In Hopkins
Feb. 19th, 2019 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetWe spent our first full day in Hopkins futzing around trying to figure the place out. Basically, beach aside there isn't anything much so we decided to splash out on a day snorkelling and fishing.
So next day we went out with a boat and crew to do just that. We snorkelled on the reef at Bread and Butter Caye; about 25 minutes by boat from Hopkins. It's pretty spectacular. now that the Ozzies have trashed their reef this may be just about the best one around. Then we went fishing. We tried bottom fishing (leger rig) in a couple of spots and caught a fair few snapper, porgy grunt etc. Then we did some trolling and I caught a barracuda; definitely the best catch of the day. We had lunch at the caye; snapper and barracuda fried up with tomatoes and spices and served with coconut rice. Very nice!
When we got back Mel invited to join a cultural/educational event the next day. After learning some Garifuna history we got to cook the Garifuna signature dish, hudut, from scratch. First step was husking, cracking and grating coconut to make coconut milk. The milk was cooked with herbs from the property and salted fish head/bones to make a broth. Then we made a plantain paste. Unripe and ripe plantains are boiled then the unrip ones are pounded in a pestle and mortar. This has to be done until they take on the consistency of a sticky dough. Then the ripe plantains are incorporated in the mix. The fillets of the fish were highly seasoned and deep fried. One gets a bowl of broth and a second bowl of plantain paste. One takes some fish and plantain between ones fingers, dips it in the broth and eats. It's good but one of those dishes that isn't really worth the prep time/effort. It would be a bit like making one's own haggis from scratch. As far as I can see most Garifuna food is like that. The process for making cassava bread (a bit like dessicated cardboard) is similarly involved. No wonder it keeps for ten years. Nobody will eat it!
Later we headed into Hopkins to check in for our flight out and to eat some very good pizza and fish and chips at the Driftwood Bar. This turned out to be pointless as Belize airport won't accept electronic boarding passes and we had to check in manually anyway.
So next day we went out with a boat and crew to do just that. We snorkelled on the reef at Bread and Butter Caye; about 25 minutes by boat from Hopkins. It's pretty spectacular. now that the Ozzies have trashed their reef this may be just about the best one around. Then we went fishing. We tried bottom fishing (leger rig) in a couple of spots and caught a fair few snapper, porgy grunt etc. Then we did some trolling and I caught a barracuda; definitely the best catch of the day. We had lunch at the caye; snapper and barracuda fried up with tomatoes and spices and served with coconut rice. Very nice!
When we got back Mel invited to join a cultural/educational event the next day. After learning some Garifuna history we got to cook the Garifuna signature dish, hudut, from scratch. First step was husking, cracking and grating coconut to make coconut milk. The milk was cooked with herbs from the property and salted fish head/bones to make a broth. Then we made a plantain paste. Unripe and ripe plantains are boiled then the unrip ones are pounded in a pestle and mortar. This has to be done until they take on the consistency of a sticky dough. Then the ripe plantains are incorporated in the mix. The fillets of the fish were highly seasoned and deep fried. One gets a bowl of broth and a second bowl of plantain paste. One takes some fish and plantain between ones fingers, dips it in the broth and eats. It's good but one of those dishes that isn't really worth the prep time/effort. It would be a bit like making one's own haggis from scratch. As far as I can see most Garifuna food is like that. The process for making cassava bread (a bit like dessicated cardboard) is similarly involved. No wonder it keeps for ten years. Nobody will eat it!
Later we headed into Hopkins to check in for our flight out and to eat some very good pizza and fish and chips at the Driftwood Bar. This turned out to be pointless as Belize airport won't accept electronic boarding passes and we had to check in manually anyway.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-19 11:54 pm (UTC)