The Centre has a main house, restaurant, overnight accommodation and picnic areas for day visits. You call ahead to book a tour and guided hike through the forest trails, with the knowledgeable guides showing you the flora and fauna – we saw squirrels, bell birds, white bearded manakins, purple honeycreepers, corn birds, LOTS of hummingbirds, large lizards, and some semi-tame agouti! The main trail (Discovery Trail) they take all visitors on is fairly easy – going gently downhill (so unfortunately, the route back to the house is uphill, but gentle…). There are many other trails, but I think you have to arrange a special tour in advance for these…also if you are in a large group, school tour etc. But if you are really into eco-tourism and hiking through nature, I think you might want to look into a longer, more expansive hike/trail, so give them a call (or email) to find out what’s possible.

I think I first went to Asa Wright as part of a UWI Biological Society visit in my first year on campus, where we did go beyond the main trail and passed over some streams and near a waterfall. That certainly is not on the usual path – although there are a couple waterfall rock pools within easy access which visitors are allowed to use. The Centre is a hotspot for birdwatching in particular, and the main house has the greatest verandah set up to see the birds…many species…not to mention the view of the mountains and valley!

There are bird feeders strategically located around the verandah, and the hummingbird feeders are hung right around. The day we visited in December, there were 2 humingbirds in particular who had both set their sights on one particular feeder, notwithstanding the 5 or 6 other feeders around and the fact that there were no other hummingbirds around. So for the duration of our visit, we were treated to these 2, alternately commandeering the desired feeder, while the other waited on a nearby tree, and then swooping in fast to scare off the one at the feeder. Over and over and over. It did give me lots of chances to get some action shots of these super-fast birds though, plus the entertainment factor!

Asa Wright has facilities for overnight stays, in the main house, or in cottages on the grounds. In fact if you want to see the oil bird habitat, you have to be staying at least 3 nights, since it’s an night trek, and they try to limit the number of disturbances for these birds. The restaurant is on premises, but if you are just a day-visitor you need to order a meal in advance. Otherwise you are limited to ordering food from the verandah bar (mostly sandwiches, but not bad at all). They serve coffee which they grow on the grounds (remember, a former coffee estate!) and make use of the fertile lands to have a kitchen garden for their restaurant use.

As with any service, things are dependent on the people involved. My previous visits have all encountered super friendly and informative persons at Asa Wright. It was always a bit of a hassle to make arrangements in the days before cellphones and email as you had to call a number in Arima (no phones up the mountains) and wait for confirmations etc. These days it’s much easier although you still have to call or email the day before to book the tour/trail. They do normal tours at 10.30 am and at 1.30 pm, which is included in the visitor’s entrance fee.

The day we were heading up there, we were early, until we hit unexpected and awful traffic in Maloney. Snail crawling through Arima. We called ahead to let them know we were running late but were trying to make it on time. The call kept dropping (which is why we weren’t able to reserve lunch) but at some point they told us, well the guide will wait for 10 minutes and then leave with the tour and we might have to be taken to catch up. Ok…no problem. I used my best skills to drive up the mountain and we got there JUST on time. Paid etc, went to find the guide and realised…it was just us for this tour. Only us…the guide would have been setting off on the trail all by herself? Small blip though, and the lady serving us our sandwiches afterwards was super nice. Even though we didn’t get our coffee.

After our relatively short hike, we came back and limed on the verandah for a couple hours at least. I do know we were still there when people came for their 1.30 tour. It’s just so very relaxing to sit on that verandah and look out at the beautiful Northern Range mountains. One day, I think I must stay overnight to fully take advantage of that place.

We had to leave eventually, since we had reservations for Tea at Mount St Benedict! All the way down this mountain above Arima and up the mountain above St Augustine More on that in the next post… (although you can see Chookooloonks posted about her visit there recently).

Slideshow of my Flickr set on Asa Wright

For more of my touring the homeland, you can see these posts -

• Caroni Swamp and Bird Sanctuary
• Gran Couva and La Vega Estate
• Helpful links for Visiting Trinidad and Tobago

I had the good fortune when I was in Brussels a couple months ago to happen across a Valrhona store. It was actually on my last night there, and it was cold and raining and I was holding a cup of Godiva thick hot chocolate and bags, just waiting to get back to the hotel. And I peered out through the hood of my coat, through the rain and saw it. I’d never had the opportunity to find this elusive Trinidadian fine-flavoured cocoa from these fancy European dealers – we don’t actually get them back in T&T. And there it was in the window – a bar of Gran Couva 2010. Yay!

