Is Un-Processed Food a Mirage? We think so...

We have a new look for our Skinny Carib web page: http://www.skinnycarib.com/.   This photo, which opens the page, is called: Mirage, by Carlos Porto.  It invites you to join us in a very real oasis of good food that's healthy, too; to visit our Home kitchen often for trusted information at one "table"--no matter where you reside on the earth or moon.   

Over at the Skinny Carib Pantry -- the blog linked to us here & hosted by the man in the Skinny Carib's life, I took some time to discuss a very serious allergen that we find in many of our beloved foods as packaged and prepared for us by various manufacturers and restaurants.  http://skinnycaribpantry.blogspot.com/2011/04/vive-la-france-maisbe-careful-about.html 

It's meant as a moment of awareness--an opportunity for you to reach through the food mirage and get excited about eating and drinking some really good stuff!!

Fortunately, there are (every day it seems) more and more manufacturers and restaurants who are also committed to this cleaner, fresher food movement.   My local Whole Foods Market gives me a heady-happy rush every time I walk in the doors.  Of course, I also have a thing for food shopping.   I have told MANY loved ones to heed my warnings and to simply drop me off; let me call you when it's over.  Luckily, I've been graced with the blessing of a Pantry Man who enjoys the adventure.  One of Mr Pantry's favourite moments with me was when I--in the midst of "Zen in the art of label-reading"--blurted out:

"What were they before, beans?"   I was referring to the grand announcement on the package of UncleB's: "Converted Rice".   

Beans and Rice, by Carlos Porto

To be honest, the whole idea of processed food doesn't "bother" me.   Great, I have your attention.   The word, when it comes to food in our modern world, is a misnomer.   Somebody had to plant, grow, cultivate, sort, then package and ship for most of us.   And mango pulp or concentrate, no matter how organic is far more processed than a mango you get your younger cousin to climb a tree and retrieve for you.   (On a future blog, we discuss how to read the sticker on your fruit--it tells you by the numbers if it was grown organically!  Keep your "fruit souvenirs"--make a collage on a notebook page; we've much to discuss!)

Haitian Mango, courtesy of Beautiful Haitain Girls FB Page

What we can make a good decision about is choosing foods that are minimally processed.   Or, if more processedfor our convenience, we need to understand that the very ingredient that keeps your pre-shredded cheese from clumping into a ball may be giving you that headache you can't seem to explain.  The more processed a food is, in my humble, healthy opinion, the more critical it is that it be organically grown or free of various chemical or allergenic additives (note some allergens ARE naturally-derived).

Notebook & Pen, by Paul

As I've said before, you might want to take notes. 

Food & Nutrition is as important to your learning about & enjoyment of life as that TV show you've been finding such a treat to kick back and enjoy.   This is not a criticism.   I LOVE TV.  My thesis topic in Grad School allowed me to sit for hours at the museum of Radio, TV and Film in NYC and delight in shows I can't even find on the Classic TV channels.  Yet, as I write more and more of these blogs and my kindly assistants Anna C. [she'll blog about her identity soon enough] and Anna-Bettina (aka Anne Murray in her real life) researches and shares with me a host of web links on nutrition and healing foods, I've found that my DVR (digital video recorder) has become too full and I have to: "Set Show Priority" (their words, not mine :->), so that only my re-runs & "guilty pleasure" shows are "Deleted when Space is Needed".  

How cool is that?  My electronics are telling me that space is needed in my life for health, nutrition, humor, dancing to the songs I post on the blog.   When you get in sync with your Top Goals, your space changes, your To-Do and To-Watch lists get re-prioritized.  The stuff that's not important gets deleted.   

Aren't you glad you are in motion with us?  We dance, we laugh, we cook and we spread the good word. 

And do you want to know exactly what I'm thinking as I write these very words?  "Darn, I'd like to be done with this entry so I can dance to that song on the album by Solace--one of my favourite belly dancing music artists." (Listen for Tassa-style drums if you are Trinidadian and sample the MP3 online).

...okay, I just hit the continuous-repeat button.   Gotta go!

