tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17097543189969529772024-03-12T19:22:37.774-07:00Travel with JoYJoY=Jean or Yatatrvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-63405769751639318392020-02-15T11:38:00.000-08:002020-02-15T11:38:44.007-08:00JoY in Joyland<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>P</i></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hase II Pan Groove Steel Orchestra, one of the leading steel pan orchestras of Trinidad was practicing, preparing for the first phase of competition which culminated in the national Steel Pan Championship, Panorama, in the Queen's Park Savannah in the capital city, Port of Spain. Pan orchestras are one of two reasons to put Trinidad on a life’s bucket list -- the extravagant bird population being the other reason. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Steel Pan drum was created in Trinidad, originally from the 50 gallon oil barrels, cut, welded and tuned to create individual notes. They evolved into a full range of ‘instruments’ including smaller tenor drums with higher pitched multiple notes, double tenors, guitars, cellos and more — all steel head drums. Each large steel pan group consists of up to 125 players using anywhere from two to nine drums at a time. Each drummer's instrument is on a metal rack with the larger multiple drums on wheeled carts. In the pan yards, every night through Jan and most of February they practice one song that they will perform, over and over again — maybe as many as 100 times a night — the leader altering the arrangement as the weeks count down to the finals. In these bands one might see a young — maybe a 9 year old — girl playing next to a 60 something woman next to a dread-locked Caribbean dude. Although women were discouraged from playing pan which was associated with a criminal element until the early 1980s, as more women became involved pan music became socially normalized. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But first the semi-finals -- in the Queen’s Park Savannah, will would narrow the field down to ten bands to compete on the main stage of the Panorama. As the field of bands narrows through the winnowing of the semifinals, the top players in bands that have been eliminated are poached to play in the bands that have moved onto the finals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We had been attending Phase II’s practices a number of times and had the pleasure of walking in amongst the band while they practiced, lifted by the beat of the bass section -- with up to nine full barrel drums surrounding the drummer -- and carried away by the high pitched melody of the soprano section. Under the streetlights of the pan yard the sections take their turns learning their individual parts while visitors sipped on cold beer and took in the free entertainment. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Other large bands include The All Stars, one of the frequent winners of the Panorama, the Renegades, Redemption and Desperados, with names reminiscent of the violent past history of the pan drum. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The evening of Panorama, the streets surrounding Queen’s Park Savannah are lined with vendors offering corn soup, games of chance, jerk chicken, coconut juice and plastic souvenirs which add to the festival atmosphere. Pan orchestras congregate in cacophonous groups leading up to and lining the drag, practicing their parts next to other orchestras playing their song….musical schizophrenia! The various ‘instruments’ range from 1 to 12 drums. Pan pushers were needed to push the larger racks up the ramp onto the stage. We volunteered to help out and felt quite privileged — but also fortunate to have kept all my toes due to a flip-flop blowout — to be on the main stage with Boogsie leading Phase II Pan Groove. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The leaders are celebrities in their own right, with stories of last minute 'saves' in the competition. Len ‘Boogsie’ Sharp the leader of Phase II, an extraordinary pan musician, gleaming in a green satin suit with matching fedora commanded the stage. The story going around about Boogsie is that he had been released from a Florida jail in time to fly back to Trinidad and in the last two weeks before Panorama to completely re-compose the band’s song, to lead Phase II in the Panorama competition to success. A little cultural diplomacy greased the wheels of justice.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>F</i></b></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ive years later we have returned to this musical world of Trinbago — Trinidad and Tobago. We again attended the Semi-finals of the large orchestras which was a case of musical overstimulation. We spent at least five hours roaming around the drag and the streets leading up to it Main Stage. There were fourteen bands; ten would make it into the finals. Our favorite band, Phase II, was in full form and we stood in the middle of the orchestra as they practiced -- ear piercingly loud, in the belly of the whale as she screeched and moaned to a Soca melody.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Phase II took second place going onto the finals. We wanted to hear more pan yard rehearsals so our driver Leon took us to Couva, a small city near our rural lodging. He had played in this band, the Joylanders — a medium orchestra — and as we pulled up to the pan yard where they’d already started their practice under the streetlights, he pointed out their new barn sized hall complete with a concessions kitchen and spotless restrooms. </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyj-Jmmrk2zXFz_SDdzrW_-k0516Qx2whq-u_hOQKx78ggQ36pXP6lLt4RlePpV9YbTqAcnyNj1aX8MOa85jA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We timidly walk across the street and stand alongside the bass drums — six barrel drums to a player, booming out the bass line. Wanting to hear the full mix of the band we move around to the front, near the leaders and the conductor/arranger. The song they are working on this year is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Is </i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Turn</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">…and they are determined that it is their turn to take first place this coming Sunday in Tobago. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stefon, the conductor, calls for a ten minute break and as we all walk to the hall across the street a young woman with a winning smile greets us, “Hi I’m Cassie and I’m the band’s marketing manager. Do you have any questions about the band? “ “Yes, I do…tell me about the band and the song you are playing”. “The band started in the early 1960’s and about 35 of us perform, throughout the year at various functions here and stateside. The song is </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i> Is Our Turn</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is written by Winston 'DeFosto" Scarbourough. He writes many of the pan orchestra songs. We have refreshments inside and t-shirts for sale. Would you like some chairs to sit on?” Three moulded plastic chairs appear in front of the band. But apparently they aren't up to Cassie’s standards of hospitality, for within minutes the plastic chairs are replaced with sturdy metal chairs sporting cushioned seats.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sitting in comfort we enjoy the rehearsal after the break and are intrigued to see that Stefon is still tweaking the arrangement when he says to the double tenors, “When we go G - B flat…I want you to go G - C". They play that section about a dozen times to lock it in and it adds a new lushness to the song. Then he moves onto the ending which, to my ear, is a bit anti-climatic. He interjects two stops with the bongo playing contrapuntal rat-tat-tat and the pans finish with a traditional but very fast cha-cha-cha; much more dramatic and satisfying. Repeating the new parts causes band members some embarrassed laughter — over a missed beat or off beat — but the band quickly tightens it up to a precise finish. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to describe the sound of a pan band -- imagine dropping the contents of kitchen drawers and cupboards — not to mention the metal garbage can — from the top of a ladder and have it all land to the tune of Chopin’s Interlude. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #626262; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11.5pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Everyone must put Trinidad on their musical or cultural bucket list because, not only is it difficult to describe, recordings can barely do it justice. </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(98, 98, 98); color: #626262; font-family: arial; font-size: 15.333333015441895px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We, JoY, aka Jean or Yata are delighted to have returned to Trinidad, the Joylanders home. </span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-294409c1-7fff-95a0-489b-05cddbd172d5"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-205290076460405672020-02-11T10:36:00.000-08:002020-02-11T10:36:12.729-08:00Spice Necklace and Jameson<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>with a wee bit o' help from old Jameson....</i></span></span></blockquote>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-8e546f47-7fff-3e92-d61e-f35f665c526e" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grenada, the spice island, has a charming souvenir that is sold along the beachs and market stalls. Mostly local ladies carry, over their arms, strands of necklaces made from the spices that grow on the island. Although each artisan may have their own style and variation on the aromatic 'gems', typically at the center or base is a pendant of nutmeg and mace. O</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">ften </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">going up the , strand s</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666984558105px; white-space: pre-wrap;">ymmetricaly </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">is ginger root, tumeric root, cloves, cocoa beans, cinnamon bark and folded bay leaves. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOy1BpesFJLb-wD44fLUffwm8bbBTcjCmFjtBPF6w4m-WSY9o_e_duslXDCyHBYtsN5hYWX3Pf_JluoezK3drrN0_smyJQwhEc7d9GmcQdLPEkRZyiTGPLaJHMHnwcv81q6UpfSMGi3A/s1600/IMG_1973.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOy1BpesFJLb-wD44fLUffwm8bbBTcjCmFjtBPF6w4m-WSY9o_e_duslXDCyHBYtsN5hYWX3Pf_JluoezK3drrN0_smyJQwhEc7d9GmcQdLPEkRZyiTGPLaJHMHnwcv81q6UpfSMGi3A/s640/IMG_1973.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annatto Pod and seeds in Jameson Whiskey</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJbcZaVvJfZoZlXvnFh6jSe5w_Z86HuGYDJWRThv30JfWFzH1DwtRYs_NW_2eOY9x2NIHZEHr2UYPeCIqM2C7Jd0DXrNOGVyQvfyNTnCUggEpnVrW8CSAlfB0QixTSIGd0OUoiJWFZHM/s1600/IMG_1976.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="640" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJbcZaVvJfZoZlXvnFh6jSe5w_Z86HuGYDJWRThv30JfWFzH1DwtRYs_NW_2eOY9x2NIHZEHr2UYPeCIqM2C7Jd0DXrNOGVyQvfyNTnCUggEpnVrW8CSAlfB0QixTSIGd0OUoiJWFZHM/s640/IMG_1976.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spice necklace</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"These are not for the kitchen", warns Charlotte, the Grendian. "They are to put in your bathroom or bedroom, to make them smell good," she touts. "But you could use them in the kitchen, right?"</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Oh yes" she affirms. I suspect she takes this approach due to the fact that most people wouldn't know what to do with a nutmeg, much less mace, if their life depended upon it. So … use it as an aromatic room freshener; everyone can understand that.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These spices will be used in my kitchen, especially the nutmeg. Inside that dark brown shell, which is laced by the red aril of the mace, is the kernel of nutmeg which grated into vegetable dishes or added to baked goods or even topping a blended drink adds an exotic flavor to any dish. But not too much!! Not only can it be cloying but is purported to be hallucinogenic in fairly low doses! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the next major island south of Grenada, Trinidad, we were introduced to a plant that was new to us, the Annatto or Bixa orellana shrub. The orange red pigment of the seeds of this pod are used to color orange cheeses and other foods as well as being used traditionally by Amazonian tribes for ritual body marking. Touching the red seed will stain the fingers which made me want to try it as a pigment for painting.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Experimenting with water, I wet the fresh red seeds but found that the pigment was resistant to water. Next I tried alcohol and since the only alcohol I had in the house of any strentgh was Jamesen whiskey, I tried that next. It worked much better than the water. It dissolved the pigment allowing me to paint directly onto my paper with the annatto dye. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I painted a collection of the plants of the Spice Necklace as subject, using the annatto -- with a wee bit o' help from old Jameson. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK208bEBNZLP9SLsuGDSsQq62EvjLMdDOehk1HTcPEfRQAwENeI7ig4XBPXhAKlGmXOhetcDO094Kjo_KGy56i-kSNfZCIlGGRyHJ-pprrLIcwYtVyjjw8UmJ_x03OLIug8-k8YF8-s3A/s1600/IMG_1979.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK208bEBNZLP9SLsuGDSsQq62EvjLMdDOehk1HTcPEfRQAwENeI7ig4XBPXhAKlGmXOhetcDO094Kjo_KGy56i-kSNfZCIlGGRyHJ-pprrLIcwYtVyjjw8UmJ_x03OLIug8-k8YF8-s3A/s1600/IMG_1979.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spice Necklace painting.</td></tr>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-7890850315725003992020-01-14T07:42:00.001-08:002020-01-14T07:42:23.839-08:00Ishon Makes Oildown<br id="docs-internal-guid-2207d587-7fff-405c-9929-b5085b1c293a" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I have to go gather the ingredients," says Ishon, the chef for the day.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were staying at a small hillside resort, the Caribbean Cottage Club above the chichi Port Louis Marina on the island of Grenada, West Indies. The half acre property has seven humble wooden cottages; the grounds lush with the growth of Coconut Palms, Banana trees, Citrus and flowering shrubs such as the Plumeria, all awash in the regular misty showers that waft down the mountainside to the sea. I asked Ishon if I could watch or help prepare the Oildown for the evenings communal dinner. "I will let you know when I am ready" as he lumbered out the gate to find provisions. 'Provisions' is the term for the mostly ground crops such as sweet potatoes, dasheen ( aka Taro), Yam and breadfruit, a starchy tree fruit.</span></p><img id="id_a981_b33d_9f63_2583" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/bkCVgPKVm6B2vPW-c3T-Hamjemkme9YaFSnIva1CNJV_DDm9vX0TFyvFRN8" alt="Ishon’s ‘kitchen’" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto; margin: 4px;"><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></p><br><br><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></p><img id="id_2788_990c_a386_7e99" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Bv6napvJtVP-KGq-dQIpk_og7KTQjdvIxodiXBtDWUkOQAGCy4DxEhmVCls" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br><br><br><br><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hours later, with all the ingredients laying out on his outdoor concrete table Ishon called me to help and said, " I should have told you to bring a knife" only to have me pull out my Chicago Cutlery, freshly sharpened for the trip to the Caribbean. Oftentimes the utensils in these short term vacation rentals are so inferior or completely lacking that I often travel with a few basics such as the knife and a micro grater. Ishon gave me two whole heads of garlic and two onions to peel. Wow, that's quite a lot of garlic. "How many people are you preparing to serve", I asked. "About ten" he said. Ishon, like many West Indies islanders speaks with a strong island accent that at times can be difficult to decipher, but so far so good. "Not all that garlic! he warned as I begain to crush the second head of garlic. Phew that was close! That really would have been a lot of garlic. Next came cutting up the little peppers. "What do you call these?, I asked. "Seasoning peppers" he informs. I de-capped these, not-so-spicy hot peppers and and threw them in the seasoning mix with a couple stalks of celery, the onions and garlic, tumeric and curry powder. Ishon blended this and poured it over the dark meat chicken parts to marinade while we prepared the provisions. An hour later we were ready to layer the 20 liter covered pot for the fire. First the breadfruit slices, then the green bananas, dasheen and yams. He then poured the chicken with marinate, into a well, in the provisions. Adding the pickled pork; snout, ears, tail, he then layered the vegetables; green beans, carrots, okra and pumpkin for a carnival of color. Sprinkling the half-filled pot with assorted spices he set it over the fire sandwiched between two concrete cinder blocks.