Touch Down in Belize Lobster Extravaganza

Excuses, excuses! I know....No Blog for 6 months!

Life really turns into a whirlwind when you make the decision to split your time between two far away places. We closed the Barracuda Bar and Grill at Beaches and Dreams Seafront Inn in late June, after having a week-long 40th birthday party for a California girl and her entourage of friends that filled up ourplace and spilled over to some of the other resorts nearby. The celebration was, much to my joy, centered around culinary theme nights, culminating in a 6 course wine dinner which was provided an impromtu intermezzo when a sudden storm blew in our outdoor dining area. The menu was matched with wines and began with a Lobster Bisque, Roasted Duck and apricot salad, seafood ravioli with sundried tomato pesto, mango sorbet and a 12 layer Lithuanian Torte.



The Inn remains open with breakfast all summer until our return in late September after working in a remote kitchen for firefighters in the Alaskan outback. This year, on the return trip to Belize, we decided to take a 2 week camping trip in an area I'd never really explored, the Northwestern US. We drove down the Washington and Oregon Coast into Northern California , then returned through the central portions of those states, staying mostly on 2nd class roads and hitting some phenominal fishing in Oregon.



This gives me an answer for the oft-asked question we get here at Beaches and Dreams- "Where do people that live here go for vacation?"

Of course our camping trip centered around.....you guessed it.....FOOD!

It's nice when you have a passion that you can indulge in daily, and still enjoy doing it ...and make a living out of it, and culinary pursuit is definitely mine. It's my heroin. If I don't cook for a few days, I can have crazy mood swings. The camping trip was started provisioning with kitchen essentials for our little rented van. Every night we built a fire and cooked over it, roasting peppers in our clamp grill and cooking portabellos stuffed with the roasted peppers and cheese. We bought fresh seafood in the little fishing towns along the coast and lunched in mom and pop diners serving fresh crab and oysters.

Fast forward now, back at our home in Belize for our usual pre-season maintenance rush. Painting the main building and completing the last of our room re-models, reseeding a current crop of basil, oregeno, thyme and dill as well as planting a new raised bed for baby lettuces like mesclun mix and getting stocked up to re-open the Barracuda Bar and Grill has kept us busy 16 hours a day since our return and the first of the seaswons guests are here, but we are ready.
We will now go into the operation mode, where life just skips along at a nice Belizean pace and my mornings are filled with buying fresh snapper filets and lobster tails and checking the local vegetable stand for jicama and tamarind.

Daily Hopkins life is full of things to do, most of which I love to do. Buying fresh ingredients for the nights specials board, serving great clientelle who are Foodies and then enjoying a glass of wine with them after dinner while we sit out on the new extended dock as the palm trees dance in the breeze ...and the ocean sings us her lulabye....I'll meet you at Beaches and Dreams.
You'd better Belize it!

Setting Back the Clock....and Moving Forward

For anyone who may not be aware, I am from Italian American decent. Both my parents arrived ont "The Boat" with thier parents as young children, making my siblings and I, 1st generation Italian -Americans. I was the youngest of six and my sister Annette recently sent me the following discertation which I relate to perfectly:

