my island in the sun

And so the trip began.

(quite obviously it began on a really good note)

Once morning came and we could actually see two feet in front of our faces (Night time means night time there.  The only lights you see are from the stars and the houses of those still awake... otherwise everything is pitch-freaking-black!) we ventures down the small hill to our secluded beach.  As you can see from the sign, the beach is thataway (Points to the left while flexing).

The property had maybe 5 or 6 donkeys.  The first day is the only day we saw them in the 'pen'.  They spent most of their time mowing the lawn of the grounds.  The baby was so dang cute.  (He's the one on the right smilin')  We filled out our customs paperwork and said we weren't in close proximity of livestock.  Don't say anything, eh? 

This is the view.  This is the only view you need, right?  Sit down, drink a glass of juice and/or a cup of coffee and just take in mother nature.  We had no mosquito bites at this time so it was really easy to just kick back outside and enjoy.  

This is the previously mentioned private beach.  The view is from the lodge's grounds.  

No big deal.  Just a jungle of basil at our disposal.  Whaaaat?

A room with a view.  (I'd say!)  Yowza!  

This is a cashew tree.  You can see a green fruit and what looks like a chocolate covered nut attached.  That fruit is edible and delicious.  The cashew is in a thick casing that it needs to be broken out of and dried for awhile before it becomes edible.  Almonds are similar.  We had fresh almonds from a tree on the beach, though.  Gahhh.  I totally appreciate the prices of these things now.  It's a lot of work!

Mangos!  Not ripes yet but still totally tempting, yes?  We ate 6 mangos in 2 days.  Mangos and tropical islands treat each other well.  

I live in San Diego where my street is lined with palm trees but I can't get enough.  I still can't believe I am a San Diego resident.  I really can't believe I just got back from Grenada, either.  

This is what Bruno (the French chef) made for us our second night there.  Banana soup, will you marry me?

This was the second course.  

I finished half.  I was dying by this point.  Sensory overload of awesome.

This is where your chocolate comes from.

They sell to top names like 'Lindt'.  We got to try some beans that weren't quite done drying.  It was crazy learning how it all works. 

Ready to be shipped.  Oh and they're organic!  Sweet.  (Literally)

Now comes the point in the story (aside from the several bug bites I had by this point) where I get totally bummed.  Our kitchen had next to nothing to work with and what I did have was... well... ridiculous.  This pot tipped over unless something was inside.

Not so bad with what we had to work with.  We picked up some goods at the local grocery store.  That was fun.  White pasta and 6 brands of par broiled white rice?  Yes please!  Minced dried soy chunks and ketchup to be used as tomato sauce? Mmm!  (I say that sarcastically but the jerk spiced ketchup was actually really good.  And yes, I will admit that I used it in my pasta sauce.  What of it??)

Waterfall number 1.  Scott went swimming in the pool below it (hidden by greenery in the photo) but I stayed on the rocks to ensure all of our goodies weren't ripped off by our nice 'tour guide'.  He was really informative and friendly!  (Especially at the end when he requested 70 dollars for his 'services')

*cough* pathetic *cough*.  Oh Grenada, I wont miss our homemade meals together.  

This is my new favorite tree.  Cocoa!  They were everywhere.  Seriously.  Every.  Where.  And I loved it.  

 

See the pretty purple pod?  That's going to transform into a beautiful bar of chocolate some day.  *sigh*

Nutmeg shell ground cover.  Ha!  Genius!

We visited this cooperative and learned all sorts of things about spices and fruits.  Scott and I agree that it was one of our favorite activities.  (Much further up on the list than, say, getting turned around in the middle of the rainforest...)

St. George's!  This is where all the tourists go.  

Ummm I guess we went there too.  We were tourists.  

Cool soda is manufactured in St. George's.  Cool, eh?  

Our attempt at making dinner again.  This time I added some mustard as the base of my sauce.  (I say base but the sauce really consisted of nothing else...)

Mmmm

Waterfalls number 2 and 3.  Kenny was our impromptu tour guide.  There's something about walking into the jungle with a man and his machete.  (I don't know what that something is but there is definitely something about that scenario, yes?)  