</span></p><img id="id_a0a4_77d0_98b5_ef82" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/TQZaV-mFewgY17UchT-VmwEjdI5PFcjWJtS7JLxo5ZmvQGzcRWgGZZNuG34" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br><br><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Oildown, known as the national dish of Grenada, started to heat up Ishon began what he called, "the hardest part", preparing the coconut milk, from the actual coconuts! I was really curious about this process since I don't really understand all the particular phases of a coconut. How do you get the water for drinking? When it's quite green and large, as it turns out. At what point do you take the coconut flesh for grating or flaking? And at when is it best for making coconut milk and how to do that? The answers are that the flesh and the milk both come from the coconut with the outside husk having turned a nice dry looking brown. Ishon took a heft machete, whacking the husk in a few parallet lengthwise places around the husk allowing him to pull the hard 'kernel' of the nut out of the husk. He then took the dull edge of the machete and thwacked the whiskery dark brown shell until it cracked open. Inside the mostly hollow shell was a wall of about a half inch of snowy white sweet coconut meat, great for snacking. But for the Oildown he had me cut the meat of five coconuts into long chunks, then blending the chunks with abundant water and fresh tumeric root, in batches until he had almost two gallons of semi-liquid mash. He filtered the solids and poured about a gallon of the liquid over the fire-warmed pot. </span></p><img id="id_a82e_cdd3_48d1_c799" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Y700oS7Ssrpsimko9VoosTBm8iIE_IR9fpeAMzdc5vrA4_aCP-mBvq7AWMk" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br><br><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ishon wasn't finished yet with this laborious culinary enterprise. Next he prepared a simple dumpling of flour, salt and water; rolled this into cigar shaped dumpling and set those over the vegetables. The next step used the leaves and stems of the Dasheen, known in the Caribbean as Callaloo. Nearly two pounds of sliced Callaloo topped off the pot and not-to-be finished without the final Caribbean staple, the salt fish crowned the top. </span></p><img id="id_e824_c80c_960_3ab5" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/5_j6nW-6Ne7msxiK241tRaCR6CKbnUppnLKXAk5--n7cOeLrep_8BlPkDfc" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br><br><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The lid was placed and the smoking fire -due to wet wood as a result of the recent rains- simmered the pot for about two hours. </span></p><img id="id_d540_e4b_99a8_6d19" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/BX95qeh-Ryd5PcG8r7Zc2YFVvo_URGLRe6ZoNFxcpYeKXPIXC_N0ufRROV8" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br><br><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wondered if the smoke would have the mosquito repelling effect and sure enough it did! As the ten guests congregated around the concrete dinner table later, the pests were mostly a no-show. The guests though were a lively group of global citizens. We had Frank and Barel (sp?) from Dresden, East Germany, Malin and Peter from Sweden, Glen, Atkin and Molly from Canada, Eric from Austria and of course Ishon. He started by separating the various layers into separate bowls for serving. The Callaloo, looked like well cooked spinach, was in one dish, the dumplings in another, the meat and vegetables in a third and the provisions in a final. Passing the bowls, Ishon said, "Take as much as you like, there's more". </span></p><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We sat around the table slowly sampling and sifting out the bones savoring the textures and flavors of this island favorite while we shared travel tips and experiences, laughing at many of our communication challenges at the table and throughout the world. Yata wrote some funny extemporaneous songs about Ishon and Grenada as the rum bottle emptied (altough neither of us imbibed).</span></p><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So again, this isn't the luxury resort but it sure isn't boring...the rooster crows in confirmation!</span></p><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"> trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-75902189285769918412020-01-11T06:00:00.002-08:002020-01-11T06:00:14.227-08:00Provence France Oct 2019<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Sir, it doesn't appear that you'll be able to board this flight", the courteous American Airline staff informed my husband. "Why" he asked with alarm in his voice! "Because you need three months until expiration of your passport to enter France, sir". The ticketing agent concurred and rebooked us on the next day flight later in the afternoon to enable him to get an expedited passport and still catch our flight. The upside was that it was a more direct route than our current flight .Uncharacteristically, for me, I said with abundant optimism, " Let's just be tourists in Minneapolis for the day instead of France, while we wait." We had met in Minneapolis and lived there together for a few years back in the late 70's, so although we knew the city well, we hadn't really done the tourist activities that we found ourselves indulging in that day such as the Lake Harriet Trolley Car Ride or a stroll over one of the downtown Mississippi River bridges, taking in the merging of nature's corridor, the river, as it cuts through the architecture of the city. The next day we boarded our fight with fresh passport and plenty of time. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time and money,are both things that the traveller must adjust to as they change countries and cultures. Arriving in France in the morning, we found our way to the warren-like maze of metro trains at Chatelet. Almost miraculously we found our boarding platform to take us to Gare Lyon, where we had no train ticket pre-booked to go to the city of Avignon in southern France. We were at the mercy of Plutus, the god of money, paying whatever price he deemed the market would bear upon such short notice. But at least there were two open seats!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the time we arrived in Avignon and rented a car it was late afternoon and we had what should have been about an hour and a half drive to the villa we were sharing with a group of fifteen others in the countryside of a village known as Crillon le Brave, north of Carpentras. We had printed directions from the villa owner as well as from a friend who had mapped it out using Google Maps. And thankfully, we had an old style paper map. Immediately we had difficulty finding our way out of the city as the directions didn't seem to concur with the actual signage. So after a couple of attempts we doggedly went forward and left the city headed toward Carpentras. Night had fallen on Carpentras before we arrived and we were met with more challenging directions but Yata, my husband, drove while I navigated by cross-referencing the myriad forms of directions I had at hand. "Take this exit - no, not that one, next one-left, left left, yes- this is it….", and so it went until we arrived along the narrow gravel lane of what should be the villa, but is it the villa, there is no sign...what if we enter someone's private yard. Where to park? I could see our friends in the villa that I recognized from daylight photos, now lit from inside. We parked at the end of long row of shrubs, that was obviously the front but not the true parking area as it was blocked off by large stones. Frustrated, I dragged my luggage from the trunk of the car and lugged it across the acre sized lawn, entering the front door to find our friends around the dinner table relaxing. Meanwhile, poor Yata had been circling the grounds to find the actual parking area, hidden behind the villa.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were finally ready to experience Provence, southern France, with our friends sharing this stately villa. They served us some dinner and wine while we shared stories of our travails. The first wine we had that night came from an area known as Plan de Dieu of the Cote du Rhone region of southern France. I'm not sure if it seemed exceptionally tasty due to the circumstances or because it is simply a great wine. I look forward to trying to determine that in the future. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One person in our group, a wine connoisseur, Peter was asked to select wine for our group dinners. Something reasonable and yet good quality. He mostly stayed with the reds of the Cote du Rhone since we were in the heart of the region, with vineyards surrounding the villa. The reds of Cote du Rhome are made up mostly of grapes grenache, mourvedre and syrah. They are generally fruity, relatively smooth and are great with French food, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The cuisine of France is famous worldwide and I was looking forward to a first hand experience with it, having travelled the world, studying cooking and cuisine throughout. I was not disappointed. Our group of seventeen at the villa proved to be avid chefs in their own right. With the exception of a fabulous veal dinner presented by the two Brits in our group - the rest of us, from the United States - yh n had french inspired meals including ratatouille, Cordon Bleu Endive, Wild Mushroom Crostini, poached pears and much more. Each morning our group coordinator, Steve, would hike up to the hilltop bakery at Crillon le Brave to purchase fresh made croissants for breakfast. Such dedication!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Besides the wonderful meals with our group at the villa, we also dined at restaurants during the day trips to villages in the area. One day trip included a jaunt to the coast, an area referred to as the Camargue, a marshland delta of the Rhone river as it enters the Mediterranean. Of course seafood was the best option in the seaside villages.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dentelles de Montmirail</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another memorable day trip was to the neighboring Dentelles de Montmirail for hiking. I had packed so lightly that I had no quality hiking shoes. When the local hikers saw my slip-on sneakers they tried to warn me from attempting the hike. Luckily I'm much too determined, and the Swiss mountain goat in me pressed on. I was forced to be especially mindful of my steps in places as it was rocky and at times steep but in the end, wasn't really bad. I'm sure it helped that it was a dry terrain. Such beautiful views, both upwards toward the teeth-like peaks of the Dentelles and down across the valleys below as they receded into my favorite cornflower blue.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After ascending we ventured back to the villa through the villages of Beaumes de Venise and Gigondas, both tiny villages with a few small Wine Caves, what we would refer to as tasting rooms. Beaumes de Venise is famous for its sweet Muscat dessert wine. We, Peter and I, selected some wine for the evening dinner table. We were the designated chefs for the evening with our roommate/husband and it was time to begin preparing the dinner. At the last minute we purchased a nice ready made mushroom and cheese ravioli to add to the ratatouille as cooking for seventeen is quite daunting!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After dinner, and a few hours of sing alongs led, on guitar by Yata, as well as some intellectually stimulating history lessons from the Brits, we retired to our rooms to get ready for another day. The next day was highly anticipated. We were to visit the city of Arles, the home of Vincent Van Gogh during his most productive if not self destructive period. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arles at Night</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sight of Van Gogh's, Starry Night Over the Rhone, Arles</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Arles is a perfect sized inner city for exploring the traditional French market, the historical Roman ruins and the venue for the work of Vincent Van Gogh. Although the city has only a small selection of his actual work- to be found at the Van Gogh Foundation- they have created a pleasing walking tour of the city highlighting the painting sites of Van Gogh. Sidewalk placards display reproductions of his paintings such as Starry Night Over the Rhone River or The Yellow House, Arena at Arles (in Roman Colliseum), Hospital in Arles and others. We were fortunate to see three paintings of The Sower by Van Gogh at the Van Gogh Foundation. This subject,the sower, after Millet, obviously developed through the repeated painting subject into a final strong, emotionally charged painting that the artist boldly signed. There are also numerous art museums including works by Picasso and others, mostly housed in former merchant class palace-like homes.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting a view from Cezanne's Garden</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: center;">Painting of Cezanne's Atelier</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although Picasso lived in France for a time, as did Marc Chagall, as a war refugee, and Matisse and Gaugin, a son of Provence is Paul Cezanne of Aix en Provence. This lovely city with its plane-tree lined boulevards, gardens and ocre hued buildings was not kind to Cezanne who dedicated his life to painting the world as he saw it. Matisse and Picasso, both credited him with being ," the father of us all". His pre-cubist paintings hinted at the direction others would take. It was such a privilege, as a painter myself, to visit his home, studio and gardens. We later drove out of the city to see his favorite subject matter in the distance, Mont Sainte Victoire.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The final challenge and pleasure of our trip to France involved the fact that there was a train strike in effect as we tried to go north from Avignon. We had plans to visit friends we had met while in Thailand ten years earlier, who lived in Vichy, between Lyon and Paris. We made it to Lyon, only to find out that all trains to Vichy were cancelled. Our host, Hubert gave us suggestions for other cities between the two to try so that he could drive pick us up. Eventually we found a commuter train that went half way to Vichy. We arrived at the platform to find it full of waiting passengers and there were no reserved seats on the commuter train. When the train arrived, a half hour late, it was packed door to door. But we insisted that we must get on. I turned around and backed in, gently pushing and apologizing as I went. But we had two large pieces of luggage, Yata and a guitar to still get on the train. We stacked the luggage between us but he door of the train wouldn't close; Yata or something was blocking the door. After five attempts and much groaning by other passengers, the door finally closed. We were off; standing for nearly an hour swaying with the crowd of passengers sharing the aisles. Once we arrived and found Hubert we drove the hour and a half to his lovely home just outside of Vichy. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">His wife Maylin had been preparing dinner for us and the smells of the roast lamb and tomato tart was enticing. But we must first wash up, join our hosts in the formal living room, replete with art collected upon their travels, share a glass of champagne and hors d'oeuvres and finally at about 9:30 at night sit up to the sumptuou</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">s meal adorned on the candlelit glass dining table. Of course we must have some Bordeaux with our meal of roast lamb, a light salad, apple turnover for dessert, savory cheese platter and finally a sip of Chartreuse to end the meal back in the living room.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The extra effort to overcome the train strike, the full to busting train car and nervousness about reconnecting with friends we'd only met for a day, ten years ago, all came to marvelous fruition in the end. The pleasures and perils of travel, like a balanced wine, press a certain quality into the mind so that it can not be forgotten; the challenges sharpen the pleasure, carving it into our memory.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketchbook painting from the lawn at the Villa Domaine Les Pins</td></tr>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-66467396237159794112018-02-01T23:14:00.000-08:002018-02-02T02:50:56.774-08:00Art Glass project from Anselm <b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">W</span></b>e are building a family cabin in northern Wisconsin and some of the interior work is being done while we are gone. They are assembling a loft in the great room using more than one hundred year old barn beams. The loft will need a railing and I had drawn a design that mimics the lines of a birch forest.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIboWFJiS0K8_bOfbmC84EVbClpZAZCDugW2BmFo16753wmgwOPtNpEENl1hDPNKquGo22_v_Y1ZykK_Hq64r4FZEFMJSL6_v1fKOotaaVGW9Vq2jAesXsyJQTeW5DRC_WgAhOAqVQwU/s1600/IMG_6628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSIboWFJiS0K8_bOfbmC84EVbClpZAZCDugW2BmFo16753wmgwOPtNpEENl1hDPNKquGo22_v_Y1ZykK_Hq64r4FZEFMJSL6_v1fKOotaaVGW9Vq2jAesXsyJQTeW5DRC_WgAhOAqVQwU/s200/IMG_6628.JPG" width="200" /></a>The last time I was in Kenya my daughter Ella, took me to Anselm Glass at Kitengela, in an arid rural suburb of Nairobi. The railing that I designed and discussed with Dan at Creative Metalworxs in Durand, WI was to have glass panels that represented some of the trunks of birch. Anselm could possibly custom make these panels. So we went out to Kitengela, riding the spine jarring rodes to discuss with Anselmo the owner, the design. A day later he sent samples via email for us to give feedback on futher production. We plan on five panels, each about 4 inches wide and 30 inches tall. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first sample.</td></tr>
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We weren't entirely thrilled with the blue (that was my idea); it brought too much color to the trees. When we went in person to see the samples we were also able to watch the process of how each panel began as molten glass. Yata suggested that rather than the blue being added to the raw 'clear' glass that we add white. Along with that will be added black frit, specks of black glass to mimic the black on white elements of a birch trunk. </div>
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We are going on vacation with our family to the Seychelle Islands this Sunday for a week. When we return Anselm will have out glass panels ready for us to package and take back to Wisconsin, in our luggage. trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-39687100020699762942018-02-01T07:06:00.001-08:002018-02-01T07:06:15.941-08:00Kenya 2018: the Nairobi Textile MarketWe've been in Kenya for a bit over a week now, visiting our daughter Ella and her family; Liam our grandson and her husband Kenfield.<br />
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Today Ella and I made a trip to downtown Nairobi to the Textile Market. We had as our agent, so to speak, Moses who acts as sort a broker between clients and seamstresses. Available in this more than bustling market area of the inner city are streets offering drapery in one store, zippers, buttons and the like in another, traditional Kenyan prints beside another with rolls of denim and canvas stacked in aisles so narrow one must turn sideways to pass another. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turquise or Black Canvas?</td></tr>
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Overhead are more rolls blocking the spare florescent tube lighting. I nervously noted the simple nuts and bolts holding all this weight above our heads imagining a suffocating under the bolts...did I ever say that I not only drive defensively but sort of live defensively?<br />
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But our true destination, the luscious Ghanian Wax cloth prints, was through an unmarked doorway, up a long flight of stairs into another poorly lit room about 15 by 24 feet in size where the wax cloth, cut in six yard pieces were folded and stacked four, five even six feet high. On top of these stacks sat women, about every two feet, trying to draw attention to their individual textile delights. Delights for a textile lover as I am.<br />
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I began sewing at the age of twelve and sewed most of my own clothes until I was about nineteen - due mostly to the fact that I've always been taller than most women and couldn't find pants or clothes long enough. My first job at the age of sixteen was at SoFro Fabrics and I loved helping customers find the perfect fabric for their pattern, gleaned from encyclopedia of textiles in my head.<br />
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This fabric store had quite different sales techniques: "Sista...come...look at mine...Yellow? Here is yellow, you like, how about this. Lady here is another, what about this one. This is very nice, what about this one. You like, here is another. Blue? No thank you? Do you have this? Here madam, sista' look here, I have this.... So it goes with all of four or five women above us on there stacks putting the stimulating colored prints in our faces, competing with each other for our sales. I went there, having been there once before years ago, knowing how over stimulating it could be, determined to be decisive and go with my gut. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ghanian Wax Cloth</td></tr>
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Phew it was wild and crazy but I came away with some prints that are so AFRICA and lovely, a real treat for the eye. <br />
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We returned to Ella's home with Moses where we determined thje sizes of pillows and colors to use for cording. We discussed the options over a quick lunch and he intends to return a finished pillow or two in the next couple days. <br />
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Time to take a nap!trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-69029642406331057492017-05-26T13:08:00.001-07:002017-05-26T13:12:31.642-07:00Velocity Made GoodYata took his turn at the helm our first full day out and it was a windy grey day with big swells and a boat riding like a herd of stallions over the sea. <div><br></div><div>Each day of sailing around these islands is unique, from Yata's stormy ride to one day of near calm that required us to motor. Borko, the consummate sailor never took the lazy route of motoring when sailing was an option. </div><div><br></div><div>We would determine our course in the morning and depending on the direction and power of the wind we would sail a direct route downwind or tack back and forth with a side or headwind. The day I sailed we had a side wind and I kept trying to get speed but at the expense of the direction we were headed. At one point Borko explained Velocity Made Good. If you sacrifice too much direction for speed you could actually have a negative VMG because you're not actually getting to your desired destination. </div><div><br></div><div>Sailing strikes me as something that is ruled by the laws of physics but at the same time is an art. It requires a feel for the boat, wind & water. But it also rewards experience and that is something Borko had ' in spades'. </div><br> <div><br></div><img id="id_5258_4ff_1b8a_54ad" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jw-ce2u7B4Y/WSiLP6qrKhI/AAAAAAAAKHk/YCVqZBpU6x0u4ISp9qx8XFPmeYU1nOTzgCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_c04b_6de5_ac2b_7d31" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wk1Jhp2pC58/WSiLTNr8eiI/AAAAAAAAKHo/Ih6R9NSaFMwR0d8eyLsrLQpNW556XcMagCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-66872815734404677032017-05-26T12:53:00.001-07:002017-05-26T12:53:09.388-07:00Split, Brac, Vis in the Dalmatian IslandsWe are on one of the archipelago islands off Croatia's coast bouyed in our 46 foot monohull with Katchy Kay, Jolly Jelle, Dan, Jody and our hired native captain Borko (sp?).<div><br></div><div>We left the village of Milna on the island of Brac this morning just before the rain set in. </div><div><img id="id_b06f_3855_fe1d_c2f6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-abVj0MyqDnk/WSiHgOX-1eI/AAAAAAAAKHA/zEwEzIBS_nQCv2AJ1wCe3Ov--QI9wsBxQCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <br></div><div>We had a great meal last night at a fisherman -owned seaside restaurant. Black risotto was on the chalkboard menu. I was intrigued since I'd never heard of such a thing I love a good risotto. We ordered a meal family style; a Sea Bream and another smaller fish, roasted vegetables and the black risotto. For some reason the fish here is very expensive, in fact the fish at one and a half kilos( about 3 1/4 pounds cost about $100 US. But it served seven people and it was caught the same day. The fish was simply grilled and it was fantastic with a crunchy butter flavored crust and juicy firm white flesh. But the black risotto... oh my! It is black from the ink of the cuttlefish, very black and I expected an inky flavor but instead it seemed rich and creamy as if made with dairy cream of some sort. Borko says not! Kay says yes they do finish it off with cream sometimes. I doubt I'll ever be able to make this since I don't think there is any substituting ink of cuttlefish. But Katchy says we can get squid ink back home at Coastal Seafoods. </div><div><br></div><img id="id_5a68_15ff_c953_60b2" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N7vKTyMumEw/WSiHlNWNFuI/AAAAAAAAKHM/TBGV0-IzllwYm8FIx6LuDodw28aq7MWUQCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_f992_a55b_e01c_4603" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-51JzczY6t-M/WSiHkNgRPPI/AAAAAAAAKHE/254y4FJIoNgepje5ygvxNcJNsI64Aa86ACHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> On the island of Vis we had a real treat, meat cooked under the bell, Peka. Borjko highly recommended it especially the octopus so we pre-ordered 4 lamb & 3 octopus. The meat is cooked over wood fire in a bell shaped cast iron pot for about 2 hours. It is served in the bottom of the bell at the table. It's a traditional way of cooking of Croatia. The octopus was the most tender and savory seafood with potatoes and onions to soak up the juices and a specialty of the island of Vis. We were at Roki's an inland establishment that provided transport and had their own wine. Red & white. <img id="id_4ce2_ad1e_8283_97c0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xMV3ts_1kQY/WSiHkwStP8I/AAAAAAAAKHI/VVwH_gwnYtUZxeJcUjysFNDWH3WYq6seACHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> We were unduly surprised to see the place full of happy diners. <img id="id_8194_4aa3_cc05_59da" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m4wcbZ9LohU/WSiHl93x_2I/AAAAAAAAKHQ/TFljtWC5gfI3HObnPo27_vf55H3jN0VogCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_14a4_d5_4750_e1b5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xNh6PgEjX04/WSiHo49RlMI/AAAAAAAAKHY/1vJUw1sdbjQX8Pw_MZy5Y44cLD0mWjXHACHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_bec1_c99e_ee80_7c31" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dgLUsDlmh7w/WSiHo6OYz2I/AAAAAAAAKHU/w9AHGS_GGtEvje3rfQEriltFmlyIrypFwCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-56181380944398028492017-05-21T00:33:00.001-07:002017-05-21T00:33:09.791-07:00Chianti ClassicoChianti Classico wine in the cellars of CantiliciVineyard near Radda where we are staying this week. Winding roads up and down the olive and grape growing hillsides anticipates the rolling waves of a sailboat we will soon be on in Dalmatia. <img id="id_2c42_2c54_ed47_f110" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IfP9qqf7p2k/WSFCnso74BI/AAAAAAAAKFs/Y3BHOW7ZYvwuPmHKmwl92DJNSXvmTG0VwCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_68e6_55bd_b6dc_c482" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eEiJoPQ7uT8/WSFCmh6XyRI/AAAAAAAAKFo/3lLQYyKXQFkT9CXijapTohFIRagObvgcwCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_3d1e_d153_68e2_ff3d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zLX1cav81Og/WSFCn4uhXCI/AAAAAAAAKFw/7NVt14VJHvIVc2qeMqaRc3nhoFg33LX9wCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"> After a few hours of riding the rough waves of Chianti hillsides we found this charming little village of Ambra. In the town square a group of locals had just completed a fundraiser walk for a cure for cancer. They were sitting along banquet tables having a dinner of charcuterie, roast pork, pasta, couscous salad with local red wine and the lovely treat, a dulci they called Peaches. <img id="id_1044_6a3b_4f6e_681f" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rr_FGGJtfAA/WSFCtP9wVpI/AAAAAAAAKF4/zOORsxp6IoM1vmX-wFWGjHw76S6zUXXjQCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 296px; height: auto;"> <img id="id_c697_46fe_7f3_5f29" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A-_PBRmElh4/WSFCruPgytI/AAAAAAAAKF0/8QbJEfqsQ_k-ZMkMmoAoB-2hMdjU8_Z3QCHM/%255BUNSET%255D" alt="" title="" tooltip="" style="width: 298px; height: auto; margin: 4px;"> The Peaches are actually a yellow cake, rosy tinted with a core of cream. <div><br></div><div>I had shown the servers my list of allergies that I had translated to the local language and they seemed even more confused asking me to 'say in English'. Which didn't really help, when suddenly I realized I'd given them the list that had been translated into Croatian. When I realized the error, we all had a laugh at my mistake. </div>trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-70473504954256572632017-03-08T09:19:00.002-08:002017-03-08T09:19:30.155-08:00Art & Food<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxxxcnN_7_aMvg1PFHQna8TOuEEKRIbVVf_UpVuAMvBnoYcOYAcrUvFG6Yz_5330Kd1a-Mghlev_YJ_fWrCH2xD0JSqTdThFDyD0RNIwnNb3o6l8ubfmuxlDkJapoSE8ZCBo-w1tSQeE/s1600/FullSizeRender-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxxxcnN_7_aMvg1PFHQna8TOuEEKRIbVVf_UpVuAMvBnoYcOYAcrUvFG6Yz_5330Kd1a-Mghlev_YJ_fWrCH2xD0JSqTdThFDyD0RNIwnNb3o6l8ubfmuxlDkJapoSE8ZCBo-w1tSQeE/s400/FullSizeRender-19.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
This is my watercolor rendering of Noah, our youngest grandchild, Nick & Maggie's. Although I think it almost looks more like Ian, his older brother.<br />
I've also been working on more books and paintings while here in Dominica. I have made a habit of doing an annual self portrait and a grandchild portrait while I'm away for the winter.<br />
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I have an exhibit coming up at the<b> </b></h4>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">LE Phillips Library in EAu Claire, WI </span></b></h4>
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">April 17th to May 27 with the reception on April 20th at 7-8pm.</span></b> </h4>
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I'll be featuring my work completed during our annual global forays.</h4>