I went in and immediately sought out the single estate bars and asked for 5 bars (I figured the family members might want some too). She poked around, went into the window and emerged with 2. That’s all they had. She was unfortunately so busy trying to figure out if I was Arab, Indian or Pakistani, that she kept ignoring my telling her that I was from the Gran Couva place. So no, I didn’t want Venezuelan chocolate, not this time. As I was cashing though,my eyes alit on a “Caraïbe” bar, of which there were lots more, and I packed up quite a few of those. The Caraïbe bar, is still trinitario cocoa beans (T&T developed these particular fine-flavoured, pest resistant beans some time ago) but made from cocoa sourced from different islands of the Caribbean (including Trinidad), so I am assuming at least from Grenada and Tobago. I like the words on the Caraïbe (which Valrhona calls “Balanced and Velvety”) -

“Dans les îles et sur la côte de la mer des caraïbes, les hommes ont cultivé depuis des générations les cacaoyers Trinitario sur de riches sols de limon argileux surnommés “terre à chocolat”. L’assemblage de ces cacaos donne à Caraïbe un nez exceptionnel prolongé, à la dégustation, de doux arômes de fruits secs.”

“For generations, cacao trees have been grown in the shade of banana trees in the Caribbean, on rich clay loam soils often referred to as “chocolate lands”. A unique blend of Trinitario beans gives Caraïbe its exceptionally long nose and sweet aromas of dried fruits.”

The grand words for the Gran Couva bar?

“Nous sommes dans les caraïbes entre Venezuela et Grenade. Le soleil de Trinidad se lève sur Gran Couva. Les hommes de la plantation ouvrent à la machette les cabosses et en extraient les précieuses fèves de cacao. Le premier “chocolat de Domaine” est né.

The Trinidad sun rises over Gran Couva. Harvesters from the plantation open cocoa pods with a machete and remove the precious cocoa beans. The first “Chocolate de Domaine” has just arrived.”

Ah, chocolate It was lovely!

Of course, Gran Couva is not just a site for cocoa. Although you should try to visit a cocoa estate (it’s still on my list, so let’s say it’s something we ALL have to do for 2011!). The Central Range is a beautiful place to drive through. It’s not all rolling hills of (abandoned) sugar cane fields down here – although I find those just as beautiful. As you venture away from the coast, the hills grow higher and the cocoa trees start appearing along the sides of the road. In addition to some teak (much of the centre of the island were teak plantations – tall broad-leafed trees which provide excellent shade and strong furniture). If you’re used to the rugged lushness of the Northern Range, driving into Gran Couva and beyond will be a little different in parts, but it’s well worth a drive.

And if you want a day out in the Central Range, you could consider stopping into La Vega Estate, which is a big nursery and recreation park, with man-made ponds/lakes and gardens for picnics and whatnot. All in sight of some of that lovely Central Range scenery.

I have no affiliation with La Vega, mind you. It was just part of the recent whirlwind tour I took my friends on last month. It was a beautiful sunny day, to enjoy the scenery, the butterfly garden (small and we passed it twice before realising…), the bamboo grove, rivers and meditation garden. And it’s open 7 days a week.

More photos from La Vega in Gran Couva (and in my Flickr set)-

There is another Swamp in Trinidad, which is the Nariva Swamp on the East Coast of the island. That’s the place where it’s rumoured to still be home to manatees. Visitors to the Caroni Swamp sit on slow-moving boats with (hopefully) informative tour guides, through the mangrove-lined waterways, keeping an eye out for caimans, mudskippers, herons be they blue or white, boas, large iguanas, mangrove crabs and oysters and of course the star of the show, the Scarlet Ibis. The Scarlet Ibis is one of the national birds of T&T (more or less representing Trinidad, while the Cocrico represents Tobago). The Scarlet Ibis, the Cocrico and the Humming Bird are all represented on our Coat of Arms.

