Farewell At Pika

We hosted the long-awaited campfire at Pika on Friday in honour of our departure and were delighted to have 50 or so friends and family members come. OK, so at 7pm it was looking a bit dodgey with no campfire, lights not up (and darkness fast approaching), food not ready, Bertie rushing around like a headless chicken, JoJo not in good humour....(I forgot to mention we have all been down with colds this week after our sea dip, except Bertie, and JoJo has had the most pathetic squeak instead of a cry or voice!).


However, things quickly improved and we enjoyed lovely barbequed chicken, spare ribs, brochettes, rice and bebele made by Mamie. Bertie got the lights up and working which made a big difference, although when he changed the petrol it was beautifully dark and atmospheric. Folks sat and ate and chatted and played cards and belote, whilst the kids ran around crazily.

Their favourite moment was when Bertie cut sticks out of coconut tree leaves and they placed marshmallows in the fire. It was one boy's birthday and he told us we had fulfilled his dream!

One lady got out her ka and started drumming and singing with the group, then there was a very kind and moving presentation from some church friends and Mamie, who stood proudly arm in arm with her son and invited everyone to pop in and say hello when they passed, just to keep them company!

JoJo eventually fell asleep on me and slept through it in the car, but the girls stayed up to the end, and we eventually made it home at 1am! I cannot tell you what poor state we were in for packing the next day (most of it got down on Sunday night) and killing Papy's cow (4am start!!!).

Bits And Bobs

No Wimbledon coverage here, but we are following Andy Murray's progress (and Roger Federer's outfit) with interest.

Tomorrow is the final day of school for LissaLou! Hurrah! She has been moaning about going for weeks now so I am looking forward to that stopping and having fun at home with whatever activities we come up with. We have to sign her livret scolaire tomorrow and then get to take her books home. Most schools have finished now and there is a holiday feel in the air. Very soon they will all be getting ready for 3 week long colonies, holiday camps either here or abroad, or simply attending activities and soutien scolaire for July. I am impressed at how hard the French work to ensure their parents can get back to work and not have to spend much time with their children...!

To the triumphant sound of La Marseillaise, President Nicolas Sarkozy is honouring the island of Martinique with a visit and will touch down here tomorrow. Bertie already recognised his special plane flying over with his advance team. Unfortunately, my request to go and photograph the occasion was met with a firm no from the staunch anti-Sarkozyite! On referring to him in conversation with his mum as "ton president" she retorted "ou anglais!" (You're English!)

On the moving plans, Bertie checked out the shipping company AGS. Coming over we had half a metric cube of stuff so that is what we paid for. Going back, we have to pay for a whole metric cube whether we like it not, so we are busy going around seeing if anyone wants to slide in a few more items. Unfortunately, people mostly like to send over fruit and veg and frozen things which we are certainly not shipping! I have sorted through the bags of stuff I need to give away - sadly there is no such thing as charity shops here! I did have a good 40 or mor pair of shoes for the three kids - WHY??? I have resolved to be far more fussy in what I accept in the future! All that clutter only leads to more mess! (Additional goal - reduce significantly CassCass' wardrobe. She wore FIVE separate outfits the other day! That is not necessary - and does not help reduce our extortionate water bill!!)

At Pika, we are enjoying pomme d'eau and the first of the carambole, the very last of the mangoes and a very occasional cythere. Plus the pineapples are through, hurrah! They all go straight to JoJo but he kindly shares the odd one with me!

Speaking of JoJo, and in fact speaking of speaking, he is now much chattier and great fun to hear. He makes a sound that is very like "ca va?" though it could be "papa", for now the jury is out. He stands and says it as he watches people pass by the house so it could be the former. He generally gets a reply though! He imitates really well, and does a great lion noise when he sees one (tends to be in books as opposed to outside....). He also snaps his hands for a crocodile and makes a clicking noise for a rabbit. So cute!

Bertie is preaching on Gideon this Sunday so we actually have this laptop to type his sermon up. Best give it back to him....

What We Have Been Up To

The past week has been punctuated by the electricity and water going off frequently - and usually not at the same time, so it has been almost impossible to use the washing machine. Bertie thought that the former was to do with a lack of resources to run the electricity since the strike, whilst the latter was the more mundane reason that there are so many leaks here (and we thought London was bad!). In any case, it is so normal now that we barely notice it, and just make sure that we constantly fill up our many bottles when there is water, and keep saving any documents on the computer in case it suddenly goes off.