> The Italian Clan ~ > > I am sure for most second generation Italian American children who > grew up in the 40's, 50's & 60's there was a definite distinction > between us and them. We were Italians, everybody else, the Irish, the > Germans, the Polish, they were Americans. > > I was well into adulthood before I realized I was an > American. I had been born American and lived here all > my life, but Americans were people who ate peanut butter and jelly > sandwiches on mushy white bread. I had no animosity towards them, it's > just I thought ours was the better way with our bread man, egg man, > vegetable man, the chicken > man, to name a few of the peddlers who came to our > neighborhoods. We knew them, they knew us. > > Americans went to the A&P. It amazed me that some > friends and classmates on Thanksgiving and Christmas ate > only turkey with stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We had > turkey, but only after antipasti, soup, lasagna, meatballs and salad! > > In case someone came in who didn't like turkey, we also > had a roast of beef. Soon after we were eating fruits, nuts, pastries > and homemade cookies sprinkled with little colored things. This is > where you learned to eat a seven course meal between noon and four > PM, how to handle hot chest nuts and put peaches in wine. Italians > live a romance with food. Sundays we would wake up to the smell of > garlic and onions frying in olive oil. We always had macaroni and > sauce (gravy). > > Sunday would not be Sunday without going to Church. We knew when we got home we'd find meatballs frying, and > nothing tasted better than newly cooked meatballs with crisp bread > dipped into a pot of hot gravy (not sauce). > > > > Another difference between > them and us was we had gardens. Not just with flowers, but tomatoes, > peppers, basil, lettuce and 'cucuzza'. Everybody had a grapevine and > fig tree. In the fall we drank homemade wine arguing over who made the > best. Those gardens thrived because we had something our American > friends didn't seem to have. We had Grandparents. > > It's not that they didn't have grandparents. > It's just they didn't live in the same house > or street. We ate with our grandparents, and God forbid we didn't > visit them 3 times a week. I can still remember my grandfather telling > us how he came to America when he was young, on the 'boat.' > > I'll never forget the holidays when the relatives would gather at my > grandparents' house, the women in the kitchen, the men in the living > room, the kids everywhere. I must have fifty cousins. My grandfather > sat in the middle of it all drinking his wine he was so > proud of his family and how well they had done. > > When my grandparents died, things began to change. Family gatherings > were fewer and something seemed to be missing. Although we did get > together usually at my mother's house, I always had the feeling > grandma and grandpa were there. > > Its understandable things change. We all have families of > our own and grandchildren of our own. Today we visit once in a while > or meet at wakes or weddings. Other things have also changed. The old > house my grandparents bought is now covered with aluminum siding. A > green lawn covers the soil that grew the tomatoes. There was no one to > cover the fig tree, so it died. > > The holidays have changed. We still make family > 'rounds' but somehow things have become more formal. > The great quantities of food we consumed, without any ill effects, are > not good for us anymore. Too much starch, too much cholesterol, too > many calories in the pastries. The difference between 'us' and 'them' > isn't so easily defined anymore, and I guess that's good. > > My grandparents were Italian-Italians; my parents were > Italian-Americans. I'm an American and proud of it, just as my > grandparents would want me to be. We are all Americans now...the > Irish, Germans, Polish, all U.S. citizens. > > But somehow I still feel a little bit Italian. Call it culture...call > it roots...I'm not sure what it is. All I do know is that my children, > grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, have been cheated out of a > wonderful piece of our heritage. >

Now, here I am in Belize, and the clock has been set back. Abundant tomatoes grow in my own garden. A second story balcony in a more protected area grows my herbs such as basil, dill oregeno and mint.
Two times a week the pineapple and lime guy comes. He's the grower. Another truck arrives with Francesco, another vegetable salesman. He's not the grower, but he travels around and buys from local farmers and brings a variety of fresh produce. I talk with the farmers and let them know what I'll buy. Now there are a few more lettuce growers and instead of going for the giant zuchini for weight, I can get smaller more delicate ones. The very fisherman I buy my fish from now know how I like my filets and actually what type of filets I like and we are on a first name basis. The Country Foods truck brings local eggs, of which all are fresh brown eggs (white eggs are illegal to sell here) and dried beans and flour produced in Spanish Lookout by the Mennonites.

The Dairy truck comes once a week as well, with cream, milk and yogurt. To me it is as close to the food as a chef can be without being the farmer himself, (which wouldn't give one enough time to be a chef). A local farm not 5 miles away now has a meat processing plant and I can go to the butcher himself and again give him my specifications on various cuts of Beef and Pork.

Another farm on the Hopkins road is now raising quality ducks, quail, lamb and Guinea Fowl and one only has to pick up the phone and order for a next day pick-up.

When a few of the fisherman go out to Glovers Reef, they know to bring me my Tuna and Wahoo whole, as I like to cut the filets myself and the palagics keep better that way after proper bleeding, perfect for a rare seared Albacore Tuna over spicy Bok Choi with ginger lime reduction sauce.

All in all, maybe its not the days of yesteryear for most people in the States, but here , the clock has been set back to a more direct interaction between chef and suppliers, and as a first generation Italian American- Belizean, I can only sit back in the evenings when the cool tradewinds blow and reflect on anther Culinary day of buying and cooking and sharing and enjoying and think that this is the way it should always be....close to the things that sustain us.........Belize it or not, its a step back in time, and in my opinion, a step in the right direction!