From Wikipedia -

The Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) is a species of ibis that inhabits tropical South America and also Trinidad and Tobago…Adults are 56–61 cm long and weigh 650g. They are completely scarlet, except for the black wing tips. They nest in trees, laying two to four eggs. Their diet is frogs, reptiles and crustaceans. A juvenile Scarlet Ibis is grey and white; as it grows the ingestion of red crabs in the tropical swamps gradually produces the characteristic scarlet plumage. The life span of Scarlet Ibis is approximately 15 years in the wild and 20 years in captivity.

The Scarlet Ibises nest in the Caroni Swamp, and late evening is the best time to see them returning to roost, filling the mangrove clump of choice with red splashes of colour, rather like a humungous hibiscus bush. The White Ibises also roost there, in the same mangroves but they’re not the main draw.

There are several private tour companies that can give you a boat tour of the Caroni Swamp – Nanan’s is usually recognised as the oldest, but there are others which you can find listed on the official T&T Tourism Site. I can only speak about Nanan’s. They have a website and email address, although I found that they only answered my emails after I called them…Cost per adult is US $10 or  TT $60. Children 12 and under are half price.  Residents get a special discounted rate of TT $50. They seemed really friendly and they have many boats so they can almost always fit you in even last minute, and even if you turn up late (they use a smaller boat to ferry you up to the rest of the tour). However, their boat-drivers aren’t necessarily the best tour guides. Our guide had been trained, but it seemed clear he was reciting from a script. He had to be prompted to provide any other information, and in fact our first 20 minutes of the tour we didn’t hear from him at all, even when we stopped to see the caiman, the mudskippers or heron. It was odd.

Fortunately I was with friends – the visitors from the US as well as a couple good friends I’ve known since I was 10 or 11 (not saying how long ago that was). Good company can trump strange service any time Especially when we’re willing to provide our own commentary and information.

That being said, I love being on boats – it’s calming. And the gentle ride of a boat tour through a Swamp is particularly so. Throw in the fact that you get to see wildlife, get great views and a lovely sunset…what more could you want?

Visit the Caroni Swamp virtually, through my Flickr set -

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* This is the highway that runs from Port of Spain in the West to the East of Trinidad.

** No comments from Guyanese required…

The rest of my photos from Brussels.

I have realised that I have photos and stories from various trips since May that have been idling on my computer. So look out between now and the New Year for some pictures from St Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Central Trinidad etc.

So I am in California! The absolutely beautiful Central Coast of California, with its combination of rugged landscape and spectacular Pacific Ocean views. I visited here a couple years ago and was struck by the colour of the sky and the Pacific which somehow seem different in the tropics – maybe closer to the sun/equator our sky takes on a different hue.

While I am not uploading photos now, you can enjoy the views from my last visit – Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Monterey and Santa Cruz. That first shot is on the little beach at Carpinteria which is near the fancier Santa Barbara. Carpinteria is also home to “tar pits” – little relatives of our grand La Brea pitch lake!

Santa Barbara is known for being home to the rich and famous, and has a cute (and expensive) main street – State Street, and a fabulous harbour area from which you can look at the mansions in the hills, or the beauty of the ocean (I choose the ocean).

Monterey is a great bay for whale-watching, seal-watching – boat tours have actual marine biologists that give you information (or annoy you with their perkiness – choose wisely). There’s also the fantastic Monterey Bay Aquarium – which had the amazing Jellyfish as Art gallery where I got that last photo (and others). That particular exhibit is closed I believe but the aquarium is still a great visit, with an Enchanted Kelp forest and touchable sea creatures (ever touched a sting ray?).

Santa Cruz has wonderful huge and ancient redwoods. If you’re a tropical person, temperate forests are a quiet peaceful revelation – none of the (lovely) constant cacophony of sound in tropical rainforests! Of course just driving along the Pacific Coast Highway is worth a visit! Which is what I have been doing this trip. Now that I have done my unpaid work for the California state tourist board, why don’t you visit my California set on Flickr, while you wait for my return and new beautiful blue photos!

Since we’re on the subject of Guyana, maybe you remember when I posted about touristing in Georgetown, I mentioned that I’d been told there were manatees in the National Park, but I hadn’t actually gone to see them. Well, that hasn’t changed.

I have, however, now seen the herd of manatees in the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown. Yup, that’s right Georgetown has TWO herds of manatees. Imagine! In Trinidad, the West Indian Manatee  (Trichecus Manatus) is only now found in the Nariva Swamp, and the size of the herd is closely guarded.

