Displaying items by tag: Abroad

Great to see the slightly hippy, bohemian Rainbow Cafe in Cambridge is still going strong.  It was one of East Anglia's first vegetarian restaurants and opened in the 1980's. Lunch yesterday was Gado Gado ( the picture does not really do it justice) resh seasonal vegetables stir fried and served Indonesian style with turmeric brown rice and side dishes of peanut sauce, plum sauce and tamari added an extra punch of flavour. What a fantastic menu of interesting vegetarian world food.  I fancy the Vegan Artichoke Parcel next time.

Byron is well known for his barbecues on the beach, and says the secret of good Caribbean food is in the seasoning. Everyone makes their own version and it usually includes thyme, plenty of salt, peppers such as scotch bonnet or the small local chilis, and a number of other spices. In the UK we can cheat - but make sure you do it the night before, it's all about the preparation. And use twice as much as you think you need - strong flavours are the thing. Even though summer seems to be over we will be eating this on Monday at Notting Hill and until it's too cold to go out in the garden. And then we might just have to cook it in the oven.

Barbecued chicken, pork or fish with rice and peas

Prepare your meat or fish the day before - cut slashes into them to ensure the spices get right in, it will help with cooking too.

 Season with your preferred seasoning - curry powder will do but you can buy most of the Caribbean style seasonings now. Or make your own from a combination of salt, black pepper, turmeric,  ground allspice, dried thyme, red pepper (cayenne or fresh scotch bonnet chili) and olive oil. Rub this into the meat or fish. The next day - cook on your coal pot in the garden!

Rice and Peas

Rinse your rice, long grain is best. Cook until nearly ready, add plenty of salt, a tin of black eye beans or kidney beans or if you can get them, pigeon peas complete with their liquid and finish cooking. If you like you can add a bit of coconut - but most people don't.

...and in spite of eating and drinking non-stop, have lost weight. Must be the heat. And no cakes. So here are the pictures of the kind of thing I have been eating, in order of appearance: a mediocre fried fish from a side of the road stall in Antigua, papaya and banana from the garden with local honey and yoghurt for breakfast, my neighbours breakfast - sent over in return for a lift to church - salt fish, chop-up and fried corn bread, a soursop, mangoes and a proper delicious fried fish served with soldier crab fungi.

I want to go back... 

Yesterday we headed off to the community event held by USAF Lakenheath to celebrate July 4th. They sure know how to hold an event and cook for the thousands of visitors attending.  Not a commercial food outlet in sight, but an amazing selection of foods prepared to raise funds for the various organisations that exist on the base. We ate corn dogs, hot and spicy chicken wings with carrot and celery sticks, smoked brisket with fried pickles, kebab combo of chicken and beef kebabs with corn on the cob and funnel cake with cinnamon sugar. These guys pictured made us chicken fajitas with sour cream and tomato salsa.  It was a great family day out  with an amazing firework finale.  The food just kept on coming, ooh, and yes, there was Aspalls cider in the beer tent.

Suffolkfoodie has gone off to Barbuda in the Caribbean for six weeks ( to visit her family) InspectorX and veggieplot have been left to man the computer.  Here is the first picture that suffolkfoodie sent from Antigua.  It didn't take her long to look for food!

For a whole year illustustrator David Meldrum painted what he ate and the exhibition of 365 pictures is on in London. That's my kind of project!

This year it's early... on Sunday and Monday 25th and 26th August 2013.