Lily’s Blog, Dragon Absconded!
Baking Until I Drop

I’ve always wanted to go to Tamnak Thai.
It’s in town somewhere (say Port-of-Spain, environs).

Well, I’ve finally gone…but in Barbados.
It turns out there is one in Barbados. And downstairs is an Apsara!

So, is it a chain?

Oh well.
So finally, I’ve crossed waters to get to Tamnak Thai.

There were so many things on the menu that I wanted.
Pad thai.
Green papaya salad.

But I got some kind of cashew nut and prawn dish.
I love cashew nuts in stir fries and curries.
It’s such an unexpected lovely flavour.

Chennette got Prawns in Red Curry.

We got fried tofu and spring rolls as appetizers.

And for dessert…well…usually we try to get “authentic” dishes for dessert too but they had Death by Chocolate Cake and Crème Caramel.
Who could resist?
Incidentally dessert cost less than the ice cream we got at Il Tempio (!!!).

The Crème Caramel tasted different from ours. Theirs was more custardy? Ours was lighter. Probably type of cream used. We didn’t use heavy cream…!
I’m not sure (but Chennette is)

The cake seemed to be a combination of chocolate cake, chocolate torte and chocolate ganache? all with mint flavouring.

YUM!

Here’s dessert!. Follow the link for the rest of the pictures.

Chennette took a picture of her main course, Prawns in Red Curry:

I just explained what macaroni pie is

Well, it seems Bajan macaroni pie is a tad bit different.

Anywayz, the last thing on Chennette’s list of things to do in Barbados was to eat macaroni pie and flying fish.

A few days after trying to get it at Cave Shepherd (and a failed attempt to go drive around the coast…we slept), we went to this little diner close to the grocery store.

So, I got macaroni pie and fried flying fish (hmmm) and cole slaw.
She got macaroni pie and fried flying fish and fried plantain bites.
It was very nice and cheesy and had a tinge of red.

I liked it!
We spent about B$28-$30¹ on this and two bottles of water a bottle of coke.

*nice*

And, since I had my camera, I took a couple pictures :-)

1. US$1 ~= B$2

*yum*

I love macaroni pie.
Really.
Or I did.
It changes daily.

Do you know macaroni? When trinis talk about macaroni they mean the long thick straight noodles.

Macaroni pie will be different in different houses.

So, you boil the macaroni and then drain.
Put it back in the pot with eggs, cheese, milk, seasonings, mustard and anything else that’s normal for you.

Then you put it in a greased dish (casserole? baking tray? brownie tray?) and top it with cheese or butter or crushed biscuits or something and then you bake until it’s good and ready and set.

Cut it and eat it with some good stew chicken and you have a good meal.

Now before you ask all the questions like, bake how long, put how much eggs? cheese? milk etc…maybe you should read this article from the Caribbean Beat magazine.

I read it last September on a BWIA flight to/from Guyana.
I found it hilarious.

I wondered about the author of the article as in when did she leave Trinidad.

Basically, it’s an article written by a Trinidadian living in New Jersey who all of a sudden had a craving for good home cooked food, i.e. macaroni pie.

But she had no clue how to make it. So she got a recipe from her Tantie.

Well she got waylaid by a few things, milk and cheese and her new low-carb way.

She didn’t know what kind of milk to use. She wondered about half and half and other such things. Man! As a trini, I didn’t know what half and half was. I never saw it before I went away. I still am not really sure what it is.

She also didn’t know how much cheese to put.
Well, it’s been said in our house, when you think you put enough cheese, put more. It’s a rule for both macaroni and cheese and macaroni pie.

But what really totally amazed me is her trying to figure out what kind of cheese to use. In T&T we didn’t really get a whole lot of different cheeses. I remember we lived without cheese for awhile too because we couldn’t get halaal cheese. All we had was cheddar cheese so it could really only be cheddar! (there were restrictions, we got cream cheese once in a while so it was a real treat when we travelled!)

So, she used swiss because it was healthy.
yuck
swiss in my macaroni pie?
She must’ve moved when she was really young.
I really felt for her! :)

But seriously..cheddar cheese!

