Trini Cook Wannabe

There are several Trinidadian recipes I'd love to try in the next few weeks. I began with this chicken dish that has turmeric and curry in it. (that's what gives it the yellow look) It was quite tasty, but next time I'd be braver and put more chopped jalapeno pepper in it.

Fristy Frosty Morning

Although the weather and flora here are very different from what we experienced in the tropics last week, there's something outstanding and beautiful about the plant life in our own back yard, too, these days.

Hearty Photo Collection

In January it's always a pleasure to go through the stack of photos we've received throughout the Christmas season. I take heart at the thought of the variety of gifts and encouragement these friends and relatives have brought into our lives through God's orchestration.

Anniversary Gift Orchid

I began the TriniTrip series of photos with a pic of orchids, and I will close the series with a pic of this large and unique one. Yesterday in our travels over and around the mountain, our guide suddenly stopped the pickup beside the road and exclaimed over this orchid. The large, single bloom seemed to float in the air among the leaves and branches of a tree, creating a beautiful, unexpected sighting on our excursion. Since we're home, I wondered what orchids symbolize, so I googled the question and was astonished to discover that one of the descriptions under "a pink orchid" is that it is considered a gift for a 14th or 28th anniversary. The anniversary that Ken and I were celebrating on this trip is our twenty-eighth! Call me deep into sentimentality, but I will continue to think of this orchid as a symbol of unexpected gifts - on this trip and in our marriage.

Mountain Top Experience

Today, on our last full day in Trinidad, we visited one of our orchard workers who lives on a mountain in northern Trinidad. He drove us around in a 4-wheel-drive pickup. The roads and lanes were so winding and steep, I don't think we'd have made it without such a vehicle and the expertise of the driver. We saw many breath-taking views of the mountainsides, the valleys and the ocean. This, along with the commentary of our guide, the tour of his house, a delicious lunch cooked and served by his wife, meeting some of his relatives and friends and eating an afternoon snack of doubles (sandwich sort of thing with a hot-n-spicy chickpea filling) he purchased for us at a streetside stand, gave us an authentic Trinidadian cultural experience. We found out that today is our friend's birthday; I can only hope he had as great a day as he gave us.

Like Family

Today we were able to begin accomplishing the second most important goal of this trip - meeting some of our orchard workers. We spent five hours with this chap at his house, met his lovely wife, daughter and granddaughter, ate a splendid lunch of rice, beans and fresh vegetables prepared in his kitchen and sat on his porch to visit in the refreshing mountain breezes that wafted through. We laughed a lot. At one point, Ken told him that he and his people are like family to us. His daughter protested and said, "Not like family, we are family!"

                         (Photo credit: The Granddaughter - 6 yrs old, and with the cutest black braids galore)

Flowering Delights

I have been enjoying the beauty and uniqueness of the flowers in Tobago. Some of the kinds I recognize and most I don't - but I'm intrigued by them all. They are so lush and vibrant. Beside the same kinds we have in our living rooms in North America, the Tobago varieties would appear to be on steroids!