Hail to the Chief (Lets celebrate)

He's back!!  The man who would be Chief for the second time.  As hard as they tried, they could not stop him.  The man who I so fondly speak of, is no other than our 44th and 45th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.  Not taking anything away from the man himself,  lets not forget the woman behind the man, or should we say beside the man, First Lady Michelle Obama,  congrats to the whole family.  We know the man is the head of the house, but we also know that if there isn't a strong woman beside him, most times it all goes to HE!!.  Why do you think there hasn't been an unmarried president?  Once again, Hail to the Chief.

While all of us who supported the President for the second time around are celebrating, those who opposed him are hard at work now more than ever to destroy what he worked so hard to rebuild.  Let them keep trying.  For now while they're plotting, we're partying, lets celebrate with some Jamaican rum punch.


Jamaican Rum Punch

                                                       

• 1 cup lime juice            
• 1 cup Simple Sweet syrup
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 cups Jamaican White rum
• 3 cups fruit juice
• 1 cups water

The above ingredience should make about 10 to 12 average glasses.

Add all ingrredients in a large bowl and stir well. 
This drink is best served well chilled or with ice, also it gets better with age, so you might want to have it sit a day or two before serving

                                                                                                              



Hurricane Sandy

Its been a little over a week since Hurricane Sandy pounded the East Coast and about 2 weeks since it hit my beautiful island of Jamaica.  This Hurricane has impacted my life from two sides.  I myself was not too badly affected here in Connecticut, but my family in Jamaica has been hit really bad.  As far as I know they are still with out lights on most of the island, and if you live in the country (rural area), your affected by a lot more things than if you live in the city.  People in the country have to worry about their crops, live stock and most of all, their houses.  Most of the houses in the country are build on or near hillsides and gully's and because of this they have to worry about wash away earth coming into the houses and landslides completely destroying their homes. The people of the islands are very resourceful, we have learned to deal with and overcome many obstacles, especially anything that has to do with the weather.  Because of where we live and the uncertainty of the weather from one day to the next, we know that we have to take things as they come and do the best we can with what we have, even when it comes to dealing with the often arrival of hurricanes.

Here in CT, where I am right now, we are in the process of cleaning up.  People on the shoreline are the ones mostly affected by the storm.  The damages in those areas have been reported to be in the tens of millions. In land, the damages are mostly uprooted trees, fallen tree limbs and down power lines caused by the fallen trees.   This has been reported to be the worst storm in 30 years.  It is being called "The Super Storm of the Century".  People on this side of the United States are used to snow storms and blizzards, but are totally unfamiliar with hurricanes.  houses on the shores of areas such as Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut were not built to withstand hurricane force winds, so because of this, a lot of people did not heave the morning to evacuate and were improperly prepared for what happened.  So, for right now, the  people here who were affected, as well as back home in the islands, are doing the only thing we can do, and that's pick up the pieces, clean up the mess, and keep it moving, or as they say back home, "Jus kool and everything irie."

Below are a few of videos showing just a small amount of the damage The Storm of The Century SANDY has done here and back home in the islands.  Keep everyone affected by the storm in your prayers.

Hurricane sandy - In Jamaica and the United States

Sunday Dinner (Rice & Peas)

I think just like about everywhere in the United States and all over the world, Sunday dinner is probably the one time of week where everyone in the family actually comes together and sit down for dinner.  I think that's the one day of the week where everyone can relax and think about anything except family and maybe that game that's on or coming on.  For most of us who attend church it also the one day of the week that we use to keep the family way of life going.  The whole week we are running from one place to the other and making that money we need to keep the family's way of life going.  Some of us even sneak a few hours in on Saturdays.  Well that's how it use to be.  Nowadays there is no such thing as the 9-5 job.  Jobs these days are whenever you are needed and whenever they want you to work, that includes night and/or day.  Still we try to keep some form of normality to the family structure, and that's usually Sunday dinner.

In Jamaica, Sunday dinner is very special for us.  That's the one day of the week that we save the best for.  It doesn't matter what we have to eat during the week, Sunday is going to have something special about it, and that's usually Rice and Peas.  Even if we have the same meat during the week that we have on Sunday, that rice and peas is what makes it special.  I'm sure most of us have had some form of rice and peas, but most people that I know who have had the Jamaican type of rice and peas , have said there's something special about it. 

Well, I was always told that if you have something special, the way to make it more special is to share it.  The request for this recipe was a request from a very nice lady who read my blog and shared with me just how much she enjoy visiting my lovely homeland of Jamaica.  She has a blog herself and in her last post she state she's undecided as to where to go for her next vacation.  She's thinking of going back to Jamaica.  I hope she does.  Check her blog out, it call Counting the Days.  She from the lovely state of Hawaii.  Well Deborah, here's your rice and peas recipe.  And for everyone else who would like to try it ,  Enjoy!!!

