Category Archives: Food

Dance, Dance, Dance: Le Diner en Blanc…Not Just a Posh Picnic

18 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by in Fashion, Food, Life

≈ 4 Comments

What’s so special about everyone dressing in white, anyway?
Why would I worry about coming up with a menu and cooking fancy food to carry in a cooler to a secret location, when I can either stay at home to eat it, or go to a restaurant?
Why would I want to even pack said picnic, including all the china, crystal and silverware needed for five courses, for four people?
What’s the point of trying my hand at a table centrepiece when I am soooo not artistic?
Once again, why would I want to lug all of this there and back, to then deal with the washing up in the wee hours of the morning?

The truth is, my friends and I didn’t look at it like that. Excitement for the event was too great for us to be too concerned with the logistics.

Two weeks before Le Diner en Blanc Kingston 2016 was set to take place, I thought to myself that I’d quite like to go. I’d read about the concept a number of years ago and in 2015 it made its debut in Kingston, Jamaica. So, when I saw one of the organisers at the Sunnation Breakfast Party, I asked if I could attend. I wasn’t sure which of my friends would join me, but I knew that my husband would not. As he said, when I threw the idea out there, I could ‘Kiss his @&$$’ if I thought he’d be caught dead wearing white. When my cousin called me a couple days later and asked if I would go, it was a done deal. Before long, we were a party of four gals planning a gourmet picnic.

Throughout the short process to prepare for the evening, there was no shortage of conversations with naysayers. This did not deter me, as I am a lady who likes to picnic, I am lady who loves to try new things and I am a lady who was trained to cook and cater for such an event. Doing it for four people was a no-brainer, but the truth is, we divvied up the tasks and, in doing so, we had a blast.

The menu was the easiest thing upon which to decide, as was the execution of cooking it all.

L’Hors d’oeuvre: Prosciutto Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat’s Cheese
L’Entree: Sushi Rolls – Griddled Lobster & Scallion and Smoked Marlin & Cucumber

Le Plat Principal: Thinly Sliced Bleu Beef Filet with a Thai Dressing
Roasted Vegetable Quinoa with Mint, Lemongrass & Chadon Beni
Le Plateau de Fromages: Goat, Manchego, Brie & Grapes
Le Dessert: Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Bark
Mini Chewy Chocolate Meringues

The tableware was as simple – we had everything.
The centrepiece for the table – use what we had and not worry about what we couldn’t get.
Vessels in which to carry all of the above – initially there were the ‘OMG’ moments, but between a picnic backpack, a pull-along cooler, a picnic basket and an oversized white handbag, we would be good. Somehow, the four of us would manage to carry it all.

Of course, there was the question of what-to-wear? Personally, I have a lot of white clothes – one item in particular is my favourite thing to don – my white Julan jumpsuit. I do not, however, own all-white shoes, so I borrowed some Italian heels from a friend. Nor do I own a white handbag in any shape or form, so I borrowed that too. The other three ladies were also sorted on that front, but I felt that we needed to add something. We needed a signature look. I set out to find four identical white sunglasses that would make us stand out. Well, I found them alright – from a man in downtown Kingston.

On said evening, before sunset, we were on one of the buses heading to the secret venue. While there was much chatter about where we would be going, none of us on the bus could have anticipated that we would be dining at the Usain Bolt track on UWI grounds. Practically thought out, the layout of the land was such that adjacent long tables (reminiscent of my English boarding school and Hogwart’s) could be set up by all one thousand of the participating diners.

Guests moved swiftly to transform trestle tables into beautifully elegant dining tables, adorned with various decorations that organically flowed from one person’s vision to those of the strangers sitting next to them, into what one could only describe as a magical union. The uniformity achieved by this all-white affair was quite apparent. Surrounding us all, the organisers had assembled a framework of lights and decor to encompass our efforts perfectly. The details were just really well thought out, none of which surprised me, frankly. If you knew anything about the two couples who spear-head this event in Kingston, you’d expect the same. They know what they are doing.