The Botanical Gardens are right next to the Zoo, and are free to enter. In the photo above, the Zoo is beyond that cute bridge. The Gardens make for a great liming spot for locals and tourists – lots of grass to sit, relax or play games. Lovely palm tree lined avenues. Memorials for former leaders if you’re into mausoleums. And manatees!

I saw about 6 manatees in that pond. If you wave grass in the water, they make their way to the edge so you can feed them. They move underwater, silently, smoothly – you can only tell they’re approaching by a small trail of bubbles and the ripples in the water. And when they near the edge, their snouts begin to emerge. And when one comes, another is sure to follow right behind.

And then there’s this big cow on the left. She was the biggest. More than 6 feet long. And calmly basking in the sun, almost entirely out of the water, enjoying the attention of her visitors. How did I know she was a cow? Ah, well, when she moved her massive flat flipper-tail, voila – see the baby manatee? Awwwww.

Did you know that the name Manatee comes from a Haitian word “manati” and their closest living relatives are elephants and aardvarks?

I am home* for a couple weeks – vacation, then to vote.** So, taking advantage of being at home with Mom (who did the beef and beans), I present to you our Sunday Lunch today! Cornmeal Coucou, stew beef and red beans! Sunday lunch is a big thing in the Caribbean. It’s the time to break out the sometimes labour-intensive dishes, to make a special meal that is not easy to prepare during the work week. Lunch is sometimes later than usual, because of the work involved and also because having a big Sunday lunch is part of the enjoyment of the whole day. The heavy meals with macaroni pie, or coucou, leading to post-meal-paralysis are also ok, since you’re supposed to be relaxing before you start the dreaded Monday. Well, that’s my take on it

Coucou and flying fish is the national dish of Barbados, but it is also a traditional national dish in Trinidad and Tobago, eaten with callaloo and/or stew beans. Cornmeal coucou is ubiquitous, but it can be made from breadfruit as well. It’s like a Caribbean polenta. Some people like it a bit soft where it is spooned out of a dish – others prefer it to be set and firm enough to slice, although it should never be dry and chewy – that’s not coucou…maybe that’s cornbread. 15 years ago when I was studying in Barbados, I was surprised at the number of Bajans who tried to “introduce” us Trinis to coucou…I mean, I knew their national dish, how could they not know we have coucou and callaloo? I think things have changed over the years – we are more aware of our Caribbean neighbours food and culture – at least this is my hope!

Growing up, I was never sure I liked coucou. I knew I didn’t like ochroes, not just because of the slime, but the skin itself had a texture that I was uncomfortable with, even though in most preparations (callaloo) it melted away on the tongue. I was a picky vegetable-eater…But then somewhere in my teens, through food courts in those little malls on Frederick Street, in having to get vegetarian foods, I grew to love this thing called coucou. After all it is better than rice in soaking up stew gravy!

Coucou is traditionally a bit labour-intensive, because it involves an hour or more of stirring at the pot, while the cornmeal gets heavier and heavier and harder on your arms. So I hear, anyway. I never made it that way…my first attempt at coucou making was a couple months ago when Cynthia (of Tastes Like Home) posted a microwave coucou recipe. That was the quickest I have gone from reading a blog to cooking. I made the coucou that weekend, even though I had no ochro…I substituted baigan (eggplant) since that’s what was in the fridge, and I figured…hmm…eggplant also gets kind slimy when cooked… I was already craving stew chicken and red beans, and this would have been a perfect accompaniment. The proportions and recipe were really easy to remember too – 1 cup cornmeal to 3 cups water, salt, ochroes…stir, microwave, stir, microwave…eh, voilà!

There were some problems though…which I thought I should share if you want to try microwave coucou, so as to avoid my pitfalls!

• eggplant is not bad in coucou, but the skin can be bitter and inedible – if forced to use this, PEEL it
• after stirring, let the mixture sit for a while to let the cornmeal completely absorb the liquid – this way you won’t get hard cornmeal bits at the bottom of your bowl cooking well before their time – I don’t know what I was thinking, putting in a bowl of essentially water with cornmeal floating around…
• if the liquid is fully incorporated, you may not even need the stirring process in the middle of cooking!