Rice & Peas

 Ingredients:

• 1 Small packet dried Kidney Beans or one 15-once can Red Kidney Beans
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 Yellow Onion, chopped                                                                
• 4 Garlic Cloves, smashed                                                      
• 2 1/2 cups Long-Grain Rice                                                      
• 1 tsp. Salt 
•  Water (varies)
• 2 cups Coconut Milk
• 2 to 4 stalk or 2 to 3 tsp. Dried Thyme
• 1 whole unbroken  Scotch Bonnet Pepper
• 1 stalk Scallion (Green Onion), smashed or chopped

 Before cooking:
 If you should use packet of dried kidney beans, soak your bean in luke warm water the day before cooking until ready to cook.  This will tenderized the beans for cooking.

 Steps:

1.  Heat oil in medium pot over medium to high heat, add chopped onion and saute 3 to 4 minutes.

2.  Add about 2 to 4 cups of water and beans to onion, boil until beans are tender about 1 hour.  Stir often.
  
(cooking time for beans will vary.  To check if beans are cooked,  use a spoon to pick up  a few beans and squeeze between fingers, if beans smash easily, then they are ready to add other  ingredients.)

3.  Once beans are cooked, add coconut milk, salt, scotch bonnet pepper, thyme and garlic to beans.  Cook for another 45 min to allow beans to absorb the flavor of coconut milk and other seasonings.  Stir often, and add water if needed, not too much at one time ( 1/2 cup).

4.  Now add rice and scallion (green onion) to contents of beans and seasonings.  Fold over several time to ensure all ingredients are well blended together.

 Once rice is added the liquid should be about 1/4 inch over the top of your rice.  This amount of liquid should allow your rice to simmer to a nice fluffy cooked rice.

5.  Allow to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Depending on the type of rice used, your dish should be done.  If not, give or take a few minutes for your rice to cook.   Allow to cool for 10 minutes and serve with your meat dish or by itself.

Who is Richer?

It's been said that the United States is one of the richest nation in the world.  That would depends on who you ask.   That being said, there's a lot of people who I've spoken with from other islands or even other countries, and we all  seems to share the same story of family, love ones and/or friends back home.  For some reason, the idea is that, from the moment your feet hit American soil, you're  instantly wealthy.  It's like you stepped off the plane or the boat and step wright in it, wealth that is.

 Being from one of the smallest islands in the West Indies, I know first hand just how poor my tiny island is, and how hard the way of life is.  The economy right now is ridiculous there.  The value of of the Jamaican dollar is nonexistent.  One U.S. dollar value to date about $85 Jamaican dollars, and the British pound values about $87.  The economy truly is one of the worst there is today.  However, I do feel there are some ways of life on the island that can not be beat.

Living here in the U.S. affords us opportunities that can not be found no where else.  There are rights that we enjoy in this county that cannot be enjoyed any where else in the world.  Still, some how we manage to have children starving right in our very own back yard and families sleeping on the street in the cold.  One of the things I love about my small island is this;  it does not take a lot to survive.   Life can be hard no doubt, but if you own any type of land, you can always find something to eat.  Even if you don't own any land at all but you know someone who does, you will not go hungry.   If the land is available, then the opportunity is there for you or your neighbor to plant and grow some type of produce you and your family can eat and share with your neighbors.  One of the things I cherish  most about my little island, is how tight-knit the people are, especially in the country or as you might call it, the rural area.  You can always count on someone to share something from what they have, have grown, or if they happen to kill an animal, they'll share it with you.   You can expect someone at anytime to bring or send you something that they would like to share.  So once again I feel the island motto says it all, "OUT OF MANY, ONE PEOPLE".

Now if you were to ask  me "WHO IS RICHER?"  I would have to say it depends.  The average Jamaican who has never left the island  would say us living in the U.S. are, and the average American would say the same.  As for me, I say we all are, as long as we looked out our windows and seen a neighbor in need, and help. 

NUFF RESPECT

Conversation

Over the years of me being in this country, one of the things most people have asked me about my island is how to speak the language.  The Jamaican language is of a English dialect, but, consist of British English, Scottish English, and Hiberno-English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

A lot of people may ask how did all these different languages come to be on this small island.  Well, as I've stated in one of my earlier posting, Jamaica was once under British rule.  The island was also used as a port for ships carrying slaves as well as cargo.  Now as with any ports, things are exchange, bought, and often left behind, including people.  In those times of slavery, slaves often escaped and became a large population of the island, along with its main inhabitants of the island who were the Arawak Indians.  Today, the Indians nation of the island are referred to as Coolie.

I state all this to give you an idea of how Jamaica got its very interesting dialect (Patois).  The motto that is stated on the islands crest says its all, "Out of Many, One People" and because of this, we had to develop a way to communicate between the different cultures of the island, so all the languages were combine in broken form, giving you the short and broken phrases of some of the English words, mixed with some of the other languages.

Now that you got a short history of how our dialect was formed, I'm gonna give you a few phrases along with its translation, so the next time you have a conversation with your Jamaican friend, you'll have an idea of what's being said if you don't already know.