Walking back to the car after surviving the falls expedition.  In about 10 minutes my butt will get bit 3 times.  Let's just concentrate on the beauty of nature to get our minds off of the bites COVERING MY BODY though, ok?

This is what nutmeg looks like right off the tree.  The outside fruit isn't sweet enough to eat alone.  It's used for marmalades and such.  The alien-like pinkish/reddish fingers covering the shell of the nutmeg are what we fancy chefs call mace.  Weird, right?  

My favorite fruit stand.  I only ate one bite of one of the bananas but it was a damn good bite.  

We made it across the island without turning back 3 times and only had to ask for directions twice.  I didn't take any photos while inside the heart of the island because I was too busy concentrating on the end of my life.  I thought we were goners.  Anyway, the whole point of the trek was to visit Gouyave.  We drove through without stopping.  Ha!  We did stop at this pretty little thang once outside the city limits though.  

An accidentally awesome photo snapped while Scott was driving back to the studio.  Perfectly framed, yes?  

Our last night we ate at the lodge again.  #1 We didn't want to buy more food and waste half of it.  #2 We just didn't want to buy more food.  #3 The meals they cooked for us were divine!  

We have decided that we are going to start using breadfruit in place of potatoes where possible.  The texture and the taste can't be given justice by my description.  

Must.  Finish.  All three.  Courses.  

So we're back home now.  I'm glad to be back but I'm sad the trip is over.  For the most part, everyone was really nice.  The fresh fruit was so good.  The air felt good to breathe.  The night felt like night.  The insects chirped from dusk till dawn.  It was stressful but totally relaxing.  We learned a lot.  We didn't get burnt. (Although I'm quite freckly now) and we got engaged!

So.  I wanted to take a moment to step outside the kitchen and say how happy I am.  Yes, I have been losing sleep as of late due to nerves.  But that's just me.  I get worked up about not knowing exactly what I'm doing all the time.  I'm a total noob at this job (thanks Dan for that description) and I realize I wont know everything for quite some time.  It's just difficult.  At my last place of employment I was top notch.  (I'm allowed to say that because it's true.)  On a daily basis I was 100 calls ahead of everyone else.  And now I'm in my new position asking millions of questions again.  Getting along slowly but surely.

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means complaining.  (Who really needs sleep anyway?  Aside from the lack of sleep throughout the course of the night, I get up at 4:50am nowadays!  Ah!)  I love my new job.  LOVE.  IT.  Yesterday I was standing at the copier and I just started smiling really big.  I giggled a little.  I was tempted to walk into my boss's office and thank her for hiring me.  Really.  And today on the drive home (which was at 2:30pm, thank you very much!  I get out of work with the rest of the day still ahead of me!) I was trying to think negative thoughts.  I was trying to put myself in a bad mood just to see if I could.  And I couldn't!   I couldn't think of one thing I was less than thrilled about!  The change in my general outlook on life is amazing.  I don't get yelled at by 200 people a day and now I can't stop smiling.  Crazy how that works, yes?  I'm not surprised that I'm more positive.  I'm just surprised with the ridiculous amount of positivity I'm feeling.

I couldn't fake happiness like that.  ^ Although the happiness could be because I'm wearing sweet new shoes you can't see and a new American Rag shirt that was 40 percent off....  Either way.  I'm happy.  And I love it.

First of all, I can't very well concentrate on cooking when I have those eyes distracting me.  I'm sure many of you have beautiful eyes too, but dang.  Scott has the best blue eyes.  Lucky. 

 Okay, okay.  Business.  Pizza pasta:

Make with noodles of your choosing.  For the sauce, crush up 1/2 block tempeh into pan.  Cook up a bit with 1/2 cup chopped onion, 3 cloves garlic, and 1 cup chopped mushrooms.  Add 1/2 cup veggie broth, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, 2 TB tomato paste, 2 tsp red wine vinegar.  Stir and let simmer for awhile until liquid cooks down.  Sprinkle fresh basil and cheese on top.  Stir in some broccoli.  Bake until cheese melts.  