Using Cynthia’s recipe was great – and I enjoyed a few meals with my coucou. However, I think there are differences between Bajan coucou and the Trini version. I remembered more colour in the Trini coucou I was used to eating – colour representing peppers and seasonings. It seems Bajan coucou, or the versions I have eaten and seen online, stick to cornmeal and ochro. I checked with Mom, and reinforced by Wizzy of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch, I realised that Trini coucou does indeed have more things, including coconut milk. Any Barbadians reading this can confirm whether this is true, or if I have just experienced a basic coucou.

So, here’s my version of the microwave coucou recipe (hope Cynthia doesn’t mind)

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3/4 cup sliced ochroes (nice thin young ones)
• 3 pimento/seasoning peppers, chopped (these are not hot peppers)
• diced hot pepper (optional, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon chopped chives
• 1 teaspoon (or more) chopped shadow benny
• 1.5 teaspoon garlic (we like garlic)
• salt to taste

Prepare all ingredients
Mix all ingredients except water and coconut milk, together.
Add liquids (warm water will make the cornmeal absorb faster and come together very nicely.
Stir well so there are no large lumps of cornmeal.
Pour or spoon out into a greased microwaveable dish and smooth the top.
Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Check the coucou – it should not need stirring.
Microwave again on high for another 2 minutes.

The coucou will still appear jiggly and soft at this stage, and Mom ate it like this, but it will continue to firm up and by the time I ate, it was sliceable.

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* home is always Trinidad.
** T&T elections are on 24 May 2010

Georgia Popplewell of Caribbean Free Radio posted today (with the absolutely perfect title “photos don’t take themselves“) about two Trinidad and Tobago publications using one of her photos, without permission and of course without credit (Newsday even placed their watermark on the photo!). TriniGourmet, with her usual alacrity, updated her Dem Tiefin’ We?!? post (another stellar title! you’ll have to settle for my pedestrian one). This happens at an opportune time for me to write some more on this…since it was just a couple weeks ago that I finally sent the Express formal pre-action letters via my lawyer.

My first post about this was outrage when I discovered the Stabroek News in Guyana had used my photo of Guyana cocoa to illustrate a story. Further outrage when I realised that the story and photo was from an official press release from the Guyana Government News Agency (GINA). This led to further discoveries of photos on the official Guyana tourism page, where my Trini pelau was featured for Guyanese cookup. Argh. Fortunately, I have a lawyer in the family (apart from myself) in Guyana and we wrote to all 3 violators. Stabroek News was the only one who responded, apologising and offering to publish appropriate credit, noting that they were officially provided with the release and photo by GINA. The Government agencies promptly pulled the photos from the relevant sites, but never responded, either to the letter nor the phone calls.

Then, back in October 2008, the Trinidad Express used a photo of Lilandra’s roti and curry for the front of the Lifestyle Magazine (no permission, no credit), for EID no less…and then less than 2 weeks later there was one of my pelau photos (again, no permission, no credit). We emailed promptly and got what are essentially holding responses from the Editor, admitting nothing and stating that the matter was referred to their lawyers. And then silence. We were going to make Hajj a month later and so I compiled the information, correspondence and proof and sent it to my lawyer for action. Due to some technical problems, the letters were not sent and I will admit that when I returned from the Hajj, pursuing action was not foremost on my mind. I did, however, start watermarking my photos. A watermark had not occurred to me back then in late 2005 when I first started posting photos to Flickr. First of all, I like an anonymous presence online and secondly, who on earth would want my photos?

The issue returned to prominence when the Trinidad Express (AGAIN!) used my photo of doubles in September 2009, without permission or credit. This time the response was truly classic, revealing the Express’ lack of understanding of copyright and the internet -

“I have investigated your claim and I’m forwarding the response from the reporter for your information. While we understand and respect your copyright claim, in this instance, the reporter did not source the photo from your website although I checked both websites and the photos are the same.

Meanwhile, I am forwarding your letter of complaint to our attorneys for their comment and guidance.”