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<b style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px;">Black Bean Pitas with Hot Creamy Sauc</b><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px;">e </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnoKUjkOZ5BIW_5i5nZAYioN8AldxCXF70iCSbtj441Pak_Sa5TgilsLVFytGIY-QsNpgLRdHd_Bb8CEn4AyE0yjeA_AcaYGLP2UOP0lco4VQ4Tk5OS8C7eVX9AJFDeJFMY0CUXINzCo/s1600/IMG_3744.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMnoKUjkOZ5BIW_5i5nZAYioN8AldxCXF70iCSbtj441Pak_Sa5TgilsLVFytGIY-QsNpgLRdHd_Bb8CEn4AyE0yjeA_AcaYGLP2UOP0lco4VQ4Tk5OS8C7eVX9AJFDeJFMY0CUXINzCo/s320/IMG_3744.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">4 cups cooked black beans</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 T vegetable oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 diced red onion</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 large cloves garlic sliced thin</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 tsp toasted ground cumin seeds</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 tsp cinnamon</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/4 tsp cayenne</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 tsp pepper</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 small green bell pepper diced</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 med. tomato diced</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/4 c. milk</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Saute in oil the onion, garlic, green pepper, tomato, spices and beans until onion is transparent. Add water and simmer until water is absorbed. Salt if needed to taste.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Cream Sauce:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Combine cream cheese, hot sauce and milk until smooth</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Warm pitas, tear in half. Fill to 2/3 full with bean mixture. Top with cucumber and 2 heaping spoons of the cream sauce.</span></div>
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<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-10378543076231944832017-03-05T06:54:00.001-08:002017-03-05T06:54:32.536-08:00Keep it Pozitive<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLesTe4i8YlXSB-EKumpjXB3Edq5RB3sdQWzScO7kv5ooKJfRlOAz0Tn8LyXn0hCceni9_WAtRovJf98i1goRuFtj1cVgjdwA-rsXzagHG9AebMqb_FRICOTvpV5oEw6hMC7D779izuA/s1600/IMG_3520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLesTe4i8YlXSB-EKumpjXB3Edq5RB3sdQWzScO7kv5ooKJfRlOAz0Tn8LyXn0hCceni9_WAtRovJf98i1goRuFtj1cVgjdwA-rsXzagHG9AebMqb_FRICOTvpV5oEw6hMC7D779izuA/s400/IMG_3520.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One third of a five foot by one foot acrylic of Dominican Sunset.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We’ve had an eventful week. I think the last time we blogged, we were at the Sisters Sea Lodge at Picard Beach in Dominica.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HM1q0C-9HADy9jkW9mVDpTkzzAbjBV9POzjk8kEK_5MnpULhOyMZPDxN7GHV6IH5OXf3c4Mdvo3FuNKQ5urMILBSqUfbNyck2lF0KKZ5-RGgOOkz2lJq_jgyazTjB7vxZ0b9Fc8F37s/s1600/IMG_3583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HM1q0C-9HADy9jkW9mVDpTkzzAbjBV9POzjk8kEK_5MnpULhOyMZPDxN7GHV6IH5OXf3c4Mdvo3FuNKQ5urMILBSqUfbNyck2lF0KKZ5-RGgOOkz2lJq_jgyazTjB7vxZ0b9Fc8F37s/s400/IMG_3583.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our room at Sisters Sea Lodge with new painting.</td></tr>
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We are still in Dominica. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Spesh, as in special, had taken us up to see the spectacular Syndicate Waterfall.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old cottage used in Pirates of the Caribbean</td></tr>
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He also </span>rowed us up the Indian River where we saw a setting for the second<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Pirates of the Caribbean movie and introduced us to a new habitat. The river carries salt water quite far up the river and results in an unusual mix of plants and animals. The twisting roots of a particular tree resemble the arms of a swarm of octopi. We also saw a Yellow Crowned Night Heron, a Green Heron and more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We planned to drive to our next destination and enroute, go to the Kalinago territory. The Kalinago, aka Caribs are the last of the original people of the Caribbean. They have a protected territory in this small country where they try, through educational demonstration, to retain some of their traditional crafts and practices. We visited their reenactment village and bought a few small items, a handwoven basket and a mask carved from the wood of the tree fern. Their name for the island was Waitukubuli which means, “she who stands tall”, referring to the high mountainous land they inhabited. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Spesh had sent an associate of his, Charlie of Sunshine taxi. Charlie came a bit early that Saturday morning to pick us up but since we’d seen this unusual behavior with Donkey, we realized we could take our time and he was not trying to push us. He just, “likes to be early”. Charlie is a rastaman who is proud of his beautiful country and wishes all his countrymen would take pride in it and treat the tourists well and live a kind, healthy life…no drugs and very little alcohol, would be Charlie’s prescription for a better Dominica. We warmed to Charlie of course; who wouldn’t with a philosophy like that, and arranged for him to return to pick us up a week later and take us to Mero, our next destination. But before he dropped us at Calibishie Bay View Lodge he took us to the Islet Cafe in the Kalinago area where we had a great lunch from a high mountaintop perch. The food was ‘really nice’ especially the starter, the plantain fries with a killer dip (my guess for the dip: cream cheese, mayo, curry, hot sauce). As we sat down at the table, I pulled my lap top out of the backpack only to realize that the water bottle lid hadn’t been screwed on properly and had wet the computer. I opened the screen, hit the power button. Yes, the apple started to reboot and then suddenly went black. Nothing, it wouldn’t peep. We took it to Bayview Lodge, put a fan on it and even put it in a big ziplock with rice and tried to restart it a couple times but it didn’t seem to even take a charge. Dang!</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Yata’s mother died last week. We weren’t surprised, she was 98 and had been declining steadily for a few months. When we saw her at Christmas we realized it would probably be the last time we’d see her. It was very sad leaving her. But she had had a full and fruitful life. She left behind three sons, eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren who loved her dearly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Trying to communicate with family back home using only a smartphone and sharing it between the two of us was getting stressful, especially when I couldn’t charge the cellphone on the computer and had to try to find other people with usb plugins wherever we were, to keep the phone charged. Although people were generous and willing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Calibishie is on the northeast shore of the island and thus has more of an Atlantic coast with brisk winds. It is also an area where many expats have built homes and thus there are more guest houses and tourism amenities. We had heard from a number of people that we had met that there was a Canadian on the island who went by the moniker Poz (for positive) and that he was a dead ringer for Yata. So we had to meet him! Turns out we were staying an easy two block walk from his place, Calibishie Gardens and Poz Restaurant and Bar. They did look like they could be brothers. Poz, aka Troy, is a bit younger, taller and bigger but the eyes, forehead and nose are sure similar. And they both have a positive energy that people are attracted to. By the end of the week, we had swum in his pool, eaten our way through much of the menu, shared life stories and Yata finished up by entertaining his clientele on our last night with mostly Motown favorites. Great fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Poz is a bit of a social worker at heart, always trying to help people out and seems to be well loved by the locals and expats alike. But we came to realize that he was stressing. His ‘ride’ had been stolen by a man who he’d hired to do some paint work on it. The man was seen using the car and not returning Troy’s calls to return the car. Troy notified the police but the best they would do was to follow up on a sting operation that Troy maneuvered, an illegal sale. The man was caught in the act of selling the car that he didn’t own and yet Troy was still having a hard time getting the charge to ‘stick’. So he continued driving, over an hour, day after day, to try to make sure that the man was properly charged. And on top of all of that he even remembered to pick up a usb charger block for my cell phone! Wow!</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Charlie was scheduled to pick us up this morning at 10am to take us to Mero, our final stay on Dominica. But of course he arrived at 8:40 while we were still sitting in our pajamas having our morning coffee. Again, no rush. When I told him that the laptop was dead he was amazed but said, “I have a friend, Cedric, in Portsmouth (which was on our way to Mero) who might be able to help. He worked for Apple in England for many years.” I said, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt”, although I was a bit skeptical. I had contacted Apple and they told me to put it in a bag of rice which I’d tried to no avail. But we dropped it off with Cedric who seemed like a capable guy. We drove on to Mero and after some difficulty found out guesthouse, an elegantly appointed spacious villa overlooking the sea, again! I guess that comes with being on a small island. Within ten minutes of arrival, Charlie returned to say that Cedric had my computer repaired! Wow, again! These folks are almost miracle workers! Within another hour we had the laptop back, fully operational. I was so happy I gave Charlie a big hug and kiss and invited to take him out to dinner. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We drove down the hill to the Romance Cafe on the Mero Beach for dinner a wonderful french style seafood filets in a buttery cream sauce with fresh vegetable salad and roast potatoes. While the manager/cook was totaling up our bill Yata grabbed a guitar and began extemporaneously singing a song about the Romance Cafe, shocking and delighting the staff. When we asked at the bar if the folks knew Poz, their eyes lit up and they said, “I heard there was a party at Poz’s last night.” I said, “That was him, playing music there last night”, pointing at Yata. Poz is planning a party at Romance Cafe here with Yata heading up a jam session this coming Tuesday. Stay tuned! </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Fungee with Carmelized Onions and Shitake Mushrooms</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">3 servings</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 cup of fine ground cornmeal</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">3 cups water</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 tsp or more butter</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">salt and pepper</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 red onion sliced into thin crescents</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/4 pound of shitake mushrooms sliced</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 T olive oil or butter or combination</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 tsp dry Thyme</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 scant T balsamic vinegar</span></div>
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Heat water in medium sized saucepan to near boil. Slowly pour into the water the cornmeal, whisking while pouring.</div>
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Continue to stir with a spoon until it bubbles and thickens, about a minute. Turn off heat and add butter and salt and pepper, stir and then pour into a lightly oiled or buttered dish.</div>
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Saute onions in butter/oil for 10 minutes until soft. Stirring at times. Add thume and hitake along with some water if needed and continue to saute for another 5 minutes. Add vinegar and cook for 30 seconds. Salt and pepper to taste. </div>
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Serve onions mixture over the warm fungee. </div>
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-31534067242798760362017-02-21T07:12:00.003-08:002017-03-05T06:34:13.732-08:00Minus Two on the Charm Scale<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset at Picard Beach</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I think that AirBnb and other travel sites should have a category in their rating system for charm. After you’ve stayed in one of their member accommodations you are asked to rate them for location, accuracy, cleanliness, communication and value. We’ve had a strange run here with AirBnb. Maybe it isn’t designed for old folks like us. When you read the reviews of sites, they are often young travelers, rarely people like us in our sixth decade. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The garden at Sister's Sea Lodge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But this run of bad luck in Antigua, and now in Dominica, brings back memories of some of the other less than pleasant lodgings we’ve stayed in over our last eighteen years of travel. For example there was the tent in the Masai Mara while on safari, that was riddled with mosquitoes, a sagging cot and a spare bathroom attached at the back. There was the hovel in Isla Mujeras that was so grungy I had to drink a few shots of tequila to be able to sleep in restless ignorance; the little motel in San Juan de Atitlan Guatemala where I was accidentally locked into the bathroom with no way out short of removing the hardware. Speaking of hardware; the bathroom shower was an instantaneous hot water shower head that could have been an instantaneous electrocution device, with electrical wires running directly to the shower head a few inches above your head. I could go on …. but here in Dominica we finally decided we’d had enough of subpar accommodations. The room looked ok in photos and the reviews were five star, albeit, with only a couple reviews over the course of two years. In reality it was a small apartment in a sixteen unit four story concrete monstrosity set in a complex of dozens of other concrete abominations. Turns out it was mostly rented to students at Ross Medical University just a block away. We had to ask for new pillows — the old ones stunk — kitchen towel which were actually a cafe curtain panel and a pillow case. Not a lick of art on the walls, a long fluorescent bulb above the bed as the only light in the room, etc. But there was Wifi so I quickly got on the computer and found a place nearby on the beach that looked like our style, Sisters Sea Lodge. But they were closed until the next day until 9am. So we made the appointment and contacted the manager and cancelled the week remaining in the concrete gulag. The manager wasn’t happy about it but seemed to understand when we told him honestly that, “ It wasn’t what we expected” and that we “Wanted something nicer”. He even drove us to see the Sisters Sea Lodge the next morning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We loved it, just our style. On the beach, the tiny resort included a huge tropical garden with cabins built by an Italian owner. It reminded us of our first winter travel destination, Villa Los Mapaches at Isla Hotbox. The cabin has stone walls with wooden ceiling and furniture. This is a bit larger and more substantial than the palapa —thatched huts — of Mexico and it has survived at least one major hurricane — Erica, just two years ago. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Already we’ve had a great lunch of fried Lionfish with fries and salad and a decent French Rosé in the house restaurant sitting here on Coconut Beach. Life is good!</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So, on a 1 to 10 scale, last nights lodging, rates a minus 2 on the charm scale and tonight’s looks closer to 8.</span></div>
