The Microwave Cake Adventure

Could you imagine how your world can change forever if I can tell you in less than one hour you can make your cake and eat it too?... (and here is the kicker)...with frosting!

I did it! And so can you!

My roommate was itching for something sweet to eat, so I asked her, "Would you like me to make a cake in the microwave for you?" She rolled her eyes, "Ok try, but just don't burn anything."

So, I got to work. put all my ingredients together and did a test try with a coffee mug. In three minutes cooking time. I presented it to my roommate, her eyes lit up! The next challenge was the small, clear and square pyrex dish. To ensure the cake batter does not fall, I increased the amount of baking powder by a few more sprinkles. I also put one dish at a time in the microwave. Three mins...nah...four mins...nada...three more mins?...nope...three mins...finally! I insert fork and it came out clean! Meanwhile, I made the butter frosting mixing icing sugar and butter with a small spoon, a few drops of vanilla essence and viola!

When the cakes finished baking, I put them in the refrigerator to cool. In twenty mins, the cakes were cooled, drizzled the rum onto one of the cooled cakes, added the butter icing, put one cake on top of the other, added sprinkles, and I was eating my cake in less than one hour!

Time taken from the ingredients to the mouth, 50 mins tops. Satisfaction guaranteed!

My camera is in the shop, so my other camera had to improvise, anyway, this pic shows you what the actual cake looked like, and yes it was chocolate.

2010©Lisa Marie Bonaparte

Book Review: Trinidad & Tobago Heritage- Drawings of the Islands' Past by Gerald G. Watterson

This book reached out and touched me, so to speak. I have a weakness for old homes, and we have so many of them with character here, it is truly heartbreaking to see them go the way of the Dodo bird. So, while I was doing my part to document them, one guy already did his part years ago, to preserve them by drawings.

This 145 page book, in full black and white drawing is a sight for wet eyes. The Author, has managed to capture the many fine details that showcases the exceptional talent of the architects and builders of these homes.

Unfortunately, some of them were destroyed to make way for progress and car parks. It is my belief that at least one copy of this book should be in each school library, so that young people' s eyes are opened to the treasure trove of history that they pass everyday on their way to school.

Long standing book stores still sell these books, and some of the newer ones. You can find it in Amazon at this link: Trinidad & Tobago Heritage: Drawings of the Island's Past

Like a Cancer

Cancer is like an invincible warrior. It goes into a populated city, takes over, and destroys it completely. Sometimes, it seems like is suddenly appears in the city, and as the guards begin to attack, it wipes them out, and proceeds to plunder and destroy. Other times, it seems to send out little warnings, like a little attack here, and a little attack there.

Lately, I have heard of many people contracting Cancer. Which to me is staggering. It seems like all of a sudden everyone is getting cancer of some sort. Personally, I know of three people with it, all women. Another friend of mine has lost count of the folks they know with it. It helps to see if you hear more about the Cancer survivor stories, than the ones who have passed away from it. However, it would be good to remember that once it has become evident that there is that mortal enemy in you, you must face the facts. This is all not new to me, I mean, I was born in the '80's, and it seems like in the 90's its all I ever heard about, except, so many people now are getting Cancer so close to home, and I am a bit troubled.

When we went to Manzanilla, on Sunday. Even the Honey-selling lady, told us of three people she knew with Cancer, all in advanced stages. One of them is a child. We then discussed if it is the food or water. She was convinced that it is the chemicals that is put in the vegetables to make them unpalatable to insects and worms. I thought out loud about the water, but somehow, Honey-seller does seem have a point, could it be that the chemicals that are used in agriculture is not being used effectively? Could it be the pollution all around us? Global warning? Genetics? Lifestyle? I tried to remember what road did we take to reach this point today, so far I can only gather our prosperity judging by the kinds of cars on our roads.

Today, was the funeral of the wife of a cherished friend. She was pleasant and you can see her smile for miles. Always a quick laugh, and she loved to dance! Her husband took quite long to get married, but when he did, she was the best person for him, she was his rib, his companion. I cannot imagine the grief that he is facing right now, and that although she is in a deep sleep, she will awake again.

Some info on Cancer and Genetics here.
Info on Aggressive cancer therapy here.
 
What needs to be said is to live each day doing good, and cherish each other, because life is so uncertain now.

Please remember the information place here is not to self-diagnose but for information/entertainment purposes only.



