside the grocery store where we shopped today.

Shopping.  A necessary part of life.  Unless one lives on a farm, weaves their own fabrics, makes their own clothing, doesn’t use any toiletries, doesn’t drink alcohol, doesn’t require any medications, and on and on.  We shop.

Some of us enjoy shopping in stores, others online, others both, others not at all.  I lean toward the online category.  Tom falls into the “not at all” category.  Back in the US a year could go by without stepping into a mall, preferring the anonymous lurking online comparing prices, products, and reviews

Local clothing well priced on display outdoors.

With a plan to go pick up a box of necessary supplies at the UPS store near the pier in Miami on April 13th, where will also ship our excess luggage to my sister Julie, we’re busily placing our online orders. 

 The local pharmacy, at the top of the stairs.

How will we receive our items without paying the $10 per box/per day fee that UPS charges to “hold” purchased items?  We’re having the approximate 10 boxes shipped to our mailing service in Nevada, Maillink most of which have free shipping.  They’ll store all the items until we instruct them online, to open all the boxes, place every item into a larger box and ship the larger box to us to arrive at the UPS store in three days.

Check out the verbiage on this sign.  Love it!

The potential cost of this box:  $65 plus perhaps $20 additional in case UPS receives it a day early, holding it for two days.  While we’re port we’ll pick up the box and bring it aboard the ship.  This maneuver increases our cost for the items by about 20%.  We can live with this. 

An indoor clothing store filled with local fashions.

You may ask, why not rent a car when we disembark the ship for the eight-hour layover in port and drive around and buy the items?  Ten items, ten possible stores, the price of the rental car, the gas, the day spent feeling stressed is why to avoid that scenario

Notice the colorful signs on this corner, pointing in every which way to other businesses.

Plus, many of the items we must receive in the box will include the rental of the XCOM Global MiFi device we’ll be using while cruising for two months and later in Italy for the summer. 

Cowfoot soup is on the menu today.

Another example is my favorite tea, Pouchong, an Oolong tea introduced to me by my son Greg  (thanks Greg!) a number of years ago, the only tea I drink.  We gave up many favorite items when we left the US.  I gave up many favorite foods when choosing this strict way of eating.  I was not willing to give up this tea!

Omar’s Restaurant, covered in flowers and vines.

But buying the tea in itself presents a problem. One of few companies that stock this tea, (one cannot find this tea in a tea store) is a well managed, customer service orientated online store, Adagio Teas which I’ve used for years.

The Placencia mail delivery vehicle!

Last week I visited their site to place an order for enough tea to last me for the next six months, which amounts to one pound of tea at $58 per pound.  With no room in our newly revised luggage for a greater amount, I figured they’d send it anywhere in the world where we can receive mail, not necessarily in Kenya or South Africa.  This requires careful planning.

The Placencia Post Office and Social Security Board.

With a new mailing service address, I updated my shipping and credit card billing address in their system as I quickly breezed through the checkout process as I’ve done so many times in the past.  A message appeared: “we aren’t able to process your order.”  Duh?

One of two banks in the Village.

My first reaction was that I made an error in entering the credit card number, the expiration date, or the little 3 digit number, that I had entered in the appropriate fields. I re-entered all the information. Again rejected. 

 The local cemetery in the village.

Immediately, I brought up the website for that particular credit card to make sure the past payoff had in fact processed. Every month we pay off all of our credit cards to avoid interest charges and also to keep them free to use when our cards don’t charge exchange rates fees.  We’d recently charged several upcoming cruises.  Perhaps, they hadn’t processed the incoming payoffs.

Organic, pesticide-free produce.  We purchased this entire batch for US $12.

Nope.  A credit of ($.97) appeared on the account.  There’s no reason for the transaction to be rejected.  I wrote an email to Adagio Teas, almost panicking. What if my teas days are over?  I’ve tried dozens of other teas.  None appeal to me.

Within a few hours, I received this response:

“Hi Jessica,

Thank you for your message. Could you provide a little more information?  It would help us to know the billing and shipping addresses you are using, and whether you are trying to place the order from outside the U.S.
 
Last year we had a large number of international fraud attempts, and we put in place more stringent fraud prevention measures. You may be getting caught in these measures, but we’re happy to help figure things out.
 
Please visit us again soon, and let us know if we can be of any further assistance.
 
Adagio Teas
http://www.adagio.com“

OK. I get it. Their system detected that we’re in a foreign country, Belize, and the transaction was blocked. I wrote back to them immediately. They entered my email into their system as “safe.” Yesterday my order went through using the same credit card. The tea is en route to Las Vegas to be among the items to be shipped to us in Miami. Once again, Adagio Teas provided fast and courteous customer service.

A well-stocked pharmacy.  I needed to buy a pair of reading specs for reading Kindle on my smart phone while in bed after the contacts lenses come out.  $10 (US) for an adorable pair in white.  With no TV in the bedroom we read books.  We do adapt, don’t we?  For the first time in years,  we’re both are relaxing enough to enjoy reading novels.

I knew about this risk while in the early planning stages of our worldwide travels.  This is the first time I’ve encountered it.  Its time to begin thinking about acquiring a VPN, a virtual private network that reroutes the connection to create the “appearance” of the inquiry coming from the US, an entirely legal and convenient tool used by many expats and businesses. 

With plenty of food on hand for our share of the Minnesota Pot Luck dinner on Friday night and for our dinners over the next week, we’re rather content.  Tonight we’ll have a homemade meal of more coleslaw, which I made earlier to ensure it’s well chilled, fresh steamed wax beans, and a big platter of sautéed locally made sausages with buttery caramelized onions.

Tomorrow is our 18th anniversary. Our plan is to dine out but with so much good food on hand, we may decide another night’s dinner at “home” is a perfect way to celebrate.