I finally worked out how to reduce the size of my photos so I have much more space on the computer (I had to be very ruthless about what old photos and videos to keep!). It also makes uploading photos so much speedier, hurray!

Bertie brought home some more fruits of his labour. Vegetables rather. Yum yum!

There has been lots of rain surprisingly, but he is very glad about that for his garden's sake. It does mean that there are all these tempting pots of water to play with downstairs for the kids, but they know now not to go near them when Papy and Mamie are around....

Bertie made another of his cakes for his niece's birthday - delicious! I got her the third Narnia book and am hoping that she will lend it back to me when she has finished it!

Monday we went shopping and bought so much food! It is definitely a stocking up mentality resulting from the strike! In order to fit it all in the freezer, I had to get rid of all the ice - just look at how much there was. I must have lost half the capacity because of it!

Cleaning the fridge and freezer was part of my Huge Tidy Up plan before our guests arrive this weekend. Haven't got any further though, so I must get a move on!

Early one morning I saw my first cockroach in months, so I did the necessary and doused it in spray then WHACKED it, all without Bertie's help! I was relieved!

Today we went shopping for various items and came back with lots of goodies, including this, which the girls are thrilled about. Bertie just came back with a headache. Shopping and him don't agree!

Tonight he has gone fishing in St Francois with a friend and a brother. I am hoping he will come back with several kilos of fish!!

Oh, and my very kind husband gave me a lie-in this morning whilst he made the kids crepes. What a gem!

Mi-Careme

Just when you thought the Carnival was over...back it comes again! A couple of groups came out for a parade around the town, this time wearing black and red. The girls were very excited to see them again but this time it really is over - until Christmas when it all starts again!

In the meantime, we celebrated the bank holiday with an impromptu party at Pika. One of those pleasant occasions when you say in passing to someone "why don't we pop along to Pika...hey we could even have a BBQ...." and suddenly half the family and many friends have come along for a feast!

As ever, the men sorted the BBQ under Bertie's close supervision, the women prepared all the food, I spent my time pushing the girls on the swings and keeping JoJo out of mud and mess, our nephew's name was bellowed constantly as he got into everything, trod on everything and swung a machete left lying around...

Bertie headed off to his dry dry garden and managed to construct this dinky little cover from the coconut leaves he collected recently propped up with sticks from another plant.

JoJo was pleased to give him a hand in his endeavours
Our great discovery of the day was our cucumber. Here it was on the 12 March - can you see the wee thing?

And now here it is just one week later! We are looking forward to enjoying it very soon. Our friend also gave us a lesson in picking sweetcorn - get it when it is very pale yellow and it won't be hard and chewy like ours was! I took a bunch and found a massive caterpillar (or two or three) in each, so my new lesson is if it doesn't have a caterpillar it is probably too dry!

Peeking At Pika: Fruit A Pain

No D's and E for Epinards didn't inspire me so let's move on to


F is for Fruit a pain Fouyapen Breadfruit


You may recall from an earlier post that breadfruit is a very close relation to the chataignier, with the difference that it doesn't have seeds (and has smaller leaves and a smoother skin)

A bit of history - breadfruit plants were in fact on the HMS Bounty at the time of the famous mutiny. Whilst all the crops were thrown overboard, Captain Bligh returned to Tahiti and succesfsully took a crop over to the West Indies in 1791. It was intended as an excellent (and cheap) nutritious food for slaves; ironically, when it finally made it to them they disliked the taste and refused to eat it!
Breadfruit is known as the poor man's food here and there are trees literally all over the island. In these days of MacDonalds and pasta, it is not particularly appreciated by the young generation and so you can find the fruit in abundance rotting under trees. Not so at Pika! Mamie and Papy being very fond of it will use (or sell) just about every fruit that emerges.