Colorful Caribbean Cuisine

Colorful Vegetables
I am never ceased to be dazzled and amazed on a daily basis here in Belize. Dazzled by the extra dose of optic stimulation consisting of stunning contrasts in hues. It occurs in nature all around me at all times, and it occurs by human hands daily as well, perhaps inspired by natures infinite palette. It occurs in the personalities here as well. I can't help think that it becomes cause and effect that is self perpetuating. What ever the reason for this colorful cornucopia here in Belize, and the Caribbean, I love it.
In fact, I was born to participate in a colorful scheme of life, and this of course bleeds into my kitchen and the resulting creations that emerge from my culinary playground. Even a simple medley of vegetables becomes a kaleidoscope of color. I seek out the red, yellows and green peppers from the veggie stand. I prefer the smaller locally grown thin skinned peppers that sometimes come in half green and half red with a bit of purple streaking through them. The larger varieties with thick and often bitter meat are available in perfect colors, the result of grafting for more volume per fruit, but are far less sweet than the un-grafted peppers. Add some zucchini and yellow squash, purple eggplant and white onion and the result is a visually stimulating Caribbean Vegetable Blend that is its own garnish.


Colorful Crabs


Colorful Chairs








Colorful Everything!

And so it goes, surrounded by a
plethera of colors everyday from the
beautiful flowers to the colorful personalities
to the clothes and the food and the flora. It's
like Las Vegas without the electric bill.
Even the uderwater world of the reef is alive with colors.
The fish and the coral all echo the theme:
We are alive! Alive with Caribbean Color.
It says : Have fun. Be happy. Enjoy.
All of the ramifications that I would like to think my food exudes. Enjoy, have fun eating and cooking, be colorful, like the flowers and the birds. Like the Spanish and the Mayan and the Creole and the Garifuna......and like the Chef in Belize ...........You'd better Belize it!

Mediteribbean Cuisine

Well, October is behind us now and we are gearing up for the season which, for us, officially starts now. Lots of hours have been spent in the kitchen, and as I do often, a menu re-design has transformed our menu into a plethora of dishes founded from my roots and my passion for Mediterranean dishes and the availability of fresh Caribbean ingredients. The result is a selection of fresh seafood, pork, beef, lamb, chicken and vegetarian prepared in the simple,but elegant style of Italy, Greece and Spain, which I call Mediteribbean.
The result of the new beachfront smoker and wood grill, now complete with stainless steel lid, has sent my culinary imagination on fire (pun intended) in finding ways to infuse the smokey flavor of Craboo Wood into some of the dishes that come out of my main kitchen. One trip to the veggie market in Dangriga answered my own question. I bought abundant amounts of zucchini, Roma tomatoes, eggplant, white onions and sweet peppers, which I would cut into large enough chunks and grill them over the Craboo wood. First I marinated the veggies in olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, lots of mashed garlic and a spoonful of Dijon. When the fire was ready, I grill the veggies, closing the lid for a few minutes to dampen the fire and let the wood smoke for a little while.

When the veggies are cooked, I can use them in lots of dishes. I finely dice a little and added to one of our side dishes, a cornmeal polenta and the result was an absolutely sublime creamy polenta with a hint of smoke and sweet peppers. It blended perfectly with the Romano cheese I add to it at the last moment. Now THAT'S Mediteribbean. Another use for these veggies is a great additive to some crispy sauteed vegetables for my vegetarian marinara. I'll add a few of the larger pieces after I've sauteed the other veggies and just when I add the marinara sauce. After a light tossing, the subtle smokey flavors add depth to the marinara that would be impossible to ascertain without the smokey vegetables. The uses for these veggies is endless, to using them actually as a spice blend to centering them on a piece of crostini made from our home made sourdough bread, drizzling olive oil over the top and a little shaved Parmesan. I put into a hot oven, and in a few minutes have a great appetizer or salad accompaniment.
The grill is not just for vegetables, mind you , It's versatility lend to the slow Jerk smoking we do with our pork tenderloins and whole chickens. We serve the slow smoked pork tenderloins, which have been rubbed with my own jerk spice blend, over a bed of spicy Cuban black beans after it has been basted with my homemade honey jerk BBQ sauce, to which I have added ground smoked habenero peppers. The smoked chickens are used as an entree and as a topping for our BBQ chicken pizza. This pizza uses our BBQ sauce as the sauce and is finished in the end with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. The smokey chicken also in nice in pasta, like sweet Italian sausage and smoked chicken Alfredo. The shining star of the grill will come every Friday night, while we simplify our menu and offer Lobster, Shrimp and Fish as well as steak, cooked to order on the wood grill. We make a fabulous basting sauce by melting butter and adding an equal amount of our BBQ sauce, chopped pineapples and a plethora of ground peppers. The simple flavors of the grill take care of everything, the rib steaks are rubbed and basted with garlic oil. The upper rack of the grill will keep roasted corn on the cob hot and the resulting plate can only be described as....well....Mediteribbean. One thing I am anxious to try, will be a wood grilled pizza, I'll have my camera ready and report on that in my next blog, but I think I can place it on a kamal on the rack, then transfer directly to the rack after a generous basting of olive oil.

