Tag Archives: Private Party

Flavors of Belize. The Cookbook. Launch Party at Biltmore

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Flavors of Belize is  is one of the most amazing projects I had the pleasure to work. An amazing experience as I was involved in this project by photographing behind the scenes, environmental photos from around Belize and finishing by photographing the launch party.

The final product is just amazing. The finesse of the book, the quality of editing, the way the recipes are explained… everything is perfect! Tanya McNab is well known for her attention to details and she did this project perfect! The entire team was amazing and so much fun!

Back in december I blogged about this (Click Here if you want to read) and now I’ll blog about this cookbook launch party. A massive hit! Fabulous event! Around 400 people attended. The food was cooked on scenes and was amazingly delicious. Of course, all the food cooked on scene is in the cookbook, so all the guests had a chance to try it there. Famous recipes from famous restaurants from all around Belize, are in this cookbook. Each restaurant cooked his own recipe, the way is in cookbook. Was out of this world! Just amazing amazing!

The venue was perfect for this! Biltmore Hotel from Belize City was absolutely magnificent decorated and everything made you feel part of a fairytale.

To buy online click here and add the link www.flavorsofbelize.com.

Enjoy the photos!

 

Celebrating life at 80 years old at Elvi’s Kitchen

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Ms. Elvia is an icon of our beautiful island,  San Pedro,Ambergris Caye. She owns one of the top restaurants on the island. Elvi’s Kitchen is a must visit restaurant in San Pedro, she opened 37 years ago.

This sunday, she celebrated her 80th birthday with intimate family and friends. About 100 of them. And I was one of them… I felt so honored to be invited to her party and also asked for capture this event from her life. I enjoyed everything… the decorations were magnificent… Miss Elvi LOVE birds and this was the theme of the party: birds. The colors, blue as the sky, and green, as the grass… both meaning LIFE!

Party details and arrangements
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Party details and arrangements

Miss Elvia's 80 B-day Party
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Miss Elvia's 80 B-day Party

80 years old, celebrating life
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80 years old, celebrating life

“In 1974, my mom cut out her tiny little corner of San Pedro and set up a charming little place called Burger Isle Takeout Stand where guests could enjoy a delicious Belizean meal and a cold drink. She did it to help support the family and because she was born to cook. She poured her love and her passion for cooking into that place. It wasn’t easy work. There were long nights, hot days and many tears. But there was also laughter and wonderful memories. Now, 37 years later, it has become the Elvi’s Kitchen we know today — a national icon, a popular restaurant known around the country and around the world for it’s delicious food, trademark dishes, friendly service and unique atmosphere.

close-up portrait at 80 years old
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close-up portrait at 80 years old

At 80 years old, my mom has earned the right to retire and let others carry on the work she started. But anyone who knows her will tell you that Elvia Staines can’t simply walk away from Elvi’s Kitchen because it is as much a part of her as she is a part of it. One cannot flourish without the other. My mom is happiest when she’s chopping fragrant cilantro or boiling lobsters or when she’s making her signature mango sauce or her famous flan. She is completely at peace when she’s cooking tamales, mole and other exotic native dishes. Always proud of the country’s heritage, my mom introduced the Friday night Mayan Buffet to Elvi’s Kitchen, where guests can enjoy traditional Mayan food lovingly prepared by Elvia and her staff. In her own way, she is reminding guests of Belize’s rich culture and history.

And whether she knows it or not, she is an ambassador of sorts. She is on the front lines of the tourism industry, greeting visitors to our nation and showing them an extremely vital part of Belizean life and culture: it’s food.

 Who would have thought that Dona Elvia, as she’s known, the wife of the late Enrique Staines Sr. and the mother of six children, would become such a prominent figure in the tourism community?

Some of you may know her from a friendly smile and handshake at the restaurant, or from photos in the many newspaper and magazine articles written about Elvi’s Kitchen.  But please know that Elvia Staines is first and foremost a loving wife and a patient mother. She has built her career on her love of cooking and a love for the island she has always called home...

Time to time I’ll add here the photos from the party and of course, her album, designed the way I was see it while I was photographing this amazing party.

great-grandma portrait
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great-grandma portrait

 

Mrs. Kim Simplis Barrow says ‘Thank you’ in her own special way…

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An Extraordinay Day in my Life

Because I want my blog to be out of the ordinary, I write only about my extraordinary projects. This is the reason that you don’t see me blogging every day. You can find me on facebook daily, but I keep my blog to share my best experiences with you. I want you to know, when you are coming “here”, that you will read something out of the ordinary, something that will make you dream and something you’ll remember. Even if a lot of managing directors advise me to write every day on my blog, I don’t do it.  Because I want to offer you quality, not quantity.

Now… this is one of those extraordinary stories that take you out from your “usual”.

You need to read this and I hope to enjoy it.

Mrs. Kim Simplis Barrow says ‘Thank you’ in her own special way…

When I was asked by a friend to do a photo shot for her, I was thrilled and excited. Although, I didn’t know any details, I accepted right away. I was always wondering how she would look through my lens. (Yes Kim – now you know :)) and the words came out of my mouth without even thinking “I’m available”. The party started at 12 pm so I thought it was a kid’s birthday party or something similar… no clue what would happened.

I met her the day of the function, along with some of her friends.  She was, as I expected, beautiful but more than that, she was very friendly and easy going. All her friends wore hat (it was a HAT PARTY! - in honor of one of her friends who always wanted to wear a hat! )  BUT what was it really??  Mrs. Barrow put together an amazing afternoon to say THANK YOU to her friends for helping her with her charity work and at the same time used the occassion to celebrate two of her friends – Denise & Roz’s Birthdays.

The afternoon was very hot but with such a beautiful setting, delicious food, amazing company and such great host — it was the perfect day!

I was quite impressed with all her charity work and thought i should share them with you, so here we go…

Mrs. Simplis Barrow charity work focuses on children throughout Belize.  She started a foundation about 6 years ago – Lifeline Foundation. Lifeline Foundation is a charity trust geared towards raising funds to help children who are in dire need of assistance in form of feeding programs, medical needs and educational needs. Lifeline Foundation is committed to carrying out positive and impacting projects to help improve the quality of lives of our precious Belizean children.  Please visit - www.lifelinebelize.com

As Global Ambassador for Special Olympics, she helps shed light on the dignity of people with intellectual disabilities and helps to build support for Special Olympics work around the world. She continues to help raise awareness, change attitudes and impact policies for these children.

She continues her work for women and children as the Spouse of the Prime Minister of Belize and Special Envoy for Women and children.  She recently hosted a national Symposium on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.

I certainly look forward to assisting her and working with her on her upcoming projects.

It was a pleasure and honour for me! Enjoy…