Apparently it got its name because when baked or roasted, it tastes and smells like freshly baked bread. I have to say that this has not been my experience - must be used to a different kind of bread!The breadfruit is ripe when it has little white latex marks on the skin, and Bertie tells me that it is only good to eat when it is picked rather than fallen on the ground (either it is unripe or it is over ripe and will explode!).Enjoying it


Breadfruit can be used in tons of different ways:

The most common way in Mamie's kitchen is simply boiled. She peels off the green skin and the inside seedy part (a bit like the inside of an apple, I shall put a photo on next time we eat one!) and boils for a bit. It is then served with a meat or fish dish and other racines.
Her other favourite use for it is in bebele, a traditional soup from Marie-Galante, for which it is diced into tiny cubes.
It can also be baked, boiled, roasted or steamed - now that breadfruit season is back on I would like to try some of these out myself.
I tried mashing it with potato for a shepherd's pie once but you really could tell the difference and I am not sure I liked it!
Bertie tells me we ate a souffle - gratin made with breadfruit but I don't remember that one amongst all my experience of Caribbean cuisine!
One way of getting the new generation to eat breadfruit is making it into chips.


Nor is it restricted to savoury dishes:
A new use of breadfruit is in cakes and in a traditional Guadeloupean drink, chaudo. This is a (very delicious!) hot milky drink usually made with eggs, condensed milk and spices but breadfruit can replace the eggs. It is traditionally served with a plain cake that you dip in it at the party after a child's First Communion, but now it is found at all sorts of occasions.
Before the fruit comes out, the long spongy male flower is known as the popote and this can also be used to make a sweet snack.

We had a go at this, firstly soaking the popote
then scratching off the outer fluffy layer
Next step was to boil them in a syrup made with spices and then leave to cristallise in the sun, but we didn't quite make it that far! I look forwad to tasting the outcome one day...Good for you

Breadfruit is a great source of energy with low levels of protein and fat and a moderate glycemic index. It is also a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium with small amounts of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron. Some varieties contain small amounts of folic acid.

Sources: http://www.essortment.com/all/whatisbreadf_rcwh.htm http://www.ntbg.org/breadfruit/breadfruit/index.php http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/breadfruit.html

Le Careme

We are now into Le Careme, a word with two meanings - Lent and the dry season. In great contrast to the constant ferocious rains of last July - November during the hurricane season, it is hardly raining at all now and the plants are beginning to feel it. The temperature has also crept up and I am beginning to feel it! It remains very cool in the morning and evenings though. Every time I comment on the heat, someone will nod knowingly and comment "ah, c'est le careme" and most of my local friends prefer this season as it is beginning to warm up!

We went back to Pika on Thursday to give Bertie's crops some desperately needed water - Mamie and Papy are watering more or less daily and many plants are nevertheless withering. Have a look at the state of the ground there However the heat has not stopped Bertie's carrots from coming on nicely - we have picked about 6 so far. They are tasty but very odd looking with several roots on each one, which Mamie attributes to him digging them up and replanting them. We live and learn.

In order to keep the crops cooler and make the most of the water they get, Mamie recommend Bertie cover them with coconut tree leaves.
Other crops that have been picked and enjoyed are coriander (so delicious in a curry!) and corn on the cob. Mamie's pineapples are growing nicely - I never realised how pretty they begin life!

Peeking At Pika: Cythere

Sorry for the delay in the next installment of my Peeking at Pika series - I can only put it down to having visitors here!

C is finally for (Pomme or Prune) Cythere Site Ambarella

An interesting part of preparing these posts is finding all the english names for fruits and vegetables I only know in French. It turns out the cythere has many many names, including Otaheite apple, Golden apple and Tahitian Apple or Quince, so take your pick for your favourite one!

There are many fruits here which are "Pomme something" including maracudja, mango, callebasse, cannelle and even pomme de terre comes to mind. What is it with the word apple that it is applied so liberally, I wonder...

Cythere season was during the couple of months before Christmas, when we had them in abundance and enjoyed a cythere (or two or three) a day. They were very welcome as no other fruits were available. Now we have one every now and then.

We have three trees I think and they are so tall, it is rather hard to see the top where all the fruit is. As a result, it is not a fruit that you pick - you have to wait for the it to fall first!

When it is not yet ripe, the fruit is green and very sour. It then is ready to eat when it turns yellow, although it is still very hard and has quite a tart taste. When it goes soft it is no longer good. It has quite a bit of flesh but on the inside there is a very strange large stone with spiky bits all over it.Aside from eating cytheres, we also make a lovely juice when it is still green but it definitely needs sweetening! Bertie makes it by the rather time-consuming method of taking off the flesh and blending with water then sieving several times, though it still remains thick. Others just blend the whole fruit, stone included, but I am not sure if that is very good for your blender! We have also been given some jam made from cythere - with the stones still included!

