Similar to the pacro water, I had another wonderful discussion with another facebook group member about ice creams and gelatos. One thing he asked was if there anything such a soursop sorbet and that had me thinking for a while. Is there anything called a soursop sorbet? Indeed after much research I discovered that there was such a thing called a soursop sorbet.


So what's a sorbet? Well, for starters, a sorbet is not an ice cream and it usually consists of pureed fruit and/ or fruit juice with sugar and lime or lemon juice added that's frozen or placed in an ice cream maker.


The difference between the two lies in the function of the food and their ingredients. Ice creams are meant to be eaten as a dessert while sorbets are used as palate cleansers between courses or before a main course, hence the intense sweetness sorbets possess. And of course from the ingredients you would notice the other difference: there is the absence of milk.


I believe the serving size of both ice creams and sorbets are also different. Ice creams can be served in larger amounts, but since the sorbet is sweeter only a small amount can be eaten...Then too, if sorbets are served between courses you don't want to fill up on too much anyhow: You have to leave space for dessert :-D. See more about sorbets here.


Sorbets also serve as a healthy alternative to ice cream. Vegetarians (vegans in particular) can enjoy this tasty treat since there isn't any animal products in the ingredients...Who says that vegans can't enjoy themselves too! So, all in all, it's basically simple to make, and a great sweet treat, just like the snow cone, on a hot day like today ( we have had more than 31 days of no rain here in Trinidad). Enjoy my simple soursop sorbet, trini style.



2 cups soursop pulp, Seeded, pureed and sieved ( I will show the process)
2 tbsp lime juice ( lemon juice could be used also)
3/4 cup sugar













































Variations: We added evaporated milk to some, froze it and it tasted like ice cream. You can also experiment by adding rum, grated ginger or another pureed fruit or fruit juice. I can definitely see myself trying some of these variations later on!

More recipes to come. Ah gone! :-)


.

It was another scorcher of a day and the sun was out in full force attacking every inch of T & T's soil, but I was brave enough to venture in the hot sun to go and visit to National Museum and Art Gallery with my wife and sister. The trip to the museum, located on 117 Frederick Street, was an adventure for me, since I never went to the museum...( Yeah Ah know, big man like me never went to the museum in meh life lol!!). I couldn't photograph anything (Museum Rules) so the next best thing I could do is to talk briefly about the experience.

I was amazed at some of the artifacts showcased. One room showed rock samples; bottles of petroleum and its derivatives; and models of different parts of the oil industry: oil rigs, catalytic cracker. There was even a "Christmas tree" (No, not that kind of Christmas tree) on display. It's an assembly of valves, spools and fittings that's assembled like a Christmas tree. Still don't know what I'm talking about? Here's a picture of one.

I was really blown away by the Amerindian relics that I saw, especially some of the pieces they got from the Pitch Lake. I saw an oar, a seat and part of a skull. Other rooms had items from the races that inhabit the island. There were musical instruments, furniture, documents, and other defining objects on display. This was really an eye opener for me. You know, we always learn about our history from what we read and what is said to us, but when you see objects that tell of our past in this way, history comes alive. School children need to see where their ancestors came from.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to see much of the paintings because of renovations, but there was a small exhibition titled "Identity" by Dutch artist Yasmin Champagne, in another part of the museum that was awe inspiring...Well, at least to me. I liked her use of line, colour and texture. The painting "Zipped up" was my favourite...a black woman putting on white skin?.. This painting has some serious undertones going on! Truly an exploration/ confusion/ deception of identity occurring.


Yes! Ah know ah like to talk. The brief writeup putting on long pants now :-)....Anyhow, on to the snow cone....The walk about the museum really called for a thirst quencher and luckily there was a snow cone vendor right outside the museum. I had only one thing in mind while we approached the snow cone man...I wanted mine with some condensed milk drizzled all over the top. But I was in for a surprise. Jack, the snow cone vendor, poured condensed milk after the first layer of shaved ice and still added condensed milk all over the top. It was sweet to the last drop: just the thing to ease the scorching sun that afternoon.


You will notice from the pics that he used two flavours. The yellow one was guava while the red was the usual snow cone syrup...Some recipes worth researching here already don't you think? let's look at some pictures shall we?

Ok! It's time to restart the Trini recipe machine once again (time to dust out the cobwebs... oil the gears...add some fuel lol!!) and start to pump out some delicious Trini creations that I have grown up on. Speaking about growing up...This simple recipe I'm about to show you was a favourite of ours when you got fed up of 'Normal tea" or when you had gas pain. But, that was not all. My mother used candied orange peel in her black cakes as well. She used to cut up the peel into small pieces and boil it in sugar to add to her fruits that was soaking in a jar of Sherry brandy whole year. But that will have to be another post. If I forget just remind me OK?

Anyhow, back to Orange peel tea...The peel has, for want of a better word, a very fragrant, citrusy aroma when boiled that I find refreshing. So how do you dry the orange peel? Well, that's simple: after you peel the orange just hang the orange peel in a cool dry place or if you can't wait just put it out in the sun which by the way we have lots these days here in Trinidad. What I did was to store it in an air tight bottle to keep it fresh.

It seems that We Trinis are not the only ones who know about the benefits of orange peel tea. The chinese have been using it for ages as well for the cold and to aid digestion. Based on this I can see why it has been so effective for gas pain. You can read more about it here.

Other than its medicinal use a little further research online has yielded some other fantastic uses for orange peel. Some of them are totally new to me so I myself would be heading over here to take a read. So while I'm reading about the benefits of orange peel and its many uses, why don't you try a nice relaxing cup of orange peel tea. Enjoy!

2 -3 pieces of orange peel *
1 1/2 cups water
sugar to taste
milk to taste

*You can add more if you want it stronger but be careful: too much will make it bitter.

Not to be out done by the Scotland Bay lime, the next day I was invited by the same fishermen to go fishing. And me being the adventurous one grabbed my camera again and went along for the trip to Saut d'Eau (pronounced Sho-Doh) .


So where is Saut d'Eau? Saut d'Eau is a small island off the North coast of Trinidad that is mainly inhabited by Brown Pelicans and other bird species. It is a wildlife sanctuary but then, there's no need to worry because from the pictures you will see that the island is very inaccessible.


There are jagged rocks all around the island so any attempt to approach by boat is very treacherous. Actually, while we were approaching the island there was an area the fisherman showed me that had a large rock that was just under the water. If you don't know where it is you can easily run into it.


The only other way to get to Saut d'Eau is by foot. The Saut d'Eau Bay on the mainland is a favourite spot for hikers due to its seclusion, but don't be fooled the hike is a long and hard seven miles to reach to the bay.


So, it was me braving the waves, the hot Caribbean sun and the threat of motion sickness (no I didn't get sea sick), fishing off Saut d'Eau for a day. In the end it was fun: I caught two Bonito and a lot of Zuffy that we didn't want, we made some Bonito Pelau on the boat, and had a wonderful experience. Let's get to the pictures shall we? Of course, you can see even more over at the fan page.