Spring Cleaning for the Palette: Launch of the Skinny Carib Kitchen

White Wine Splash, by Paul

If you have watched the series of films Oceans 11, 12, and 13 you may have heard the elder cons debate with the handsome young cons about the difference between a Grand Opening and a Soft Opening.

Why not get out the ticker tape, balloons, bands and fan fare and just open, or in this case LAUNCH the "Skinny Carib" Kitchen? 

When have you ever started a diet or exercise plan that you started out "guns blazing", pumped and from start-to-finish-to-now actually succeeded in reaching your goals?   In that case, I raise my glass to you, and I cannot wait 'till you decide to become our guest blogger! 

For most of us, especially after the religious and secular Spring holidays, college and other school exams, the debauchery of Spring Breaks and in the United States--TAXES!!--we, uhm, need a moment..., to decompress.  We are walking around hung over from living life as the modern pace demands.



Flying Balloon During Sunset, by Teeratas



So, today, with the wisdom of compassion--for you and for myself, we start with a soft launch.   Think of it as saying grace in the moments before you partake in our course of meals, mellee [meh-lay = chatty gossip] and movement [my simple exercise philosophy].

www.amway.com/GoodCleanLife for products we recommend because they are eco-human friendly since 1959 and they give back to communities in need.  We also receive a large portion of our funding from the Peace Pair, LLC  indepedent distributor that you connect to through the link provided: www.amway.com/GoodCleanLife  

My first lesson is in Spring Cleaning.  Literally changing how you clean the kitchen itself (some of you are already doing a phenomenal job, here).   And, more like a Skinny Carib from way back in my Mamma Mary's Caribbean kitchen, adding your physical body to the kitchen line up and giving the body a good internal cleanse.

White Towel and Flower, by Sura Nualpradid



NO! NO!  Not that juicing fast thing.  I don't know a thing about it and wouldn't promote it here or elsewhere.  That sort of thing is for professionals and mystics.   I am not a doctor or herboligist in real life and I don't play one online.  

 

BUT, my Grandmother (Mamma Mary) knew what she was doing…

One Spring, when I was 11 years old, I became very ill--I now track it back to the beginning of the active stages of my disability.  My white blood cell count was extremely high, my hair was only healthy in patches, my neck became very swollen and one morning I woke up and I could not turn my head in any other direction than the one it was facing--to the left.  The toughest part for me is that I could not go to school.  Although it was not called "Home Schooling" my lessons were sent home to me and I could not participate in my beloved labs in Science class--unless you count the probings of doctors and random potions of well-meaning neighbors as my personal science lab.  At the end of that school semester, having turned the age of 12 in bed at home alone, I was sent Home from St. Thomas to Antigua to my grandmother... 

By the end of that summer, it was anybody's guess what sort of body would return--if one would return at all.  

I remember overhearing a woman talking to my mother: "Eh, Miss Ruth...how's 'de child? Mon-eeque?" 

And my mother saying simply: "That's Monique. Right there."  My mother pointed, directing the woman's attention to my self standing behind her skipping--up on the concrete divider and then down into the open yard.  I was too happy to be too upset that this woman, my mother's good friend and sewing client, had ignored me the whole time she was there talking to my mother in the yard at Kromprindsens Gade #65 in St. Thomas, USVI—as she had always been one of my adult fans who made me feel happy to be alive in my Carib skin.

Months earlier, my grandmother, after her observations and evaluations, had held my chin, angled it to meet her face, and looked directly into my eyes.  I smiled back.   SHE began with a cleansing...

And though there were herbs, teas & "bush baths", it was nothing like the sort of dramatic fasts that I recognize is an important part of some methods.

I know you, too will have your way to begin.   I do advise cleaning up the pantry and refrigerator if the items there contain certain additives.  And though this is not a Vegan or Vegetarian blog/philosophy, I do suggest more whole and organic foods.   It also helps to have a mind-set that is able to accept that not all changes should be done at once: there is a difference between running water over dishes to wash them and stacking them up in the middle of the tub and getting out the hose--a gentler path can be more precise.