Good for you

There is not an abundance of information on the cythere but it seems to contain iron, calcium and vitamin C too.

Sources: wikipedia http://caribfruits.cirad.fr/fruits_des_antilles/pomme_cythere http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/ambarella_ars.html www.cess-martinique.com/alimentation.html

Peeking At Pika: Coco

A bit belated this week, but we continue our Cs with

C is for Coco Koko Coconut

From the many photos that appear on my blog, you may have realised by now that the cocotier is my favourite tree here by far! The gently swaying leaves in the wind, the sturdy slim curved trunk...I really know that I am in the Caribbean when I see one.

How a coconut tree grows

The first sign of a coconut tree growing is a little leaf beginning to poke out of a dry coconut. You can see these lying around on the ground at Pika when they have fallen off the tree and been left to themselves.

Soon it will grow roots and attach firmly to the ground, and thus a new cocotier is born.
Look hard and you will see the above rotting coconut with its roots and all at the bottom of this tree.

These two coconut trees are in fact related, as the one on the right has grown from a coconut that fell off the one on the left.

Developing coconuts

As the tree grows, amongst the leaves grow branches (grappes) full of coconuts.

On the left-hand side below you can see them still on the tree. On the top right is a grappe that has been removed from the tree (and several of the coconuts removed for our personal consumption!). Free of coconuts on the bottom right, you can see the brown pods which they were previously connected to.

The new leaves and branches grow out of the top of the coconut tree whilst the old ones gradually dry and fall off. The youngest coconuts will be at the top whilst the older and dry ones will be lower down until they too eventually fall off.

Getting coconuts off the tree

You can wait for them to fall off naturally, but this usually only happens when they are dry (unless you have a hurricane) so if you want fresh coconut water you can...

Get out your ladder (only for those with a head for heights!)

Get a pole with a hook and try and encourage them down (best for those with a good aim)

Fresh coconut

When you have taken a fresh coconut off the tree it only remains fresh for a couple of days. Chop it open with a machete, making sure to get the positioning just right so that you open up the little hole as shown. This allows you to drink the sweet water directly from the coconut (if you can!) or go the easier route and either pour it into a cup or put in a straw. Then split it in two and inside you will find a white jelly-like substance which you can eat. The part of the coconut shell you chop off is just the right shape for a spoon!

Dried coconut

After the coconut has dried out and fallen off the tree, it can be collected and shaken. If you can hear water sloshing around then it is fine, if not discard it. Interestingly, if you pick a fresh coconut it won't ever become a dry one, it will simply rot. This process has to happen on the tree.

Once you have chopped it open, you will find the dried coconut meat as you can see below. We grate it to make dried coconut (for cereal, cakes, sweets) or pass it through the centrifuge to make coconut milk either for cooking or for making coconut sorbet. I have frozen the grated stuff but not tried freezing the milk; otherwise it needs using up quickly before it goes off.

In the top right of the above picture you can actually see the new coconut tree growing, called the coconut heart. I have seen these sold in tins in the supermarket and apparently they are a delicacy, but I wasn't overly taken with the taste of this fresh one. At the bottom right is a dried coconut Bertie chopped the outer husk off. This will remain usable for a while and can be transported much more easily (this particular one is for Evs to take home with her). It makes me think of funfairs! The outer husk makes very good fire material.

Good for you

Indeed it is! There is a huge list of benefits given by the Coconut Research Centre, Living Foods and Organic Facts which I will leave you to look at yourself if you are interested. Its nutritional benefits are largely due to the presence of lauric acid, which is also present in breastmilk. Furthermore, the argument that it is bad for you because it is high in saturated fats has been questioned.

Coconut meat is high in protein and a good source of iron, phosporus and zinc whilst being low in sugar.

Coconut oil is particularly good for you - for more information have a look at these blogs that I have been reading recently: the Nourishing Gourmet and Passionate Homemaker, which also gives you non-culinary ways of using coconut oil, such as for your hair, skin, deodorant and in soap.