Tomato and artichoke dip with homemade bread:

While staying in Paris, we often bought food from the local organic co-op.  One of the prepackaged foods we found was a mixture of spices and sun-dried tomatoes.  Since we were constantly buying fresh bread, this became a regular dinner.  We would tear off pieces of the baguette and dip them into the tomatoes.  Who needs a crepe when you could have this? Well, okay.  I wont be that drastic.  I would've eaten crepes every day had we found a vegan version.  I did buy Scott a crepe maker for his birthday since, though.  We can now make our own.  We make our own tomato dip as well.  It's a mixture of onion, garlic, tomatoes (fresh and sun-dried), olive oil, capers, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.  

I also made some artichoke dip.  Blend up 3 artichoke hearts, 1/2 cup chopped sauteed leek, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp maple syrup, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp mustard, salt, and pepper.  

Enjoy both with a fresh loaf of bread.

 Pasta with cashew cream on top:

Whenever I can't think of anything to make for dinner and I'm absolutely starving (or, in this case, Scott was starving) we usually have pasta of some sort.  (or carrot curry.  Mmm)  We got these delicious kamut and quinoa noodles at Whole Foods the other day.  I love noodles of all shapes, sizes, textures, flavors, and colors.  The fancier the better.  Aside from soba, I can't even say when the last time was that we purchased straight up whole wheat.  Boring!  Anyway,  Scott whipped up some red sauce (Heirloom tomato base.  I mean, come onnn!) and I made a cashew cream to drizzle (or plop) on top.  (Raw cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, lemon juice)

BBQ tempeh, cornbread, black eyed peas, and chard:

Tonight, as we were driving around downtown trying to find parking (Earth day AND a home baseball game?  Remind me to never try that one again), I was trying to think up a good dinner.  What was something we hadn't eaten in awhile?  Barbecue sauce!  I added on from there.  The end result: Barbecued tempeh, gluten free cornbread muffins, and some black eyed peas and greens on the side.  

World's best BBQ sauce: 

1/2 cup onion chopped 

2 cloves garlic minced

2 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1/2 cup water, divided

1/2 cup (or less) sweetener (we used maple syrup)

2 TB molasses

1/2 cup mustard

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 TB soy sauce

2 TB lemon juice

1 tsp liquid smoke 

In medium saucepan, saute onion and garlic.  Add tomato sauce, 1/2 cup water, sweetener, molasses, mustard, salt, allspice, red pepper flakes, and parsley.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer 1 hour.  (I know, I know.  It's a long time to wait but it's worth it.)  

Add 1/4 cup water, soy sauce, lemon juice, and liquid smoke.  Cook 10-15 minutes longer.  

I crumbled the tempeh up and added about 1 cup of sauce and heated it up briefly.  My cornbread muffins were done by this point to I spooned the tempeh on top.  

Gluten free cornbread muffins:

1 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup each brown rice flour, garbanzo bean flour, sorghum flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp xanthan gum 

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk (I used rice milk)

1/4 cup applesauce

2 TB apple cider vinegar

1 can corn 

Mix ingredients together.  Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees.  

For the black eyed peas, I just drained them and put them in a pan with 1/4 cup veggie broth, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp Braggs, pepper, and smoked paprika.  I kept it on a low heat and when the liquid was almost all gone, I added some chopped spinach and chard for the last minute of cooking. 

I'm pretty sure this week will involve more salads.  Perhaps I can think up some good homemade dressings to go on the side.  Blackened tempeh is always good on top too.  The possibilities are nearly endless.  We'll just have to see.  Something else we'll have to see:  me wearing my new shoes.  Dang.  I got some sweet kicks this weekend.  The Pumas I bought today were 15 years in the making.  I seriously haven't bought new tennis shoes since 7th grade.  What craziness is that anyway?  

I'm going to watch a documentary on the Secrets of the Rosetta Stone.  You would think I'm just trying to sound smart or something.  Aside from every episode of Frasier, documentaries are nearly all I watch.  (Oh and maybe some *cough* Vampire Diaries *cough* too.  Shut up.)

