Living Vicariously via an Internet Blog

Great Habit

While most of us in the Northern hemisphere are bracing for the winter that almost never was, one Canadian couple is braving the high seas in the Caribbean on their sail boat “Great Habit” and speak of turquoise waters, tropical fruit, and food…well food that I for one would never think of ingesting. They are retired and ‘soon to be retired’ friends we met a summer or two ago while boating on our Atlantic waters. I call them friends.

Friends can sometimes appear when you least expect it. We clicked. I expect our paths will cross many times as we all have this love for boating and the water. Chick and Cheryl left Canadian waters in the fall of 2011. They have taken a year sabbatical to sail to South America and back. They are living the dream.

Grenada (in the cross hairs)

Brave souls. Experienced sailors they are and as daunting as it may seem to me, it is old hat for them. I follow their blog and post from time to time. Both write often and I enjoy each ones perspective. This week they arrived in Grenada. They are a long way from home.

While sailing the Caribbean sounds glamorous, for those land-lubbers it is not always so. Having experienced high seas myself in a motor-craft, sail boating in high seas presents a whole different slew of challenges. If the winds are hitting you ‘on the nose’ it can be a rough and harrowing sail. If the winds are broadside, then you ‘tack’ to your destination. I still have trouble wrapping my brain around that one. Of course the optimum sailing condition is ‘wind at your back’, like a lot of blessings you hear. The upside though is while sailing, with a stiff breeze on your stern, with no motor sounds, it must seem like nirvana. It is something I will always enjoy from afar though, as I see the sailboats tipped precariously over on their sides and my stomach does a little lurch. Not for me, but I totally respect and admire those who do.

The pictures they post are truly amazing. I look outside at the snow continuing to pile up on our back deck and hear the drone of the snowplow scooping out the driveway and I turn back to see this beautiful picture of a beach in Trinidad. Sigh. Now that would be a welcome sight outside my window.



Brazil Nut Pod (Trinidad)

 The descriptions of food, fruit, drinks, carnivals and locals take me away momentarily into their world. I hope they log their experiences in a book. Worth the read. Cheryl posted a list of food they experienced in a food ‘tasting’ tour in Trinidad. There are about a dozen food items I could consider ingesting. I will attempt to repost the list – because I doubt if many would believe the fare that was presented to them on the tour. I would say ignorance would be bliss in most cases. ("Barfi" just doesn't appeal.) They remain respectful in their blog comments and I look forward to hearing how they ‘really’ felt about ‘cow heel soup’!

Happy sailing to our sailor friends, and safe harbour!

A Taste of Trinidad; Not for the faint of heart!
1 Coconut Bake/chicken liver
2 Buljohl
3 Smoked herring
4 Doubles
5 Chana
6 Gera pork
7 Fried bake
8 Fried shark
9 Sorrel drink
10 Cow heel soup
11 Mandrine orange
12 Portegals
13 Papaya
14 Curried conch on bread
15 Stewed pork on bread
16 Cob of corn boiled in spices
17 Silk fig banana
18 Chiquito banana
19 Saheena
20 Aloo pies (callallo)
21 Baghenee
22 Kitchorie
23 Sapadila fruit
24 Brazil nut from pod
25 Macaroni pie
26 Curried pumpkin
27 Curried gizzard
28 Pineapple chow
29 Curried goat
30 Curried chicken
31 Stewed beef
32 Stewed chicken
33 Curried potato on chana
34 Dahl pouri
35 Paratha
36 Mauby drink
37 Watermelon
38 Pammerack
39 Polouries
40 Patoux seed
41 Green pigeon peas
42 Sweet bread
43 Cassava pone (sweet)
44 Ballarina (sweet)
45 Coconut Turn-over
46 Carib and Stag beer
47 Barfi
48 Kirma
49 Gullar Jamoon
50 Chicken pie
51 Sugar cane
52 Cocoa bean seeds
53 Kimate
54 Chicken feet Souse
56 Tamarine ball
57 Cassava in butter
58 Green fig salad
59 Fried plantain
60 Fried sweet potato
61 Barbeque pig tail