Foodie Tour Belize

Its that time of year again. time to start planning a great getaway after a long hard winter. If you are a Foodie and can travel in the first week of October, then our intimate Culinary Tour for 2015 is exactly what you are looking for. Scheduled for October 3-10th, let Tony and Angela show you the gastronomic Belize equivalent to an all out food fest.

Its roamantic

 

Visit local produce markets and farms

Enjoy world class cuisine in an unforgettable atmosphere

See how we bring it from farm to fork

Hands on cooking experiences with Chef Tony

Tasting Dinners

Private wine tastings

Seafood galore!

Recipe cards included

Fresh fruits from Belize!

Surf and Turf of course!

Contact us today! Only 6 couples will be taken for this amazing event!

Here is the itinerary :

Belize Culinary Tour 2015- Oct. 3-10

We are now taking reservations for our Belize Culinary Tour to be held for 7 days October 3-10^th. Only 6 couples will be taken on a first come, first served basis. This is a package for Foodies that will be guided by Tony and Angela Marsico, lifelong Foodies. 1^st class accommodations in our brand new Boutique Hotel Suites and travel in comfort in our fully air-conditioned deluxe shuttle.

Here is what you get:

October 3^rd: Arrive Beaches and Dreams and get comfortable in your room. We will meet on the fabulous Roof top dining area for a sunset cocktail and appetizer reception as we go over our itinerary for the next 6 days. Down to the open air dining room on the Beachfront for a 4 course chef’s dinner and wine sampling. Enjoy the rest of the evening sitting on the dock and listening to the waves and breeze through the palms.

October 4^th: 7 am: Belizean Style Breakfast of fry jacks, eggs and all the Belizean sides and lots of fresh Guatemalan Coffee.   8:30: We will depart for the South to go to a working Mayan Family farm to see how the past has melded with the present as we tour their organic gardens, harvest some of their ingredients, make corn tortillas and enjoy the Mayan Lunch we just helped prepare. See the Video here: https://vimeo.com/album/2457686/video/70444247. After this tour, we will head back where you will have a couple of hours to enjoy the beach and relax before we go to the Barracuda Bar and Grill for a Fresh Fish sampling dinner featuring 3 different local fish and 6 preparations. Tony will talk about the different characteristics of the fish and we’ll try 3 different wines with them and see how the wine changes the flavor of each dish.

October 5^th: This is Chef Tony’s  Birthday : 7 am breakfast buffet with fresh fruit, yogurt, eggs and Angela’s breakfast pastry. At 8:30, we will set sail on the Catamaran Utopia for a full day cruising and Tapas dining. We can snorkel or fish and you will get to see the second largest Barrier Reef in the world. Tony will prepare a variety of seafood and smoked items and vegetarian and the feast will last all day. You can enjoy the local rum and beer if you like on this trip. We will return at around 4 and have a little down time before we meet again on the Roof Top for Tony’s Gastronomic Birthday Celebration featuring some authentic Jamaican Jerk items and Tony’s favorite desert: Angela’s fabulous Key Lime pie.

October 6^th: 7 am Breakfast of Tony’s famous Tuscan style eggs. These are eggs poached and served in a light chicken broth with a hint of lemon and garlic and topped with Asiago cheese, A great way to start the day in the tropics.  There will be lots of fresh fruit always.  8:30 we will depart to a working spice farm for a 1.5 hour tour. We will see how roasting changes the flavor of many spices we use daily and see the spices on the various plants. After we leave there, we’ll stop at another farm and see one of the largest varieties of fruit trees in one place in Belize. We will also tour the botanical garden here before we have a multi course lunch prepared by the owner of the farm, who is also a very accomplished chef. We’ll get back around 3 and you can enjoy the rest of the afternoon longing around the pool or sunning on the beach. We will meet at 6 for a wine tasting and 8 course Chef’s sampler dinner with narration on the food preparation.

October 7: Garifuna Cultural Day: The Garifuna are and African based peoples that live in Hopkins and have their own cuisine with hints of African and Caribbean.  Late breakfast at 8am, then a free morning. At 11:30 we will go to a village restaurant for a traditional Garifuna Lunch. We will  go tot the Village Drumming center and learn about the distinct qualities of Garifuna Drumming and see some great drumming demonstrations. We will be back to the beach by late afternoon and meet on the roof top again for a surf and turf extravaganza.

