My Five: Things I’m Thinking About This Monday Morning

Here are a bunch of things on Ambergris Caye that are twirling around my mind this morning.  It’s a hot windy hazy day – and despite the weather forecast saying rain, it’s sunny out.  The forecasting this time of year calls for possible rain pretty much all the time.  That’s because it CAN rain at any time.

(Full disclosure:  As I wrote this blog,  between 8am and 10am, it went from sun to haze to pouring rain for 2 mins and then back to sun)

Yesterday afternoon the sky looked like this but we got a mere sprinkle all day long and sunshine too.  Tis the season in the tropics.

Let’s start with Weather…

September 11th is the height of the hurricane season overall but down here in the western Caribbean, the late summer/fall is the time when storms can form in the warm warm waters rather than just rolling off the Sahara Desert the way they do earlier in the season.

There is one to keep an eye on.  It’s very early still…

Sites to watch:  NHC, Wunderground Hurricanes & tropical Cyclones, Tropical Tidbits and Navy Hurricane

Oh…and one quick tip:  Few people who live down here find talk of Hurricane Parties fun or funny down here.  With most of the island at sea level (or below) – and everyone living so close to the sea – storms are taken seriously.  Dead seriously.

And now better news…

The Road North

About a month ago, I reported on a team effort – SP Town Council/Mayor and Residents & Businesses of North Ambergris Caye – coming together to raise money and FIX THE ROAD!

It’s completed – from the Secret Beach Junction (about 4 miles north) to La Belize Resort (9 miles north)- a smooth packed road.  It cuts my driving time to town from about 40 minutes to 25 minutes.  And, even better, cuts way down on an aching back and angry joints from the old BUMPY road.

Even more exciting – the team is going to keep the road in good shape.

Amazing.

The French Bakery

I’m also SOOO happy that the French Bakery has re-opened under new (but still French) ownership. AND a new name.

It almost sounds ridiculous to say…who would have thought it 15 years ago in Belize…but it is SOOOO nice to get fresh baguettes for sandwiches – or the pre-made sandwiches there for a quick lunch in town.

They have a very nice selection and…the quiches and croissants are delicious.

White Rock Farms

Speaking of cheese (quiches are just cream, pie crust, and cheese basically, right?) – White Rock Farms – located just outside of Belmopan on mainland Belize- is shipping weekly to San Pedro!  I have been ogling their Facebook page for a while…the cheeses and the sausages and the jams and lemon curds….

So I was so excited to see the email sign-up for their mailing list (see their Facebook page above) and Friday deliveries to San Pedro via Tropic Air.  I ordered lemons (lemons in Belize!) and Emmenthal and a hunk of Brie cheese and Manchego and Spanish cured sausage and YUM.

Easy to pick up – packed beautifully and refrigerated at Tropic Air – and SOOO good.

It’s a bit pricy but then…when was the last time you had artisan charcuterie in Belize?  It was a birthday treat for me!  That I most definitely will be repeating in the future.  The cheese is AMAZING.

A quick note:  I wrote a post in 2014 about NO LEMONS in Belize – only limes. (A post that also includes me throwing a Belizean pumpkin off my balcony onto the concrete below)

And since then I’ve found a smattering of lemons in San Pedro but I’ve always found that they are SO SOUR.  Not at all the Sunkist sweeties, I’m used to from the states.  This heaping bowl (2lbs from White Rock Farms) was the same.  INCREDIBLY sour – like a big squeeze in my water made it hard to drink – but they will be delicious in other things…salad dressings perhaps?

Wait…is this post all about food?  Mostly. YES!

Breakfast at Matachica Resort

I am going to do a whole post on this because it was that great.  And, since I am totally obsessed with their baked goods – from the pizza to the muffins to the breads – AMAZING – I got a tour of their bakery.

And my obsession has only grown.

Plus…can you beat breakfast on the beach with this view?

You can check out my amazing stay – Honeymoon for One – earlier this year.

And lastly…I am now 48 years old.  I celebrated my birthday on Saturday with cake and a cheese plate and my dogs and a great book and my boyfriend and an amazing dinner he made for me.  A surprise plate with so many of my favorite things.

Sushi and homemade shrimp-pork dumplings and chinese greens and a bit of salmon and sticky rice and butternut squash with sweet Asian glaze and fried sweet plantains!

48 years old isn’t that bad 🙂 I have a ton to be grateful for.

 

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