As menu planning goes with me, that is just a small sample of the actual new menu. Other items of course feature lots of fresh fish, like pesto baked grouper or Seafood marinara. Fillet Oscar Mediteribbean are medallions of beef tenderloin, pan seared and topped with diced lobster meat, hearts of palm and a Bearnaise sauce, served with pesto potatoes. Shrimp scampi has been a mainstay on my menus for my entire 30 year cooking career, but the availability of the fresh shrimp from the many shrimp farms around make it a must. We also prepare a Lobster Tail Scampi appetizer for two, featuring a butterflied lobster tail sauteed in olive oil, lemon, wine and garlic, the signature scampi sauce of generations. It is also enhanced by a fresh herb lend I chop nightly consisting of herbs from my upstairs container garden which is on the "back" of the building, sheltered from the wind driven salt air that can burn delicate little herbs. I find the oregano does well anywhere, and imagine clumps of it coming out of scraggly rocks overhanging the Mediterranean sea on precarious cliffs. Its tough. The basil, once established does well as does a variety of thyme here. The 3 herbs make for a great blend and add the extra freshness whether added to a dish while cooking or sprinkled over the top of a pizza or pasta.
To round out the Mediteribbean menu, I've selected a center cut of boneless pork loin to star as the main attraction in Pork Loin Picatta. After cutting about three-quarter inch thick medallions, I pound out the cutlets, dredge in a seasoned flour and saute in olive oil with white wine, capers, garlic and lemon. Served with pasta with roasted vegetables and topped with a blend of Parmesan and Romano cheeses. Keeping in mind that this is of course just the base menu and that 3-6 features of the day are usually added at the 11th hour as fishermen return or my ADD personality sees a breadfruit and ..... God forbid..... I go off on a Breadfruit tangent, or some similar such circumstance that pretty much describes my culinary career. Indeed, I can get very excited about a simple edible morsel and my imagination can take just about any ingredient and make it center stage for an evening or 2. "Its what defines a passion," I tell my wife, after waking her at 3am to tell her my latest food preparation fantasy.
"It defines something!" she mumbled as she rolled over and went back to sleep.
Angela too, has been refining recipes for her ever changing dessert menu. Chocolate is always the favorite and she brought lots of specialty items for her desserts back with her from the states. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with in her secret labratory with all those measuring spoons and other items I try never to use.
For now....You'd Better Belize it.... and now you're hungry too!

Spring.... err fall spruce up.

Coming from early Alaskan winter to the warm climes of our beach, it almost seems like we skip winter and move right to Spring and being that it is a little pre-season, we get right to business with our pre-season spruce up, a little like Spring Cleaning.

A little Re-thatching of the the roof over our beach sign.......

And the building of a new beachfront smoker/wood grill....................

The foundation and some governors I had made to regulate the airflow to the fire. The ends can turn and let in more air. They'll be cast into the bottom of the fire pit.

After they are cast into the fire base, we put a stone facade on the outside and casted ledges for the racks. We are still waiting for the racks and the quarter circle lid to come from Spanish Look-out where the Mennoniotes are fabricating them.

The view from the BBQ isn't bad either......................................

We are also doing some painting of the cabanas....

And last summer we finished the new roofs for a cool interior

And finally, Ruger the super dog continues to patrol the beach picking up all plastic bottles and becoming a leaping eco-cause beach dog. You can see his exploits below....

To Alaska and Back in Belize

After not planning on returning to Alaska for a full year and quite enjoying the slower pace of June and July in Hopkins we were able to gain our permanent residence status in Mid-July followed by phone call from a friend who was running the Fairbanks kitchen for Alaska Fire fighters asking if I could come and help out with an extremely busy fire season.

July 26th saw us landing in Fairbanks once again for an 8 week stint back at the cabin on the Upper Chena River in Two Rivers, Alaska. Both Angela and I went to work immediately in the kitchen for 2 back to back stints of 7/12 hour days for 21 days straight. Needless to say, our time there went quickly, and a day before the first snowflake fell on September 21st, we made our return.

My trip there was a personal revelation, as I found myself missing Belize after the first few weeks and, for another revelation, for the first time, we said we were going home.