I love macaroni pie.

However…

I don’t eat it as often now for some TMI reasons.

Some people put meat in it…like minced beef…ewwwww! :(

Anywayz this is all an introduction for bajan macaroni pie! :)

Chennette is in search of a sweet and sour dish she had once.
I think I had it too.

You know how Chinese food differs not just by region but also by the country it was imported to?
Well we had a very tart (was it lemon, orange or sweet and sour) chicken in Trinidad, recently. It wasn’t what we expected, good but as I said unexpected. I can’t remember what it’s like anymore…except I know it wasn’t the Sweet and Sour stuff I got in massachusetts.

We figure it must be from the restaurant in Mid Centre mall because where else did we used to go and eat chinese food.

Anywayz, after my day in Bridgetown, since Tamnak Thai was not open yet, we went to the International Mall, open until 9PM!

Now that’s nothing to sneeze at. We were both studying in places with malls that closed early or stores that close early. And I think malls close early here in T&T too.

Well.

I wasn’t impressed.
It felt like how the inside of Gulf City used to be (it had like all the temporary stores in the middle). Note, just the inside stores, nothing else.

And it was very small. It looked much bigger from the outside. She said it seems the grocery took up most of the space.

But we were hungry and so went to check the chinese buffet. The buffet wasn’t open but they were open.

We had sweet and sour fish, shrimp stuffed mushrooms and some appetizers I’m sure but I can’t remember what. I think we paid about US$50 for our food. I *think*

I really loved those mushrooms. They were kind of spicy and unexpected. The fish was good too. Very red. She doesn’t think her camera takes such great red pictures.

Continue reading Barbados: Sweet and Sour and malls open until 9 PM!!!

So.

I didn’t do much.

I slept.

:-)

Chennette picked me up in the airport, without water :-(
I was dying of thirst!

The next day I did what I usually do.
I slept!
Woohoo!

Chennette also took me to a Bajan grocery. And boy is Barbados expensive! But on that positive note, I got sushi nori, japanese rice vinegar, toasted black sesame seeds, wasabi powder…and…a vanilla bean pod! :)

Yay!
What shall I cook?

We also fulfilled one of the three things on Chennette’s list to do in Barbados (in honour of her student days, I think). We went to Chefette’s, Barbados’ fast food place.

The next day we dragged ourselves out and caught a Z-van into Bridgetown.
That’s when we bought the camera (*sob*), thus checking off something else on her list, i.e., we went to Cave Shepherd!

Actually we went into two Cave Shepherds (the one in Warrens and the one in Broad Street, Bridgetown).

Before buying the camera we tried to get the last thing off her list but unfortunately the cafeteria on the top floor of Cave Shepherd was closed. It closes sometime before 3pm on a Saturday I guess. She wanted me to have “traditional food”, i.e. macaroni pie and flying fish.

Oh well. We just would have to find somewhere else to do that I guess.
But it was supposed to be cheap there and as students they would rush down there to get cheap food.

Here’s my Bridgetown flickr set.

And, in case you’re interested, a picture of Chennette and me in Bridgetown :)

Continue reading Barbados, In the Beginning

Curses! Foiled Again!
Otherwise known as The Camera Sob Story

Well, some of you may recall the grand announcement made some time ago, that Chennette and I had finally decided AND ordered our camera…yay!?

Unfortunately that plan fell through due to some shipping/delivery issues.

You may also remember that we heard tell of a Nikon D80 in Cave Shepherd, Broad Street, Bridgetown, Barbados and I was seriously encouraging Chennette to go check it out and feel it and hold it.

Well she never did.

And, this being even more recent, you should know I was in Barbados for a whole week, culminating on Thursday/yesterday.

From the title of this post, and the series of recollections you can probably tell where this is going.
Continue reading Curses! Foiled Again!

Ooo…Internet.
I almost forgot what it was like.
Oh my!

I’m in Grantly Adams International Airport (Barbados).
Leaving soon.

Man.
I feel so silly in this airport…like…if I’ve never travelled before.

Oh well.

INTERNET!