October 8: Adventure day: After an 8am breakfast, you can choose any of our 3 choices for your inland adventure. Zip Line Belize’s longest Zip Line, Jungle Horseback riding, or Cave tubing. Lunch will be served on any of these trips and you will return for some relaxation in early afternoon.  Dinner in the dining room featuring Lobster Fest. Lobster prepared 8 different ways!

October 9^th:  Cooking Lesson-After 7 am. Breakfast we’ll take a ride into the Dangirga Market and shop for some fresh ingredients for our Caribbean Tropical Feast . we’ll source the ingredients for a predetermined  party menu and then head back to the Barracuda Kitchen to learn how to prepare a fabulous festival of Caribbean Gastronomical delights perfect for entertaining.  You ‘ll get recipe cards so that when you go back home, you will be able to put on your own Caribbean Party in the middle of the winter. We’ll dine on the roof top for dinner again with all of the food we learned to make.

October 10^th :After an 8 am breakfast, you’ll get your official Belizean Foodie T shirt and get ready to head home.  Depending on peoples departure times, we may be able to do a ground shuttle back to Belize City and stop at the zoo or else you will fly back to catch your outgoing flight.^:     

 

^{Price per couple………….$3300 USD}

What is included: All food, lodging, transfers, guide fees, activities,  wines during tastings, T-Shirt, Recipes and taxes.

What is not included: Gratuities and any extra alcoholic beverages.  You will get happy hour pricing on drinks during your entire stay.

Follow this link..... www.beachesanddreams.com

You'd better Belize It!

Delicious Caribbean Menus

The plethora of fresh fish we've been getting at the Barracuda Bar and Grill at Beaches and Dreams has been great this year with regular catches of giant prawns, calamari and a great variety of Caribbean fish, including this mornings catch of Spanish Mackerel , which are running right here in the bight which paints the beachfront here in Hopkins, Belize with all of the colors from the palette every morning. I saw Old Man Nunez just as the sun came up casting his net to catch sprat to use for bait for the abundant Mackerel.

The changing colors of a Beaches and Dreams morning

                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                    

1 cast from Mr. Nunez and he has all the bait he'll need to catch a boatload of Spanish Mackerel

" Buiti Bunafi" (pronounced Bweety Boon-ah-fee) I bid him in Garifuna, acknowledged by a nod from him as he paddled by, eyes scanning  below the surface with barely enough light to see the telltale silver flash that tells him he is on the sprat. He readies his net and in one throw he brings up enough sprat to catch a boatload of the Spanish Mackerel.  I order 10 pounds of filets from him and he is on his way.

The Mackerel have a high content of oil and this makes for perfect smoking. I'll brine them overnight with brown sugar and salt, the way the Athabascans taught me in Alaska with a slow smoldering fire far away from the fish. I'll be able to give the fish a good 8 hour smoke. It will make a fabulous appetizer with pickled onions in sour cream. I'll also mix some of the crumbly smoky goodness with some cream cheese and bread crumbs for a great stuffing for snapper, topped with a delicate Champagne sauce. The smoked  fish will also make add  flavor and texture to our Belizean Paella which is one of the stars of our menu when lobsters are not in season.

Ready for some smoke after a 12 hour brine

Ready to close the lid and let benign neglect take over

 For the Paella, we take our smoked chicken and pork tenderloin and toss it in a pan with extra virgin olive oil, I'll add the mackerel then too. I let these products get hot and flavor the oil with their smokey goodness before adding raw giant prawns and whatever fresh fish and seafood we have that day. To this we add a rich saffron broth and some half cooked short grain rice, garlic and herbs round out the flavor platform and once the rice is done, the Paella is served with fresh roasted vegetables, and, if its for me, a glass of Bolla Pinot Grigio..

The Appetizer of Smoked Mackerel with pickled onions and sour cream will have the pleasure of being accompanied by our signature Sourdough Ciabatta Bread, lightly crisped in the oven. this airy crusty bread is made with a Sourdough Starter I started in Alaska 25 years ago. I brought it down and every time I bake the fresh bread, I take little out and add it to more flour and water and in 3 days, have a new bubbling batch that make finished product chewy and slightly sour.

A fresh batch of Sourdough Starter bubbles with the original sourdough brought from my Alaskan 25 year old starter

 Its just another day in culinary Paradise here in Belize. We meld the past with the present, culturally and gastronomically, borrowing from all cultures to produce some great food right on our little stretch of beach...........You'd Better Believe it!

Belize Culinary Tours

The amazing setting for our Culinary Vacation 2013

                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                           

  The season at Beaches and Dreams Seafront Inn, of course home of the famous Barracuda Bar and Grill, started early and is going strong here in beautiful Hopkins, Belize. 