There are two types of coconut oil however - copra oil (made from the dry coconut flesh) is to be avoided, as it is refined, being purified, bleached, and deodorized to clean it after being smoked to obtain the oil. It can also be hydrogenated. Rather, choose virgin coconut oil, which is made from in various ways from the meat of fresh coconuts. For a coconut-filled island, there is surprisingly little coconut oil available here, but I am looking forward to getting some when we are next in Capesterre. We have also thought about trying to make our own.

Coconut water, besides being an excellent source of potassium, sugar, fibre, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, also provides an isotonic electrolyte balance. Being naturally sterile, when it is used directly from the nut, it can be used for energency plasma transfusions and as an intravenous fluid. It is also a good drink for people convalescing.

The rest of the coconut tree can be used in a myriad of ways - for example our local restaurant has coconut leaves decorating and providing shelter along the outside.

Our use of coconut is pretty simple though - and with the number of coconuts we get through, it is nice to have so many trees available to us at Pika.

Sources: Wikipedia http://www.knowledgebase-script.com/demo/article-320.html http://www.alternative-healthzine.com/html/0108_2.html

Photos: All from Pika unless otherwise stated

Five Years Old!

Friday was the long-awaited day which has been LissaLou's thoughts for the past 11 months and 27 days...LissaLou reached the grand old age of five! Amazing....

We decorated our living room with balloons, photos through her little life and then called her through to open her gifts - we were delighted that Mum and Evs had brought them over from the UK with them, as the closed shops here would have meant nothing to open otherwise!

She was very pleased with her Polly Pocket swimming pool set from her BF back home as well as a PlayMobil horse and cart from her auntie, but oh the arguments since between her and CassCass and Stella as to who gets to play with what! Baby JoJo doesn't get involved, he just heads straight for the toys and pops them in his mouth!

Off to Pika for our birthday celebration - a very fine BBQ courtesy of Papa and can you guess what is boiling in the pot...
Sweet potates freshly picked from Mamie's garden!Papa put up a second swing to the girls' delight and they spent practically the whole time on them. Unfortunately they are quite far from each other so the pusher has to run between them both manically! Evs spent so long pushing CassCass that I was tempted to chop her arm off and leave it there so the rest of her could get a rest....

Papy presented LissaLou with a beautiful bouquet - and the last maracudja at Pika!
We enjoyed having Mum and Evs here to share the special day - as well as Tatie Nadia, Agathe (whose car we have), Tatie Felicianne, Mamie and Papy, and some friends who popped in for a branch (as you do).

And the point culminant for LissaLou was....her gorgeous chocolate cake made in a heart shape courtesy of Papa (thanks to Latana for sending Swiss chocolate over with Mum! Delicious!)
But what the photos don't show is that we just could not light those candles for love or money... there was a fierce wind blowing at Pika all day and every time Bertie lit one it went straight out, despite being the magic relightable ones! So her blowing out photo was somewhat posed!

Bertie had to pop off for work and the others gradually left so we were pleased to enjoy a somewhat quieter and more calm Pika in the afternoon.

Peeking At Pika: Citronnelle

C is also for Citronnelle Sitronel Lemongrass

Citronnelle is a grass with no link to the citron whatsoever apart from having a lovely lemony smell. It is also known as cymbopogon citratus.

We have just the one bush at Pika and it is constantly being used for tisanes but there is still plenty more to be enjoyed. As a herbal medicine it has many benefits: reducing fevers, stomach cramps, flatulence and colic,
easing arthritic pain and general digestive aid to name but a few. Simply put a few leaves into boiling water and leave to infuse before enjoying, sweetened if prefered. We add it to our mint tea for the extra taste.
Citronnelle is also used for essential oil, where it is helps with mental fatigue and relaxes the nervous system as well as being an antiseptic.


However, my most very favourite aspect of the oil is that it is a mosquito repellent! And yes, it does actually seem to work! No need to put all sorts of chemicals on yourself, simply get some pure citronnelle oil (we bought some that is made in Marie-Galante) and rub it on, then enjoy a bite-free evening and the bonus of a beautiful aroma. Some people even plant citronnelle bushes around their house to keep out the mosquitoes.

Sources: http://www.citronnelle.eu/ http://www.ageless.co.za/lemon_grass.htm Wikipedia.fr

Photos: All photos from Pika unless otherwise stated