Travel with JoY

No 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 Be...

In the Year 2100, 12 x 12 acrylic Azure Tube Sponge, 24 x 36 acrylic

Looking 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! Butternut and Brie Ravioli Makes about 20 to 24 raviolis 1 small Butternut Squash (when cooked you'll need about 3 cups of squash) Wonton or Eggroll Wrappers (you can make four raviolis with 2 Eggroll Wrappers 1/4 pound of Brie cheese salt to taste 1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 egg Olive oil 1/2 stick of butter Steam squash until soft. Mash it in a bowl adding the spices and mix well. Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of the squash mixutre in each corner of the Eggroll wrapper. Place a thumbnail sized slice of Brie on each squash.  Make an egg wash with the...

Calvigny, 24 x 36" Self-portrait, 12x12" Venus' Nipple, 12x12" Conch, 36x36"

 This recipe is almost entirely from the book The Spice Necklace by Ann Vanderhoof 4 Tuna Steaks cut about 3/4 inch thick 4 T ground cocoa powder ( I used the cocoa balls which are infused with spices and used for a 'tea') 1/4 tsp cayenne 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 T brown sugar 1 T coconut oil Rub steaks with the spice/cocoa mixture. Heat pan with the coconut oil. Sear steaks to desired degree.  Turning once. (about 2 minutes per side for medium/medium well) Passionfruit ginger sauce: 4 T butter 2 finely chopped garlic cloves 2-3 inches peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger root 3 T coconut milk powder 2 T flour 3/4 c. passionfruit juice 1 T dark rum 1/4 tsp tumeric Saute garlic and ginger in the butter until lightly golden. Add flour and coconut powder and stir the resulting paste until it's a nice dark gold.  Then add the juice, rum and tumeric and cook until it thickens.  Serve over or alongside the steaks. Thi...

I haven't updated my paintings in a while.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, they suffer from a bit too much inspiration in that the subjects, and approaches are all over the place, from palette knife to decorative borders; from a colorful tropical palette to a subdued tone on tone grey piece. Jazz in 4/4 Time, 36" x 36" acrylic, with collaged fabric from Artfabrik (Grenada) Reef Impressions, 12" x 12" acrylic Fall Edge, 6pm, 36" x 36" acrylic Rocks & Waves V, 12 x 12 acrylic Flotsam, 24" x 36" acrylic North of Gouyave, 12" x 24" acrylic Grenada Cottage, 12 x 12 acrylic Homage to Breadfruit, 12 x 12 acrylic Sailin II, 12 x 24 acrylic, a tone-on-tone palette knife piece.

Stovetop Key Lime Pie Yesterday was Valentine’s Day.  It was a Sunday. We decided to take a bus to the Carenage and treat ourselves at the Grenada Chocolate Company Shop.  We got off early when we saw the gates to the Botanical Garden were open and we’d not been there yet.  We’ve seen some great botanical gardens over the years but this one we would not recommend for any reason. It didn’t even have much in the line of picnic benches to sit in the shade under while escaping the sun’s rays.  It had no labelled specimens, nor collection of native trees.  It essentially was the groomed front yard to a number of government buildings. We left there and walked through the Marryshow area to the shore, a two or three block stretch which was the site of the riots and rebellions of the youth groups and nurses during the 1960’s led by Maurice Bishop.  Like current day Tunisia and other countries of the Spring Revolution, the revolt is usually led by the young ...