So much so that we will, for the first time since moving here 8 years ago, be keeping the restaurant open until September, when we will close the restaurant for 6-8 weeks for a little sabbatical. The last couple of seasons, I have been out and about checking out different things that are attractions to me, but not necessarily on the  average tourist check list of things to do in Belize. But our little spot seems to be evolving into a sort of Foodies Place and that being the case, we are now offering a list of Culinary Tours that can be taken from a few hours to a full day to a complete culinary vacation. Here is a little list of some, but not all the things that we are offering our Foodie guests:                                                                             

Miss Emma’s Farm Tour– Take the half hour ride to Miss Emma’s farm to se one of the largest varieties of fruit trees in one location in

Belize. She will personally take you on a tour of her gardens and

orchards. You can even have her make a gourmet lunch for you, she has been chef for US Ambassadors and other dignitaries of Belize.

Marie Sharps Factory Tour– Marie Sharp is famous all over the world for her hot sauce made from the local habanera peppers grown in Belize. Tour her small factory and purchase factory direct gifts to bring home.

Spice Farm Tour– Tour a working Spice Farm . The Mathews spice farm and botanical gardens features a mobile tour of the farm. The founders of the Golden Stream Plantation are originally from India and noticed a similar climate here on a vacation and decided to import plants from India with the blessing of the Belize Government. You will see a plethora of flowering plants, Mahogany and Teak Trees as well as

cardamom, vanilla, Black Pepper, nutmeg, Cocoa, and exotics like

Rambuttan and Bismarchia Nobilis. We include a stop at some Mayan Ruins on the way back as well.

Cyrilia’s Chocolate Factory Tour– An organic cocoa farm producing chocolate in the Ancient Mayan way melded with modern methods this all day tour shows chocolate from the beans to finished product and is also an olfactory delight.

Chef’s Tasting Dinner– Let Chef Tony prepare a Tapas Tasting dinner to include from 6-10 courses designed especially for your tastes. Perfect for you final dinner at the Barracuda Bar and Grill.

                                                                                        These individual tours can be taken while staying at our place, and now , for the first time, and in conjunction with our  first of September restaurant closing, we are offering a complete culinary vacation, including gourmet meals, tours guided by Angela and I, cooking demonstrations and some really great accommodations at our 5 star neighboring property, Villa Verano. 

www.villaveranobelize.com

We chose Villa Verano for our stay mainly because of the open kitchen , plus a roof top kitchen for cooking demonstrations, but also because the owners and close personal friends and fellow Foodies offered me the place for an affordable price that didn't price me out of the Culinary Tour Market. 

The accommodations are perfect for a gathering of Foodies. This will be 7 nights, 8 days of all things gastronimical. we've filled the days and nights with a plethora of Foodie based trips and have the luxurious accomodations to go with. Check out the itinerary below or check out our new Facebook page,

 http://www.facebook.com/BelizeCulinaryTours 

               

Introducing Tony and Angela Marsico, lifelong foodies who have lived their lives in the fine dining industry for more than 35 years.

The Marsico’s have taken their passion for food and culture all the way from Alaska where they owned and operated one of

Alaska’s premier Fine Dining restaurants for over 30 years to

Belize, where they now own a 5 room beachfront guesthouse which is home to one of Belize’s finest restaurants, The Barracuda Bar and Grill. Tony remains one of the most highly acclaimed Chef’s in Belize and Angela, one of the most talented pastry chefs.

Join them for a weeklong Culinary adventure  personally guided by them and let them show you the diverse cultures that meld together to help form a constantly evolving culinary frontier.

Enjoy evenings of gourmet meals prepared by Tony and Angela and their wonderful staff in the open kitchen where you can observe and if you like or sit back and enjoy the Caribbean views from your home for 7 nights, the 5 star Villa Verano.

Days are filled with all things gastronomical as we will tour this small Central American Country exploring Ancient Mayan Cacao farms and chocolate factories to modern day Hot Pepper sauce producers. Food and culture intermingle with 3 distinct ethnic cultures of Mayan, Garifuna and Creole and the cuisine that has melded together this little gem of the Caribbean.

This tour is limited to 5 couples in order to allow an intimate

experience in touring, cooking and eating.

2013 tour dates September 1-7th.