What I did not expect, despite having seen photos of people dancing in past DeB events and despite the fact that there was a huge dance floor set up at this DeB event, along with a stage upon which the DJ station was placed, was the party that ensued after eating. You want an OMG moment – this was it. Dressed as if we were all only there to chow on our posh picnics, drink Champagne, wine and sparkling water, and pose off in our white-wears for the countless social-media camera men and women invited to be there, we carried on as if we were either at carnival or in the most pumping nightclub known to man (and woman!). We danced, we danced and we danced some more…….and my plan is to keep dancing until Le Diner en Blanc 2017.

image

imageimageimageimageimageimageimage

We Are All On A Diet

21 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Food, Health, Life

≈ 1 Comment

‘What diet are you following?’ I hear someone ask another lady the other day.

‘The ITG diet.’

‘Wow, you’ve really lost a lot of weight.  You look amazing.’

‘Thanks.  I’ve tried everything, but I always seem to put the weight back on as soon as I come off the diet.’

How many times have you heard this?  Quite a few, I bet.  Well, to be honest, so have I.  Not specifically the ITG diet, though the story above is true, but all kinds of different ones.  The Atkins, Miami Beach, Vitamin B Shot – the list goes on.  Many people swear by each of them.  However, I have seen what it does to those who know and understand little about food.  Their weight goes down and up like a yo-yo that never breaks momentum. It is heart-breaking to watch, and I’ll tell you why. While it is not good for anyone’s body weight to change so dramatically so many times, it surely cannot be good for anyone’s mind either. The stress of battling with how your body looks has got to be psychologically damaging, and all for whose benefit? The people making money off you, perhaps?

I trained as a chef eighteen years ago and know a bit about food and how it affects the body. Many friends and acquaintances have sought me out for my expertise and opinion, including those who are wanting to become healthier. What’s disturbing to me is when people assume that, because I am slim (ok, skinny), it means that I am eating ‘diet’ food. I use the term ‘diet’ here to mean low fat, low sugar, low sodium, and so.

I can’t tell you the amount of times people want me to give them a cookie recipe using no sugar and no dairy (and not because they are lactose intolerant, by the way), or a dessert recipe that has no fat and no sugar, including ice-cream! Again, I do not include anyone who has allergies in this equation. Don’t get me wrong, I will cut down on the sugar content in the majority of the desserts I make – cookies, cakes, ice cream, but not at the expense of disrupting the chemistry of the recipe. For meringue to come out perfectly, it really does need the exact amount of white sugar required – 4 tablespoons per egg white (provided it is not a small egg). And, FYI, I am definitely not going to use aspartame, saccharine, nor any other form of fake sugar. I cut down on sugar because I don’t want something to taste so sweet. I also won’t compromise my dish if eggs are in the recipes – sorry, but they go in, and if butter is asked for, it goes in, and so on. I am not going to use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. I am not going to use that substitute for butter they sell in the supermarket, because it really is no substitute for butter, and it certainly is not healthier. I am not going to use low-fat cheese, low-fat yogurt, or anything that claims to be low-fat. If they took the fat out of something which was supposed to have fat, they have probably added something that is not healthy, or worse, not supposed to be eaten! If you come and ask me for a low-fat solution to a cookie, or to a cupcake, I’m going to tell you to go and eat some carrot and celery sticks, I’m afraid.

The key to eating healthily is to eat everything in moderation. Sure, sure, you all know this. You’ve all said it before, or at least heard it before. The question is, do you practice it? Are you quite sure this is the case? There is nothing wrong with indulging on popcorn, pizza, chicken wings, wine and dessert one night, provided you’re not doing it all the time. Providing you are getting a good range of vegetables, fruits, ground provisions and proteins the rest of the time.

The truth is, losing weight is a numbers game. It is a numbers game when it comes to calories consumed – in order to lose weight, you must burn more energy than you are consuming. And it is a numbers game when it comes to your blood and tissue chemistry and overall health, so it is imperative that you keep that diet balanced, to ensure you are still getting all the nutrients you are supposed to get. Giving up an entire food group will not achieve this, though it might make you shed pounds. I know, they make shakes to make up for the omission of some nutrients in one of these ‘diets’, but please be wary of these. Not everything in these shakes is always good for you. The concentration of certain nutrients might be unbalanced, particularly in relation to the other nutrients.

