Broad beans for a favour.

I had the pleasure of shelling these beautiful Fava Beans aka Broad Beans. A couple of days ago my honey-bunny, Zach, helped a dude & his son carry his 2 huge costales (think modern feed sacks) full o' beans they'd grown & harvested. They were all on a bus together going to the market in San Francisco and the bus did not indeed drop them at the market as they said they would but, a ways away, downhill from the market, no doubt. Anyhoo...Zach got some great cardio in (hah! I think he about killed himself carrying that 100 lb.+ bag of beans.) For his very kind hardwork he got a 'free' bag of beans that he brought home much to my delight, they are one of my very favourites!! We eat them about twice a week. I will peel the ones in the picture one more time. I usually cook them like this: saute them for maybe 5 minutes with olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt then, add water or stock and let simmer until tender! We eat them just as they turn out or I'll mash them and I add them to soups, stews and pasta dishes too. Yum!

potato face.

Pretty awesome eye & eyebrow for a tater.

That ain't all, this spud has two awesome eyes & eyebrows!



With a cute lil nose too....what a face!



drinking fresh aloe

A leaf of aloe from our local market. Cost: Q5

Drinking or eating fresh aloe may be hard to swallow for many but, with the awesome health benefits in mind, I've choked it down enough times to like and crave the stuff. I first heard of eating aloe when I was a kiddo; I knew a Mediterranean family that ate a nice slice of aloe flesh everyday and they swore by its longevity factors. I always thought of them eating aloe. Especially when I started having kidney stone issues and was turned on to aloe big time! Aloe is an anti-inflammatory and it'll fix you right up in so many ways if you're ailing from: digestive disorders, arthritis, kidney stone issues, burns, scraps, cuts, bug bites, joint and muscle pain, diabetes, high cholesterol, dry skin and any inflammation. Pretty incredible, eh?

Here is a fantastic link that'll tell you some of the truly amazing benefits you can reap from aloe vera!! It also has a great video showing you how to harvest the flesh from an aloe vera leaf.

We blend aloe flesh with water and coconut water. It might take some getting used to but, it's so pure & healthy!! You can also just blend it into a blended fruit drink. =)

guinea pig fever!

                    

Earlier this year I got my 1st guinea pig, Esme. I'd been pining for one ever since we saw some in Antigua the first month we moved to Guatemala. They had them at my favourite little pet supply shop there with a sign calling them Raton de India! That really cracked me up and was the ultimate kickstart to my love for guinea pigs. Now, I mostly refer to them by their Spanish name: cuyos.

Enid & Esme hiding out on their 1st day in their new home.

Upon bringing Esme home I started reading all about cuyos online. Maybe that's the reverse order that I was supposed to do those two things but, that's how it happened. Pretty soon into my reading I found out that they aren't meant to live alone. In Sweden, by law you have to buy two at a time. So of course there I was back at the market that day to get another one.  I chose another girl from the another bunch of pups that were a few weeks older. I was happy to have 2 sweet as pie girl guinea pigs!

                                   

                                         Esme & Enid. Their 2nd day together.

It didn't take very long for me to realize that Enid was not a girl but, a BOY! This discovery was much to my delight as I secretly wanted to have a cuyo family. I couldn't be happier to have gotten a boy & a girl. <3.

Grown up Enid. A very handsome Papa cuyo!

 In a couple of months Esme was with child, ok, pup. Her pregnancy suited her just fine, she became serene and sweeter than ever. She got huge, I charted her pregnancy on the calendar and she was overdue by 2-3 weeks. She was so big and I just couldn't imagine how many pups she was going to have. Online sources say that the average littler is 5-7 pups! But, alas on June 26th she delivered! Another surprise!! She only have one, not so small, pup. She had him all by herself on a bed of dried corn husks in a house fashioned out of a tipico basket (handles cut off, turned upside down, a little arched door-way cut out and then sunk in the dirt a couple of inches). It was the most dear and darling event to happen in our little backyard courtyard.

 1st litter. One pup. Pup-e. 'Baby' 1 day old.