Two nights ago, in a kitchen far far away...

^ This is from one of my favorite bloggers. I always make it slightly different adding whatever veggies we have in the fridge. This is definitely in heavy rotation around our house. I think I already blogged about this one. Makes sense since it's SO DANG GOOD.

And then there was last night.

^ These are my worst nightmare. (insert this sound here) Who knew that baking potato chips would be so hard? Certainly not me. That's why I tried making some a few nights ago and then made the mistake of trying again last night. Will I not learn? Two things I have to accept about myself: 1) I'm not good as kneading or rolling out dough 2) I simply cannot bake a chip to save my life. Okay. Exaggeration (on the chips, not the dough). I did make a small batch that turned out alright. But I had ripped out half of my hair in the meantime.

Oh I also accidentally cooked an avocado last night too. Perhaps that's where the stress began. You see, placing an avocado in the oven for a day or so (with the oven turned off) helps speed up the ripening process. I did just that upon my return from the grocery store. Not 30 minutes later I turned the oven on and proceeded to prep dinner. It smelled like something was cooking but I hadn't put anything in the oven yet. Oh wait. Yes I did! 10 Minutes earlier! It's funny when I think back on it now. It certainly was not funny at the time thank you very much.

^ Anyway, this is the dinner I made to go alongside the chips. It's a reuben... kinda. I had kielbasa left over that I needed to use up. I marinated some cabbage (instead of marinating tempeh) to put over the sausage then topped it with homemade thousand island dressing (thanks Vegan with a Vengeance!). I had never eaten a reuben sandwich before so I'm not sure how they're supposed to taste. All I know is that this tastes good.

You know what else tastes good?

^Mama's. Falafel, stuffed grape leaves, baba ghanouj, fresh pita. What more could a girl ask for?

Well... I could ask for a Rittersport bar. Yum....

Oh did I mention I only had to work 4.5 hours today? The office was sent home early because the computer system went down yesterday afternoon and still wasn't up by 11am today! Bummer I missed out on 3.5 hours of pay but total bonus that I got to take Cosmo for a long walk, water my plants, go shopping, and watch (and cry during) One Day. Then Scott bought our wonderful Lebanese dinner. And the rest is history!

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

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First of all: Yogurt, bananas, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cinnamon, and granola. Mmm. You should always start the end of you weekend on a good note. What better note than fresh fruit?

Second: NO I didn't eat that goose for my second meal. Scott and I tend not to eat lunch during the weekend (dumb, huh?). Instead, we fill our time with adventures to nearby lakes (as was done today) and such. It was a peaceful place. Lots of ducks. Beautiful trees. Bright blue sky. A trail of about 1 mile around the lake.

The end: No really. I thought it was the end for a couple minutes. There's something you should know about me. When I get hungry I get cranky. Like... holding back from turning into the Hulk cranky. I started dinner a little too late tonight. By the time everything was done it was just after 8:00. (Let's not even talk about it.) It all turned out great. I can't confirm or deny that it was worth the wait. Anyway, so you don't have to wait any longer... we had black bean burgers atop homemade buns served alongside some sweet potato chips.

Bean Burgers:

Saute 1/4 cup chopped onions and 3 cloves of garlic

mash 1 can black beans

(add corn if desired)

mix in:

2 TB ground flax seeds

1 TB Braggs

2 TB olive oil

1 tsp liquid smoke

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

black pepper to taste

1 tsp lime juice

Form into patties, place on cookie sheet, and bake @ 375 for approximately 30 minutes (flipping them over halfway through).

Place on a bun, top with ranch dressing, tomato, spinach, rainbow chard, and mushrooms. Enjoy with some sweet potato chips that you hopefully didn't burn. (Let's not talk about that either.) Perhaps you could just buy some. That's easier and a little less stressful.

TMJ aside, this dinner was exceptional. Burgers are so much better if 1) they're not made from meat and 2) you made 'em yourself!