So the next time you decide that you need to go on a diet, please remember that we are all on a diet of some kind. I just believe that my non-diet diet is the best kind of them all.

Even Your Kid Will Eat Healthily If He/She Is Hungry

17 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Children, Food, Health, Humour

≈ 4 Comments

Several weeks ago, I was asked to give a talk to the kids in my eldest son’s class about healthy eating.  I suggested that along with speaking, I would bring snacks in for the entire class, saving their parents the trouble.

In I went with fresh watermelon wedges, raw carrot sticks, blanched broccoli, callaloo muffins and cocoa beetroot muffins – all homemade.  FYI: the muffins had literally a smidgen of sugar in them.

The class had recently been learning about proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins, so the idea was for my talk to tie in with that.  In fact, all these food groups were included in the snacks I had brought – right down to the protein in the eggs used in my muffins.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how many of the Grade 2 children would actually eat what I had carried along, but they all seemed enthusiastic and excited.  In fact, what happened amazed me.  Fifteen out of sixteen of them ate everything.  These are children whose parents have often told me: “I can’t get him/her to eat vegetables.  He/She just doesn’t like vegetables.”  Well, sitting there altogether, with the same menu as their peers, each child did indeed eat their vegetables.  And the proof of liking what they had eaten came with the fact that most of them asked for second helpings.

So why is it that these children ate what I gave them, but won’t eat the same at home?  Okay, it could be because I’m a much better cook than everyone else’s parents!  However, it doesn’t take a master chef to prepare these five different foods which I brought, so I don’t think it has anything to do with my capabilities.  Which is probably why more than half the class had lunch boxes full of junk – chips, cookies, juice – all of which came in store-bought packets.  The parents had little faith in me perhaps?  Or, more importantly, perhaps they had little faith in what their kids would actually eat.

If the latter is true, then these parents underestimated their children and they did a disservice to them, in my opinion.  That said, it is easy to judge when you don’t have the same problem, which I don’t.  Not that my kids don’t like junk food.  Trust me, they do, but I have always insisted that they eat the healthy things first and they accept that – most of the time.  When they give me trouble about it, I spend time explaining to them the benefits of healthy eating and the negative side effects caused by the unhealthy options.  It is not always easy though, because there is peer pressure.

Which brings me back to why the Grade 2 boys and girls were happily willing to gobble up all the goodness I had taken into their classroom.  Peer pressure.  Sit them all down together, give them all the exact same healthy meal (with no alternatives), and they will eat if they are hungry.

 

 

 

Excuse Me For Expecting More Than Mediocre Service

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by in Food, Humour

≈ 5 Comments

I walk into a cafe of sorts the other day, go to the counter to place my usual cappuccino order – strong coffee, lots of froth, no sugar, no cinnamon.  Yes, surprisingly, I have to request that I do not want sugar in my coffee because “Most customers take sugar in their cappuccinos,” I have often been told.  There’s only one barista in said cafe who knows how to make a decent cappuccino, so I ensure that she is on the job.  My friend orders her coffee and a muffin.

The coffees arrive promptly.  The muffin, which has been sitting in the display since we arrived at ten o’clock in the morning, arrives at our table thirty minutes later.  I ask if I may please have a couple slices of gluten-free toast, a regular order of mine in the same cafe.

Meanwhile, we witness one barista preparing a take-away bag of baked goods, previously paid for by the customer.  She then attempts to get the attention of said customer by waving the bag at her, while leaning up against the open section of the counter, where staff can walk through and access the ‘floor’.  Flabbergasted, I watched the bewildered-looking customer approach and take the bag from the barista’s hand.

I call the same barista over to our table and ask, again, for some gluten-free toast, because I have been waiting for half an hour for toast. She goes to check if there is gluten-free bread, returns several conversations later, and informs me there is none.  I ask if there is any in the freezer section of their adjoining market, from which they get their supplies.  I get an “I don’t know.”

“Would you mind checking for me?” I ask.

