In November 2003, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. I got to visit Cuba on a U.S. government-sanctioned cultural exchange trip. Up to that point, my life had intertwined with many Cubans who fled the island and settled in New York, Puerto Rico or Miami where I spent most of my time. I, therefore, knew much about Cuba, but not firsthand. In fact, I used to say it was “la lastima de mi vida” (life’s disappointment) that I had not had the opportunity to visit Cuba. A little melodramatic, perhaps, but I was that passionate about it. Sadly, when I did get to go in 2003, it was a drastically different Cuba than it was in 1959 when Castro took over. The glory days were long gone.
My trip was a half-dozen years before I started blogging but I wrote a travel essay at the time which I made part of the ‘travel retropspective’ category on FOODalogue. I have not edited it. It stands as I wrote it 7 years ago. I invite you to see Cuba as I saw it then. Continue Reading
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!
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
Like so many other travelers, I fell in love with San Francisco on my very first trip some 20 years ago. What’s wonderful about SF is that on this, my fourth trip, I spent 5 nights/4 days and repeated nothing from the previous 3 trips. Here I am crossing the bay to lunch in Sausalito.
And here are some scenic and food photos with a little commentary and a couple of restaurant reviews.
So there I was at the FoodBuzz Festival in San Francisco…
One of the best things about the event was the opportunity to interact in a personal way with so many interesting people. From the start of my blogging ‘career’, I’ve been thrilled with receiving comments from people all over the world who somehow found FOODalogue…and me. The Festival brought together bloggers from 27 states plus 4 countries. I wish I had met more of them. I know now that next time I will employ a ’speed-dating’ approach to meeting people. Continue Reading
“I Love FoodBuzz” was the event logo. It was on everything. And, by the end of the weekend, it was the mantra of the hundreds of attendees. ‘FoodBuzz Goddess’ Ryan Stern (Director of Community & Managing Editor), her colleagues Dorian and Alexa, and the rest of the staff made a herculean effort to create a great weekend for us. From the hefty welcome goodie bag to the planned events, food, drinks and venues…everything was stellar. It was like a foodies’ Christmas – gifts and goodies – and we all behaved with the excitement of children on Christmas morning. Kudos and thanks to FoodBuzz! Continue Reading
I’m leaving soon for the FoodBuzz Festival in San Francisco…and a festival it is! Hundreds of food bloggers from all over the world are getting together for a wonderful weekend of festivities arranged for us by our hosts, the FoodBuzz team. I look forward to actually meeting and interacting with some of my online friends and making new ones. A perfect menu of eats, drinks and socializing awaits us! The itinerary is… Continue Reading
Take out your sombreros…shake your maracas…slap your conga…and get into a Latin vibe because A Culinary Tour Around the World is going South of the Border! We’re headed to Mexico, Latin + South America and a few Caribbean Islands. Continue Reading
On the way to the airport for our trip home, my son had the taxi stop while he picked up two live 2-lb. lobsters to bring home as a souvenir/surprise for his girlfriend, Julie.
Lobster Redux
The Sauce. I scraped every morsel I could find out of the shells and reserved them to the side. In a pan, I sauteed garlic in a little olive oil, then added the scrapings and all the roe (except about 1/2T) and a 1/2 cup of white wine which I let cook down a bit. I then added about 1-1/2 cups of pasta sauce and fresh basil.
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