With the usual referral to their lawyers…

What the response did NOT include was whether they had requested permission from this other site. I contacted the other blogger about my copyright, who promptly apologised and with my permission to use the photo credited me. Now, these particular doubles photos proliferate the internet, particularly Facebook and it’s flattering that people seem to think they’re good to use. However, a media house cannot simply poach images from the internet because they are there. Clearly they never bothered to ask that other blogger for use of the photo. And the fact that the Editor believes this is a reasonable response to my copyright claim is beyond shocking.

It goes without saying that when I explained the legal nature of copyright and permission, my email went unanswered. And so I revived the issue of taking legal action. Or threatening same to get a response.

The delay should not suggest that I don’t pursue the protection of my rights. I post my photos to Flickr, even where I haven’t written a post, because I want to share the views captured in my photos. I had been enthused with the idea of a digital camera partly from my own discovery of Flickr and the great resource it is just to see the world and experiences. Even better to learn about photography! I had considered the options and originally posted my photos with a Creative Commons license to permit use for non-commercial purposes, provided I was credited, and no derivative works were made without my permission. I changed that, to All Rights Reserved, not because I was averse to sharing, but because I wanted to know where and how people were using my photos and at the time, preferred that I be asked. There are others who may not need or want this request and that is fine. The point is, the photos belong to me and unless I release it into the wild for legal capture and free use, I am entitled to retain control over it. That’s the nature of property. It’s a personal choice and maybe it’s linked to some idiosyncrasies of mine about ownership and control, but right now, when photography and blogging are very much personal commercial-free endeavours for me, this is the path I have taken.

What annoys me about the theft of the photos by big media houses in Trinidad and Tobago and the region, apart from revelations of ignorance of the law governing their particular environment, is the disrespect for the online community and the role we play in recording and sharing our history and culture. Complete disrespect. The small Caribbean food blogging community for example has a dedication and generosity that has produced, in a relatively short period of time,* a wealth of information, stories, recipes and photos that rival the archives of local newspapers with its focus on local foods and traditional recipes. And do you know why we do this? Well, for me, it’s the same reason I started collecting recipes from Mom. I wanted to record the foods which are part of my life and history. Food and recipes which may not be easily found online for those Trinis abroad (like I once was). I first started taking photos of food when Lilandra and I were back home after studying abroad and our first Eid back, our older sister and brother were not in the country. We wanted them to share in the usual preparations even though they were not there (no Mom, not just to torture your eldest and youngest children, they appreciated it). This blog is like that, but on a public scale.

The attitude of the more traditional media seems to be that we are nobodies even though they want our product. Prime example – during my first year of blogging and posting photos, an advertising agency in Trinidad contacted me wanting to use my photos for free, since “it is very difficult to get good images of indo-trini food unless we hire a photographer.” I was upset on behalf of the pro-photographers in T&T who actually know what they are doing, but at least they asked. So I am not that mad at them…. But…that’s the POINT. There are certain foods you cannot easily find photos of – I couldn’t illustrate my Bread Van post last month because there are no photos of biscuit cake, jam tart, currants roll etc freely available – not even any I could link to. I had to go out and buy  these items (ok, Dad bought them), take my camera (which cost a bit) and my lens (also expensive for me) and actually take the photos myself. I am fine if people want to use these on their own blogs and other non-commercial sites, but just ask.** And if you are making money from the use of these photos – why should you get them free? They were not free for me – I have invested time, money, effort, lost brain cells to try to take better photos, learn about processing them and then share them here – I also pay annual fees for this site and Flickr. I have thought about what it would take to fill this gap of food photos on a professional level, commercially, but I am not a pro, have no real equipment or training and I already have a demanding job. This is not to say that I have not granted permission for possible commercial use of some photos, with/out payment but with credit. This is my choice and not to belabour the point, but my right.

I salute those publications who make the effort to showcase food and culture (hail out to the current Caribbean Beat food issue!), and create or pay for original content, including photos. From my brief interactions with the Trinidad Express, it seems clear that the food related content is hurriedly put-together with limited planning and thought, and as galling as it is to my ego, with no realisation that there is a world of people online who do a better job. At least we look out for each other!

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* TriniGourmet and I first started in 2006 – I am not sure who preceded us.

** One reason it’s good to require permission – people using my photo of say, Trini pelau to illustrate a Guyanese cook-up recipe. Or I am looking right now at a bara recipe on Facebook with my Doubles Bara photo (which was made from a specific recipe that is very different). These things annoy me.

