And while concerns about school will certainly have to be grappled with, all that is still 11 days away.
Right now, it's all about the Easter weekend, and thanks to Covid that means family time, many at home, in that case, what else is there to do but eat.
And what do you eat at Easter? Well, fish, of course, but also hot crossed buns. It's a tradition we're all more than happy to embrace but two Belizean Chefs are putting a twist on the tried-and-true recipe, inviting our News team to their southside eatery for a first-hand look at the making of a Good Friday feast, Cherisse Halsall has more.
"Are we ready, listen to the sound, let the TV catch it nicely...can you hear it, sizzling."
It's a sound that will be heard in every Belizean kitchen this Good Friday, the crackling synonymous with Easter eating.
And yesterday we stopped by the restaurant of seafood experts Chef Ainselfy and Chef Dennfield, to see and enjoy their twist on a scrumptious good Friday meal.
Chef Ainsley - Restaurant Owner "I have love for it because every day I'm at fish bridge, I get my fish, I get my fish fresh daily you know I got my boat that comes in. We prepare our stuff everyday, we have fish on our menu here at naked chicken and you do it in different kinds of ways we do it steamed, we do it poached, we do it grilled, we do it blackened, we make our own jerk seasoning and also we do it plain like way back in the days, no flour, just fry it with Salt, black pepper no flour, if you could avoid the Olive or the coconut oil it would be much better but coconut oil the price is high right now for that so just Salt and black pepper."
And this meal did not skimp on the healthy stuff with the chefs including a robust and nutritious vegetable medley.
Denfield Christian - Executive Chef "We have some grilled potatoes. We have some grilled fish, grilled Cabillo, grilled Snapper, fried snapper, I also added to that some grilled tomatoes, some grilled zucchini and some fried Cassava, and also some Carrots as well. I think vegetables is very important to our daily lives, it's nice, it's refreshing and it all depends on how you prepare it as well, because if you prepare it wrongly you will not get the nutrition that comes from it really. Coconut Oil is a very healthy thing that I use, I don't use butter, I don't use vegetable oil etc. Olive oil or coconut oil, and it's really healthy, so at the end of the day on the vegetable side we add a little bit of spinach we have some zucchini, mirepoix, we have some onions, tomatoes and we use the basic salt and pepper."
At Naked chicken it's all about budgeting with the basics. It's a healthy food stall in a city where you don't find many healthy eating options:
Chef Ainsley "I go with a budget for people. It's tough times right now and I'm in my area which is Lake Independence and I get lots of my supporters from Lake Independence also and I do a lot on Facebook so I have a variety of people but everybody's money is the same so your 12 dollars his 12 dollars, her twelve dollars, it's only 6USD it comes up down to."
But back to our easter meal, which wouldn't have been complete without the traditional hot Cross buns. It's said the Bun originated in St. Albans England where a 14th century monk pioneered the design and distributed the buns to the poor on Good Friday. The tradition seems to have stuck and today our chefs found a special place for the sweet treat in a very savoury meal.
Denfield Christian "It's a good complement because it's dated from way back then but again why I add my vegetables to that is because some people may be allergic to gluten, so people may not want sugar or they don't want anything sweet and so that's why I put my plantain and my vegetables in there when their eating, so I don't leave out anybody, everybody is being a part meal."
Chef Ainsley - Restaurant Owner "It's easy you know because the recipe is easy, it's just basic you know your brown sugar, you know, your cinnamon your milk well we did a little twist to it today we added coconut milk and you know that gives it a nicer little twist and that's a little secret, I mean I taste some good, good, good cross bun and the lady don't want to leave the recipe with me I don't know why, she don't wanna give me her recipe and I said you I don't do hot cross bun for sell but she said it took me a long time to gather this recipe so go on your own and I said no problem."
And while Chef Ainsley will have to continue guessing at the secret ingredient to the buns, the finished product made a wonderful addition to aesthetic of the final plated meal that we were happy to sample.
Denfield Christian "Putting a plate together you must be an artist, it's colour coordination, you have to know what goes with what imagine if your gonna put okro and your gonna put green pumpkin, and your gonna put spinach, and you put callaloo off the plate you don't want to create a green pasture so, first of all, you must in your mind think about what your dish will look like when the product is finished so you have to have colors, you have to be able to strike a balance when it comes to your colour not too much but just to have a balance."