2010© Lisa Marie Bonaparte

Imagination & Craft, or redesign

Real wooden furniture are almost rare these days. If we buy ‘reasonably priced’ furniture, we may as well buy food for termites. One wooden ironing board met its rickety demise two years after it was bought and literally soaked with dieselene. Trini termites don’t make joke!

In the old days we used to hear of wood like Cedar, Teak, Pitch-Pine, Mahogany, Purple Heart, and ‘Water Kay’. Now I will not be getting into the story of the various types of fantastic wood that grows right here in Trinidad and Tobago, their history and so on. However I can sum up  the quality of our wood in two words: Morris Chairs. Now the conversation can start!

Sanding old wooden furniture is the first step to restoration. The key is not make the furniture ‘look’ new again, because antiques get their value from looking ‘distressed’ or used.

The wooden table in the pic was given as a gift, so the type of wood is unknown. As you can see, the sanding process is quite light. First coarse sandpaper was used to remove years of varnish that caused the table to look very dark. A sanding block was not used, neither a sanding machine, the process was done entirely by hand. Finally, a very fine grade sandpaper was used to ‘finish’. It will do you well to remember to sand with the grain of the wood, not ‘against’ it or cris-crossing it. You can use a piece of wood with the sandpaper folded around it to sand those hard-to-reach places.

For the varnishing part, a clear water-based urethane, was used to give the furniture some shine. It dries clear and quick, and also shows the wood color and grain nicely. Plus it is quite easy to care for, just use a soft, dry-damp cloth to wipe. The table was cleaned of sand particles with a soft dry cloth, so that the it will not  be scratched in the process. Then the water-based urethane was applied with another soft cloth one dip at a time by hand. Make sure and sand with the grain. Two coats were applied, with drying allowances between them.

The entire process took two and a half hours, from the sanding to the varnishing. The goal was not to change the entire look of the wood, but to remove the old varnish. The top coat was allowed to dry for two hours after. In the end you did a project on which you saved money, by Doing-it-Yourself.


2010© Lisa Marie Bonaparte

Changing Times and Life Experience

 Growing up, I wanted to be a vet. I loved and still love animals, and I loved the prospect of being there for them so that they can live healthy and fulfilling lives. Most of all, I adore dogs and cats.  Dogs, I observed, grow up in the personality of their owners. For instance if you are a quarrelsome owner, you will have a miserable dog, if you are a happy owner, you would have a happy dog. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

We lived about 15 mins by taxi from Port of Spain, in a small, simple home with lots of yard space and Avocado trees, with a mango veare(?) tree and guava trees. Some days when no clients came to do their hair, mom used to pitch marbles with my sisters. As a single parent, she opted to have her hair salon at home to be closer to her children. I remember coming home from school and smelling the misty finishing spray in the pink can. I also used to hear the hair dryer running, and seeing mom apply the relaxer to a sitting client's head. She used to look so tired. Moscle and Truskey, used to greet us at the gate when we came from school.  Some days, there were lots of laughter coming from the salon, especially on a Saturday.

The salon was a gray and white building with a sign in the road that says, "The New You". It was wooden and sat just outside our home next to Matapal Street. Some days it was empty of clients, and mom used to send us to Ewing Grocery with $40.00 to get items for the day. Back then, it was alot of money. When we returned home we used to have brown paper bags in our arms filled with bought items. Yep, life was simple.

One year, we were blessed with nine animals in our home. That year, Truskey gave birth to six pups: Moscle, Whitey, two other females and two other males. I remember, because I had on a pair of yellow gloves that were too large for my hands, and I squatted beside Truskey and helped her to give birth her pups. I was 13 or 14 at the time. The puppies came out in a slimy clear sack,  which I tore open to relieve them. Each puppy was connected through its umbilical cord, to a dark sack, which was promptly consumed by Truskey. I was aghast, then Mom explained the those sacks were the placenta, and it is full of nourishment, and Truskey the dog, is consuming this mass to feed the puppies through her milk. That day Truskey ate no food. Ever since then, I have yet to see puppies as healthy as the ones that came from Truskey. We had a cat called Tiffany, who gave birth to three kittens a week later.

