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

Did you see Bolt?
I wonder if his parents will boff him for coasting at the end :-)

Ooo…we got a silver medal (Richard Thompson).

Back to sleep…

Can you believe it?
Coup-babies and those born after are soon reaching “adulthood” if they’re not there already (I’m not sure what the official age to be an adult in T&T is…is that a reflection on my status in my household? who knows!)

But seriously, it’s been 18 years since the coup. That baby I know who was born that afternoon and will only know stories of it…is 18.

It’s very…strange to think that so much time has passed (and it is a little time because I consider us a young nation).

And.
I feel old.
*sigh*

We went! Yay!
Sorta.

This won’t be a full review. Somehow Taste T&T snuck up on us. Last couple years it was during the long holidays (July? August? maybe June?) and I didn’t realize it was in MAY! until Chennette mentioned it to me in the preceding week.

Of course, this is the week preceding the Main Event; not the Pot Spoon Throwdown (local food/cooks cook-off) which was about two weeks before the main event. So, although my parents say they saw ads (and suspiciously didn’t mention them to us…cost-fright?) I wonder how I missed them all this time. I’m just as in the know as I was last couple years (maybe more so…but still not much). Maybe their internet advertising campaign was lacking. Who knows. Maybe I was oblivious.

So we made it for the Main Event on Sunday.

Chennette and I decided that we would pay for parking like we did last year. We don’t mind paying money. The online pdfs we downloaded said there would be parking. Somehow we missed the memo every one else saw…no parking…so we just had to find a spot somewhere on the street (and if there was parking somewhere…they didn’t do a good job of making it noticeable once you reached). Last year they had parking. This year none. That was a serious negative step. I tried not to let it colour my perceptions. Everything sounded better than last year (except the parking) – the throwdown, the local booths selling food aside from the gourmet booths…last year other food seemed to be seriously lacking. And for a T&T Taste to not have Trini food…well that didn’t compute. We arrived about 7:15 pm knowing we would have to rush away looooong before 9 pm so…Chennette coined the phrase this year “Taste-on-the-run”.

Remembering last year (small portions at the Gourmet booths), Chennette and I bought two Gourmet tickets (price increase from TT$200 to TT$300) for Groups A and B (hmm…I don’t know any people who bought Group C) and thus were able to sample 8 chefs’ food. But…the portions were much bigger this year. We were full after four chefs (not each…four restaurants split between the two of us). This year, not only did the ticket include a free drink (which we didn’t use) but also dessert. Nice! I wonder if you could trade your drink for water?

Anywayz, we met up with TriniGourmet (and people I didn’t know) after many many phone calls. Thankfully she had a cell phone this year ;-) We really should work on meeting outside of Taste…you know, when you can actually have a conversation, hear yourself think and not be rushing back and forth, here and there etc etc.

Chennette and I started off the night by sampling from Marhaba – Chef Sharaz Mohammed (B4). Marhaba had Stir Fry Balti Shrimp served with Vegetable Biryani and Tamarind Chutney *plus* rice pudding with some flavouring or colouring (which Chennette spilled). The food tasted really good. The rice was very nice. And the piece of shrimp was also good. I would go to eat there. The dessert was liquidy but maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. But as you can see, it was the smallest portion! Chennette thinks they were going for style!

While Chennette went to collect at Marhaba, I went to Benihana, for which I have been craving ;-) Benihana Restaurant’s Chef Joseph Hau (A2) provided us with Trincity Roll (Crab and Salmon Tempura served with a Wasabi and Lemon-Mayo sauce), Pierre’s Balls (Crab & Salmon Sashimi and Cream Cheese Tempura served with Mango-Passion Fruit sauce), California Roll (Crab and Cucumber roll), Vegetable Roll (Cucumber, Tomato, Purple Cabbage and Carrot) and Edamame and Wakame salad. There was two of each roll (but only one of the Sashimi). It split very nicely. Actually it was really good. We love cream cheese and crab and…well…we loved it all. I don’t have a very discriminating palate (you’ll see; thinks will taste very good or bad…binary)! I loved this. It was awesome. Down to the salad.

After that, I collected at Mélange and Chennette from Boomerang.

Chef Moses Ruben of Mélange (B1) provided us with Chicken Bhagi Roulade complemented with a Spicy Roasted Sweet Potato, Curried Crab Bouchées Smoked Tomato and Bell Pepper Bouchées, Eggplant and Tomato Quesadillas and Garlic-scented Vegetable Kebab. I remember the kebabs. They were good. We got two…easy to split. The eggplant and tomato quesadilla wasn’t a quesadilla (I don’t think) but this round pastry thing with eggplant stuffed in it and such. That actually tasted very good. Even the squirmy looking eggplant was good. I’m not sure what the Bouchees were but no biggie. The chicken now…it looked really nice. It was too dry however. I was very sad.

On leaving Mélange we bounced up TriniFood who thought I didn’t recognize her. But that’s okay.

Boomerang‘s Chefs Jimmy and Mona Hadeed (B2) provided us with arab food. They had Fillet of Fish with Tahini Sauce, Arabic style Chicken Breast, Channa and Rice (Vegetarian and a meat option) and Fried Kibbe (Beef and Vegetarian). As a plus they had this exceptionally moist and delicious piece of baklava. Mmmm. There was a lot of rice. The kibbe was good (my mom’s is still the best but she doesn’t make fried kibbe). And the chicken…was moist and not dry and good and tender and juicy. The stark difference between the dry Mélange chicken and the moist Boomerang chicken was completely obvious because we had these at the same time.