And home it is, and its great to be back. We awoke the first morning with still a little jet lag from a too long flight, but to the usual fabulous sunrise as I took it in from my upper deck with some fresh ground Guatemalan coffee. I was happy to see that my basil, papaya, lemon grass and peppers took good care of themselves when I was gone, do mostly to a great summer cycle of night rain followed by breezy semi-cloudy days and it almost a necessity to process a large batch of pesto immediately. Though I was in a kitchen in Fairbanks, I was mostly feeding larger quantities of people so my overactive culinary imagination had been vicariously running rampant in Belize a month before I actually came back down. We won't officially open the restaurant to the public until mid-October,though lucky guests of Beaches and Dreams will have

our undivided culinary attention should they so desire.

The villagers have made note of our return and the fisherman and lobster divers hail as we pass through Hopkins. They yell that they will be down with their catches and the different vendors of vegetables also know to begin stopping by again. I phoned the restaurant staff, who all can't wait to get back to work. Kendra, my associate in the kitchen, has been with me since my first season, her teaching me about some of the traditional foods and taking great pleasure learning creative ways to prepare them. Indeed, only for the first few weeks of her employ did she think that the way she grew up with and learned to cook things like breadfruit and jicama and calilou was certainly not the only way to do things.

Last year we discovered a giant patch of wild calilou growing on our Sittee River property and my Belizean friends showed me this great green which I liken to a cross between spinach and beet greens.

After buying last seasons lobsters in quantity on the opening day of lobster season, I featured a plethora of lobster dishes including lobster bisque. When I returned to the restaurant with my new found booty of calilou, I decided to saute a little bit of it and added it to my bisque, which was still on the thick side as I add sherry at the last minute when serving. I blended the sauteed Calilou in with the lobster bisque and topped it with a little mozzarella and baked the entirety until golden on the top. Some fresh chopped parsley and Parmesan finished the dish which is served with pieces of pesto focaccia for a fabulous lobster fondue. Indeed, when I ask Kendra about the uses of a new found vegetable or fruit she responds, "Why are you even asking me how we prepare that, you will do what you want anyway!" True as that may be, I still usually start with finding out the traditional uses of things, as many times this is a starting point to find out if things may be starchy or sour and how the traditional preparations may change the palatability of these foods.

After being in Alaska for the last 8 weeks, I was glad to return to an abundant crop of basis and oregano and find out that my long nursing of the mint plant had payed off and I now had a healthy crop of mint established. I am ready this morning to make a batch of pesto. I'll make 3 kinds. Standard , sun dried tomato and a multi herb pesto with thyme, oregano , but still mostly basil. This I use for many seasonings and pasta dishes. It never ceases to amaze me how fresh herbs change a dish, especially when you are dealing with the fresh seafood I find in Belize.

On other news from Hopkins.........

Ruger, the new puppy, grew by leaps and bounds since I left and has learned to jump, no make that leap, off the dock into the water to retrieve. If you look back in this blog history and see the little puppy picture of him jumping like super dog, he has materialized into an adult version of this. I'll shoot some photos and put it in my next post.

For now, our first guest of season is here and has just taken in a splendid sunrise and I see he is having coffee on the dock, watching the fisherman catch his dinner.

We opened the restaurant with a limited menu last night and I sold out of my curried lamb stew, fresh lobsters and some cobia fillets so I am off in search of today's fare......You'd better Belize it!

Tony

June in Belize

Well, amidst all the warnings of the treachery of summers here in Belize, we have so far had great weather and the tourist season, though waning, has far from dried up.

The hammocks always have a nice breeze

On the days temperatures rise, one only has to walk to the back(roadside) part of our building to feel the full force of the sun. Beach side however, continues to enjoy a nearly constant breeze and a comfortable respite from the heat. Hell, its just a great place to hang out. Perfect beach, 3 hammocks in the shade under the palapa where wireless still remains available so one can get a bit of work done and sip cool beverage of choice.

The first of June usually marks the beginning of the rainy season, but it has been held at bay now and is not predicted to start until the end of the month. We need some rain, but we are in the middle of replacing the roofs on our two beachfront cabanas(each has 2 rooms). The result form the first cabana re-roof is that our rooms are about 20 degrees cooler on a hot sunny day. the old roofs were of asphalt with the plywood underneath actually being the ceilings in the rooms, so on a sunny day, the roof acted like a heat sink and it was often early evening before the rooms would begin to cool off for the night. Now we have built a ceiling out of cement board, created a 1 foot airspace with high tech reflecto(this is not a registered trade mark in case anyone was wondering) insulation and a zinc roof on top of that. then we finished with some new soffets and fascia boards. We have one unit done and will be starting the 2 week project on the second beginning of next week. This is phase 4 of a six stage, 4 year renovation that will ultimately include the remodeling of our upstairs living quarters, to which we hope to add a third story small deck with view of the Caribbean Sean and the Maya Mountains. The other phase will be a dock extension to include a small amount of seating and room to dock our boat.

