DIY... drinks it yuhself

i adopted this new rule that is saving me a lot of money. i decided that i would only purchase meals that for one reason or the other are more efficient (or satisfying) to pay someone else to make. that pretty much leaves wings roti, santa cruz roti, sushi for now and pizza because i'm not that good with flour. i left room for the occasional treat, but for the most part, i'm making my meals.

i've taken the same approach with drinks. i mean, i have no real problem with enjoying the ambiance of a tgi or a samaan bar once in a while, but that's all i'm letting it go to these days. once in a while. maybe i'll head out just for a little change of scenery, but for the most part, i'm drinking at home.

when it comes to alco, i've done the royal extra thing, the guinness thing, absolute and johnnie. then i entered a gin mode after being introduced to the simple pleasure of a gin and tonic with a wedge of lime.

but i met these guys recently. rum isn't my thing, but these flavored rums ain't half bad for sips at home. apple, raspberry and citrus.

the razz, is nice with apple juice and two caps of lemon juice over ice.

cranberry and bacardi apple worked for me.

the limon actually helped me eliminate another thing off my "willing-to-spring-for" list. helium shots. the first time i had one was at mor vino. they use absinthe, but i thought... well... rum can flame too.

they also use blue curacao, but i opted for amaretto.

so what you do is swirl the alco around the glass because you're goin to blaze it. yeah. fire.

like so. it takes a little doing to get it started. just hold the fire in a bit and it will start spreading over the liquid.

when it does, place the glass on the mouth of the other like this and use the base to rotate it gently. i guess this is a good time to mention that you want to use something like a brandy glass with that curve and a base that would allow you to hold it when it gets hot, as well as anything like a round whiskey glass or something, so that you can do this. there's another reason why you need this combo. you'll see soon.

so after you blaze it for a while, maybe about 10... 15 seconds, (i jus go until i start to feel scared that the heat will break the glass or something) pour the flaming liquid into the waiting amaretto.

as soon as you pour the liquid out, cover it like so. oh! this is the other reason you need that glass combo. yeah so, what you're doing here is trapping the vapors. here comes the fun part!

take this shot by inhaling the vapors then knocking the drink back. to do that, get a straw and tear a small hole in a napkin. place the glass quickly on the napkin...

cover the mouth of the glass, insert straw and suck out the vapors...

then shoot dat!! better tasting than the ones i had on the outside... not to mention cheaper, but just as much fun.

there's also a coconut flavor that i think i'll pick up sometime. i anticipate a malabu-ish taste, which is why i didn't pick it up this time. but so far, bacardi gets the thumbs up.

leh we guzzle.

ALL YUH NEED NOW IS SOME WINE TO DE SIDE

carnival is here once again. that can mean one of two things:

1. you can't wait to take a wine in town while prancing around in yuh costume.

2. you can't wait to enjoy some wine with a nice plate of something when you get home from liming about in town.

my breddrins and i fall into category number 2. our usual spot is on the corner of ana street in woodbrook by anchor cafe. that's our friend charlie's bar. level drinks, level lime, level fun. but after a day in the sun, it's always nice to whip up something not too hard to make but tasty none the less. that's where easy pots like this fettuccine with seared chicken breast by baidawi comes in. check it out...

according to my NatDecants app, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and champagne are among the beverages that pair well with pastas in cream-based sauces. so is no scene if yuh want some wine to de side of this one.

leh we bubble.

give us this day a tasty bread

i never had a sweet tooth, but once in a while something would trip the sugar rush switch to the on position. this time, miss estephanie did the trick with her wholesome version of the sweet bread we know.

i got her orange-cranberry-walnut bread, but she has a variety of options like coconut-raisin, banana-walnut, carrot-walnut and more, all made with thoughtful ingredients and 50% less sugar than regular sweet bread. check out her label above.

the bread is solid. firm but moist. it has the kind of sweetness i enjoy, which is the natural sweet from the fruits. plus the bran, wheat and oats balance the flavours off nicely. so it's just sweet enough. i'll say yuh should call the number on the label and get yuh hands on a loaf or two.

i found out about this bread via my friend nicole, who happens to be miss estephanie's daughter. it's been a topic on facebook for the week thanks to another friend, richard, who made it his business to showcase the various slices he purchased and all the things he topped them with. so i promised that when i got my loaf, i would offer a creation.

so i cut up my slice.

did that so i could manipulate it into this little glass. looked like a good way to control the portion size.

