Winery

We had the Linden Reisling.
It was so very good, so sweet, so tart, so smooth, so wonderful.
The winery itself was rustic yet modern. The bathrooms were like magic hahah
I loved that experience.

The beer that taste like Chocolate

I was really surprised at this beer. I am not a big beer drinker but I was asked to try it.
It tastes like beer but when you swallow its dark chocolate. Sweet dark chocolate. In the back of your throat, so you want more and more. :)
The beer is surprising, very good, and costs about 6.00 US per bottle in the gourmet food store beer section.
It's called Trappistes Rochefort. I highly recommend it.

Easy Low Carb Entree

This is a salad.
Choc full of cooked peas and carrots, whole cherry tomatoes, artichokes (vigo brand rinsed) grapes, raisins, blackbeans, and cooked spicy sausage, in a light cream dressing.
I love this meal.
Fills me up.
Low carb (corn is starchy), and delicious. Yeh the lighting in my kitchen sucks.

Artichoke

The best artichokes to use for cooking, or in salads is the Vigo brand.
Packaged in brine, it doesn't have that sharp acidic taste like other brands and it is not oily.
I swear by this.
That is my tip for the day.

When you are in the US for a while you long for all things Trini.
Bear took me to a caribbean store that he found on line and we went through all the isles.
I described everything to him and he listened intently and asked questions. He bought everything I recommended to try.
He even drank a can of Trinidad Orange Juice and loved it.
Although I found out later that he didn't reconstitute it. I thought that was funny because when I was growing up, that juice had to stretch!!
We made two big jugs from one can!
I saw SOLO!
I saw Chubby
I saw Peardrax! I love Peardrax. Bear asked me why was it called drax. I said because it was carbonated. He wanted to know why DRAX. I thought for a while and made up an answer that didnt make sense..then told him I wasn't sure...Why do they call it drax?
We saw cow heel and sweetbreads and other innards. They also had black pudding which I described, and Bear announced he didn't think it would be a good idea to eat that. Thankfully I stopped eating that years ago, so I didn't crave it.
Who knew that grocery shopping could be so exciting!

Caribbean Food and the Americans Who Eat It

Bear was very interested in tasting all that I have ever tasted, so we found this store and went crazy in there so he could taste everything. He liked the doubles and the Jamaican patties a lot. He liked the chow mein (we went carb happy for one day), and the curry goat and white rice. We got Kurma, sweet red plums, Mango amchar, kuchela and pommceyterre chow. His favorite was the tamarind balls.
He despised the pommceyterre chow. He took one bite and said "No! This is not for me!" and promptly tried to stuff it back into the bag while he was driving.
I was laughing so hard with my mouth full of chow and trying to get him to stop!
Then I realized that the chow was NASTY..there was a bitter aftertaste that would not quit (preservatives I think). They really go crazy with the potassium sorbate in Trinidad.
The chow went into the garbage bag.
He also wanted to try the provisions, the green banana.
I advised against it. He insisted.
He ate one piece and decided it had to go. He asked sweetly (after his face showed utter discontent with what he had just consumed) if I wanted to try it, and I shook my head no!
The provisions went into the garbage bag, along with his mouthful of the black cake.
We also had channa. The only things that went into the garbage bag after that were the empty wrappers.

At the Olive Garden

I forgot to take a pic of my meal, because I was so hungry, but here is the salad..on my plate not in their bowl :(
And the dessert which was a Torte Chocolati :) The Torte had vanilla cream sauce and strawberries.

Winter Festival Eating

I had fried eggplant and fish. Then a funnel cake (I threw half away).
All the food there was really good to look at but so Pricey! Geez I feel sorry for parents!

World Aids Day

The Celebration of awareness is an important event.
What better way than to have cake!
Then to line up and eat cake.
See main blog for event happenings.

A day or so later

I did this...
Delicious with plantain chips :)
Oh sooooooo good.

Guacamole here I come

Sandy gave me this thing today.
It needs to sit for a couple more days...Then I make guac
I'll just list the ingredients
My delicious Avocado
Garlic (minced to high heaven)
Lemon Juice
Salt
Tomatoes
Dash of black pepper
Dash of my blend...Secret spice blend of mine

Epicurious Gift Guide

The Epicurious.com holiday gift guide is out.
Nikki I know this will interest you.
The books everyone wants: Rachel Ray is always a big hit but I think Ina Garten is making her way up there as well as Paula Deen.
Tyler Florence I believe has been settling down a little into domestic life even though he does more shoes on the food network, and Bobby Flay keeps losing all the cooking challenges.

Ok so they have books, wine clubs, travel deals, food baskets, gourmet foods, cheese, sea salt and oil collections, cutlery and fancy cookware.
I just like to look at all of it....It's like looking at a shiny new car or anything shiny. Shiny is good and mesmerizing.

Sandy's White Bean and Pepper Salad

My friend Sandy gave me this recipe after she made and brought in this salad for a party recently.
I don't normally like beans at all but the smell of this was so good that I tasted it.
YUMMY was all that I have to say about this. I am going to try it at home.
Maybe I will start to like beans more and more.

Sandy's White Bean and Pepper Salad
2 TBS Lemon Juice
1 and 1/2 tsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dried dillweed or fennel seed (crushed)
1/8 tsp pepper
1 clove garlic minced
1 15 ounce can of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped green or sweet red pepper
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Stir together lemon juice, oil, suger, dillweed/fennel seed, pepper and garlic
Add beans/red pepper, cucumber and green onions.
Toss to coat
Cover and Refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.

This Salad tasted so fresh and crisp and cleansing. I ate a lot of it and it doesn't give you a heavy full feeling at all!

Currently trying out.....

