How prayer saved my day and what you can do to save Trichelle

I have some girls who form the core of personal support and love in my life and for whom I would do anything, and vice versa. Beautiful, strong women who have been in my life for years and years. Earlier this week, I received the horrible news that my friend's sister is missing. It surely has to be every person's worst nightmare - to turn around and not know where your loved one is and whether they are safe, scared or alone.

It has been weighing heavily on my mind and being away from home makes one feel a bit hopeless but then we all feel that way. So while the police carry out their investigations, we wait. All any of us can do now is sit, wait, and pray for her safe return and pray for her family, who undoubtedly need all the support they can get at this time. This could be any one of us, sadly so no thought, no prayer is too small. Thanks to everyone who circulated the photos to friends and lifted the family up in prayer. Hoping for good news soon.

This being said, I have not been the sharpest tack in the drawer this week, and it took me all week to scramble some words together on a page to send to my dissertation supervisor. Not my best work but when I finally sent it off today, I decided that I also needed to eat, having not eaten a proper meal in days. So I did the whole nine yards with the cooking, rustling up a fantastic curry to go with my contraband dhalpuri roti (luckily UK Customs did not feel the need to seize this as they did my NZ cheddar). Hungry and tired, I doled out a serving of this Trini culinary goodness, set it on the table, cleaned up and then went out to put out the trash - a 15 second exercise. In less than 10 seconds, the sound no pyjama clad, fluffy socks and fluffy slippers wearing, bad hair day woman wants to hear, echoed in my ear sockets - the sound of a slamming door, automatically locking me out, while the keys jangled in the lock and mocked me from the inside. F#@^ me!

Luckily for me, two things were in my favour - 1. the neighbours were home and while #2 was the main reason I was in this predicament, with the wind from this source being the reason the door slammed behind me, still, 2. the back door was open.

This is where I put my acrobatic skills to work and for those who know what my university hall name was, this would be funny. The neighbour got out his old rickety ladder, and leaned it against the fence so I could climb up and clamber over. If you know anything about British fences, and guttering, you would know that they are basically shit. If you know anything about me, you would know that I am a true Caribbean woman with an ass and meat on the bones. To say this exercise of climbing over this fence which could barely take the weight of a Barbie doll, and praying I did not break down the entire thing was a challenge, would be an understatement. I looked for something on which to hold on to, and the guttering was as fragile as the fence so I had to hold on to the neighbour, and pray for dear life. I whispered a prayer asking first for personal safety - I did not want to have to tell my mother over Skype that I had broken anything, and also I prayed for the fence cause I am not in a financial position to help pay to repair a broken fence.

Well, I am here typing this, and the fence still stands and the curry was excellent. It just goes to show that prayer is great. Faith is powerful, no matter what the challenge - no matter how big or small, trite or life changing.

My friend's family is going through a situation I wish on noone. Please say a prayer for Trichelle and let's bring her home.

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Foodie Pics: Curry Tabanca

I always say, I could eat curry every week - maybe not everyday but definitely once a week and it had been a while since I had a good curry. And my mantra is, if you want something good, best you do it yourself and so I did. I had promised a friend to come over and cook Trini curry for him this weekend and we did that, while watching my dismal cricket team play India. It was lovely. And so after introducing a Brit to Trinidadian curry on Sunday, and ultimately teasing my own tastebuds for the spicy goodness of a curried chicken, yesterday, I went to Tesco and got chicken, chick peas, potatoes and chapatis.

First, I seasoned the chicken last evening so it could marinate overnight. Lots of onions, garlic, green herbs, , peppers, geera (cumin) and curry powder. Chief curry powder, and Chief ground geera - not the crap they have here. It looks beautiful doesn't it?

I love cutting drumsticks in half for curry. To me boneless chicken for curry is sacrilege

Then this morning I cut up my potatoes into small cubes. I also chopped some onions, garlic, peppers and threw them in some very very hot oil, with some whole geera, (I just love geera) before adding curried powder mixed with water for the chunkay. Then, in went my chick peas and then later my cubed potatoes. Bubble bubble...