Then we looked at the time. It was late oh yes indeedy because we had to leave home at about 5am the next morning to COME BACK TO TOWN ALL BECAUSE OF CHENNETTE! GRRR. And we realized we were running late and we wouldn’t even get to see a booth. So we hoped that TriniGourmet would at least tell us about it. And then we started the mad dash to pick up all the food we were not going to eat.

So, we ran. I collected Chaconia’s Chef Christian Grini’s (B3) Chicken Breast filled with Spinach in a Coconut Cream Curry Reduction. It was on mashed potatoes? Coconut cream? We took it home. It was good. Good. Good. If only it had a touch of colour from something else for the picture ;-)

Then I held plates while Chennette collected Chef Bernard Long’s A Triwee Barbeque (A1) (A combination of Shrimp, Chicken and Tenderloin of Beef served with Grilled Corn, Garlic Bread and a Fresh Caribbean Garden Salad). We skipped the beef. I can’t remember how the chicken tasted. The shrimp was good. I don’t know who had the corn. Chennette swiped the bread at the taste.

Now off to Chilli Pepper and Chef Mario Hernandez (A3) and Mexican Blackened Breast of Chicken served with a Yellow Rice Pilaf scented with Cumin Black Beans and a Fire-roasted Chunky Tomato Relish. The rice was really good. The beans were really good. I love beans. The relish was really good. It was HOT! We told dad none for him. I loved this!

We moved on to Aloha Caterers and Chef Johnny Chow (A4) to collect Polynesian Fried Rice, Grilled Tuna Fillet with a Pineapple and Guava Glaze and Coconut Infused Vegetables, Unfortunately when we reached there there was no more whole fillets. The chef was grilling them. So we got lots of pieces. It was good regardless. It just looked kinda bloody floating in the glaze. And the glaze tasted like a super sweet and sour sauce and we think we got a bit too much of it on everything. Everything tasted of the glaze…the tuna tasted great with glaze but everything else? Not everything needs to be soaked in sauce you know.

All the while we were trying to call the parents and of course not getting through.

And we still had to collect dessert. They had three cheese cake options or ice cream. She said only one of the cheese cakes had alcohol (Black forest) but the ponche de creme and … … other one (can’t remember? pineapple?) didn’t so we took those. They tasted nice. The ponche a creme was like a nice eggy custard cheese cake.

Of course these four plates of food and two desserts were carted back home and mom and dad got to share in our bounty. We were hungry again by the time we reached home so we sat down with our plates and saucers and divvied it all up.

It was fun :-)

All in all, what we experienced was good. The parking situation sucked. The food and portions seemed better than last year. Chennette thinks there was a bigger crowd but I think the open area was bigger last year (it seemed like half the complex was closed off). Yet again we didn’t go to a demo kitchen. This time we didn’t even get to walk around and see all the booths or even buy some of the other food. It seemed like it would’ve been more fun.

Next time we think one gourmet ticket and either more time or two days. One day for gourmet and one day to walk around and sample other things so we can get the full TASTE. Oh…and maybe paying attention for the throwdown?

Regardless it was fun. I hope it’s better next year and I get to go.

See the rest of the set here.

went
dead tired
chennette called it taste on the run
saw sarina and TriniFood

didn’t spend long
had two gourmet tickets…ate half; collected half
didn’t get to see all the things we wanted to see
have somewhere to go tomorrow…very early

didn’t seem to have official parking like last time
at least nobody directing towards it and anybody we asked said people parking on the street
like one step forward (the event itself) and one step backward (no parking)
*sigh*

real sleepy
will talk later

didn’t see any coupons for discounts during restaurant week
hmph

Banana Solo, originally uploaded by Lilandra.

Manicou Report already blogged about the return (questionable) of the Solo in the glass bottles.

Well it’s something we grew up with. Traditionally, it’s a doubles (or a roti) and a red solo.

But we both only got the banana solo :-(

Fortunately I love banana soft drink..or swee’drink.

Last weekend the Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society had their annual show.

On Sunday evening mom, dad and I went. It was held at San Fernando Technical Institute (now a part of UTT). There were two sections, the display or the show and sellers. The show was in their air conditioned hall and the stalls were setup outside in the corridors.

Continue reading Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society Annual Show 2008

In my post on sweet potatoes I mentioned our new home-growing incentive.

inflation! prices on the rise! everything oh so expensive…Flour and rice scarce (maybe). All our veggies cost so much.

Well, of late, we’ve been trying to use out our supplies. Our cupboards are finally getting barer. We try not to buy anything new unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Of course sneaky mommy bought some channa (chickpeas) the other day because we ran out. Dad doesn’t eat channa. I told her don’t buy it! We can survive without it. We have tonnes of peas! We have lots of other food. But does mom listen? No, she’s sneaky!

Back to growing…we have a backyard. I remember when we were young we’d be growing LOTS of pigeon peas in the back. We had avocado, guava and who knows what else. We have a mango tree, a plum tree and loads of fig (silk fig, banana) trees.

Not only did mom and dad plant sweet potatoes but cassava (I think).
She finally got her celery to plant.
We’ve got some potatoes I think.
My brain can’t think what else…peas…we’re planting some peas.

Mom says she doesn’t have the knack for tomatoes. They always die. But we’re going to try again regardless. I told her I’ll take my “black” or “colour unknown” thumb and plant it and see.

And today we went to the Orchid Show and we bought a lemon basil plant and a rosemary plant so we have more seasoning plants. Yay!

Who knows what possibilities await in our backyard.

But I hate the sweat! ;-)