Off The Charts In Guyana - Thanksgiving 2016

Fresh pumpkin

11-24-16

I was up and had the pumpkin in the pressure cooker by 7:30AM.  Next came the crust for the Pumpkin Pie Dessert or Harvest Dessert as I have renamed it.  Then the steamed pumpkin was cooled and draining.  I have learned that fresh pumpkin has quite a bit of water in it.  This time I used the small, mesh basket I use to rinse quinoa to strain the water out.  However, straining through a cheese cloth would actually be best if you are trying to get the consistency of a can of pumpkin. 

Straining the cooked pumpkin

The propane tank promptly ran out.  Tom switched over to the other one.  It was overfilled which caused a slight scare of high pressure but it turned out ok.  Whew.  Harvest Dessert in the oven, next step was the béchamel sauce for the green bean casserole.  Then make the stuffing.  I used a box mix I found in town.  Big mistake.  It had been sitting on the shelf for quite some time.  The dehydrated breadcrumbs were stale.  I covered it with sautéed onions and callaloo, veggie broth and a generous amount of grated nutmeg.  The stuff was turned into stuffing muffins in the oven. 

Bodi beans

The green beans found in Guyana are similar to the bodi beans found in Trinidad.  They are about 12” long but these are very thin, thin enough to fit between the tines of a fork, SO….I bought a huge bunch.  The homemade béchamel sauce worked just fine as did the farina topping. 

Farina

Tom helped by digging out ingredients needed from their various hiding spots in the port settee, opening cans, lighting the oven, washing pots, mixing bowls and such as we went and finally holding the broiler button on twice to brown the tops of the Harvest Dessert and Green Bean Casserole.  Our broiler is acting up and won’t stay lit. 

Harvest dessert

13:00 I got dressed and we started gathering things up.  We missed the weather window by 3 mins.  A rain shower passed over, just enough to put 2” of water in the bottom of the dinghy and soak the dinghy chaps – aka wet butts and tote bags. 

The spread

Baganara Resort had agreed to let us use a couple of tables for our Thanksgiving.  The staff greeted us immediately “Good day.  Happy Thanksgiving to you.”  I brought appetizers of smoked eggplant and pineapple chow with crackers.  The Thanksgiving feast itself was a wonderful assortment of yummy food.  We shared with Cindy, Racquel and her kitchen staff, inviting them to take a plate to try. 

It was a good day.   

Off The Charts In Guyana - Thanksgiving Provisioning

11-23-16

There are four boats left in the anchorage off Baganara Resort – 5 Americans and two East German Canadians.  Perfect number for a Thanksgiving potluck.  We decided on a rough menu but we knew we would need to wing it a bit – cranberries don’t exist in the Caribbean, turkey- forget it.  However, I had brought a frozen turkey breast from Trinidad.  We would just have to see what else we could come up with.

Bruce volunteered to take sv Wild Matilda back down the river to Bartica so we could all go shopping.  After the morning SSB Coconut Net the tide had turned so we weighed anchor and headed out, towing two dinghies behind so we could all get ashore. 

First stop was a food stand for morning snacks – egg rolls (hard boiled eggs surrounded by mashed cassava and fried up golden – yum) and chicken balls (same but with minced chicken inside).  Then we headed to the halal meat shop to get chickens and check on our meat order.  This place has fantastic beef tenderloin for $600 a pound - $3US.  Last week I ordered 4 pounds cut into 1 pound pieces.  Then we headed to the bank and then across the street to the local grocery store – small, crowded shop with an ok selection of canned and dried goods.  We had to hurry a bit because this little shop and many others close between noon and three because of the heat of the day.

One of the grocery stores

Soon we split up to get whatever was needed for our specific dishes.  I couldn’t find yellow cake mix so I substituted with the one white cake mix I found.  There was NO Campbell’s cream if whatever available anywhere for green bean casserole…..as I suspected, so I ended up making a béchamel sauce from scratch.  Same was true for the French’s Crispy Onions used to top this casserole.  I decided to try Brazilian Farina.  It’s dried cassava that is the texture of course cornmeal.  It is used as a coating, topping or mixed with water or milk to make a porridge.  “It expands in your stomach and fills you up.” Said the guy at the grocery store when explaining to me what it was and how to use it. 

Farina or Fariha in Portuguese

When we got to the fresh market, one door was closed.   Hum?  We were able to get in the other door but many of the vendor booths were closed up.  Hum?  However, enough were open that we were able to get the fresh stuff we needed.  “What’s up?  Why are some of the booths closed down?” I asked the lady I was buying from.  “Every other Wednesday the market closes at noon.”  It was now 12:30 or so!  “But don’t worry, you will be able to get out.”  I am not sure how we have been in country this long and not know this but we were lucky to be able to get our ingredients.  It would have been a sad little Thanksgiving had we been shut out of the fresh market. 

We all met back up at Kenny Rogers.  Kathy and I enjoyed a cold beer and conversation with the locals while the guys took all the stuff out to the boat.  They came right back and we went in search of lunch.  The streets were pretty empty (except an odd cow wondering the main drag) in the heat of the day.  Tummies filled, we headed back to the boat.  Despite threatening skies, the guys did two fuel runs.  We had light sprinkles but managed to dodge two major deluges.  Back on our boats, we all collapsed from a busy and hot day of shopping.   

Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Here in Trinidad we have a busy day tomorrow and it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.  It's just a normal Thursday here.  No holiday.  But we will celebrate somehow.....yet to be determined.  And of course we will be thinking of family and friends far away.

Because we have not yet decided how we will celebrate, I thought I would link you back to food that might interest you for Thanksgiving.

Pressure Cooker Turkey Breast

Pressure Cooker Greens with Smoked Turkey Legs

Stuffing Bombs

Curry Coconut Pumpkin Spice Island Soup

Harvest Dessert

Sorrel Drink - HR Version 

Sorrel 

Ginger Beer - HR Version