The Rooms

Tony and Angela have partnered with a neighboring property with 5 star accommodations with an open kitchen and roof top outdoor kitchen in order to provide the ultimate in comfort and facilitate evening cooking demonstrations and meals in the outstanding kitchen. We will spend 7 luxurious nights in the spacious Sea grape Suites at Villa Verano.

Www.villaveranobelize.com

With 5 separate suites all with private baths, a main dining room overlooking the sea and generous open kitchen, this is the perfect spot for a gathering of Foodies. We’ll enjoy roof top BBQ’s on the 3rd story as we take In stunning sunsets over the Mayan Mountains and early breakfasts watching the sunrise over the Caribbean Sea. There is a pool as well as a roof top hot tub for guests to enjoy and the beach in Hopkins is the best in Belize for swimming and sunning.

       

The Tours

DAY 1-  We will fly you from the International Airport at Belize       City to Dangriga where we will pick you up for the short ride to Villa Verano. We’ll have a reception with complimentary rum and beer and appetizers, then let everyone get settled in to their suites to meet in the dining and kitchen area for a tour briefing and multi course dinner.

 Day 2– After a breakfast of local fry jacks, fresh fruit, local granola, yogurt and smoothies, we will head out to the Habanera Pepper Sauce factory of the World renown Marie Sharps' Pepper Sauce to tour the factory, sample her wares and be able to purchase some of her great products and learn how she came to be one of the world’s highly acclaimed pepper sauce producers.

Next we will head south Ms. Emma’s farm and Botanical gardens. Ms. Emma will personally guide us through one of Belize’s most varying tropical plantations home to a plethora of fruit bearing trees all in one location. We’ll sample fruits, see beautiful and exotic flowers and gardens and then settle in for a gourmet lunch prepared by Emma and her talented staff. Back to Villa Verano for some afternoon beach and pool time before we convene on the roof top for Mojitos, beer and BBQ feast featuring Jerk delicacies from the land and sea. Bring your suit and you can relax in the roof top hot tub afterwards.

Day 3– After a breakfast of Seafood Omelet's, we will again head south to an Organic Cacao farm and working Chocolate Factory, Cyrilia’s Chocolates. We will see first hand the care that goes into this ancient Mayan Art form and witness the melding of Ancient practices and modern technology. We il enjoy a traditional Mayan style lunch before heading back to our home on the beach. Convening in the dining room for fresh fish sampling.

Day 4– Early breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt Tuscan Style eggs, then out to sea aboard the 44 foot Catamaran Utopia. We’ll sail to the Islands where we can snorkel the northern hemisphere’s largest and most living barrier reef while enjoying tapas tasters the entire way and imbibing on local drinks, sangria and beer. We will return around 4 pm and head back to the villa and

reconvene for an evening dinner featuring wild game and wine sampling.

Day 5– Early breakfast of build your own breakfast burritos then off to tour an exotic spice farm in the heart of Belize's agricultural hot bed.  We will tour the farm with the owners who came from India to farm in this very similar climate. Spice sampling and demonstration and lunch will be followed by a one hour stop at the mystic Mayan ruins of Lim Ni Punit before we head back to the beach.  We’ll be dining on lobster with 3 different preparations in the evening as well as a chardonnay sampling.

Day 6– After local style late breakfast, we’ll head into the Jungle at Mayflower Bocawina National Park where you can choose to do

Belize’s longest Zip Line or just go on a guided hike to waterfalls and tour the beautiful grounds, complete with unexcavated Mayan ruins. We’ll have a lunch of Shrimp Tacos then head back to the Villa where you will be free until dinner for another roof tip BBQ featuring the local poultry and grilled vegetables.

Day 7– The final day we’ll have a leisurely American style breakfast before we go head down to Placencia for a day of shopping and exploring. Lunch will be on your own here and we’ll head back to the Villa around 2pm for total decompression time and a final feast of a 10 course Tapas and dessert sampling.

Day 8– Transport back to Belize City for your flight home. 

contact me at vacation_belize@yahoo.com  for more information on the Culinary Tour Belize 2013, Sept . 1st- 8th.

  

 What else is new?  How about this great Osso Bucco of Wild Boar.......

I've found a great supply of game products from one of the local Yeagermeisters. These guys live on the Hummingbird highway and are licensed to hunt commercially. They can offer a regular supply of venison, Wild Boar and  gibnut. these guys aren't the kill all animals variety for profit, rather they watch over their scertain peice, know the animal populations and mange it as micro eco system for sustainable harvest.

 

Osso Bucco of Wild Boar

Until next time....You'd better Belize it!