No pictures yet this week, but lots of food!
Wednesday was Brian and Megan's birthday (two friends in my "group") so we went out to dinner at a restaurant up the coastline from school. Megan didn't attend because her parents are visiting but we had an awesome dinner for Brian. Most everyone ordered lobster or shrimp, I had chicken. You wouldn't believe the lobsters.... it was an entire whole lobster (steamed?) and cut straight in half lengthwise on a plate. For only $80 EC too! Actually I have no idea if that is a good price or not. (It is about $30 US). Anyway, my chicken was delicious! Some sort of BBQ style chicken, but it was so moist and yummy. The restaurant itself was really cool, just an open patio with a covered roof, tons of picnic style tables, and a view directly out onto the water. Seriously, you could walk to the edge of the table and be 2 ft from the waters edge. Crazy right? Very nice people there too, its nice to talk to locals who don't mind our presence!
Then today, I went grocery shopping, which I'm sure by now you've realized makes me very happy, so that made my day already. Tonight we had a Caribbean cooking class which made my day even better.
This was all set up by the housing department, but only 20 students could sign up, I just happened to be lucky enough to be one of those 20 students! So they picked us up on campus in the most ginormous bus I've seen on St. Kitts, complete with leather seats and foot rests. I have no idea how that bus gets around the tiny tight little corners that make up all of St. Kitts... but somehow it does!
Anyway, so they took us to this little place which call themselves "Caribbean Cooks". It is a sister duo run operation that mostly serves tourists, but they used to own a restaurant in town before they decided to take it easy. We all sat around the island stove and listened to our "instructor" explain different local fruits and veggies, their origin, where to go to get them on the island, who has the best veggies, best prices, most reliable, etc. She'd take a volunteer to help chop, grate, stir, etc. and explain how to make 5 dishes! FIVE! Oh, and this was only 2 hours total. I learned a LOT about local foods, I just hope I can retain a portion of it. Then after everything had cooked we got to eat a huge plate full of the foods. SO YUMMY! It is hard to say what my favorites were... but the mango coconut bread pudding with rum sauce is up there, along with "rasta pasta" and cinnamon chicken with plantains.
We also learned to stock up on essentials as they will not always be on the island. Supposedly, for months out of the year, you just won't be able to find things like pigeon peas (a staple around here), coconut milk, and other canned goods. She said when they run out, they just run out and you won't get more until next year. She did teach us how to freeze mangoes such that one can have a fresh supply all year round though; this will be particularly useful in January as we'll have a mango tree in our backyard! So excited!
Okay, I'll stop with the food now.
This Saturday marks me being on this island for 2 months! It has gone by so quickly... I just know that this semester will be over before I know it. Crazy to think about, but time does just fly by. Here's to hoping I actually
pass all my classes this semester!
On that note, midterms (round 2) start again next week, and we have Monday off for the mid semester break, so I'm going to get back to it and study my little arse off tonight, tomorrow, and everyday until midterms are over... well, until the semester is over really. Sigh...