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-91515471492576615842017-02-21T06:47:00.001-08:002017-02-21T06:47:32.722-08:00Donkey and the Lost Cell Phone<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">One day while in Dominica we decided to take one of the local buses, a van, to Scott’s Head at the southern tip of the island, where the Atlantic and the Caribbean meet. There is a striking promontory at the very point that we wanted to hike and scope out for future snorkeling. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZ4Q5EKC2Or3BhCe3LjunIIi1VU44HmW0R-fpX4MulKaA7W7u6IdebOqZsmXpkIR7p9fVniP_X52_EdvAJyUshMsRQzmFg4sEVnI_zDocU0Qrpw7YM3CIBGKTlQ74WFXKTIsgwVpmPaY/s1600/IMG_3345.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZ4Q5EKC2Or3BhCe3LjunIIi1VU44HmW0R-fpX4MulKaA7W7u6IdebOqZsmXpkIR7p9fVniP_X52_EdvAJyUshMsRQzmFg4sEVnI_zDocU0Qrpw7YM3CIBGKTlQ74WFXKTIsgwVpmPaY/s400/IMG_3345.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Scott's Head looking north up the Dominica coast.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We rode there from the next village, Soufriere, where we were staying for the week. We were deposited in the small town center and were heading toward the point when I saw a good photo subject and, reaching for my phone, realized that it was missing. Panic! Then ,”No I probably just left it on the table back at the apartment”. But we saw another bus driver across the street so I thought maybe he could just check with the other driver. This is a pretty small island and I figured he probably knew who that driver was. Sure enough, Donkey, as his name was lettered in large silver foil across the top of his windshield, did know who that last driver was since he had just passed him enroute. He immediately called him but his phone ran out of time just that moment. Because he had tried to call, the other driver, called him back. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Meanwhile we were climbing up the rocky isthmus when a van pulled up at the base and began honking and flashing his lights at us. We ran down and there was Jean Claude, aka Donkey with my cell phone. I was so relieved and a bit surprised since I really thought I had left it at the apartment. So we tipped him and talked to him about driving us to Portsmouth when we moved to our next accommodation. We told him where we were staying and got his number and agreed to Sunday morning at 10:30. I tried calling him using WhatsAp the Wifi phone application that so many people use internationally. But I couldn’t reach him to confirm. So the day before departure I I got the number for another driver and made other arrangements. But Saturday evening as we were sitting in the kitchen eating the best Potato Lentil soup I’ve ever made, Donkey pulled up beside the window and honked. He hadn’t heard from us — turns out he doesn’t use WhatsAp, so we canceled the other driver and were all set for the next morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I sat in the front passenger seat next to Jean Claude because the roads here are, at times, quite winding and nausea inducing. We had about an hour to share stories and Jean Claude was an interesting guy. He owned his own van proudly and kept it very clean and in good order; although I noticed the tires were getting a bit thin. He dressed sharply and wore his hair in an unusual style. It was cut short except on top where it rose straight off his head in a flat topped muffin shape. He was forty-one and said he loved to work and had aspirations to expand the taxi business. He acquired his first van by driving for a woman who paid him based on a percent of revenue. He tried to hire another driver to expand business but that driver stole from him and he claimed he’d never trust another person again. The woman for whom he’d driven told him that her husband had told her, “While they were in bed one night” that Donkey’s van was paid off but didn’t want to tell Donkey. So the woman told Donkey, “ Don't tell my husband I told you, but your van is paid off.” The man had to pay him back payments for which Donkey had overpaid. Donkey also said that he had moved away from his parent’s home when he was thirteen. It sounded just like a Cinderella story without the prince and the slipper or the stepmother. He was the oldest child of six. The parents made him do so much work and didn’t allow him to play or go with them when they took the others for enjoyment. And so he just left. I asked where he lived and he said he rented a place and worked. He also dropped out of school at that age and never went back. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKuxt_3DWtvcDjIYJ7Di4vSbe37trR5BgNWHq-20d6cgJBRsdFKDpQljlftuJjxAAaOh1lWX11ScFzvWzTXbdQi61dTftA4BLxXP9FSKvHKcsy6N14nuW1f9MYzeaoS-e3t7CSM3TLdU/s1600/IMG_3385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKuxt_3DWtvcDjIYJ7Di4vSbe37trR5BgNWHq-20d6cgJBRsdFKDpQljlftuJjxAAaOh1lWX11ScFzvWzTXbdQi61dTftA4BLxXP9FSKvHKcsy6N14nuW1f9MYzeaoS-e3t7CSM3TLdU/s640/IMG_3385.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from our verandah in Soufrier, Dominica<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jean Claude seemed very honest, kind and respectful, in fact he also had the word RESPECT in large silver foil printed on the he side of his van.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This world is such a sad and glorious place at the same time. We’ve met grouchy or sullen people, drunk prostheletizers, opinionated bores, sweet innocents, forgetful lighthearted optimists, greedy or desperate vendors, proud artists and gardeners, philosophical taxi drivers, wary youngsters, warm local passengers, vain teens and openhearted travelers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It takes all kinds! Like I’ve said in the past, “Meeting new people as we travel is one of my favorite things about this wandering lifestyle.” And I suppose if everyone was a perfect citizen of the world it’d be a Steppford-like existence, boring and unsustainable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Pumpkin Lentil Soup</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2-4 servings</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 T oil</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 cups butternut squash cut into 1/2 cubes</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1/2 onion diced</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 cloves of garlic chopped</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 T fresh grated ginger</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 T curry powder</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2 cups vegetable broth </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 cup chicken broth</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 cup coconut milk</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 cup lentils</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 T demerara sugar</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1 T lime zest or to taste depending on strength</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Juice of half a lime (1-2 T depending on strength —Caribbean limes are strong)</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">salt to taste</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Heat oil in pan and sauté onions, garlic, curry, squash and ginger</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Once all is browned nicely, about four minutes, pour in the broth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Add lime zest, ginger, sugar, chicken broth, coconut milk and high simmer until lentils are cooked, about 30 minutes. Test for tenderness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Add lime juice to taste as well as salt if needed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So much of this recipe seems to rest in the quality of the broth. I never throw away perfectly good flavors. Years ago when I worked in a kitchen I saw the chef making broth incorporating even the onion and garlic skins. Why not, and what about the nutrition in the kale stalks and the subtle tang of the lemon grass stalks. I think I even used a bit of the bones of a split chicken breast in the broth so it wasn’t strictly a vegetable broth, but you get the point. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just before the cell phone was recovered.<br /></td></tr>
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-36775675683908999072017-02-15T07:11:00.001-08:002017-02-15T07:11:33.881-08:00Dominica, Paradise?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfq-43cUlrjV74n4nXIlDvlR9Y0mPHhA603XrZmvj2hrQhQfTeAN-RaqES4pKmooro26fg9s2z7Rx1uHUHVTOl3tjlR7infDNrgcJyAHOJKLMDevf8emOApah6lQd59yR7zcyv8E883U/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfq-43cUlrjV74n4nXIlDvlR9Y0mPHhA603XrZmvj2hrQhQfTeAN-RaqES4pKmooro26fg9s2z7Rx1uHUHVTOl3tjlR7infDNrgcJyAHOJKLMDevf8emOApah6lQd59yR7zcyv8E883U/s400/images.jpg" width="400" /></a>This flag of the Commonwealth of Dominica features one of two parrots that live in the rain forests of this tree clad mountainous island. We are staying here at Soufriere, the southern village on the leeward (west) side. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soufriere</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;">There are sulphur springs with pools to bath in and on the shore there are hot springs seeping into the sea on the edge of the beach. Bubble Beach just below the church has a small natural spa by damning up the hot water coming out of these springs and letting it mix with the sea water where you can sit and soak. The nearer you sit to the spring the hotter the soak. Too hot, just ease toward the sea. We went snorkeling and found out why it's called Bubble Beach. Pea sized bubbles wobble their way to the surface as the gases are released from the ocean floor sparkling like liquid diamonds. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bubble Beach Spa</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our veranda</td></tr>
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We had a lovely Valentine's dinner last night at Cocoyeah! Fried Red Snapper with pan sauce ( to die for ) and rice/veggies, provisions finished off with fancy icy cream dish. Wine selection wasn't great so I had a good glass of local guava juice. It was romantic, al fresco dining inside the stone walls of an old fort or colonial structure. After dinner we went to 'hang' with some fellow visitors we had met on the island: Michael a mycologist/botanist/sustainable farmer from northern Florida, who sold me his travel binoculars cheap since he is leaving tomorrow after a month backpacking around this island; Bjorn and Laura, Danish backpackers sharing a house with a couple of young travelling German women. And also at the gathering were Derek the twenty something Dive master, Jayni, also a Dominican diver and finally John, a Brit who is managing a small eco-resort here and who is a Free Diver. I picked his brain about that after folks talked about his death wish. He does seem to be attracted to risky occupations as he worked on a snake farm in Africa with many poisonous snakes including the Black Mambo. Trivia: you can swallow the venom and if you have no ulcers , the venom won't harm you. Free Diving is the sport of diving to depths while holding your breath, without dive tanks etc. John can hold his breath for over three minutes and has dove to 240 feet of depth. He talked about the body's challenges and how to do it. He said that when you relax and push past the initial urge to draw a breath, the urge subsides and if you can equalize under the pressure of the depth, you can stay down longer. My only exposure to Free Diving was an article many years ago about a competitive Free Diver who died by pushing beyond what is reasonable. John said her practises of assisted submersion (with weights or a motorized device) are no longer used. In some ways it is safer than scuba because there is no need for decompression stops on the way up and no build up of nitrogen. <div>
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The jam last night was pretty funny as Bjorn and Yata made lyrics about John the Deathwish Diver and Derek the 3D diver; Derek the Dominican Diver. <br /><br />
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<b>Roseau</b> is the capital of the island and only about fifteen minutes away, up the coast. We took a bus/van in on Monday to stock up on groceries and get the lay of the land. It's classic small, old Caribbean style with some of the older structures draped with hundreds of electric cables. We found<br />
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a nice little lunch place after asking a local young man for his recommenations. Gouyae, a lunch counter that was serving Corn-crusted Mahi Mahi with rice and provisions. Excellent! So good we ordered an extra serving of Mahi for only $3! Groceries here are quite high priced. While Antigua had subsidized chicken, this island doesn't seem to offer that but it has more access to seafood. So we've already had great fresh from the sea meals. No great meals from our home kitchen. Although the pictures on the AirBnB listing made the kitchen look as if it was going to be a chef's dream, instead it is one of the most poorly equipped kitchens I've ever used. No blender, masher; bad pans, etc. Oh well, that forces some creativity. While in Roseau we found the local vegetable market and bought amongst other things, a bunch of passion fruit. This yellow/red fruit opens to find an orange tangy pulp surrounding small edible seeds. It's tart and needs a bit of sweetening but is a great flavor. I'll have to see what more I can do with it other than putting some on our yogurt for breakfast.<br />
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We plan on doing more snorkeling while we are here and some hiking. There is a hiking trail that traverses the island from this southwest corner to the northeast corner and goes through the Kalinago Territory which is where the last living native Caribbeans live. Bjorn hiked through that area and said what should have taken six hours took two days because 'people kept giving us things'. They were very friendly and generous apparently. Derek said they are friendly to tourists but don't like the native Dominicans. Hmmm, I'm sure there is some history behind that. I'd like to hike this area and meet these people. Apparently they look more like south and central Americans indigenous people, the Maya, Aztec, and such.<br />
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Oh, and is this paradise? Pretty close. Perfect climate if you like mostly warm and sunny (we do). Lush land with an abundance of free food; plants and seafood. Little or no mosquitoes! No poisonous or dangerous animals or reptiles. <br />
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We are here for a few more weeks and should experience Carnival here. Stay tuned.<br />
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-73397945800425085762017-02-10T05:31:00.000-08:002017-02-10T05:32:29.485-08:00Villa DysfuncionWeek five Antigua. Feb 5th-12th<br />
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This is our last week on Antigua. Sunday we fly to the country/island of Dominica. Sounds quite different than this island, a tired money-laundering (historically) over used tourism country.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out for an evening walk</td></tr>
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Do I sound a bit jaded. I know it may sound like all our travels are fun and games, lying in a hammock strumming a guitar or cooking up some gourmet creation but one must take the bad with the good. We love this style of travel; booking rooms, apartments, cottages and all the unique travelers and hosts that we meet from around the world. But of course once in a while you get the bad that I mention.<br />