While Esme was in her final month of her pregnancy we separated her from Enid. They were only separated by a chicken wire divide so that they could still keep each other company. Esme could have cared less but, Enid was a little bummed. In the natural Guinea Pig world the females surround the birthing mother and don't let any males near her for a while after she gives birth. Male pigs want to mate the minute the female pig has given birth and it's very unhealthy for the lady pig's body to get pregnant again that fast.

Esme & her 1st pup, Baby, nursing. So sweet.

Baby & Esme munching on some greens.

As soon as it was safe for Esme to be back with Enid we allowed the little family to be together. It was fun and interesting to watch them mingle. Baby hangs with his mom sometimes and with his dad other times.
We knew that it was only a matter of time before Esme & Enid would get some buns in the oven. And we decided to let this happen in high hopes for a little girl cuyo so we could split them up into two groups. Esme is such a docile darling mama pig. Her 2nd pregnancy was shorter and she was larger by a mile. I knew that she had more than one pup in her belly this time. She gave birth in a rainstorm early on the morning of September 18th to 3 little pups; 2 boys and 1 girl on a bed of shredded carrots.

 2nd litter. 3 pups. The only girl, she's the smallest.

Rosebud, the little girl.

Esme & her one-day old 2nd litter of 3 pups. One is hidden under her.

Cuyo pups are cool. They are born with all their hair, whiskers, teeth and nails. They can eat solid food from the start and can run the first day they are alive! And if you've never had the pleasure of being friends with a guinea pig you are missing out on some of the coolest animal noises ever! They whistle and squeak and eek...it's too cute! We now have 6 pigs whistling at us! Yay!

backgammon

Backgammon is a game I played as a kid and then didn't play for many many moons until this year. My mom gave me an adorable travel set earlier this year that she totally scored on at her local Flea Market, Howard's* for 2 bucks! I can't even begin to say how far that $2 has gone and is going. We play almost everyday and it's so much fun! We one day aspire to figure out and use the doubling cube. Haha!

This game lives on our kitchen table. We play almost everyday. It's so much fun because we are even-steven on skill level and that makes it all a matter of 'luck of the dice'!!

*Howard's Flea Market in Homosassa, Florida is where Mike is from. He was all by himself and that is one of the most precious days of my lives; finding that little guy. What a firey little blessing he is. Talk about a flea market find!

growing my own spices

There's nothing like have herbs and spices to cook with! And there's nothing like not having herbs and spices to cook with. While there are many wonderful ingredients to be found in the markets here in Xela....there are a few things that I have grown accustom to cooking with that are not to be found! My solution? Grow them! Mustard seeds are something I incorporated into my cooking while living in Portland, Oregon some years back. I was going to traditional Indian food-themed pot lucks. I discovered a couple of dishes that influenced my cooking still to this day and probably for my ever. One of the dishes I made that had a huge impact on me was Bombay Potatoes. You start the dish by frying a bunch of spices...YUM!

Harvesting mustard seeds is fun but, a wee bit tedious. Thank goodness I've found a huge bag of mustard seeds (the dark ones) in the market...at a pet food stall. They are fed to birds. Who knew? Not me!!! Out of all the plants we had room to grow we only got about 2 tablespoons of mustard. It was a fun project and I've never regretted growing anything!

Mike even loved the plants and helped out, of course he did, he's a very good boy!

homemade natural deodorant

Living in Guatemala has changed me in many ways. And I wasn't about to let these changes (such as not having access to the lovely Weleda products I've been using for years) make me stink so, I had to find a solution and quick! Just kidding about the quickness part but, I am super stoked to have found a super simple solution. I have used and love Weleda Sage spray deodorant for a while now. It's light and airy and effective. I love that it's a simple refreshing herbal spray and I didn't want to compromise by using something un-natural. I won't even talk about stick deodorants...gross!

Well, after a tiny bit of research and thought, Rosemary is really the only fresh herb I could easily find here that I wanted to use. All I did was stuff in a bunch of fresh clean Rosemary in my empty deodorant bottles& fill with quality Vodka. They have been sitting in the dark for a week; I shake them everyday & they already smell really great!!!!

***UPDATE***
I should have removed the Rosemary at about 10 days in or less. It smelt great and was a very effective deodorant. I left the Rosemary in too long and it turned on me. Maybe it's because I used fresh Rosemary instead of dried. Nothing like learning things the hard way!!!!