I've found that I learn something when I can apply patience in the process.   It's usually the very thing I needed to learn so that it's impossible for me to repeat old habits.  AND it respects my schedule. 

So, on April 18^th, 2011, we begin here too with our version of a rocket launch, in honor of the pacing and quietness of a full moon --lighted, gentle, glowing, soft and yet remarkable set amongst the flicker of stars.  

photo by Sujin Jetkassetakorn

 

Welcome to the Dance of the Skinny Carib(R),

The Festive Launch of Healthy Living, Loving and Laughing--Caribbean Style!

m.
The Skinny Carib(R)

Sponsored by Peace Pair, LLC.  Because Peace is _____________.

Like us on Facebook and fill in the __________.

War of the Island Palate--and, Some Good Looking MEN! Yes, this is Folklore...



Club Indigo , Haiti

Born in Hawaii, Jack Johnson's music and lifestyle has the laid back essence of a Trinidad & Tobago Surfer.  Yes, I said surfer.


Something about those waves, whether they are in The Caribbean or elsewhere seems to have produced a culture of "dudes" who play a cool, breezy tune; are ready-at-the-smile; and take on a huge wave like it's a call to a grand dance with a fellow natural--the sea.

Born in Antigua myself with over 365 delightful beaches, I still managed to be in absolute awe of the surfing culture I encountered in Trinidad and Tobago.  I was amazed at the hand-made, hand-art-carved boards; and God-crafted bodies.

I should have been writing, because I was one of the winners of The Cropper Foundation's grant to Caribbean writers--and the only one hailing from the United States mainland.  But the Caribbean has often been a source of collection, not of crafting for me.  There is literally too much life happening in the moment for me to look away.  These surfer bodies did not help the situation!

No, there's no sordid story to reveal. 
But, watching these guys eat, I had the ridiculous urge to feed them. 

I was deeply concerned that for all the years they had been reared on Trinidadian soil, they had been subjected to the spoils of the questionnable dish, known and loved by native Trinidadians---the "oil-down".  

Lover of all things food, when I was told the main ingredient of this legendary culinary offering was breadfruit, I was unable to achieve a proper night's sleep as the idea of it was more intriguing than waking up and realizing that you had not only chosen Prince Charming, but that he in fact, worshipped you as his one and only Sleeping Beauty--the one for whom he had searched far and wide to find and kiss and give the sweet breath of life--despite the fact that he saw you first thing in the morning.  

Oh, how that Trinidadian moon hung low as if it were a bright sun-child visiting the night...

And then, I woke up!

To that foul, sweet-oil and coconut-rubbed thing that my fellow island-writers devoured, spreading grease and woe on all corners of my soul.  THIS was NOT my beloved breadfruit! 

The Challenge, by Carlos Porto

On that day the Antiguan-Trinidadian war was begun!

Under the guise of OUR blog, I secretly had this very moment planned.  May they rue the day Chief Folklorist was attached to my surname!

I have heard of similar food wars between Jamaican peas and rice (again with the coconut addition) and the blessed by God and man "Antiguan-Dominican-Puerto Rican-Cuban-Haitian-St.Thomian-Kittician-Brooklynian" true versions of peas and rice.  Yet and still, the Jamaicans will NOT cease and desist this cocunut concoction that passes as Caribbean food!

I LOVE IT!!  These are the kinds of family duels that bring us to the Global Dining Table and opens the door for our more serious conversations. 
I've been told that I use food, I don't just cook it.  Guilty! 

Let the Dueling Begin

as named by the "Skinny Carib"  OR

Empty Wine Glasses, by Paul

 

Like music, food seems to draw us in and once you sit at my table, you're hooked.  Might as well stay for the intellectual discourse--it'll make the food digest easier (unless of course, it is the ridiculous "oil down"...:->!).

While my writing workshop teachers Earl Lovelace (author of Wine of Astonishment and Salt) and Merle Hodge (no food titles, why Merle? Why?) talked of prose and poetry to my wide-eyed, writing sistren and brethren, I hatched a plan. 