“Well, hmmm, okay.  I suppose I can.  But if there is any, it is going to take a long time before you get any, because I’ll have to have it signed off by the manager to move it from the freezer into the deli.  So I don’t really know,” she continues.

“Oh no!” I exclaim.  “I really don’t want to cause you any trouble at all.  Is it the case that you are not allowed to get supplies from the market-side?” I ask, with sarcasm, because I damn well know they are allowed.

“No,” she replies, deflated.  “It’s just, well, it is going to take some time to organise.”

FYI, there is a total sum of two occupied tables in the venue, and it is now eleven o’clock in the morning.

Again, I tell her that I do not want to be of any bother, especially if it is going to be so difficult.  Alas, she relents and off she goes – walking the twenty yards to the freezer in the adjacent room.  After twenty minutes, I see her return.  She is waving at me to get my attention, as if the place is crammed with six hundred people, yet there are only about six of us in total.  She shakes her head and I read her lips as she says “No gluten-free bread.”

We have been at the cafe for an hour and twenty minutes now, and between us we have had two coffees and one muffin.  We are very hungry, so we order omelettes.  Forty minutes later, our omelettes arrive.  They are hot, thank goodness.  However, one has to wonder what on earth the six or seven staff members were doing behind the counter during that time, because it cannot take a human being, let alone one trained in the restaurant business, more than five or ten minutes to make two omelettes.  Excuse me, but I do expect more than mediocre service!

My Curry Is Better Than Yours….Don’t Be Bitter About It!

27 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Food

≈ 6 Comments

I use the term “Curry” very loosely here – to indicate that I am talking about Indian cuisine.  I believe that in India, however, they do not use the word to describe any of their dishes, but rather they have specific names like “Jalfrezi” and “Rogan Josh”.  Alas, I am from an English-speaking nation and we call it all “Curry” – Curried Lobster, Curry Chicken, Curry Goat, and so on.  By the way, the latter is particularly delicious, with all that juicy goat bone from which you can suck the juices!  I do have an issue with the store-bought curry powder in my country though.  It is full of turmeric.

Many of you may not know this, but while turmeric is meant to be good for one’s health, by reducing inflammation, it has an extremely bitter taste, which can overpower and ruin your food just like that.  If you come across a curry powder that smells bitter, that’s the turmeric.  My advice to you – don’t buy it.  I have an alternative that is far tastier than any ready-mixed Indian seasoning you’ll find in the supermarket – make your own.

Preparing “Curry” powder might seem daunting, not to mention time-consuming, but please try this at least once and see for yourself just how quick, easy and scrummy this is.

Firstly, go to an Indian spice shop and procure a minimum of the following:

2oz/55mg coriander seeds
1oz/30mg fenugreek seeds
0.5oz/15mg cardamom pods
0.5oz/15mg cumin seeds
1oz/30mg ground turmeric
1oz/30mg ground black pepper
1oz/30mg ground cinnamon

You may buy larger quantities of these spices and keep in airtight containers or plastic bags in the freezer.

1. Measure out all the seeds and pods, and toast in a dry frying pan over high heat, until they start to brown and pop, and a wonderful aromatic smell is floating through your kitchen.
2. Meanwhile, measure out the ground ingredients into a large bowl. 3. Once the seeds and pods have toasted, bash them for about 30 seconds with a pestle and mortar, and then add them to the ground spices.
4. Using a coffee or spice grinder, grind all the ingredients in batches and store in a glass jar or plastic container in the fridge or freezer.
5. Use according to any recipe requiring curry powder.
N.B. If you usually use the grinder for coffee, clean by grinding bread before and after use, and wiping out with a clean cloth.

Many of you are laughing at me aren’t you? How on earth do I expect you to find time to go and buy any of these items, let alone make your own curry powder? Do I not realise that you work long and hard hours, with a crazy commute on each end of the day, only to come home to kids and their homework? I do, and so I relent. Go ahead and use that yellow curry powder that’s been sitting in your cupboard for years, and when you do taste the bitterness, simply add chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned) or coconut milk, or both, and that should do the trick.
Whatever you do, don’t be bitter about the fact that I am sitting at my dining table, gorging on my sublimely spiced creations.