Getting Gourmet

You're probably intensely interested in what we eat and cook here in Grenada. It's really not all that intriguing or spectacular, but for blogging's sake, I'll build the suspense just a little more. It is a blend of fanciful gourmet delights for the most discerning of connoisseurs of all things delicious. Sometimes it's just macaroni or take out pizza...gourmet macaroni and gourmet take out pizza. That's a marketing trick for you that I am growing wise of. Throw gourmet in front of anything and it sounds amazing. There aren't any governing bodies to decide once something passes into the realm of gourmet. Even the definition seems a bit subjective. I suppose the trick doesn't work for everything though. I don't think we will see Nike selling gourmet sneakers any time soon - they'd probably still smell like a stinky blue cheese though.

Last week was soup week. That has nothing to do with Grenada, just our apparent eating habits. We made broccoli soup, which was fantastic, with a side of quesadillas. We had that probably 3 nights in a row. Then I made carrot soup, with guidance from the gourmet chef I live with, and we had that for 3 more days (also with quesadillas). It was at the end of the week when we realized that yes, we like soup, but really, we were just using it as our excuse to eat quesadillas. There’s something to be said about cheese melted in a tortilla. I don’t know what it is; maybe it’s “I like quesadillas”?

I’ve been experimenting with our dessert options as well. I got a popsicle maker for Christmas and it really seems to fit the bill here in Grenada. That probably doesn’t sound all that exciting if all you are picturing is a plastic mold you fill up with grape drink and throw in the freezer. No, what I have is the future. It is a technological advancement in the way home popsicles will be made from now on. It’s a game changer. It’s Zoku! I mean gourmet Zoku! It allows you to make frozen treats in about 7-10 minutes. The reason that is so great is because it allows you to make multi-layered popsicles or what I have been making, creamsicles. Wow, how much can one person write about popsicles? Let’s find out.  Here are my tools:

Elaborate Pen Holder

Paper Weights

Gourmet Ingredients

And here’s how it’s done:

Creamy looking sicles

The idea is, you freeze the bathtub shaped Zoku thing for a day and then fill it up with whatever you want. For creamsicles I just had to fill the thing up for a minute, then suck out the excess juice so all I had was a thin shell. Then I poured some melted ice cream inside, and bada bing bada boom, mango creamsicles.

Contracted Model

Deliciousness 

If you’re following my blog for some insight into Grenada, sorry about the soup and popsicle bit. Oil down is a traditional dish that I haven’t actually tried yet. It involves a lot of local ingredients and is supposedly quite tasty. I haven’t seen it served at any restaurants I have been to as of yet. We may have to find ourselves a recipe.

You’d think we would be getting to be chunky monkeys with all the cheese and popsicles we’ve been eating.  Our walks with the dogs have been counteracting the process. Walking at sunset is really quite phenomenal here. Every view seems to be a good one. The island feels like an elaborate botanical garden. One that I hadn't even begun to appreciate enough until we starting strolling through it and exploring our neighbourhood. Flowers seem to bloom year round. As much as we love the walks, the dogs, and us for that matter, have been having a lot of fun at quick dip beach. Each dog has his or her strengths. C-Dog (Sea dog) loves the water and excels at nautical retrieving. K-Dog(…Kinder) can’t be bested on the surf. He hasn’t figured out that he needs to raise his ball filled mouth while swimming or he’s in for a muzzle full of water.

Caribbean Sea Otters

Kinder's figured out you have to run before the ball is thrown. Cammy—not so much.

I’ve mentioned all the things we have been making lately. The dogs have been working on a thing or two also:

Why??

You may have been confused by my usage of  “TIG” at the end of my last post. Or you may not have been. I haven’t had anyone question me on it.  TIG is an acronym of unknown origins to me, but I think it stemmed from students. It stands for “This is Grenada”.  I think it began as a way to complain about life here and perhaps the oddities of the island. Most of the time it just seems like a way to complain because most of their complaints could happen anywhere else on the planet. Like “The store ran out of milk, TIG”, or “I stubbed my toe on a mango tree, TIG”, or “There are too many people on this amazingly nice beach where there is likely to be lots of people, TIG”.  I prefer to go the other way with it. “It’s sunny every day, TIG”. “I have a variety of fruit trees growing outside my window, TIG”. “My farmer’s tan is really turning out nicely, TIG”.  I guess that’s one thing I am noticing more. People tend to notice all the things they don’t have more than what they do. I’m often surprised by how eager some students are to leave this Caribbean island.  I am perfectly content right now with my gourmet popsicles and a view of some palm trees, TIG.