I excused myself on the grounds of a gastrointestinal upset.
I wasn't lying; this "oil down" thing cut me real deep!  

I went to the kitchen of the little island inn and asked the women there if it would be okay for me to make my own meal, as I could not digest "a few of" the items that were prepared for the other guests.  Aware that I already had a sensitivity to the sun, they assumed I must be one of the "sickly" ones and were happy to oblige.  In fact, they wanted a lesson of sorts in preparing this Antiguan breadfruit.  But how was I to get the breadfruit?

By now, you know I love a good hat.  So, broad hat, wrap skirt and tree branch in tow, I set out on a village "walk-'bout" in search of a ripe breadfruit.  In addition to my new writer pals who were game for even more of the madness  from "the American", along for the trek were village laughter, finger-pointing, and nay-saying--aah, my old comrades!

Breadfruit, from album Haitian Food on Facebook

But there was that one yard, and that one tree, and that one woman who said "You really-really serious?!"  I'm not sure if it was pity or respect, but she was resigned to my insanity as she grabbed the tree branch and bat wildly at the high hanging fruit--with each swing becoming prouder still to have the one ripe breadfruit that had the power to subdue the very madness that had been brought to it!

And so it came to be that a few mouths in that dark-dark corner of the earth known as Grande Riviere, Trinidad were introduced to a proper breadfruit, as God intended it! 

I believe the new crop of young surfers hailing from Trinidad who are making national headlines must have somehow benefited from this renewed palate.  That 1/8th of an inch of a wave that was rid with that much more ease...   I will let the scientists do the study.  

Many-a-Trinidadian will cry foul over this blog entry.  Jamaicans and their jerk chicken and "coconut-cook-up-rice" will ask for my fingers for typing this blasphemous text.  To them all I say, let's duel it out at the family Dinner Table over some good food. 

"To the Victor go the Rum Punch!"

It is in this very spirit of humor and love that I hope to share my knowledge of healthy living with our Global Family wherever they may be on the earth or moon.   I will discuss a variety of approaches to eating, herbology, exercise, beauty and overall nutrition.  I will deal with family harmony at the dinner table, even if each person has a different eating preference or need: Vegan, Vegetarian, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Auto-Immune Ailments, and so on.  I will tap from the best of the best and share links & personal stories from a variety of dinner guests.

Or when you just need a visual or auditory feast, you can still come Home to our Skinny Carib kitchen, because we have music, poetry, art/photography and YES, Folklore.

Be ye a hard-body (crunch!) or a creamy body (tasty!), as long as you want to live in the very best skin that you can, join me in the "Skinny Carib" kitchen-- and bring a dinner guest. 

Frankly, I made way too much!



(and for one other, good-looking, talented man who we claim as our own: Listen to This!)


In Global Community (Despite some questionable culinary choices),
m.
Prof. Monique S. Simon
Chief Folklorist/Project Director
(and now, The "Skinny Carib")
THE Caribbean Folklore Project(TM), living island traditions worldwide



p.s. One other looker: Chris Dennis, Trinidad Surfer Dude!
 
See more on youtube when you type in "Chris Dennis" in the search box.

The "Skinny Carib" has invited you to her kitchen. Will you RSVP?

My Caribbean Mamma was wrong!
...at least about this one thing.  Finishing the food on your plate just because there's a hungry child somewhere doesn't make much sense.  Obesity in one part of the world does not cure poverty elsewhere.  If anything, the best solution is to show your child a good example by purchasing products from companies that give back to communities in need.  That's what we do as individuals, but it's also the fundamental basis of our company model: to partner with business that give back to communities in need, but that also provide products and services that are eco and human friendly.

Our current picks are:

Legacy of Clean(TM) household cleaners. 
Our affiliate link is http://www.amway.com/GoodCleanLife   This company has been eco and human-friendly since 1959.  They also give back generously to communities in need.

Toletta: 

"The paper dress for the Tush!"

as seen on "The Doctors" TV program.