The channa, better known as chickpeas, bubbling in the curry

With my oil extremely hot in my dutch pot, I added the seasoned chicken and allowed that to cook in a covered pot for about an hour. I nyammed on a toasted sesame bagel with a scrambled egg white and some hot chocolate while this was going on. Did I mention I started cooking at 8am?

Putting the chicken on to do its magic

I finished cooking before 10am which was great and cleared the kitchen and packed everything away until 2pm lunch hour. I did make dhalpuri from scratch on Sunday but there was no way I was doing that today so I picked up some chapatis and heated them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. I also, last night, brewed some green tea and added the juice of 3 limes and some sugar for a thirst quenching iced green tea. Lunch was then served.

Tuesday lunch - curried chicken, curried channa (chickpeas), chapatis, iced green tea with citrus

Close up of the meal, with the chicken so tender, the flesh was falling off the bone. It was bliss. Jealous much? Back to work.

Curry a la Trininista!

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G on my Chest - The Garlic Master

What a difference a few days can make to the world, to my emotional health and sanity.

Thursday morning.

Dismal backyard view - what's that white stuff?

This morning.

Almost bbq weather in London today!

It's amazing. I almost did not recognise the place. And there was this strange yet familiar looking yellow orb in the sky all day. Fantastic. Pity I could not go outside and enjoy it. I swear, by the time I am done with this Masters degree, I will loathe every brand known to man. God...these assignments are insane. I got 2 hours sleep last night, woke up this morning, took a shower, had some breakfast while realising Muse was on one of the music channels all day (I love Muse) and then came back up to this f#@!y. lol. I am such a sucker for progress.

But I also made another disturbing discovery.

It finally hit me - the reason I am single.

Yes. I love garlic. If you asked me to give up chocolate for a week, I could do it. Wine, in this weather, it would be a challenge but on a normal day, yes, I could give it up. Garlic? It would be near impossible. I was sorting out my groceries and realised I am a garlic master.

I got garlic bread, soft cheese with garlic, garlic and onion pasta sauce, a new bottle of garlic seasoning, and of course fresh garlic. Let's not forget my new favourite snack, Boursin garlic and herb cheese. It goes great with sauv blanc and Ritz crackers. Really good.

It's not the most romantic fetish, I admit but it has health benefits and with just a bit of garlic you can avoid using loads of salt and fat in your cooking. My cousin attempted to cook a curry one day without garlic and I was beyond alarmed. I mean, the mainstay of a good chunkay* is frickin' garlic. I keep telling this dude he has been living in this country for way too long.

It's also part of the reason he is now moaning and groaning as men are inclined to do when sick. He's got a cold, not pneumonia but you would never believe it the way he is carrying on. But while I make fun of my Sainsbury's pasta drawer, I also try to eat well, with a fresh soup, a fresh salad or legumes or high protein and fresh juices. So it's the tropical cousin - who is "enjoying" her first winter ever, who wakes up at 5am to brave the British breeze at the bus stop to get to class, who sleeps 4 hours or less on many a night, completing inane assignments - who is fully alert, healthy and perky. And it's the British by proxy cousin, who has been here for 20 years, who is battling the winter germs. Maybe if he ate some garlic-infused fresh meals, a  fresh salad ever so often, instead of Tesco's cole slaw and a pasty for dinner, then he would be as super as I am.

By the way, I was walking through the mall one day and was ravenous and got myself a Gregg's cheese and onion pasty, which to my non-Brit friends is like a cheese pastry. It was without a doubt, the nastiest thing I had ever sunk my teeth into in my life. After suffering through 2 bites of this thing I had to throw it in the bin - waste of my  £1. I think it was the cheese. I am used to NZ cheddar in my cheese pies and I am not sure what this was, but it was not a fun experience. It was oozing and white and ugh.

Maybe next time I will pay tribute to cheese, something else I don't think I could live without - unless it's in a cheese and onion pasty.

p.s. However, the cheese and onion twists at M&S and Tesco - awesome!!!
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*chunkay - (the process of adding heated oil infused with cooked garlic; process of frying aromatics and spices in oil - a process especially associated with preparing curry in Trinidad and Tobago)

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