A pail of pepper pot

I have been wanting to make pepper pot since Friday, but first I had to distribute the biryani. Last night I made aloo palak (not too spicy) and mango lassi to accompany our biryani.

This was a long weekend and I've gotten absolutely nothing done - no grading, no writing...I did do a little cleaning and a couple loads of laundry - I need to find a balance between the domestic and academic realms.

I watched Coraline tonight with the kids, pretty good movie. I'm looking forward to gardening next summer, this summer we hardly did any maintenance, but it was a good bird habitat.

Apparently pepper pot varies by location in terms of ingredients and technique. As usual, I decided to make adjustments to the recipe...I was a little concerned that I had gone overboard but the result was a hearty stew that cost around $25, but I could've probably made it cheaper.

Corned beef (the first time ever making it...I actually just started liking it last year; of course I called Grandmom Lou for cooking suggestions); onions, garlic, tomatoes, scotch bonnet (one scotch bonnet added plenty of kick to the pot), yuca, white yam, carrots, 'pumpkin', pigeon peas - it was at this point that I realized I had gotten carried away...the 5 qt Le Creuset was almost full.

I transferred the contents to the larger pot - my daughter said "you're pulling an Aunt Mary" (my Aunt Mary always cooks way too much food, you would think she worked in a cafeteria) - then she said "are you making a pail of pepper pot?"

I added okra, cabbage (this was a major deviation, but my mother-in-law gave me cabbage yesterday so I decided to throw it into the pot), and spinach. Cabbage must be available in the Caribbean because it's served in all of the Jamaican restaurants. We had corn muffins on the side and I made a salad of boiled green bananas, cucumbers, and carrots tossed in a fruity balsamic vinaigrette that I whipped together.

If I 'mapped' the botanical families of this dinner I wonder what the branching pattern would be.

I was pleasantly surprised with the pepper pot. I have no idea how it's supposed to look, taste, or smell, but it was certainly hearty, tasty, and made our insides warm and tingly. I would definitely make it again...not a fan of the boiled bananas though. I wanted to make plantains but the plantains my husband made probably wont be ready for a few more days.

One thing I confirmed tonight is the right combination of food does not require tons of seasonings. I used a few basic things but the vegetables provided the bulk of the flavor. I once read somewhere that people who use seasonings and condiments have perverted taste buds, perhaps this is true. This brings to mind three unfinished books from 2005 that I need to complete - The Botany of Desire, The Natural History of the Senses, and Jacobson's Organ.