• Purse-Sized
• Antibacterial
• Patented
• 20% Larger and 42% Thicker than other brands
• and Yes, Biodegradable

All that and they  Support the CURE for Breast Cancer and Children Living in Poverty.

All you need to do is pick PINK or BLUE

or BOTH--make life a gift and buy for another.

Be Good & Clean.

The Himalayan Salt Shop

In addition to the healing salt products and anti-allergen salt lamps they offer, we have partnered with them to bring you a minaturized version of a traditional Caribbean Dutchie Pot/Coal Pot designed into salt lamp, with candle holder/scent infuser, keeping to the authentic traditional shape, while offering you the unique healing benefits of a Himalayan salt lamp.

Use our affiliate link to learn more about salt lamps and to purchase any number of items for home spa, medicine cabinet or home-health.  Carib Folks Healthy Home

Our custom designed Dutchie/Coal Pot is a limited release item.  We anticipate only 500 for this initial run, so please indicate early your interest in this item, by sending us an e-mail at: Info@CaribFolks.com if you wish to secure a pre-order.   (Please indicate your interest in either a spa pack or a kitchen pack when you write to us, so that we can predict #s of each set of sampler packets to prepare as a bonus item with your Dutchie/Coal Pot Salt Lamp purchase).  

We will announce and post our Pay Pal link to this item a few weeks before the orders are ready-to-shipped to our worldwide destinations.   If you have sent usee-mail, we will inform you letting us know of your interest, we will send you a courtesy e-mail with Pay Pal purchasing option before we inform the general public. .

And for inspiring posters, with words and images of Great Thinkers and Beautiful Locales, we choose our All Posters Affiliate: More Good Pics.  Purchasing through our link funds the free content we offer on our websites/blogs/and Facebook Pages.

Join Us and Simply Enjoy the Authenticated Caribbean Folklore information we offer.   Or just visit for the pretty pictures and occasional humorous exchanges.

Everyone is Welcome at Our Global Famly Table,
No matter where you reside on the earth or moon!

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If You Do Just One Thing: Make "Sweet Water"

by Suat Emam

Imagine a delicious, calorie-free, stomach-soothing, sense-stimulating way to make your drinks sweet---NO sugar or Sugar substitute necessary (though the addition of some sweetener might be a good way to start if you really "need" the taste of sweet to imbibe a healthful amount of water, as you should).

When I first started crafting this blog page, it was because I was sitting at my kitchen-computer sipping on lemon-ginger tea with no sweetener of any kind added, and it was good, really good!   I remember thinking how much water I drink by default because I enjoy the flavourings I add that don't add any calories, yet add significant health benefits.  And, they weren't store-bought packets of powdered stuff.  They were my own "sweet waters".

My Grandma: Mamma Mary always made cornmeal porridge with Christmas bush and cinnamon, and it was outrageously delicious.   Looking back, I also realize it contained a LOT less sugar than you'd imagine because both the Christmas bush and cinammon as prepared fresh packed  potent sweetening flavour into the warm, happy, yellow mixture.  

I realized this because when I first started playing in my own kitchen, I would brew Christmas bush on a low fire, then use it as my "sweet water" for sweet teas--I needed to reduce the sugar content for health reasons.  I also needed to reduce my food budget because at the time healthy meant "outrageously expensive!"    I couldn't always get Christmas bush, because I didn't know it by any other name and the guy at the customs gate was starting to suspect something.  You see, He was Caribbean, too, and clothing just doesn't smell that fragrant!  But, HE was Caribbean, too, so he understood before the laws became too strict that sometimes you need a good island flavour to save your American state-side life--at least this is how it feels after a burger advertised as THE BEST IN TOWN is presented to you with a dash of salt and pepper, which YOU have to add!!  Carib Folk, I speak the truth, and sing great praises to Emeril, Wolfgang, Pahdma and Lawry's as their dried spice blends have rescued our mortally wounded palettes!

So, without enough Christmas bush (which my friends now say is dried bayleaf), I had to resort to cinnamon water, but boiling it on a low fire for some reason didn't seem to work as well as steeping it for a few days--it seemed more bitter with the boil.  As a science afficianado, I have some thoughts about this; but I don't need science to move forward with what I know from experience...

