A Break from Winter

I've been catching myself a lot this winter in the habit of eating out multiple times a week or repeatedly making comfort food. Our honeymoon was a nice change of pace in many ways, and it reminded me that fresh, simple food is still accessible even when the days are so short.

Davy and I stayed in a condo on Ambergris Caye, the largest island off the coast of Belize. Seafood was prominent on the menus at every bar and restaurant, as were stewed chicken with rice and beans and various dishes featuring tortillas. We made sure to eat a lot of ceviche, which is almost like a seafood salad or salsa in which the shellfish or fish is cooked by citrus juices. Conch, shrimp, lobster, and various types of white fish are all available off the coast of Belize, and I think we tried all of them in ceviche throughout the course of our vacation.

The best ceviche that we had was on an all-day fishing and snorkeling trip. We went out on a boat with two guides, Clifford and Eric, and Eric's seven-year-old son Dylan. The three of them caught sardines for bait, and then we went outside of the reef to try to catch big fish. Unfortunately they weren't biting, aside from a baby grouper, so they took us back inside the reef and we caught a bunch of red snapper.

I also caught one yellow-tailed snapper, which Clifford said was good for ceviche. He proceeded to clean the fish, cut it into strips, and place it in a clear plastic cup with several limes' worth of juice. After Eric stopped the boat to work on the other fish, Clifford set a big pan of ceviche before us with a bag of chips. He'd diced onion, green pepper, tomato and carrot, and mixed the vegetables with the fish, cilantro, Season All, and a lot of black pepper. All of the flavors and textures blended together perfectly so that each bite was a burst of freshness.


Eric and Clifford roasted the rest of the fish in a foil packet over a fire on the beach. One packet contained fish, green pepper, onion, and different seasonings, and another had sliced potatoes with similar ingredients. It was definitely the freshest seafood I've ever eaten.



One of our favorite restaurants, Ak'Bol, was about a 10 minute walk down the beach. It was open until 5 PM and served breakfast all day, and most of the items on the menu were very affordable. I tried a breakfast burrito one day and a granola and yogurt parfait on another visit, both of which exceeded my expectations.

My cousin recommended that we try fry jacks for breakfast, and Ak'Bol offered fry jacks with various fillings, including chicken, bacon, shrimp, and veggie eggs. Davy tried both the bacon and the chicken, and on our last day in Belize I ordered a chicken fry jack all to myself. I think the best way to explain fry jacks is that they look like puffed up pancakes and taste like an airier version of a biscuit (i.e. delicious).


Lime is prominent in a lot of Belizean dishes, and the server/bartender at Ak'Bol squeezed at least 3 limes into his bloody marys. You could order them in varying degrees of spiciness too, and he used the local Marie Sharp's habanero hot sauce to adjust the heat. I definitely want to try his version of the drink for brunch or breakfast for dinner.

Adding lime or other citrus is a foolproof way to lighten the flavors of any cuisine. It's not always an appropriate addition to comfort food cuisine, but methods like that one will definitely help me out of my winter eating rut.

2010 Farm Show

The apple dumplings, baked potatoes, milk shakes, and fried cheese were just as good, if not better, than last year. Check out some fried cheese pictures below, and stay tuned for a post about Belize!

The Belvidere at Broad

After an unsuccessful attempt to try The Belvidere at Broad after Thanksgiving, Davy, my parents and I went for dinner last week. The interior reminded me of a cleaner, brighter, slightly larger Fan bar, with a row of booths on one side, tables in the front, and a bar on the other side.

Chalkboard menus indicated drink specials, beers on tap, and food specials for that night. Our server was accommodating and friendly, and the bartender made my mom an excellent Manhattan with rye-soaked dried cherries.

My dad ordered the soup special, which was roasted red pepper and crab, and there was enough for all of us to have a few spoonfuls. It had a velvety texture and plenty of crab meat throughout the bowl, but it wasn't so rich that it ruined any of our appetites.

I ordered the turkey and white bean burger with a side of roasted root vegetables, and as soon as it came to the table I wanted to devour everything on the plate. The substantial burger was served on a ciabatta roll with feta, roasted red peppers, and a few other toppings, and the roasted vegetables were delicious without much seasoning.

The other dishes at our table were tequila grilled shrimp with mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts, "Sake Ginger Glazed Grilled Salmon" with rice and various vegetables, and the entree special, which was pan-seared duck. All of them were brightly flavored, with appealing yet simple presentations.

The Belvidere at Broad is casual enough for a regular weeknight dinner, but the food is carefully prepared and sophisticated enough for a special occasion. If you have friends or family visiting Richmond, or you're the one doing the visiting, I highly recommend it.

Chicken, Pot Roast and Trifle

I think I'm finally out of the takeout and eating at restaurant rut that characterized a lot of lunches and dinners in the fall. Looking back over my cooking patterns since Thanksgiving, it seems that I'm depending on some easy, quick and reliable dinners. For example, I've been eating a lot of chicken. After I made a roast chicken and we got a couple of meals out of it, I made soup with the bones and the rest of the meat. There's are at least four servings of the chicken noodle soup in the freezer, waiting for Davy or me to get a cold or need some extra comfort.

Whole Foods had nice snow peas, and that prompted a stir fry dinner with boneless chicken breasts and some leftover broccoli. The other half of the chicken went into an enchilada casserole, which is a simplified version of my rolled, baked enchiladas. Both the stir fry and casserole allowed us to have at least one extra serving of leftovers for subsequent dinners and lunches.

I had never made pot roast before, probably because I didn't really eat it growing up, but the Pioneer Woman's recipe (I saw it posted on Seriouseats.com) intrigued me. It's a substantial yet very simple dinner if you have a Dutch oven, and I think it also makes an impressive meal for guests or anyone else you want to show off your cooking skills to. We had it for our holiday dinner with Shannon and John, and it lent itself to an easy presentation.


Shannon made a mouthwatering, three-cheese macaroni and cheese, and we had green beans from her garden as the vegetable. I made Giada De Laurentiis' Chocolate, Chesnut, and Orange Trifle, which I managed to mess up only a little after hunting down the chestnut component. The recipe calls for chestnut paste, an ingredient I knew I would have trouble finding. Someone who made the trifle said they found at Whole Foods, so I went and tried to find it, but the closest I came was chestnut cream. The nice guy who helped me even gave me the cream for free since they didn't have what I was looking for!

Despite the alternate chestnut material and the fact that I forgot to sprinkle orange simple syrup on the last two layers of pound cake, the dessert was pretty tasty. I made sure to chop plenty of bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate on the top to make up for my minor mistakes, and it's only gotten better with age.