4-20-2020 Cooking Under Quarantine & More

Okay, there is obviously not much fun stuff going on here to report about, so here is the view from our bedroom window.
Can't complain - that's the sea you see through the trees.  Things could be much worse.  ;)

We are fairly well stocked with food, and I (Cara) have been experimenting in the kitchen. So, I guess you'll be seeing lots of food pics for the foreseeable future (vegetarian and gluten free, of course).  I have to work with what I've got, so I often change the recipes on the fly.  I recently made my first gluten free banana bread, but I forgot to take pictures.

Creamy cornbread casserole - yummy.

These are some tasty quinoa patties.  They look a little darker than the recipe because I used buckwheat flour instead of
bread crumbs (to make them gluten free).  I also added a bunch of herbs and spices, and they turned out really well. 

Homemade vegan sausages and "pancrepes" we'll call them - I thinned them out so they are thinner than pancakes, but
thicker than crepes, and still nicely pliable so I can roll up the sausages in them. I used a gluten free pancake mix, but used
sesame oil instead of olive oil, and added turmeric, smoked paprika and cayenne for some zing.  

Asian slaw with a sesame oil dressing.

The asian slaw, along with sesame oil seasoned rice noodles, black sesame seeds, and sweet Thai basil, made for a nice
filling for some Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls. The peanut sauce is homemade too.  We both really love this dish.

Risotto Cakes made with leftover veggie risotto. I coated them with gluten free flour, then eggs, then almond meal (instead
of bread crumbs), then pan fried them. They are messy to make, but good.

Just to mix things up a little, here's a random photo from before the quarantine - a sheep at the basketball court, definitely an
unusual sighting.

The other day Cara went for an 8+ mile socially distanced power walk with a friend. Eric took a short walk in town. This is a
photo he took at the public pier (that was damaged in a storm last fall). You can barely see someone in a dory (like a canoe)
in the distance. He/she is probably fishing to feed the family because that's about the only reason one is legally allowed out
there under the quarantine laws.

We got a home improvement project done today - yay! We removed the frame from the broken
down old screen door that never fully shut anyway. Then we installed the new screen that has
magnets down the middle, so it automatically closes after you when you go through it. Now we
can leave the door open for some breeze (much needed now that it's in the 90s) without letting in
all the flies.  :)  It works great, and we got it for only $1 at a garage sale in the States - woohoo!

A view from Cara's power walk this morning. The sea was dead calm, and it was hazy so you could hardly see the horizon.
Apparently this is because there are wildfires in western Belize, and the wind has been blowing from that direction.

Belize Covid-19 Update: As of yesterday there have been 762 tests done (159 more than my last update), and
still only 18 known positive cases (no new ones - yay). Plus, the first two cases are now testing negative and
they never had severe symptoms. It's great that Belize is doing social interaction mapping of those infected.