So, that's the simple, no recipe "recipe".   Get a quart of water, steep 4 cinammon sticks.  Place in refrigerator--give it 4 days.  While you are waiting for the pizza to be delivered, grab your organic cinnamon sticks, fill your pitcher and let time to what time does best.

Message to a Lover, by Suat Emam

Some flavours of sweet suit certain flavors of teas better.  So for "sweet water" cinnamon-blend, I suggest lemons, lime, tamarind (the pure paste), a dash of cranberry-cherry-grape juice, and/or ginger as the best palette match--for a bit more sweet, add some Whey Low or Ideal Brown or other xylitol-based sugar substitutes for lowest calories.   There are many, many sugar substitutes out there, but as I like to repeat: many of them aren't low in calories at all, so read the label.  There is NO substitute for your own judgment.  My happy pleasure is simply to make you aware of your options.   

BUT, I do have a suggestion for the Family Table or Dinner Party.

Dress, by Suat Emam 

a favourite of The Skinny Carib

Setting taste aside, HEALTH is critical, and our Carib Kin do have a community issue with diabetes.  So how do we enjoy our traditional tastes AND stay healthy?  When it comes to anything sweet, we need to apply a 50/50 rule relative to traditional sugars and healthier sweeteners. 

Hmmmm, I like what you are thinking.  If you can cut out the sugar and calories now, all together, why not now?   I agree, so go for it!!  And with a "Sweet Water" base, you may be able to cut down on the cost of those healthier substitutes, too, by using less of even that.  

So why did I say 50/50?  Because I don't want you to get so caught up in perfection that you can't have a sweet glass of something at your kin's place because THEY aren't following your new rules.   Remember it's a Family Table and antagonizing your kin doesn't make you fit in any better at somebody else's family table.  It just makes you lonelier and less desirable to be around.  So be gentle on the earth by also being gentle with the people who inhabit it; some of them are your Carib Kin.

Ah, yes, I like it, now you want to know how to become Family-Harmonizer Extraordinaire.  Back to the above: "BRING A PITCHER!!" or bring a bag/box/several packets of healthy, low/no-cal sweetener to the party--a lot of people will appreciate you for it.   There are already too many napkins and last-minute 2-liter bottles of soda.  And you KNOW your last-minute guilt makes you buy at least two AND at the more expensive corner shop...  Get my drift?!  Plan ahead and buy in bulk: instores or online.  Your Elders (who have less of a food budget) and your Skinny's (who pay way too much for a gym membership, videos, haircare, skincare...) will think that you, my dear delightful kin has descended from a HOLY place.

Club Indigo, Haiti

Are you ready to be a Party Saviour; a SuperSweetnerMan; a WonderWoah-man-That-Tastes-Good, epic hero?!  Cape, optional.

Notepaper --by Suat Emam

Health Facts: 

Here's an e-zine article that lists 25 amazing health benefits of cinnamon: http://ezinearticles.com/?25-Health-Benefits-of-Cinnamon---A-Miraculous-Spice&id=1665340

Listen to "Sympathique" by Pink Martini-- "Je ne veux pas travailler,
je ne veux pas dejeuner, je veux seulement l'oublier et puis je fume..."

And a little bit of music while you read here my word of : sweet waters are an individual thing, so if the flavor is too rustic or sweet for you, no harm done, add more water and make a regular batch of lemonade, which I know you'll find won't taste all that regular :-)!! 

But definitely get ready for superhero status at the next office, home, Carib Kin gathering.  As the health benefits of cinnamon are extraordinary.  Here's the article agin :-):

If you liked this "recipe", here's an even simpler one.  Click on the image and give clean, sweet water to a child who'd be happy just for a cup of the uncontaminated stuff.   At Charity Water:  http://www.charitywater.org/   100% goes to the communities in need, for digging wells.   "'De suddin sweet me, directly sweet me fuh true." in Antiguan Creole or in English = That really delights my soul!

m.
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