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category archive listing Category Archives: food

Ratio, by Michael Ruhlman

Lilandra and I finally got around to buying (and reading) some books that have  been in my wishlist..then shopping cart…for aeons. One of them (which she bought for me), is Ratio by Michael Ruhlman. I’ve been following his blog for a while – in addition to being an good read (including the comments), the photos by [...]

Za’atar, Sumac and a Recipe

One of the memorable successes of my Eid menu (and yes I am still talking about Eid ul Fitr, although in the intervening period since…there has already been another Eid, Eid ul Adha) is finally making my own za’atar.  Za’atar (zahtar, Arabic ????)* is a Middle Eastern spice mix, that like any other spice “mix” [...]

Last minute surge for Divali

Well, a couple days ago my blog stats suddenly spiked. It’s not Eid (Eid ul Fitr was a few weeks ago, and we have some time before Eid ul Adha). As usual, even if I didn’t know, the almost single-minded focus of the searches would clue me in. Yes, it’s Divali, the Hindu Festival of [...]

Falafel Recipe

Falafels are that ubiquitous Middle Eastern item – savoury, crunchy, fried balls of beany-goodness. Some may say falafels are Israeli, there may be other countries laying claim to the source of these delicious vegetarian protein-packed treats, but I am no food historian, so I won’t get into the debate. You can check out Wikipedia. Falafels [...]

Sawine Rules (Eid Recipe)

My mother has Sawine Rules. They are not very many, but she is very firm about them. Other people don’t follow these rules and their sawine is doomed. Doomed? you ask. Yes, doomed. Destined to spoil quickly, for the milk to “split” or sour, for it to be too gloopy to be Trini sawine, but [...]

It’s ‘Id ul Fitr!

Eid Mubarak everyone! Ramadan has come to an end, and at least I caught the beginning and the end on the blog Never fear though, I was at least trying to fulfil the requirements of the month, fasting, prayers etc…not a whole lot of focus on food (that’s what happens when you balance [...]

Let’s talk BBQ

Whether you like to spell it Barbecue, Barbeque, BBQ, Bar-B-Q or Bar-B-Que, this is apparently the time for dealing with fire and coals and grills. For our more northern neighbours in the hemisphere, it’s because of that season called summer. For us in the tropics, where we don’t get too much variation in our temperatures, [...]

Sweets from Curaçao

Almost 2 years ago, I wrote about my visit to Curaçao, the lovely island in the Caribbean Sea that is part of the Netherlands Antilles. Back when I would post about my travels more regularly. Or just post more regularly…
Anyway, one of the things that had really interested me from my visit was the plate [...]

Trini Kurma, Musings and Recipe

One might not think that kurma*, that ubiquitous, crunchy and sugary fried “Indian Delicacy”** would raise any confusion in the minds of the average Trini. Kurma is the thin crunchy sticks right? Sold in all supermarkets and parlours? And there’s a fat kurma that’s called gulab jamoon? right? Not quite. There are 2 types of [...]

Caribbean Cuisine on UKTV

“Celebrity Chef, writer and restaurateur Gary Rhodes recently spent time in Trinidad and Tobago filming segments for a Caribbean cuisine programme. The series will feature cooking and recipes from ten Caribbean countries including Jamaica, Grenada, and Trinidad, Tobago, St Lucia and Barbados and the series will be broadcast on UKTV…
…Rhodes and his crew explored some [...]