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The featured item in the last post, the Biscuit Cake is up there at the top. And to your right, you can see the insides of this cake/biscuit/cookie. I did not get a chance to make it (from this recipe posted at Celnet.org.uk) over the past weekend, but I did enjoy this one from a neighbourhood bakery. “Biscuit cake is so named, possibly because it is shaped like a big biscuit (American terminology=cookie). While it may appear firm and hard on the outside, it should have a softness to the bite with a milky mild sweetness, and appears almost unleavened? Of course those dryness-czars have attacked this delicacy as well and many bakeries had versions that were dry and tough and unappealing unless dunked in tea.”

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Jam Tarts

“flaky layered pastry, twisted into a big triangle, with bright red jam of unknown (to me) origins, warm so that the jam oozed out when you bit into it, with the top of the pastry glistening with its light layer of crystallized sugar. The pastry would be so good, you’d eat the dry ends even if they didn’t have a speck of jam!”

Sadly, this is NOT a traditional jam tart, which uses FLAKY pastry. I gather that more and more places are making them like shown in the photo, with PUFF pastry. Sigh. Same jam filling I remember, but why mess with the pastry??

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Currants Roll

“this is a Trini classic – similar flaky pastry as the jam tart, but rolled out and sprinkled with currants and sugar and rolled up, baked and sliced diagonally creating that recognisable shape with layers of pastry and currants rolled around inside.”

This is not the greatest currants roll example. I will replace it with another when I get to another bakery! Too few currants and not quite enough layers. But still, decent pastry.

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(Coconut) Rock Bun

“This is like a drop bun, with coconut flavour, and the “rock” really refers to the rough hard exterior – the inside should still be soft. It’s scone like, not rolled out smooth, but dropped onto the baking sheet, so it looks like a rock I suppose. I used to eat all around the outsides before the middle – the hard outsides were my favourite part.”

Cynthia posted a recipe this past Saturday, for Fruit Rock Bun, which you can try out as a variant of the rock bun. The recipe linked to before is Trinigourmet’s.

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Coconut Turnovers

These were not in my post, but aka_lol mentioned them, reminding me that they are “the bread and butter” of bakeries (his pun).

These are lovely yeasty soft, slightly sweet and spiced bun dough rolled around a sweet and spiced coconut filling. The Guyanese have their solara, we (and the Bajans) have these turnovers. And as for buns and hot cross buns, check out Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch and Tastes Like Home.

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Cassava Pone

This wasn’t in my original post. I think largely because as a child I did not like pone. The squishy texture, spicing etc, were not appealing to me. Now, however, I love it. When it’s done right of course. Moist and sweet, with spices and a slight crunch of coconut. That’s the way I like it. I don’t mind if it is cassava pone, or pumpkin, or sweet potato or a mixture. Just get the right balance of sweet and spice with the perfect moist-with-a-bite texture and I can enjoy.

Recipes on Trinigourmet and Simply Trini Cooking.

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The photos I took this weekend of the bakery haul are all in one set on my Flickr.

Georgetown was planned as a garden city, with wide tree-lined avenues, framing perfectly the canals that are part of living below sea level. The city itself is laid out in a mostly easy-to-navigate grid with main streets, like say, Main Street a perfect place to view those wide roads, old shade trees and the wooden architecture that is characteristic of Georgetown. Of course, the city is not in its prime now, and people who knew it from say, the 70s, will rave about the beauty that isn’t always readily apparent to a current visitor. But it has good bones. I keep meaning to go around taking photos of the garden city, but I am waiting for that free weekend thing…in the meantime, Nicole of A Caribbean Garden, visited Guyana recently and posted some great photos of the Promenade Gardens.

The photo at the top is of the National Library in Georgetown, on one of the busiest (and complicated) intersections in Georgetown, corner of Main and Church Streets. It’s a nice example of one of the styles of architecture in town, and nicely festooned for Republic Day (in February 2010). Just a little up Church Street is the reason for the street name – the St George’s Cathedral, which is one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world. It is a truly impressive building and I took shots from many different angles as I walked around it. This was one of the rare occasions when I was actually being a tourist in Guyana, courtesy a visiting friend (TB) and having the day off for Old Year’s. I was such a tourist, after this shot, a car stopped for me to cross the road (almost unimaginable on Church Street) and the driver happily called out “Enjoy your holiday!” If only she knew

St. George’s Cathedral is an Anglican church, that is a beautiful building inside and out. There are ornate wood features, ornate metal features – and in black and white it exudes a somewhat gothic look that I quite like. So, I have no pictures of the Clock above the Stabroek Market, but I do have several of the cathedral!