The important thing to remember about the renovations is that they stick to our plan of Zero Growth. We been there done that in Alaska already and have no intentions of borrowing to get bigger and to lose the small resort ambiance that is ultimately our success and our sanity. There is just enough here to do and make decent money while pursuing my passions for cooking, gardening and water activities and the ultimate payoff comes of course in the resale of prime Caribbean Beachfront property. In the meantime, we'll be enjoying every minute of our time here.

\ The ultimate plan of course will be to spend 3 months in the off season in Alaska at our place on the Chena River while being here during the peak seasons. There are times right now we miss the crackling of our Tuscan Oven in our log home in Alaska, friends gathered round and raucous conversation. We miss our friends, but have made many new ones who have opened our eyes to a simpler, less complicated life. We have several friends from Alaska who have visited and purchased property here to spend half a year here during their retirement years. Alaska, after all, is as rural and diversified culturally as Belize and I can draw many parallels. The little town of Galena , Alaska, where I have gone to work for the last 3 years is very much like Hopkins. Athabaskans still fish the Yukon and hunt for subsistence, while taking paying jobs is secondary to many there, though this is changing rapidly, just as in Hopkins. Persons per square mile of country is also very alike and populations are concentrated with one very big city and several smaller ones and many very small villages. the list goes on, but I would be waxing senselessly, as is my nature.

Dangriga market and my Garifuna language lessons

Dangriga, to most first time visitors, seems gritty and intimidating, and indeed remains that way in the minds of many expats with years of living in an evolving 3rd world country. Well it is a little gritty, but scratch that grit and you will reveal a place steeped in culture. Gritty culture I guess, but full of the same life and emotions and cultural intermingling as any town of that size.

A few people will ask for a dollar, usually with a story of a sick baby, but they are not aggressive.

The guys near the river by the Chinese grocery, The Price is Right, offer to wash your car with the saltwater from the river for $5, and if you look the part, you may be offered a bag of weed, but that is nothing different than any Central American town that size, or any tourist driven location for that matter.

The Dangriga area, and the entire Stann Creek District, was settled by the Garifuna, and many of the descendants of those settlers, are still everywhere. Most remember life without electricity and when they made their living from the sea. Most still speak , or at least understand the language, which is African based. My staff has been teaching me some and I have been trying to learn a new phrase or two every week. I have known how to say good morning, good afternoon and good night for some time now, but the presence at the open air market in Dangriga of some nicely traditionally dressed older women who are perusing the various booths for their daily supply of cassava, plantains and sweet potatoes. The traditional Garifuna women are usually of a larger frame, walk with pride and dignity, usually wear a dress with a matching sun hat, and banter with each other robustly. These were my targets for my new greeting,k "Good morning beautiful ladies." I had practiced it for 2 weeks and actually chickened out last week. In Hopkins I am known by all. Many know I am trying to learn the language a little and forgive small mispronunciations and indeed, help to teach by correcting me or leading me into areas of language that they know I am familiar. But this, this is Dangriga, I am recognized, but not known.

I seized my opportunity when two ladies were arguing with a Spanish gentleman about his price for sweet potatoes. They would ask him how much, then in Garifuna, converse with each other into what I took to mean, from the words I recognized, that his price was less yesterday.

Having mastered a phrase that would fit wonderfully into their conversation, and aware of the shock effect of a white guy speaking Garifuna, or trying, I interrupted politely: " Aye, Abba cate ugaine, Amu cate haruga." Yes, one thing today and another thing tomorrow."

True to form, a quick moment of complete silence and an exchange of quick glances brought forth robust laughter and conversation in Garifuna with each other that of course was totally incomprehensible to me.

Calmly I smiled, "Aye," (yes) usually a yes in agreement works, but I knew I was seriously out f my league, but here it went anyway as I slowly walked away..................................

Buiti Banaafi he-eru beut.... Good morning beautiful ladies.

Exit stage right to the gleeful sounds of laughter and a beautiful language.....You'd Better Belize it.

One of The Beautiful ladies in Dangriga