Pink pamplemousse

Almost the shade of figs. Still a bit sour, should get sweeter in some weeks. Remembering when we arrived to the Caribbean earlier this year and the (yellow) grapefruits were so sweet and juicy that I thought I had mistaken what fruit I was eating. They grow almost all year around here in the West Indies, but they are at their best between Dec-March.

Weekly supply

Loving the fact that you're able to get your needed vegetables, fruits and herbs literally straight from the ground and the trees here on these lush, green West Indian islands. We have one friend here in Antigua who harvests his own garden and delivers a colorful bag of our favorite produce once/twice a week and it is always full of amazing fragrances and flavors.

This time he got us some yellow lime fruit, one large avocado, lemon grass (making my own amazing lemon grass tea) and fresh basil with flower. Boat smells wonderful with all this beauty around.

West-Indian fast food

In other countries one might go to Mc Donald's, Subway, the local kebab or schwarma house or perhaps a pizzeria when the laziness wins over the desire to cook - here in the Caribbean you make sure to get yourself a spicy roti. Roti* was introduced to the Caribbean as early as in 1840 by Indian indentured laborers. A little side-note to the story for the ones of you who don't know this yet; after the slavery was abolished in the Brittish empire in 1833, plantation owners had to turn to indentured servitude to get inexpensive labor. These servants arrived from all over the world, the majority came from India. In fact that much, that from 1846 to 1932, an estimated 28 million Indians arrived to work in colonies requiring manual labor. Of course these people have influenced the West Indies in many ways with their culture and also their food and this specific dish that I'm talking about, was first introduced in Trinidad and Tobago, and has with time spread to other Caribbean islands.

The roti is a form of flour pancake/crepe/wrap and it is filled with either stewed chicken, lamb, channa (chick peas), beef, conch and/or vegetables. Curry is often included in the mix or choose to have it jerk style or with a spicy creole sauce. However you want it, it is always very very spicy. Make sure you try one out next time you're around, it is all very simple yet incredibly tasteful. Curry chicken is my personal favorite.

*In other parts of the world, Asia for instance, the name roti is used for only the flat bread, without the fillings.

5 favorites bottles from the West Indies (and I ain't talking rum this time)

There are so many delightful recipes to get inspired from here in the Caribbean and they all have a bit of sting which is always very welcome. Best way to collect and keep these wonderful flavors for the days when we're no longer here, are to stock up on your favorite sauces on bottle. I'm sure most of these can be found in other variations around the world, but these are my five favorite Caribbean bottles of joy that I have came to love during our stay here in the West Indies:

Garlic Sauce - Simply a bottle full of garlic. I'm addicted to this shit. Just opened our second bottle in less than five months so you can only imagine how good we smell around here. Can be used for everything and anything.

Passionfruit sauce - A delightful, creamy sauce based on passionfruit but which also contains onion and salt to balance out the sweetness. This one is perfect for BBQ marinades and salad vinaigrette's. 

Coconut oil - Can come handy instead of olive, sunflower or whatever oil you're used to cook with but I use this mainly for baking due to its wonderful light sweetness. It doesn't have any coconut flavor as one might assume, only a very tiny hint of something reminiscent of vanilla, or nuts perhaps.

West Indian Hot Sauce - Just as the name suggests. This is a very very hot yet marvelous sauce that I add into most of my concoctions. Chicken stew, meat casseroles, thai mahi mahi and so on. This sauce is filled with the explosive bonnet peppers so be careful with how much you add to your food..

Green Seasoning - Another true Caribbean classic. A great supplement to any dish. This sauce is based on papaya, onion and peppers making it quite round in flavor. It is much lighter and a bit sweeter in taste than the previous, perfect when you're having visitors who are not too fond of entirely burning hot food.

Conch for lunch?

Yes please. Half a kilo, freshly caught, 7 Euros (if you're too lazy to pick them up from the bottom of the sea yourself, that is). Curry conch in the making....

You know you're in St Lucia....

... when your counter is filled with ugly looking grapefruits and speckled bananas. But do not let the appearance fool you, these grapefruits are the sweetest on earth and the bananas are sweet and firm with just the right amount of spiciness in them.

Price: 20 XCD for 6 huge pamplemousse and 8 large bananas (that's equivalent to around €5, $7,50 or 45 SEK)

Galley friend

These miniature bottles of rum that people left here or I don't know from where we got them, comes very handy in the kitchen. Instead of opening the big bottles, I use these little bastards to add a few drops in the cakes that I bake, in my West-Indian chicken stew, in fruit-salads, over grilled vegetables and every thinkable concoction that could be in need of some sweet improvement. Very practical as there are only very few things in life that wouldn't taste better with some rum mixed with it.

Chocolate in the making

There are many ways to save money and great possibilities to stay self sufficient when sailing the seas. You could make your own chocolate for example. That's just what Alex is up to at the moment, drying the cocoa beans (from the cocoa fruits we got in Dominica the other day) in the sun while we're sailing towards St Martin. Perfect day here by the way. 14-16 knots of wind from E-NE, flat sea and blue skies. Arriving to our new boat tomorrow afternoon.

Daily purchase/fruit shopping in Saint John's

Pineapple, mango, tamarind, soursop, orange, kiwi, banana, starfruit, melon, sugar apple, papaya....  

Good morning

What better way to start off the day than with plenty of tropical vitamins?

Sugar apple (pretty similar to the South American cherimoya which I love), starfruit and mango. Because yes, there are plenty of other delicious fruits in the Caribbean than only my beloved mangoes.

One commenter reminded me of the quote from one inspiring man who once upon a time in the 50's left his successful career as an actor in Hollywood, he walked out of a shattered marriage, he defied the courts and set sail on a journey to the South Seas with his children. A remarkable story was later on written in his famous autobiography Wanderer, which continues to inspire people all over the world. 

All things coco

And I ain't talking about Chanel this time.

What is more refreshing under the sun than fresh coconut water straight from the fruit?

I think I could live on coconuts, mango and ... rum and all things made of them. My three all time Caribbean favorites.

7 mangoes later

I cannot express my love for these fruits well enough. They are absolutely divine and I can eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and before I go to bed. Simply can't get enough of their sweetness.

P.s: Sorry, the blog is still a bit disordered, I'm working on it. 

Mango dreams

A couple of years ago, one of my very good friends brought with him a couple of fresh chaunsa mangoes that he had picked in his own garden in Karachi, Southern Pakistan. They had been harvested in the morning just before his flight left to Europe and one of my most profound mango memories are from the evening when his flight arrived to Barcelona and I got to taste the most delicious and sweet mangoes that I never even thought existed on this planet. I mean, they were not mangoes as most of us know them, they were something else. They were the real deal. Tiny fruits but with the sweetest taste you can ever imagine. I never thought I would come across such delightful and perfected mango fruits again before perhaps when we would arrive to Pakistan and get the chance to visit my friend on this tour, around year 2013 at the earliest. But yesterday something happened that made me fall back in love with the fruit again. Marshall, a local guy who we've learned to know here in Antigua brought with him a huge bag of the freshest mangoes for us to taste, straight from his own garden and although they might not exactly be the same style and sort as the Pakistani version, they are pretty damn close to perfection. I know for sure that I will never be able to eat imported mangoes from supermarkets again after having had tasted these little wonders. They just aren't the same thing. And I definitely know what will be on the top priority list that day when we decide to build our own house, a beautiful mango tree in the heart of the garden. /T

Vitamin bomb

Not too hard to stay healthy in the West indies. Almost everyday we're having some fresh and incredibly sweet mango, the juiciest pineapple straight from the field and new passion fruit made in heaven...