From that moment on, I wanted to be a vet. The desire is still alive, though, it is not as pronounced as before. It seems that everything is driven by money. Where is the passion and pride of being in an occupation because you can help someone live a better life, or because the idea is fantastic! If you are in the medical field, where is the compassion and gentle sensitivity for the sick, elderly and dying? Times have changed. It is with great sadness that I read the plight of a young mother who is in a coma because pieces of placenta was left in her after she gave birth to her child. While I don't know all the facts, I hope that she recovers quickly to care and nurse her beautiful baby daughter. We must cherish each day as it is our last....until better times come.

Coast 2 Coast: Tripping in Trinidad and Tobago - Monos Island

Quiet, airy, cool, and relaxing. Certainly, I am not speaking about some country area in Trinidad nor Tobago. "People here are unified. No one interferes with you, we are a small, simple community here, Mytle Lopez says. Ma Ben, as she is affectionately called, lived on Monos Island since 1981. "When I was seventeen years old, you could not get me to sit on a boat and get wet by salt water", she fondly remembers. In a nutshell, she got married, settled down with her husband, who was a fisherman with a home on Monos Island, and lived there to this day. Today, she is cleaning the area around a tall slim tree. "I am going to plant something here" she said. Mrs Lopez, regularly cleans the whole area, including the stretch of road she calls the highway, with her son. I asked her if she gets paid to do this, "No! I love my surroundings to be clean so I do it." Her son is using the weed wacker to clean one of the neighbors yards. This he gets paid for.

Monos Island or Scotland Bay, is one of a group of islands in the northwest area of Trinidad. In the old days they used to be called the Dragon Islands. On the way to Monos, you pass a couple of other islands called Fantasy Island which has a new name, and the ever popular Gaspree Island home of the Gaspree Caves. Photographs does not do justice to the sheer beauty of these remote and privately owned islands, you must see it in person.

"When I go to Monos, I am going home," remarks one resident. "I love the area and I tell my wife that this is where we belong." Mrs. Lopez, opens up her home to vacationers who want to rent. "My place is always open, I like when I stand right here in my kitchen, I can see the jetty and I can look out the window to greet people passing here," she laughs, her floured hands kneading a roll of corn maize dough. "You ever had Noni before?" she asked. I shook my head, "I've heard it tastes really bad, so I never tried it." She pulled out a large plastic cranberry juice bottle, "Have some of this, and tell me what you think." I looked at the brown liquid and got caught in my throat, "Ok". I figured I might as well, at least, to try it once. The liquid had a pungent smell, like a mix between an old toe-jamed grapefruit and sharp wine. The glass was filled to quarter and I took a sip, then I emptied the glass. My face screwed up a bit then I had a second glass. And then I smiled, she did too. Now, I am the proud owner of the large cranberry juice bottle of my first Noni Juice.



The Island is filled with fruit trees and vegetation. The air is clean and the grass is always green. A caretaker of one of the homes drives a compact open top vehicle. He is a dark, stocky guy his ras piled high on his head, he is shuttling his family to the beach down to the back known as Scotland Bay. Caribbean living at its finest. The beauty of the area is its natural undeveloped state. Some folks like the hub of cities, tall glass and metal buildings, fancy cars, a window cubicle, high-heeled shoes, the works. Here its a small boat, your wooden/concrete home, and quiet is all you need. Every morning at 5:30am, Mrs. Lopez starts the day by praying, then she takes a bath, goes outside tends her yard, and sweeps the 'highway'. Some days, she comes inland, and buys groceries at least once a week in Port of Spain.

In her home, Ma Ben or Mrs. Lopez is in her element. The refreshingly yellow home is partly wooden and partly concrete due to old age and termite damage. The house is very clean and airy. Her main bedroom still has her wooden floor, right next to it, is her small tiled bathroom and another larger visitors bedroom with double decker and single beds. How does she keep it so clean? "Cleaning is a daily thing you know, you have to keep making your rounds to keep your surroundings intact." On top of one of her clothes drawer, there is a picture of her and a young woman. "Thats Benita, my daughter, she died some years ago, here we were going to a wedding."

For me and many Trinis, Monos Island is a vacation get-away. A place that you jump off the jetty, see fishes, Sting Rays and Eels swim in their natural habitat, hear a variety of birds sing their songs of a new day, and pack up and go home. But for Ma Ben, her son Lance, and four other neighbors, Monos Island is home, its where their heart is.


2010© Lisa Marie Bonaparte

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