Back at the end of 2009 when I announced the ‘south-of-the-border’ Culinary Tour itinerary, Haiti was to be stop #8. Several weeks later, the world was horrified by the devastating news of the earthquake. Since then, I’ve struggled with what to do. Would it be more respectful to cancel the stop? Or would now, more than ever, be a good time to embrace Haiti in the way we know best by celebrating its people and food? I decided to keep to the schedule but, instead of cooking, I chose to engage with the local Haitian community by patronizing Tropical Island, a Haitian restaurant in Boynton Beach. This is Lovely who works at the restaurant. Her momma named her well!
Here’s another 1-2-3 quick + easy vegetable meal…born of necessity. I had 2 days of leftover veggies in the refrigerator that I wanted to use and I wanted a healthy lunch.
It’s no big deal. It’s not the über recipe. And you’ve probably done meals like this yourself many times. However, it was tasty, colorful and it made me feel like I was taking good care of myself…and that’s a good thing. 
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As we leave Jamaica with this very colorful and delicious round-up of dishes, I note that we are only 3 stops away from the conclusion of this tour. Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico remain. I’ve been having a great time. Based on entries and comments, so are you!
Please stay to end of this post to see special message re H20pe for Haiti.
In researching Jamaica, I learned that it was it was originally called Santiago and was a former colony of Spain (no surprise, I guess-what territory in the New World wasn’t?) It was seized by the British in 1655 and did not become an independent member of the Federation of the West Indies until 1958.
95% of the population is of African or partial African descent and nearly the whole population is Jamaican-born. They speak English and an English-Creole language derived from their African roots, called Patois. It’s a very colorful language with some real fun sayings. Ya, mon!
Wha sweet nanny goat a go run him belly [meaning you can't have too much of a good thing. Come see the good thing I made for this stop on the tour.] Continue Reading
The minute I saw this green rice, I knew I had to make it with something in the red-toned family, like salmon or shrimp. And that the fish had to be caramelized with sweet onion sugar!
I found both items in The Spice and Tea Exchange, an interesting little shop – especially for foodies. You can wander around trying various herb, salt, sugar and tea blends.
An unexpected benefit of A Culinary Tour Around the World is the opportunity it has given us to become acquainted with food bloggers we didn’t know before. Once again, we have 3 first-time contributors. They come from Hawaii, Germany and Chicago.
Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing? It introduces us to people…it takes us places…it informs…it entertains…and it feeds. Wait till you see the dishes in this round-up — it’ll have you booking passage on the next flight to Cartagena or Bogota!
Sadly, the only thing many people know about Colombia besides the fact that it’s in South America is its long history with drug-trafficking cartels. However, even with that blemish, Colombia has managed to contribute much to the arts and our popular culture today. Let me introduce you to a few notable Colombians.
Have you seen the new TV show “Modern Family”? Sofia Vergarra is from Colombia. So is TV-movie star John Leguizamo. The concept and original production of “Ugly Betty” originated in Colombia. Other famous Colombians include Nina Garcia, fashion director of “Elle” and “Marie Claire” and “Project Runway” judge. Another is Rodrigo Garciá Barca, one of the directors of “The Sopranos” and “Six Feet Under” among other hit shows. On the music scene, Shakira, Juanes, and Carlos Vives have consistently been on the top of charts. There have been sports figures and beauty queens too. And who doesn’t know the paintings and ‘fat’ sculptures of Fernando Botero and the work of Nobel Prize winner, Gabriel Garcíá Marquez?
But, come, let’s talk about food…
I was leaving home for a few days vacation and needed to use up some of the uncooked produce that remained from the Argentine dinner. I got the idea to make a quiche and I thought I’d call it a clean-the-refrigerator-quiche but when I started pulling things out of the vegetable drawer, it was so weighted towards Italian and that I settled on “Quiche Italiano”.
Bloggers tapped into a colorful and flavorful variety of dishes for the round-up. I’m also happy to welcome 3 first-time contributors and I encourage readers to visit their blogs. Like with other food blogging events, a round-up is a tease meant to induce you to visit all contributors’ blogs and reward them with a comment. Just like the dishes they brought to the tour, each post is unique in the narrative, recipes, personal anecdotes and lots of great photos.
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