Rainforest

about me

Hi, I am from Trinidad, the most southern island in the Caribbean. As you can see from my pictures, I like trying new things. However, truth be told, I have always found cooking to be such a chore. Recipezaar helps me turn cooking into an adventure that I can enjoy everyday. DH is very supportive or rather 'tolerant'(LOL)of my (not always successful) forays into the exotic and gourmet.


My husband is more of an intuitive cook than I. He’ll go into the kitchen and create a meal with whatever is on hand. Me, (before finding zaar) I'd gather together as many recipe books that I can and plan out the menu for the week. As a result, invariably, I’ll be in the middle of cooking and realize that I’m out of some little known, hard to find ingredient and have to cajole DH to go to the gourmet specialty food store.

I have two favourite cookbooks, The first is a now out of print book by Trinidadian Sylvia Hunt. It is not the best cookbook in the world but it is an interesting culinary history of my country. My second favourite is called The Multicultural Cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. (The Naparima Girl’s High School cook book). It’s my bible as I’m sure it is for every Trinidadian home or abroad who hankers for home cooked comfort.



I have noticed that most Recipezaar recipes listed in the Caribbean section are recipes which use tropical ingredients but by their cooking method or combination of flavours do not accurately reflect the real cuisine of Caribbean people.

Many of these recipes are what I call ‘hotel food’. These dishes are served in restaurants and in hotels to cater to the taste of tourists. I do not mean to suggest that those recipes aren't good, they are indeed quite delicious, but they do not reflect real home-cooking of local cuisine. For example, as yummy as it sounds, please know that your ordinary Caribbean housewife does not serve up meals like coconut chicken with tropical mango rum sauce!

Trinidadian or Creole food has been influenced by the many people who live here, African, Indians, Syrian/Lebanese, Chinese, French, Spanish and Portuguese…. As time permits, (I do work full time and have a 3 yr old) I will share some truly local recipes. Where possible, I will add to the recipe description tidbits of information about the Caribbean or the recipe itself.

Favorite Foods:

My favourite thing to cook would have to be ham and freshly baked bread as I'm done in by smell of those two things in the oven. Yum. Guilty pleasure-Häagen-Daz's, Dulce de Leche ice-cream.

http://www.travelwithachallenge.com/Trinidad-Adventure.htm