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This home we are staying in is lovely, on the internet, on AirBnb's website. It shows a swimming pool through a pair of palm trees, a large bedroom and modern bathroom en suite as well as a large open plan living room, kitchen. It is surrounded entirely by a ten foot wide veranda and it is up the hill a ways and has a nice view out to sea as well as sea breezes most of the time. But, it should be called Villa Disfunction. I recall my first impressions as we came in, walked up the unswept stairs, saw the dog foot prints all over the deck and chewed up cardboard scraps lying around the deck that I thought....hmmmm. Then inside, the white painted cupboards all finger printed and in need of scrubbing. Our bedroom though, has always been an oasis. We have a very comfortable king size bed with good linens which Yata launders at least once a week. And we have pretty good wifi so we can take care of work and communications handily. And even watch a Netflix movie once in a while. (The Art of Cia Qhoung, sp?) was an inspiring one.<br />
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Twice in the last three weeks the water quit and it takes nearly 24 hours for someone to come and repair it; apparently air gets into the line and then needs to be bled and the host, Adrienne hasn't learned how to do this. So we use water from the swimming pool to flush the toilets and we have bottled water for drinking and cooking. But one of the most annoying things are the two stray dogs Adrienne has adopted who are mostly starving for attention, left chained on the deck and when released run and wrestle and harass each other and us. They are completely untrained and bark at all hours, often waking us from a deep sleep.<br />
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There is more, but I'll save that for the AirBnb review. That's the thing, you can usually depend on the reviews in AirBnB and Adrienne had at least four top rating reviews. But in hindsight, they look as if they were young travelers who wouldn't notice the lack of cleanliness and were just out to party. Like Adrienne said, 'when I pick them up at the airport, they want to go to the bars before they even head to the house.'<br />
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Besides meeting CJ the Aussie who took us to a Cricket game and taught us the rules, we've also had Filip and Anna as fellow guests. Filip, about thirty years old, is a salesman for a Heating and Cooling business from Prague, Czech Republic and Anna is his Russian girlfriend. They were diligent about practicing their English and going to the beaches, everyday, of which there are many on this island that boasts 365, one for each day of the year. We shared a driver to the beach a couple times and enjoyed meeting them and the driver, Denzel.<br />
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Denzel is probably the best driver we've ever had, in any of our eighteen years of travel. Nice van, slow pace, and very punctual. Often times, he would come even earlier than we said, 'just to be sure'.<br />
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Let's finish this blog with a recipe:<br />
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<b>Kohl Crop Salad with Turkey Bacon:</b><br />
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil<br />
1 Tablespoon spice (either Garam Masala, Cajun, West Indies curry, take your choice)<br />
Broccoli 1cup cut into florets<br />
Cauliflower 1cup cut to same size<br />
Kale leaves, 3 cups, destemmed and ripped<br />
1 cup of cooked garbanzo beans<br />
Six strips of turkey bacon, cooked and torn into 1 inch pieces<br />
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Dressing:<br />
1 large clove of garlic, in the skin, slightly crushed<br />
2 Tablespoons Mayonnaise<br />
2 Tablespoons Plain Yogurt<br />
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil<br />
1- 2 Tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice<br />
salt/pepper<br />
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In a bowl combine olive oil, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower and spices<br />
Mix to coat, pour onto baking sheet<br />
Roast in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 min, turning periodically.<br />
Add kale leaves, stir and continue to roast five minutes more.<br />
Remove from oven set aside. Remove garlic clove and add to the dressing ingredients.<br />
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Meanwhile blend in food processor: all the dressing ingredients adding the de-skinned roasted garlic clove.<br />
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Salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over vegetables add garbanzos and bacon pieces and mix.<br />
Serves 2 as a main course, four as a side dish.<br />
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<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-48276032462259689712017-02-10T04:42:00.003-08:002017-02-10T04:43:38.317-08:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self Portrait, watercolor</td></tr>
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Just above our rental here on Buckley Heights of Antigua is a large home of grey unstained wood. Its large veranda overlooks the island to the north and out to sea. This is the home of Jan Farara and her husband David. I looked her up <a href="http://www.janfarara.com/gallery1.html" target="_blank">online</a> and was impressed with her strong colorful acrylic paintings depicting island life. I gave her a call and she invited us up the same day to meet. <br />
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She grew up in England, sailed the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic to work in the Charter Sailing business of the Caribbean. Eventually she settled on this island, ran a restaurant for years and in the last decade or so has gone to art as a career.<br />
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Jan is an attractive woman in her seventh decade with the energy of a thirty year old. She is outgoing and generous. Her husband, a gentle quiet man, David is a few years younger than Jan, as she often reminds us and seems dedicated to making Jan and her art become a success. <br />
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Jan sells most of her work to the 1% crowd that lives on the Jumby Bay Island, a high end resort and villa packed islet just off the north coast of Antigua. As she says, "it's just chump change to them". <br />
We've learned that many of these people are temporary as many of them are in exile from legal states. In fact financially people on this island are in a banking purgatory where they can't make many financial transactions due to the offshore gambling and money laundering that occurred here in the past and was shut down by the US government. So often one will hear of a person who came to the island, invested or enticed others to invest and began a large scale project only to be stalled when they ended up in prison. Unfortunately an far too common occurence.<br />
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But life goes on amongst us 99% and we enjoy life regardless of the mechanations of the economic elite. Tonight we had a most wonderful time and fabulous food and wine on Jan and David's veranda. A rain storm passed over the island creating a double rainbow and<br />
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We had walked up to Jan and David's since it is literally just above our home. Teddy the little white fluff ball of a dog like young cheerleader, all bouncy and bright greeted us at the door. Yata entertained us with some songs while Jan sang a few as well. A bit later Carol and her husband Arthur joined us. They've had a winter home here for decades. These Americans talk about what this island was like twenty eight years ago, how people still transported goods on donkeys and women carried baskets on their heads. There were very few cars. On the other hand, this year alone has seen a 40% increase in the number of cars on the poor quality roads. </div>
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Jan set a lovely table. </div>
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The main entree was an amazing bowl of Seafood chowder. I picked Jan's brain to learn about her process after they mentioned a number of times how difficult and how much time it took to make the base. Apparently they take the lobster carcass, pound it into pieces, oil it and roast it with onions and garlic. Then on the stove top cover the roast lobster with broth is, sherry, white wine wine, mirapoix and whatever and then simmered with fish broth until it is quite concentrated and strong. Strain it through a sieve squeezing out juices. This can be frozen for future use.</div>
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To make the chowder, simmer this concentrate with cream, fish broth, fried bacon, potatoes, mussels, sauted garlic and onion, brandy, salt and pepper. </div>
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Jan served this fabulous dish with french bread. I contributed a salad and fresh baked coconut macaroons. </div>
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I have finally broken my art slump and have been busy painting the last week. Here area a few examples:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bougainvilla, acrylic and watercolor on paper</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bouganvilla and Fern, watercolor and acrylic on paper<br />
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-46010779971165509382017-01-26T07:20:00.000-08:002017-02-10T04:36:49.858-08:00Goat Water? Banana Soup?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goat Water</td></tr>
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I know it doesn't look great and sounds even worse, but it was fabulous with a hint of clove and cinnamon. Goat water is similar to beef stew but instead of beef broth and meat you would use goat meat and broth with Caribbean spices as I mentioned earlier. They also offered Conch Water. Maybe next time. This was at Dan's our closest commercial establishment here in Buckley Heights.<br />
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That was our first local fare. I'd heard of Goat Water but not sure if this is strictly Antiguan or Caribbean. Other than that I haven't found many restaurants offering local fare, instead we've gone to some great entertainment venues with high end menus in the harbors which serve the boating tourists. So we've enjoyed the great sounds of Asher Otto and ItchyFeet while sipping on Chilean wine and savouring a brick oven pizza, for example.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yata, Adrienne, Jean and CJ</td></tr>
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But I have been enjoying the use of a good kitchen in our AirBnB lodging. In the back yard we have a papaya tree and some banana plants. The bananas are quite green but green bananas are used here for savory dishes and I made a banana soup.</div>
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<b>Banana Soup</b></div>
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serves 4</div>
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Ingredients</div>
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4 T butter</div>
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3-4 cups of pealed and chopped green bananas</div>
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2 cups of chopped sweet potato or carrots</div>
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1 medium onion diced</div>
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2 bay leaves</div>
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6 peeled cloves of garlic</div>
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8 cups of water or stock (vegetable)</div>
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1T Caribbean curry (turmeric, ginger,cinnamon, cardamon, etc.)</div>
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salt and pepper to taste</div>
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Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic, sweet potato, banana for 7-10 minutes. Add the stock and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer until bananas and potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes). Let cool, and then blend until smooth. Return to low heat. </div>
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Salt and pepper to taste. </div>
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Sprinkle with dash of fresh grated nutmeg and serve.</div>
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(2-3 cups of cheddar cheese can also be added in the final reheat to melt.)</div>
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-40138770690746382142017-01-26T06:37:00.000-08:002017-01-26T06:40:43.753-08:00Antiguan History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oheEUmuOTDbct1AdlV-VlczQi9otBSN1H40Q6iv_OYgzyHZCsSI4vP_IJAM6CXZKKc4forLHm-djfVJ7gQl35d_IGqgK6Y75zN8VP50eGFeeYq-e_iiLb0Lpx3TquImuxsKJ1XG-TQ0/s1600/IMG_3090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3oheEUmuOTDbct1AdlV-VlczQi9otBSN1H40Q6iv_OYgzyHZCsSI4vP_IJAM6CXZKKc4forLHm-djfVJ7gQl35d_IGqgK6Y75zN8VP50eGFeeYq-e_iiLb0Lpx3TquImuxsKJ1XG-TQ0/s400/IMG_3090.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nelson's Dockyard</td></tr>
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In the Southeast corner of the island is a UNESCO Historic site, Nelson's Dockyard, a compound of buildings built in the 18th century by the British to serve the nautical industry, commercial as well as military. It was named in memory of Horatio Nelson of the Battle of Trafalgar. He had spent some time in the area and had married a woman from the nearby island of Nevis. The Dockyards have been restored and maintained to impeccable standards. Many of the buildings have been converted to hotel, restaurants, and shops.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzKWMRSbUJzbKYR07YdPj4rcOSeN0ceCxeVdYFjlHQ4Htj1Dp4zGlO924yV7oMMrjXGHJX0k6_ZN-30v0-95KEB-V5khxvjnVZFHTYcINHJMrF9dKOrN-Gz-TQpXxCjJyKEsCmXIqET8/s1600/IMG_3091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkzKWMRSbUJzbKYR07YdPj4rcOSeN0ceCxeVdYFjlHQ4Htj1Dp4zGlO924yV7oMMrjXGHJX0k6_ZN-30v0-95KEB-V5khxvjnVZFHTYcINHJMrF9dKOrN-Gz-TQpXxCjJyKEsCmXIqET8/s640/IMG_3091.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pillars</td></tr>
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This photo shows one side of a row of pillars. With the other row these twelve foot high erections held up the roof of the boathouse in Nelson's Dockyard. The concrete cap on top was added to prevent erosion of the pillars. We found a tiny beach between the rows where we spent a few hours reading and relaxing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWRGsCoYegd8ajyGqJIh6vJXxyVQcLm9UgqQEIyNcoZSDeSTQ396r_stuSeuln07GN9vhz5zWcL_ID1OgEOIUhsSv5Ur3QrqbaY2ndIAt-mAsDi4n35RlVtDtr4lgCVSaxaTCIYnZsnjs/s1600/IMG_3088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWRGsCoYegd8ajyGqJIh6vJXxyVQcLm9UgqQEIyNcoZSDeSTQ396r_stuSeuln07GN9vhz5zWcL_ID1OgEOIUhsSv5Ur3QrqbaY2ndIAt-mAsDi4n35RlVtDtr4lgCVSaxaTCIYnZsnjs/s400/IMG_3088.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of the Officer's Quarters, now an office space at Nelson's Dockyard<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg01xPWjzU14aQNO0XQcOKrxX8u4xKiBH__tDzcnf_Y-vI_m8V359kuHaLV3PpWm8WE689H0qhxd2WafIYkJgX7JjyEo2UMghmJKqx6mv6_vCSPwzg6iDOyAqg_CiWAEpBTvmaG2qH4SeQ/s1600/IMG_3109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg01xPWjzU14aQNO0XQcOKrxX8u4xKiBH__tDzcnf_Y-vI_m8V359kuHaLV3PpWm8WE689H0qhxd2WafIYkJgX7JjyEo2UMghmJKqx6mv6_vCSPwzg6iDOyAqg_CiWAEpBTvmaG2qH4SeQ/s640/IMG_3109.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shirley Heights Outpost</td></tr>
