Pepper Pot

I am exhausted and my head is killing me. This is likely the result of going to bed at 2am and waking up at 6am to make raita and get the kids off to school.

My plan was to resurrect Lazeez Goodeez and make the carrot cake that my daughter requested for her birthday last year. Things didn't go quite as planned. After a series of unfortunate events, I got started with the cake around 10am and realized I didn't have any eggs...then it occurred to me that I had no idea how to make the cake - I scoured my files and cookbooks for my carrot cake recipe -my formula that I began to tweak 10 years ago - I couldn't find it...so I did the best I could - the finished product was ok, I think I could've used slightly more flour and something seems to be missing from the taste. TJs actually makes a pretty tasty Karat Cake. I haven't gotten around to icing yet (I had to dash out to pick the kids up 30 minutes late), but will get to that before the night is out. My daughter is quite excited and wainting impatiently for the icing. I made 8 loaves and 1 whole cake - the worst part is my cake stuck to the pan like a rookie but it is definitely salvageable.

I met an Antiguan tonight. We were chitchatting and it came up...of course I asked about the food - "what is the national dish?" She described something quite interesting - Ducana (a yellow sweet potato dumpling) and Foongee (something that sounds like the Trinidadian coo-coo) - she also mentioned Pepper Pot - the description sounds like something I'd like to make - I think I'll take a stab at it next week and revisit the Trinidadian salt-fish and pumpkin (taught to me by my other Trinidadian friend a few years ago).

Our conversation quickly became a inquisition about the cultural landscape - I learned that the Blacks originated from Ghana and Nigeria and that the country was under British rule until November 1981. She also told me that parts of the landscape are dominated by sugar plantations and there are some cotton plantation remnants as well. There is a distinction between town and country people but she was not able to tell me anything about the indigenous population (if they even still exist). This was a timely discussion, considering that Columbus Day is upon us. Exploration and colonialism has left quite an imprint on both the cultural and physical landscapes of the Caribbean with genocide, slavery, migration, and exploitation of natural resources.

How are the cooking techniques of the Caribbean a product of spatial interaction? What features are indigenous and what is influenced by those brought in the hulls of ships? Is Caribbean cuisine a fusion of Amerindian (for lack of a better term), West African (involuntary and voluntary migrants), and Indian (indentured servants) cooking?

Devil's brew.

Many people consider McDonald's to be the devil - for a variety of reasons - imprint on the landscape, the hijacking of food production, the promotion of fast food, the taking over of the world...the devil has roped me in with sweet tea.

I love sweet tea. Always have.

When I went to New Bern, NC in 2005 I was so excited to get sweet tea in restaurants. When Mickey D's launched their sweet tea, I was ecstatic...and it's only $1. So I drive-thru several times a week and drink the brew (yes, I do know better). The catch is, sweet tea is $1.49 in da hood (aka the color tax). Everywhere I've been, except the inner city of Philadelphia, 32 ounces of sweet tea is $1...and it should be - tea bags, water, refined white sugar - no soda syrup purchased from Coca-cola, no need for carbonation - as a result it's often inconsistent - sometimes brewed strong, other times watered down, and at times sweet enough to send someone into a diabetic coma. Nonetheless, I keep drinking it, but not in da hood...I refuse to be blatantly exploited. So headache and all, I drove out of my way tonight for the devil's brew.