next, i put a layer of this land o' lakes light whipped cream. it's not that sweet, but made with real milk and cream so it's tasty.

then i added some chilled chunky mixed fruit for the flavour and the texture.

topped it off with another layer of the bread and that was it. a nice sensible dessert. thanks for the link up nicole. thanks for the inspiration richard. thanks for the bread miss estephanie...

leh we bubble

smoked oysters & mussels

i like smoked oysters and smoked mussels. kinda reminds me of smoked herring which i love. so i like to keep some handy for times such as these... late-o-clock sunday breakfast.

this is really a quick fix, but i was a bit snap happy, so i made the quick process a little longer by taking pics. here we have some onion, some hot pepper, chive and shadon beni.

the mussels and oysters roughly chopped.

the oysters & mussels come in cotton seed oil which i drain out as much as possible. but i spray some pam in a pan to sautee the seasoning.

fire fuh dat.

they also have salt in them already, but i like them just a little bit saltier. to achieve that, i add a just a pinch more salt and a lil peppercorn medley.

in goes the seafood.

these are already smoked, so they aren't in here to cook for long. actually, i just stir them around a bit over a super low fire to get the seasoning all over.

next, some cream cheese. not much. just enough to create a little texture and contribute to the taste. for this i prefer either the garden flavour or this chive and onion.

the next step is to drop it all into a bowl and mix it to a chunky paste.

it's nice on a piece of crispy wasa bread, but who could say no to the vital supply?

a wholewheat or multigrain crix is just right. top that with some fresh chopped celery and that for me is a good start to a mellow sunday.

catch of de day... lobster

i probably ate it about twice... saw it cooked a couple of times on food network etc... but i never cooked a lobster up until now. aye! no biggy. i just thought of it as a really big expensive crab... kinda. when i bought it, they cleaned it and cut it up into 3 parts. the head was split in two and they left the tail whole. so i made a lobster broth with one side of the head as recommended by a Chinese breddrin of mine. salty with some lemon grass and lots of onion. the leg meat came out easily and was substantially more worthwhile than crab legs. i have the other side of the head that i would like to buss a curry with as recommended by the lobster man, ducky. i also took ducky's recommendation to bake the tail, but of course i had to try a ting...

it started fairly simple with some salt,

a pot of boiling water

and a lobster tail.

and by lobster tail i mean a big lobster tail.

i popped it in the water and cracked the lid a bit so the water wouldn't bubble over. now i heard it doesn't need much bubblin. 12 to 15 minutes according to the size of the lobster.

this was a big sister, so i was aiming towards the higher end of that equation. all the dark markings on the shell started turning red. yes, i know i said i was going to bake it. i also said i was going to try a ting... TA-DAAA!! that was the ting. well at least that was the beginning of the ting. i let it boil for about 7 minutes.

next, i minced up some onions, thyme, celery, parsley and pimiento.

split the tail in two

and took out the meat.

these are the shells that remained, safely put aside for later.

i shredded up the meat just a little. still wanted it to be chunky, but small chunks as opposed to the big clumps of meat that came out the shell. then i mixed it with the diced seasoning. nice and colourful.

time for the shells to come back out and become the vessels for the seasoned mixture. i ground some of that peppercorn medley over the top of them and put them in a baking tray. well, here's where things start getting a bit crazy for most.

yes that is cheese. it was in my head and i decided to try it. i saw cheese on lobster online and on tv before. plus i thought it would rhyme with the peppers and the onions. so after topping it with shredded mozzarella and sprinkling some italian seasoning over the cheese, i put the pieces in the oven to bake for the remainder of the 15 minutes. so that's the 15 minutes total + click start + programs + accessories + calculator - the 7 minutes that we already boiled it for equals... until we find it looks about ready.

while i waited, i decided to run some veggies through some cooking spray

seasoned them up just a bit with some cracked black peppercorns, a little lemon pepper and some aminos.

about 8 minutes after (yes he can count.) i switched the fire to the top to brown the cheese a bit so that the tails could fit the mental picture i had.

if it wasn't the real thing, it was smelling like the real thing.

and it looked pretty good too.

i put it on a plate with a couple spoons of veggies, just in time for diners, drive ins and dives on food network. not a bad show to look at when you have something nice to eat right in front of you. the cheese worked. i actually enjoyed the bites that had cheese a lot. next time, i'll try it with the conventional garlic sauce or some sorta herb butter dip, but this time, it was all about the fun. but ducky will be seeing me very soon.