Cuzzy's Key West Tropical Chipolte Sauce.
I think I may use it partly as a marinade and partly as a dressing.
Oh I took this pic on my dark brown faux fur blanket which I love.
It's one of my favorite things that I own.
I'll try the sauce (since they gave it to me to try), but this is not an endorsement. I looked at the ingredients and the majority of it is Soybean oil, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vinegar and Less than 2% of spice.
Everyone who knows me knows that the spice is always the major mart of my Marinades and sauces.

The FAMU Food Booth

Is the best at all the getdowns.
Check it out.
It's really the only place I get food from.
They always have long lines and the best smells of any vendor along the street.

Give it a Name

This is the first time I actually tried this dish.
Its a casserole of sorts.
First a layer of herb stuffing on the bottom, spicy sauteed eggplant, as the second layer, sweet raisin spicy groundbeef is next, followed by a crescent roll crust topping.
I think this will be a good one. I think I'll just share this one at work.
Then this is how a yellow cake looks before you cut into it or put the icing on.
All this stuff is so easy to make and takes no time at all..and as you can see I love using PYREX for almost everything in baking.
Oh Yeh. The lighting in my kitchen sucks.....

Roasting the Turkey

This is the raw, well seasoned turkey parts.
Parts are way easier and take a shorter time to cook than a whole turkey.
At the end there will be crispy skins and tender meat :)

Stuffing

I just made it because I wanted to.
It is a herb cornbread, raisin, ground beef stuffing with a sharp cheddar topping.
I don't know why I made it because I probably won't eat very much of it at all.
I like that I made it though...I can cook :)

Ixora/West Indian Jasmine

I only put this in the food section because I used to eat these things....
Well not eat, but I think just about every Trinidadian remembers picking Ixora from around the savannah by the Port Of Spain General Hospital and sucking on the tips for the nectar.

There was only a small amount of course, and you had to suck hundreds for a good sweet taste but I still liked it...
Oh yeh ...You had to be careful of bugs.
This last pic is a plant I think is similar to IXORA . It is found in Turkey.
Janice took that picture during a visit there.

A newish wine

For me to try.
Blue Nun.
It's a German white wine so I am thinking it will be as good as the others I have tried.
I like the cuteness of the bottle :)

The Best Curry

Chief Brand from Trinidad.
Only because they make a variety with a variety of spice levels.
I like green curry and madrass curry the best.

Brown Stewed Chicken and Blackbeans

Eaten over rice, and a variety of carbs, or with vegetables or on its own.
I eat it on its own.
This is how it looks on the gas stove in my trusty nonstick.
The Brown stewed chicken is delicious on its own, but I wanted to see the effect with black beans.
I used the generic Publix Black beans and I like that a lot more than Goya because its not some overwhelming a beany taste.

Eggplant and Umami

Eveyone knows that Umami is that taste sensation they label as 'meaty'.
Although I know the vegetarianism and me won't work out in the near future, I do try to prepare vegetarian meals too.
I have vegetarian friends, vegans etc. and it would be cool to one day just impress them with some LOW CARB Vegetarian cooking.
So I tried out Eggplant.
I'll talk about mushrooms later but Eggplant is one of those vegetables that has the mouthfeel of meat. If you season it right (I season all my food), then you are in for a treat.
I like to keep the skin on because I think that a 'warmer' flavor is incorporated into the eggplant dish because of the skin.
Baking the eggplant is good because you dont have to monitor it as much as you would if you did it on stove top.

How to season:
For one large eggplant cut into cubes.

8 Fl oz of Olive or Canola Oil in a bowl.
1 Fl oz of lemon Juice concentrate
1tbs Tonys All Purpose Seasoning
1tbs Parsley Flakes
1 Tbs Italian seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (or replace with 1 oz soy sauce)
1tsp parprika or chili powder
1tsp dried pepper flakes
4 cloves finely chopped garlic

Whisk all ingredients together with fork ensuring that all dried seasoning is incorporated into oil.

Add eggplant cubes and make sure all are coated.

Optional but highly recommended: Cut up sweet (red, yellow and green) peppers and add to eggplant

Place all of this into oven baking dish.
Cover with foil and place into preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 mins. Check once to ensure that eggplant is not drying out. (It should not, but keep an eye out).

When the eggplant is very soft, as well as the peppers, the dish is done.
To the top of the eggplant one may add some feta or bleu cheese for an added kick.

I personally love this dish. :)
It does feel like you are eating meat

Empty plates and cakes

When the food is good like it was at Las Brasas, sometimes all you have time for with pictures is the empty plate. I had chicken and salad.
Then Tres Leches dessert lol. I do have to mention the sauces. The sauces with the food were good but there was one that was pink. Like medicinally pink.
It smelled good and taste good, but because of the color I felt like it would make me throw up if I ate anymore of it :(
But we met Nando from Venezuela, and had lived in Trinidad. He was very cool, so I would visit there again :)

Does it make sense

To consume so many carbs all the time?
Granted, it tastes good but what does it do to the body?
Plus this was at a health fair!

Book Signing

For every occasion ther seems that Food is mandatory.
So at the book signing there was a commemorative cake.
I loved it!

desserts at church

The talk show was good, the food was great, but I can't eat so much chocolate in one go...There was chocolate everywhere

Cute Sangria

From Barcelona Spain..

Too cute to drink :)

Hugs M

Chutney- I made

I've only ever made mango chutney but I had some apples and oranges so I decided to try it with them
They turned out great (orange on left, apple on right, and yes I drink parmalat..only with cereal though).

They taste good and spicy and with the right hint of apple and orange.....

I feel proud but then my friend Michael is making Belgian ale so that's a little bit more of an undertaking :)
Hugs M