Green Leaves

On Saturday morning, I cut a number of stalks of Chaya to make cuttings for planting at a project. Julia graciously harvested the leaves that I trimmed off and from the tops of the stalks. As well, Santiago had found a large branch of a Moringa tree on the ground. We harvested some of those leaves as well. The branch went for planting.

This morning I brought the bag of leaves to school. In addition, we had a small bag of beet leaves (Chepe and I found them sitting in a box by a vegetable seller destined for the garbage bin). We were having a cooking class for four girls who are going to make some posters about green leaves.

We began by chopping up the leaves and setting a small bunch in the pan for steaming. As the leaves finished steaming, we tried them alone, with vinegar and, finally, some butter (heavy cream). We tried both the chaya and the beets that way. The first bunch weren’t too well liked (the chaya are not a taste treat by themselves), but by the third or fourth set, they were being eaten quite happily (much to my surprise).

First taste of greens - rather apprehensive

The next session was to cook leaves in oil along with onions, jalapeño pepper and tomatoes. To this we added, in various batches, peanut butter, cheese (with peppers) and coconut milk. The peanut butter was the all round favourite with the coconut milk a close second. We needed a different variety of cheese that melts better.

All in all, a successful morning. The girls even took the leftovers home to let their families try. Again, a surprise for me. Yeni, one of our staff, has been cooking with leaves for a couple of weeks now so was a stalwart supporter of the whole enterprise. Other students meandered by to check on things. There will be many stories told tonight.

Professional tasters - more than one bite

Saturday morning, at about 5:00 a.m., Blanca, a worker at one of the projects, had her baby. It was number three so came rather quickly. When I arrived at 11.00 a.m. the house was cleaned, lunch was on cooking and she was ready to deal with project business. Her companion was obviously digging in and helping but she certainly had things under control. Rather amazing.

I took a bunch of food, diapers and what not. The lady in the store selling diapers was a great salesperson and did her best to make sure I went fully laden. I refrained from most of the stuff but did buy the small red band that was supposed to go around the baby to protect the healing navel. The person I was with assured me that this was an important item. I have no idea but enjoyed the sales pitch enough to cave in.

Saturday evening, I took in the farm and ranch show in San Pedro Sula. It was amazing to see the cattle and horses on display. Some beautiful animals. The Brown Swiss cows were my favourite and it certainly made me start calculating how I can get one or two. Will likely have to settle for a local breed first.

TTYL

BB