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High above Nelson's Dockyard Shirley Heights has a stellar view of the bay and harbors below.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiGqZMlo4-JnyVzDq3H8maYChmyeKTqvikkEhF6SvQIysI7N-2rbTfJVp82xdeykYzRqDkMDQpL9ysbOFcF-3WdC4-4ayWfVsTFnOaAosApMFxyIzcbgHXbn7iXoZa9TRJMRf3uhA7UY/s1600/IMG_3108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiGqZMlo4-JnyVzDq3H8maYChmyeKTqvikkEhF6SvQIysI7N-2rbTfJVp82xdeykYzRqDkMDQpL9ysbOFcF-3WdC4-4ayWfVsTFnOaAosApMFxyIzcbgHXbn7iXoZa9TRJMRf3uhA7UY/s640/IMG_3108.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>A bit of history:</b></div>
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The island was settled over 4000 years ago by Archaic Age fisher/forgers. They are believed to have originated in South America. During the first millennium BC they were displaced by the Arawak also from South America. Europeans arrived in 1493 with settlers arriving in 1632. Most historians credit Edward Warner as the first successful colonizer of the island. African slaves were introduced to build the structures such as Nelson's Dockyard and Shirley Heights. The main resource that was treasured by Europeans and eventually North Americans, was sugar. The first large scale sugar plantation was established in 1674 causing a vast forest to be eliminated. There were slave uprisings in 1728 and 1736. Slavery was abolished in 1834 but slaves were still economically enslaved to the plantation owners. In 1846 two thousand Portuguese were imported to work the plantations and in the early 1900's Lebanese arrived as 'peddlers'. </div>
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Due to a change in how payment for labor was rewarded in the cane business, the Riot of 9 March 1918 ensued. Many died and the cane planter's decision was reversed. </div>
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The Antigua Trades and Labor Union was instigated in 1938/9 and many workers joined and ushered in better working conditions for the workers. VC Bird, the second president of the union made great strides. The Antigua airport is named in his honor. </div>
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The US Military base opened in 1941 as sugar was declining in importance for the island. </div>
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The Antigua Labour Party (ALP) with its trade union base won nearly all elections and under Bird's administration, Antigua gained independence in association with Great Britain in 1967 and full independence in 1981. </div>
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<b>Don't forget Barbuda!</b></div>
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This smaller island with a population of around 2000 lies thirty miles north of Antigua. With European colonists it was held privately by the Codrington family then as a Crown colony and later as a dependency of Antigua. </div>
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trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-30814033066743852122017-01-26T05:44:00.003-08:002017-01-26T05:44:33.669-08:00Antigua West Indies: CJ & Adrienne<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCw9I2hjDx59gslfP9IwxjdhZ66fGXbp2VYunSkfX2n_yQ-76oJgLV3nDPrlfoDmdI3mbQPfgRbYOwrYpB8N1LGV_ckRUIJjLR-U7KNv1FNYHPEYKBSQemNhcRUIvGmeti8vc8k8E36MY/s1600/12792203_10153213332991710_6999456990679029407_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCw9I2hjDx59gslfP9IwxjdhZ66fGXbp2VYunSkfX2n_yQ-76oJgLV3nDPrlfoDmdI3mbQPfgRbYOwrYpB8N1LGV_ckRUIJjLR-U7KNv1FNYHPEYKBSQemNhcRUIvGmeti8vc8k8E36MY/s640/12792203_10153213332991710_6999456990679029407_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">English Harbor from Shirley Heights</td></tr>
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We arrived on Antigua island this last Wednesday, it being Saturday morning now. Antigua is typical of other Caribbean islands that we've visitied, sunny, colorful and warm. We're staying at a home in Buckley Heights in the center of this fairly small island about ten miles from all the beaches. We have a pool and a large comfortable bed where we've been sleeping soundly each night since we arrived. We share this home surrounded by a large verandah overlooking the island and sea with CJ and Adrienne. CJ is a physical therapist for the world champion West Indies Cricket Team. <br />
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As I always say, one of my favorite things about travel is meeting people. Each person you meet has the potential for such amazing life stories. The downside is that if you compare your own life to these folks your own life can at times come off as dull. CJ's life ( he's in his forties), started in rural Australia on a family farm. He is very athletic and formerly played semi-pro basketball for an Australian team. He actually started when he was only sixteen and played for ten years. He was a guard with an average of 23 points per game. Eventually he moved on to become a physical therapist to the king of Sri Lanka. There he met his wife a Brit who was working for Princess Diana's initiative clearing land mines from northern Sri Lanka. CJ is a modest gentleman, lacking in any sort of bluster and we enjoyed watching the Green Bay Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys last weekend with him. He promises to take us to a cricket match later in our trip and teach us more about that sport. He's also helping Yata write the song "We Speak our Own Lang" contributing colorful Aussie expressions. For example, referring to something that is ruined, the expression would say it is 'crash'. That confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVoss was crash.<br />
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Adrienne, our host, is a high energy African American who grew up in Queens, working in her family business, a restaurant. She's ambitious and somewhat fearless as she moved here to Antigua after a short vacation, to rent a home and work two jobs. She's currently renting this home we're in, with three bedrooms. She rents out the other two bedrooms through AirBnB which is how we found it. She loves music and is quite social so she encourages us to go out everyday to hear music or visit the island highlights and drives us there. English Harbor is an area on the southern coast that has is a tourist and yachter's area. There we found live music in three locations our first night out. Pretty interesting people watching, trying to imagine people's stories. Is this angular tan man the owner of one of these yachts in the harbor and the languid young beauties his companions/entertainment? Or how about the bucktoothed woman in the dowdy attire dancing with the serious faced man; are they on a date? Islanders? I do like the way people are very diverse here. Color and class seem to be of little concern. On the other hand, staff in many of the local establishments, not all, but some are so somber and at times downright rude. We ate in one restaurant where the waitress boldly continued to pick her nose after I caught her eye. Then when she served the roti with what turned out to be mango chutney which I'm allergic to, and was told, impudently turned and walked away with no concern or possibly disdain. As the saying goes, " You meet all kinds". Again, it's what makes travel interesting. The good with the bad.<br />
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A funny story Adrienne tells is how she was driving home from a night of partying, drunk...yes there is no law against driving drunk here, and she had to pee something fierce. Spotting a local cop shop she pulled in, ran in the front door,said, "I have to pee!" They didn't think it was clean enough for her but she insisted and when she exited, proceeded to befriend the cops in the stations. She asked them for directions and instead of telling her, gave her a police escort! Later, one of the police officers ran into her socially and told the story of 'how he met Adrienne". When she goes home to the states, she may need to reacclimate!<br />
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<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-67274630611080056922016-10-12T11:33:00.000-07:002016-10-12T11:33:20.685-07:00The Art of Collecting Art<b id="docs-internal-guid-3cfe3baa-ba29-834b-7f25-e7abf4a0aa07" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Isn't the whole point of things, beautiful things, that they connect you to some larger beauty.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am an art collector and I am an artist. Those are two identities that I claimed with a bit of self doubt at one time in my life. First came the title artist. As a child, being an artist was one of three potential chosen professions. But being an art collector; hadn’t crossed my mind until years after I had begun to collect art. Like calling myself an artist, thinking of myself as an art collector somehow seemed too high blown for someone like myself raised in a working class family from Iowa. Both the title artist and art collector beg the question of definition. Being an artist is easier to define, whether we are talking professional or amatuer, an artist is someone who makes art. But then does it follow that an art collector is someone who collects art? Of course that is the case. But I think what is even more important is to differentiate an art collector from someone who buys art simply for decoration. An art collector is someone who loves art. Whether it is the beauty or the perfection of design or a myriad of other emotionally and intellectually scintillating effects, the work of art sets the heart afire. The pulse increases, the air you breath somehow seems lighter and more invigorating. As Donna Tartt's character in The Goldfinch says,</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A really great painting is fluid enough to work its way into the mind and heart through all kinds of different angles in ways that are unique and very particular, 'yours yours I was painted for you?'</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Historically when I've purchased art, it was not something I expected to do at that time. In fact when I have gone looking to purchase, intentionally from an artist, I've rarely done so. For example, I was at an art opening of artist Stephanie Molstre-Kotz and had made the circuit around the gallery to see her art. I thought it was very nice but nothing particularly hit me. About a half hour later I was standing talking to another attendee looking over the shoulder of this person and I semi-consciously saw one of the paintings, a nude lying on her side that I had seen earlier. But this time it hit me, wow! That's it...it's great! I have to have it. Another time, I was at an artist’s reception for a group art exhibit. The artists were asked to talk about their work and while Richard Brown, a sculptor, was talking about his work I suddenly realized that I had to have one of his sculptures in the exhibit. I felt anxious and was concerned that someone else was thinking like me and would purchase it before I could, before he even finished his ten minute talk. Irrational I know, but those are the sorts of impulses that drive my collecting. Another time I saw one of Derek Davis’s paintings online, on facebook! It made me feel something...more than simply being impressed with his skill, the image struck me; the way the light of the winter day refracted off the fallen tree so crisply and the cool and warm shadows that were cast onto the snow. I had to have it. It was the perfect melding of mind and body response. Entirely positive. Again, Donna Tartt describes the phenomenon, </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Images that strike the heart and set it blooming like a flowers. Images that open up some much larger beauty. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many types of art collectors and many different reasons and methods. Some more planned and intentional, others more economically driven and another more driven by emotion. As varied as humans are they can range from the famous art collectors such as J. Paul Getty to the humble art student who trades with her fellow student for works of art. Interestingly, a collector like Getty actually manipulates the art market simply through the act of collecting art. A piece of art that finds itself in such a vaulted collection can easily double in value simply by the association with such a highly respected collection. The provenance of the painting is golden!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Provenance is everything when it comes to the economic and sometimes emotional value of a piece of art and provenance includes many things but especially the history of the painting, from its creation through its sales history. Even the title of the work of art is important in its provenance. Two paintings being equal; the painting with a title is worth more than the one without. And too, an interesting history, a unique story associated with the story can also have a positive influence on the value of the work of art; for who doesn’t love a good story. The veracity of a good story is important and of course, proof of provenance includes bills of sale and additional associated records. Below is a list compiled by myself and Art Business News of recommended documentation to include with an art sale and painting records. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">DOCUMENTATION</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Receipts, certificates of authenticity and other relevant written or printed materials.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* What the art means or what its significance is, either according to the artist or to the gallery that sold it to you.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Date and place of creation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Any stories the sellers/artist tell you specifically relating to the art.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Any memorable moments about making the purchases.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Biographical and career information about the artists.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* How or why or any other information about the ways the artists made them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Materials and methods of the work.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Exhibition history of the work</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Save all related books, exhibit catalogues, gallery brochures, reviews and the like.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Whenever possible, photograph the artists who you collect, especially photograph the artist with the art. Have them sign or inscribe catalogues or gallery invitations for you.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another distinguishing feature of a good collection is its intentionality or focus. Is there a theme or a purpose to the collection. A theme may include such things as winter paintings, a certain subject rendered in various media, such as trees, or marine subjects such as the Minnesota Marine Art Museum is centered around. Or maybe you are intrigued by a certain school of work such as the Northwest US glass artist’s movement. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A collection can be organized in many ways including by date, artist, style, or region. Or it can also be divided into subtopics. For example:</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Pepin County Wisconsin artists organized by date.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Still life painting of Pepin County artists.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Still life painting of Pepin County artists including native trees, plants and other forms of vegetation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Nineteenth century paintings of Pepin County artists.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Modernist painting by Pepin County artists. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Small format paintings of Pepin County artists organized by size.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">* Watercolors of Pepin County artist.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Collecting art can also be an intellectual exercise. If you don’t personally know the artist, research the artist and their sales history. A well organized collection can often be more valuable as a whole than the sum of the individual works. One new art collector was told by the great collector Chandler Coventry to try and amass as many diverse pieces by an artist as possible, and these include incongruous works, so by the time your collection is mature, you have depth and breadth. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Head and heart. Someone once said that when you look at art that moves you, you see it with your eyes but that it goes directly to the heart, bypassing the brain. Another says, ‘it’s like falling in love’, which may be the closest to the truth yet. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">References:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Donna Tart, (October 2013), T</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">he Goldfinch</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Little Brown and Company</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.artbusiness.com/provwarn.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.artbusiness.com/provwarn.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Art Provenance: What it is and how to verify it</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Art Business News</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.artbusiness.com/collspch.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.artbusiness.com/collspch.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How to Collect & Buy Art,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Art Business News</span></div>
