Happy Tuesday Folks!

Chris and I have been trying to start a new family tradition for Valentine’s to celebrate our loved ones in a way that does not involve “stuff”. Quality time with family and friends was one of the ideas. This year, we had Chris’s parents over and spent the evening eating chocolates, drinking wine, and playing cards. There were lots of laughter, some swearing (mainly coming from me every time I made a poor move, which was most of the evening), and many juicy family stories. This will most definitely be a repeat event and next year Valentine’s even falls on a Friday! Oh my, the possibilities!

Over the weekend, our first batch of beer was bottled. Just a few more weeks until we can try it and see if things went according to plan. Chris is still not convinced.

The highlight of the week was our Carib Eats dinner spearheaded by our friend Michelle from Trinidad and Tobago. The feast consisted of coconut sweet bread, jerk BBQ chicken, macaroni pie (similar to macaroni and cheese but with different noodles), pholouries (fried dough made with chickpea flour), and the very delicious doubles. Doubles consist of two fried flat bread (bara) which are placed next to each other filled with a spicy chickpea mix (channa) and topped with grated cucumbers and tamarind chutney. You add a bit of homemade mango kuchela and scotch bonnet hot sauce and you have a treat out of this world. For dessert there was coconut roll which we had to pack and take home because it was already way past Samuel’s bedtime. You learn so much about a country by its food and what a fun and tasty lesson this was.

Have a wonderful week! Make it count.