Balanced Melting Pot

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Haitian Squash Soup

Balanced Melting Pot — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:59:44 +0000

This post is a bit late considering that I wrote about it back in January. I am choosing to look at it as really early for next year .

For the New Year, I wrote about the Haitian tradition of eating soup joumou (pronounced joomoo) on January 1st. New Year’s Day happens to also be Haitian Independence Day, thus making the celebration two-fold. Expat Mama had the great suggestion on posting the recipe for those of you who like to try new things.

In my family, as well as all the Haitian families I know, recipes are never written down. Up until a few years ago, I would still call my grandmother every time I was trying a more complicated Haitian dish and she would tell me from memory what to do. The good thing about many of the recipes is there is always room for improvisation. Over time, I have modified my grandmother’s recipes to make them more my own. However, soup joumou is not one of them. The recipe below is a mix of various family recipes that I have gathered which most closely resemble how I prefer to have soup joumou. It should feed four people. Feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll consult my grandmother for the answer.

Ingredients:

1 lb. cubed beef stew meat
2 boxes of frozen squash or one whole fresh one
1 malanga
2 onions-sliced
3 large carrots
6 medium potatoes
¼ lb spaghetti or noodles
2 limes cut in half
2 tsp. thyme
2 tsp parsley, 3 minced garlic cloves
½ cup scallions
salt, black pepper, and hot pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Soak the meat in hot water and lemon and set aside in a bowl
2. Add seasoning (salt, black pepper, hot pepper, garlic, parsley) and let marinate for 2 hrs – this can be done the night before, as well
3. Boil meat in stockpot with 3 quarts of water until tender (about 1 ½- 2 hrs)
4. Add more additional water if necessary and remaining ingredients (malanga, potatoes, carrots, onions, scallions, thyme, squash) except noodles
5. Cook for 20 minutes and add noodles. Let simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.

And voila! The finished product should look something like the picture above.

Note: My mother has let this cook all night and it turned out fine. Traditionally, the spaghetti is not intended to be al dente, but you can cook it to your liking.

Photo courtesy of Whole Foods

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Pasteleria St. Honore

Balanced Melting Pot — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:33:13 +0000

There is definitely no shortage of bakeries here in Caracas. I can be quite picky about my tarts and croissants, so I’ve tried my fair share.

We recently celebrated my husband’s birthday and since he is not a big cake fan, I opted for a fruit tart. Okay, what really happened is I had a hard time ordering a cake in Spanish and the tart was there in the display, so I pointed to it and said “quiero ese”.

I know this was somewhat of a copout, but the tart looked really good. It was at the Pasteleria St. Honore which specializes in French pastries and their food almost looks too good to eat – almost

So, the fruit tart was a hit (this picture doesn’t do it justice). I’ve since gone back and tried the pain au raisin, as well as the pain au chocolat – both were fantastic!

Pasteleria St. Honore gets a thumbs up from me.

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Two month check-up

Balanced Melting Pot — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:32:46 +0000

On good days, I can’t believe that two months have gone by so quickly. On bad days, I feel like I’ve been here for years.

I feel as though I’ve learned a lot in a short period – maybe that’s why I’m tired. Here’s a few of the highlights -

1) I am so glad that I decided to not even think about working for the first three months. I don’t know how I could have managed a job and getting the kids settled. It took me these past two months just to get all their school supplies. Hence my first lesson: there is no Wal-Mart or Super Target equivalent in Caracas. The closest thing I found to a Costco or BJ’s is a store called Makro and it is located on the outskirts.

2) Always allow for an extra 30-40 minutes when going somewhere by car. Traffic here is simply erratic. At first I was told it’s really bad on Fridays because that’s when people are getting ready to go away for the weekend. Then when it was equally horrendous the following Tuesday, I was told it was due to protests going on all over the city. Then when it was even worse on Thursday, I was told people were getting ready for the impending holiday the following week. Bottom line: traffic can be horrible at any time.

3) I need to relax. If I go to the store looking for something that I saw there the day before and it’s gone – too bad. No one there is going to go out of his/her way to find a hidden stash of my peanut butter or specific brand of paper towels and that’s OKAY. Life will go on. The more I get into this mindset, I find that other little things that used to bother me simply roll off my back. Therefore, I am a calmer version of myself (I’m sure my husband is enjoying that )

So, after two months, the patient seems to be very healthy.

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Parque del Este

Balanced Melting Pot — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:40:44 +0000

After spending seven years in South Florida, I have become a sucker for a nice park. Having access to good parks makes it very easy to entertain kids on very short notice and very little budget. When I visited Caracas in October, my husband and I took a quick tour of the Parque del Este in Los Palos Grandes, I have to admit that I was thoroughly impressed. I was even more excited to learn that the kids’ school frequently go there for field trips.

So, this park is what I consider HUGE. I have been there many times and I still don’t think that I have seen the whole thing. They have several fields to play soccer and baseball, as well as basketball courts. There are at least 4 different restaurants and many other snacking facilities for those spending the day. There is also a pretty big lake with pedal boats for rent.

I think my favorite part of the park is the animals. There are lemurs, turtles, tortoises, crocodiles, sea lions, and a bird sanctuary. These pictures were taken during my last visit. This is definitely a place worth visiting while in Caracas.