Speaking of markets, Guyana is also known for these – there are several big markets around town – Stabroek being the most famous, but there’s also Bourda market and others. Markets in Guyana are not just for fresh produce – you can get everything there. And I mean everything. Dry goods. Stationery. Clothes. Souvenirs. Shoes. Anything. On the left is a fruit stall in one of the offshoots of the Bourda market and on the right, a popular (ahem…some say elitist) stand on Church Street…if you don’t want to head into the depths of the market. Nicole also posted on the market fruit.

On the north(ish)** side of Georgetown is the Atlantic Ocean and all along the Atlantic Coast in this below sea level country, is the Sea Wall (pronounced WAAH-L).  The Sea Wall is a remnant of the Dutch-designed system for keeping the city safe from the ocean and extends for much of the coast as a wide solid wall upon which the denizens of Georgetown congregrate to walk, run, fly kites for Easter, buy/sell food, have the annual Diwali Motorcade, fete and lime for any occasion and basically spend the weekend nights. Parts of the wall may be less wall like depending on the particular section, and may resemble artfully piled boulders, but it’s all the sea-waahl. And it is to Georgetown what the Savannah is to Port of Spain. These photos of the sea wall were not perhaps taken at its most pristine, as the high tides had been buffeting the wall, sending the silty saltwater over the top and cascading down the sides to the highway.

Along the East Coast (although not quite next to the sea wall) in what is known as Greater Georgetown, is a more recent iconic building of the city – the CARICOM Headquarters. Guyana has been home to the Caribbean Community Secretariat since 1973 and while for much of the last couple decades the Secretariat has been scattered through different buildings in the city, in 2005, the Government opened this new building which looks particularly impressive with all the flags flying. This particular photo was taken in July 2009 while the Heads of Government of CARICOM were meeting.

If you leave Georgetown from the other side of the city, you will soon get to the Demerara Harbour Bridge, which is a 6,074-foot (1,851 m) long floating toll bridge. When you cross this bridge, you get to the West Bank Demerara, and from there you can head to the “West Coast”. The bridge opens for river traffic every day, during which the road traffic lines up on either side waiting. The Demerara isn’t even Guyana’s biggest river, but for those of us from Caribbean islands, it’s impressive enough. Guyanese love to tell us Trinis, “Caroni River? You mean Caroni Trench!” or…”Trinidad could fit inside the Essequibo River!” On a recent drive in Georgetown, where my 2-year old nephew was happily pointing out any and all bodies of water, the 4-year old niece asked of one, “Daddy, is that a trench?” Her Guyanese father replied “Yes…but be careful, in Trinidad they would call that a river.” To which I responded “When you grow up on an island surrounded by oceans and seas, the size of the rivers are inconsequential.” But back to the Guyanese rivers – for a small island girl, the rivers are an incredible natural feature and worth a drive over the bridge. If you can, drive to the stellen to cross the Berbice, or take a ferry from Parika on the Essequibo River.

Georgetown is also home to the National Zoo with (freakishly) unique creatures such as the Harpy Eagle, monkeys, jaguars and very large caimans. The Botanical Gardens are worth a visit. And I hear the National Park has manatees, but I have yet to see them. There are other photos of Georgetown I do not have. The tree-lined streets. The canals and trenches which are filled with the lotus flowers, adding an unexpected touch of beauty to what might otherwise be large murky drains. More of the buildings. And even the herd of apparently wild horses that seem to live outside my apartment complex and roam the sea wall.

See more of Georgetown in my Flickr set, and of other places in Guyana.

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* Well, except for that 5 month posting in Barbados. And the 6 week trip for Hajj. And the 7 week absence during my bout of typhoid fever. And the traveling…You get the idea…

** Guyana’s peculiar geography and it’s notion of “East Coast” and “West Coast” as divided by the Demerara River, are almost as bizarre to my linear-thinking mind as the Trini Geography concept of “East Trinidad”!