By Lucinda Frye
Diverse and indigenous cuisine brought by the many ethnic people to St. Maarten from all over the world piques our interest. To this end, we are on a quest to find where it comes from, if it is used for celebrations, if it is exotic to some but normal food to others. Anything to do with keeping the body and soul nourished with what is produced from good old terra firma is what makes the world go round.
Hurricanes and Heroes
We lived through it – yes we did. Three hurricanes, loads of wind, tornadoes within the storm, flying objects, windows, walls and rooves been blown away! Crazy times!
When things had quietened down, the apocalypse scenery was something that shook everyone to the very core. Apart from a group of degenerates who took advantage of this catastrophe, the general spirit of the people in all communities is something all islanders can be proud of. The neighbourliness and spirit of sharing, caring and doing good deeds for people one does not know, or may have never even met before, as well as that of close friends and neighbours stands out as exemplary in a situation like the one we lived through over the last few weeks.
Amongst this incredible togetherness, there are a few heroes that have gone beyond to help.
One such story is that of a person who considers himself “one of us” having lived here for many years. He, in fact, experienced Luis. As the years have gone by, he met and married and decided to settle on the island of Dominica. Now he knows about hurricanes and their devastation to the land. He had a yacht in Oyster Pond which went belly-up during the 1995 storm. It was something those who lived in Oyster Pond at the time have never forgotten. His boat was lost, he could do nothing about it – so instead of being down, doing damage to anything else or feeling sorry for himself, he set about helping those who were in the same situation he was in. He helped them move to dry corners of blown out buildings, he helped them cook and he certainly helped them feel in better spirits.
When humanitarian aid was needed with the passing of Irma, he immediately offered his services to a relief organization to sail a boat up here laden down with goods to distribute to those in need. Without a second thought, he left his wife and his visiting sister and flew to Martinique to captain the boat. A few islanders, who were off island at the time of the storm, also joined the boat and they shopped and filled the boat with dried goods, fuel and tarpaulins and other things that were needed in the aid relief. His wife was in complete agreement as she too is the kind of person who will care for others before self.
No sooner than the boat arrived on our island did we all realise that another massive storm was bearing down on the Caribbean, but this time it had its beady eye literally fixed on Dominica – and here he was with no means of getting back to help his wife and neighbours on that island before the storm! As St. Maarten was hunkering down before the onset of Maria, we knew that poor Dominica was going to get it bad. Communication was lost and we felt heart sore for this hero humanitarian to suffer so.
The relief aid team has not stopped here on St. Maarten. This hero is returning with the boat collecting more aid from unaffected islands to sail on down to Dominica. Then and only then will he be able to return to his wife and neighbours. We wish him the very best and hope he finds his valley with minimal damage.
There are many other people who have helped through the storm in exemplary ways, most we will never hear about, from the mum who has kept the calm as the rest of the group started to really feel panicky, to the man who held a mattress to the door to protect the girls as the wind plucked and pulled at the last thin remaining barrier between them. Another hero is Shep who calmly teamed up with others at Maho to keep the visitors and workers as safe and as protected as possible and aided these folk in getting off island as soon as possible. Shep intends to return soonest to help the island get back on its feet. There are a number of folk who helped get people to safety, away from the incredibly stupid looters, getting mothers and children away while the others stay on or plan to return soonest to help in the rebuild. Heroes all.
There are some amazing things that are also worth mentioning. GEBE has come up to scratch; just when we all thought it would be months before there was just a glimmer of light in some areas, power was restored.
GEBE was also out with a huge water tank and cheerful countenances, driving to all areas. Oh, yes many complaints have been made about how few and far between these deliveries have been; but they did do the rounds, these delivery folk also lived through the storm, but they were out there for us!
No matter how small an effort, an effort made that helps another is made by a hero – God bless them!
Through all this mayhem, everyone of course needed to eat. Just what was served to keep everyone’s pecker up? Well, that depends on whether all the food and water so diligently bought and stored was left in the house or not; that depends on whether these hurricane rations were completely swept up by the wind or not.
I know that some really odd combinations have been put together but everyone needs something filling in their belly, right? With no power and a BBQ, one can do a lot. Especially if the BBQ is a gas one with a lid, it can be used like an oven. One BBQ, a number of neighbours over and using ingredients that will fast go will fill the belly and everyone will feel a bit more hopeful.
As the Passionate Foodie was fortunate to have a gas BBQ survive, here are some recipes that fed some hungry mouths with great satisfaction. Sharing is caring.
BBQ (Braai) PIE
All ingredients came from a freezer that was starting to defrost:
Prepare this on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
Ingredients
One roll of puff pastry
Three chicken breasts poached in stock (from a cube)
Some chopped onion, red pepper and a few green spring onion stalks
Mayonnaise
Tomato Sauce
Mustard
Seasoning to taste
Method
Finely chop the cooked chicken.
Finely dice the vegetables.
Mix together with a little mayonnaise and a dash of tomato sauce and mustard.
Mix it all together.
Place on one side of the puff pastry.
Fold over and seal making a half moon shape.
Egg wash with beaten egg
Preheat BBQ to 400 °F
Turn off the flames except one side flame so you can cook in indirect heat.
Place baking sheet on an upturned frying pan that can withstand high heat (cast iron) and watching the heat bake for half an hour until golden brown.
Any filling can be used, just veggies, meat, fish or poultry.
BBQ (Braai) Lasagne
This is again put together with ingredients on hand.
Ingredients
1 bottle Dutch baked beans in tomato sauce
The last small head of broccoli
Lasagne sheets
Onion, Garlic
White sauce made with some long-life milk and water (boiled from the cistern)
Last of Cheddar Cheese
½ teaspoon Colman’s Mustard (or any brand)
Method
Thinly slice the broccoli and poach in chicken stock (cube)
Make a white sauce
Scrape the white fuzz and bits of green from the cheese. The cheese underneath is fine to eat; the cheese may be nice and sharp by this stage.
2½ cups milk, 2 heaped tablespoons flour, 1½ TBL butter
Melt some butter, add some flour and cook a bit
Stir in as much milk and/or water as is needed (It was dark while I was cooking this; my headlamp battery was dying so the above quantities are a guesstimate.)
Layer white sauce thinly on the bottom of an oven dish
Layer the following alternately with pasta sheets
Beans and some finely chopped onion
Pasta
White sauce
Broccoli with a little mashed garlic
White sauce
Pasta
Beans and onion
Pasta
White sauce
Top with grated cheese and bake in a preheated 350 °F BBQ for about ¾ of an hour.
As above, bring the BBQ up to heat with all burners.
Turn off all but a side burner and rest the baking dish on an upturned pan that will take heat.
Keep the heat up by occasionally getting a flame on another burner for a short while.