<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-24509005156486399752016-05-27T21:09:00.001-07:002016-05-27T21:09:16.386-07:00Deep in Art Events<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghR0Mz8_KKdfRfkAcuKq__9OeYObU3FyaZq8tUkJyzP4ubEKmZ66Wy7rIpLxiD231pRNyLGPlU-gItg3ZtXk8JM61_oKbvSSJ15jVvU0bvXAQnCxhSEpggSfJ7rr_a1lbKlqi2kqHFjeI/s1600/IMG_1836-756387.JPG"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghR0Mz8_KKdfRfkAcuKq__9OeYObU3FyaZq8tUkJyzP4ubEKmZ66Wy7rIpLxiD231pRNyLGPlU-gItg3ZtXk8JM61_oKbvSSJ15jVvU0bvXAQnCxhSEpggSfJ7rr_a1lbKlqi2kqHFjeI/s320/IMG_1836-756387.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6289586857278808386" /></a></p><div dir="ltr">Just finished a week with thirty artists in my gallery painting within the area, a culminating exhibit and now more show and sales. But moving on to the Fresh Art Tour next weekend June 3-4-5. I'll be exhibiting many new pieces painted while in Grenada this last winter. This is one of the more unusual ones. But very intriguing. Title? 36 x 36 " acrylic.<br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666">Jean Accola</font></i><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666">Accola Gallery</font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666">502 2nd Ave East</font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666">Durand, WI 54736</font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666"><br></font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666">715-672-8188</font></i></div><div><i><font face="verdana, sans-serif" color="#336666"><a href="http://www.accolagallery.com" target="_blank">www.accolagallery.com</a></font></i></div></div> </div> trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-60234879438736341242016-03-06T07:29:00.003-08:002016-03-06T07:29:40.766-08:00I Got an OildownNo I didn't get a massage with oil, and no I didn't get an oil change, but instead finally found one of the last three servings of Oildown, the national dish of Grenada at Babes. Oildown is a culinary staple of the island, and the reason there were only three servings left at Babes restaurant is because when they make Oildown, there is, as Andre our driver said, "never any left". If Oildown is available on the menu, that is what the Grenadians have. Unfortunately for Andre who took us to Babe's we got the last three servings. It was better than I expected. I'd heard about it; how you layer assorted meats or seafood, breadfruit or root crops, green bananas, yams, coconut milk and greens and stew it down until what remains is a savory stew with a coconut oil sauce. I asked Babe how she made it and this is how she described it. She sauted the green spices: green onion, celery, thyme, possibly dill, and any assortment of green herbs, but very likely Shadon Benny the cilantro-like leaf. Then she lays that in to the stew pot with the chicken and pork, adds a West Indian curry, breadfruit wedges, green bananas, yams wedges, coconut milk and tops with callalloo leaves. It was perfect, the meat and vegetables tender to the bite, not mushy; the sauce a golden gravy, not too salty or under spiced. Babes is a sweet roadside bar and restaurant on the highway near LaSagesse area of Grenada. The shady verandah at lunchtime is a pleasant oasis. Babe cooks and serves her customers with a smile and a joke. As we were leaving, happily content, another woman came out of the kitchen, quietly standing in the doorway as if to see who these folks were who were raving about the Oildown. When we asked her name she too said, Babe! We figured that that is why the place is called Babes, not Babe's. It's Babe One and Babe Two.<br />
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I had wanted to be sure to have Oildown before we left and I figured I could probably get it at the Friday Night Fish Fry in Gouyave. Luckily I got it at Babe's because there was no Oildown in sight at Gouyave. The Fish Fry is a weekly event in the fishing village north of St. George's. Canopies are set up over the street where vendors stand over stovetops frying fish and grills for lobster. There is every type of side dish you'd expect such as fried plantains, Johnny Cakes and much more. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOP22sV-hC5TrIacmoSeaeT7mkdrivhMbNbUsjDJFmBtpQD7tSbzK_YYUNjYQ0C1Oxu_-oRDRJWcs6yxF3dDTQaoCk3cxQJVjZciBBy8CEVLO-1zbObvOeduxrFiTkLdLg307Ul_T2OY/s1600/IMG_1985.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKOP22sV-hC5TrIacmoSeaeT7mkdrivhMbNbUsjDJFmBtpQD7tSbzK_YYUNjYQ0C1Oxu_-oRDRJWcs6yxF3dDTQaoCk3cxQJVjZciBBy8CEVLO-1zbObvOeduxrFiTkLdLg307Ul_T2OY/s1600/IMG_1985.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gouyave Fish Fry</td></tr>
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Picnic tables between the food vendors when not filled to capacity are the place to sit while you eat your lobster topped with garlic butter wielding a plastic fork. It's a unique experience and something everyone must do at least once while in Grenada. Buses ply the routes between Gouyave and St. George's, packed like Sardines we return to the capital city sated with piscean pleasure.<br />
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I celebrated my fifteenth birthday this last week on Leap Day, February 29th. Our friends Jim and Martha came down from Minnesota to spend the week and help me celebrate. We went to the Beach House Restaurant. This highly recommended restaurant was in a beautiful setting, on a beach south of us, with open air, white napkin service. Very special and romantic. I have to admit that the day or two leading up to my birthday, I was feeling strange, sort of depressed. At odds with my normal 'even keel'. I questioned what I want to do with my future. I just felt strange. But the nice dinner with friends and my loving Yata and I was back to normal. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrUIRGUhyphenhyphenfuPDyEkkEaiTolHmKbrWyXSQ274TKKhDeJEbyoMATmqpzuMFQnBZBz9KoV5YlEmON6pFvnlbASBB6VB7BHcoL37STqZ4gpshBGbiLCIsZMk7ojkkeTrFJSdDGswPfebSAeGs/s1600/IMG_1905.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrUIRGUhyphenhyphenfuPDyEkkEaiTolHmKbrWyXSQ274TKKhDeJEbyoMATmqpzuMFQnBZBz9KoV5YlEmON6pFvnlbASBB6VB7BHcoL37STqZ4gpshBGbiLCIsZMk7ojkkeTrFJSdDGswPfebSAeGs/s1600/IMG_1905.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday Dinner</td></tr>
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We had also gone snorkeling that afternoon and that is one of my favorite activities. I saw a turtle, a pair of French Angelfish, and many more unique underwater corals, gorgonia and more. It was lovely. We revisited the Underwater Sculpture Garden but this time, with a guide to be sure we found all of them. Although it's a really unique concept I realized, that you just can't beat a beautiful healthy reef for beauty and awe.<br />
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The next night we went to YOLO Sushi Bar & Restaurant at the Port Louis Marina near our apartment. Yata was unsure about this choice as he associated Sushi with raw fish and isn't interested in eating raw fish. But we were very satisfied and delighted by YOLO (You Only Live Once). I had the signature Volcano rolls served with a cup of flaming rum in the center of the rolls. Like many of their rolls, they were wrapped in crispy salmon skim instead of seaweed. Yata had the Alaska rolls which had Shrimp tempura wrapped in rice and seaweed. Excellent. We also enjoyed a bottle of Montepulciano wine. Dining was al fresco, lit by the harbor lights of the marina, the carrenage and the port of St. George's, wow! <br />
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We realize how fortunate we are and strive to appreciate all we are able to do, eat and enjoy. If only everyone was able to do the same.<br />
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We return home this Tuesday and we will definitely miss this lovely island. It has been great. Unless we are deluding ourselves somehow, we'd say this is the best destination in our seventeen years of travel in many ways. Especially for us at this age. It's safer than anywhere we've been, including the US, I believe. It's very clean and relatively litter free. The poverty is minimal. Education is good. There aren't lots of feral dogs running around like so many countries we've been. The telecom/internet is excellent. The public transport is excellent. The healthcare appears to be excellent (there is a large medical college on the island, St. George's University). The climate is warm with a rainy season. There is abundant fresh water due to the mountains as well as abundant fresh fruit and produce. The sailing/cruiser culture is strong and brings a nice element to the island. There are a few things that could be a problem, such as hurricanes (this island was seriously damaged in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan), it gets really hot in the middle of the day, public transport although it's prolific, can be a bit dangerous with aggressive driving on narrow roads (we saw the aftermath of a serious crash not far from our apartment). <br />
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But it'll be nice to get home and see our wonderful grandkids and their parents, our friends and to sleep in cool comfort (we've been sleeping in temps from 75 to 87 every night here). <br />
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We will be back, maybe next year. We are thinking we might like to spend more time too on the island of Carriacou, just north of here. And maybe some sailing around Cuba??? <br />
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<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-30746203011828387582016-03-06T06:33:00.000-08:002016-03-06T06:33:43.190-08:00Two paintings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg1tnya973k2IZ3uDYBNTVbHR0SxcG53-t5s0_YGFKdjA-rjAkmAC5iS_JxBxBZVxCpJzoDWYR2cB6Q9hGP-KDO05n9xMykaU6J9G-J9PpDH1m8bwoF4boOb96caXl1Bf84iFOevEmT8/s1600/FullSizeRender-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDg1tnya973k2IZ3uDYBNTVbHR0SxcG53-t5s0_YGFKdjA-rjAkmAC5iS_JxBxBZVxCpJzoDWYR2cB6Q9hGP-KDO05n9xMykaU6J9G-J9PpDH1m8bwoF4boOb96caXl1Bf84iFOevEmT8/s400/FullSizeRender-7.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the Year 2100, 12 x 12 acrylic</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBRNv-DqWR6xLF3yBskdR-YeN1vUiR9i9yzXq55-ELDmDa7NqzgN31KrKoNIcNjCm0Ndgt28I1eMfsn1wlR44K9Yotjz2JxRbCR7CcrjqyEErmekSJ4cQRlWUEy9_z3obvPj6YsMkykA4/s1600/FullSizeRender-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBRNv-DqWR6xLF3yBskdR-YeN1vUiR9i9yzXq55-ELDmDa7NqzgN31KrKoNIcNjCm0Ndgt28I1eMfsn1wlR44K9Yotjz2JxRbCR7CcrjqyEErmekSJ4cQRlWUEy9_z3obvPj6YsMkykA4/s400/FullSizeRender-8.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Azure Tube Sponge, 24 x 36 acrylic</td></tr>
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<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-33723714887605301772016-02-26T15:58:00.000-08:002016-02-26T15:58:43.945-08:00Butternut & Brie RavioliLooking at the menu for one of the best restaurants in Grenada I noticed that they offered Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sauce. I've made this a few times in the past and always enjoyed it, improving on my technique each time. I had some Brie cheese that was near expiration so I ventured that that might be nice to incorporate into the ravioli as well. It was a great combo!<br />
<br />
<b>Butternut and Brie Ravioli</b><br />
<br />
Makes about 20 to 24 raviolis<br />
<br />
1 small Butternut Squash (when cooked you'll need about 3 cups of squash)<br />
Wonton or Eggroll Wrappers (you can make four raviolis with 2 Eggroll Wrappers<br />
1/4 pound of Brie cheese<br />
salt to taste<br />
1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg<br />
1/2 tsp ground ginger<br />
1 egg<br />
Olive oil<br />
1/2 stick of butter<br />
<br />
Steam squash until soft. Mash it in a bowl adding the spices and mix well.<br />
Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of the squash mixutre in each corner of the Eggroll wrapper.<br />
Place a thumbnail sized slice of Brie on each squash. Make an egg wash with the egg, whisking.<br />
Brush the eggwash liberally around each spoonful of squash. Lay another Eggroll wrapper on top and press down onto the bottom wrapper, sealing around each squash laden corner. Cut the dough around each ravioli discarding excess. Lightly oil plate and lay each ravioli on plate, lightly oiling additional raviolis added to the plate to avoid sticking.<br />
<br />
Toast butter in a pan until the milk solids are a medium toasty brown. Remove from heat. Avoid scorching. Set aside.<br />
<br />
Bring a 4 qt. pot of water to a rolling boil. Add four raviolis at a time gently to the water. If they stick to the bottom, gently loosen. When they float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon, set in strainer to let water run off. While still warm, arrange on a serving plate and drizzle with the browned butter.<br />
<br />
Tip: If you make more than you need at a meal, they can be frozen (keeping separate until frozen) for<br />
a few weeks. Simply boil, slightly longer than when they are fresh.<br />
<br />
<br />trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1709754318996952977.post-65693249714559386442016-02-23T15:09:00.001-08:002016-02-23T15:09:53.545-08:00Grenada Paintings<img id="id_425d_ec04_1d08_7b4a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Gib1sXtQcMk/VszljSbiqvI/AAAAAAAAIcY/_y6infqlVkI/%25255BUNSET%25255D.png" alt="" title="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><div><br></div><div>Calvigny, 24 x 36"</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_4a88_6782_1335_44fb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-TXcn4titSPE/Vszl5xeeUkI/AAAAAAAAIcc/t0_U0GNrowk/%25255BUNSET%25255D.png" alt="" title="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br></div><div>Self-portrait, 12x12"</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_2329_a432_b328_3c71" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lSWCVEuXLP8/VszmZmfn0NI/AAAAAAAAIck/xsvznE_im68/%25255BUNSET%25255D.png" alt="" title="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br></div><div>Venus' Nipple, 12x12"</div><div><br></div><div><img id="id_286f_891a_8e06_c26" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wJ_Pm1Bn79Y/VszmvOLdO2I/AAAAAAAAIcs/nQftzaa1ez4/%25255BUNSET%25255D.png" alt="" title="" style="width: 298px; height: auto;"><br></div><div>Conch, 36x36"</div>trvlwthjyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11836495899769651709noreply@blogger.com0