There's often talk about how STJ is divided into cultures - that the Continentals come here and don't respect or take up the West Indian culture. Instead, they bring their own and have managed to take over the island. In the restaurants it's more common, unfortunately, to hear Sirius radio piped in to ZZTop and '70's drug music, "Sweet Home Alabama", than Reggae or steel pans. The island youth emulate the urban African American styles and music. It's a mish mosh.
The St. Patrick's Day "parade" is one of white faces, one more divide where the two sides will not meet. I'd never been to it but I wanted to do some grocery shopping anyway so I thought I'd check it out. The parade lasts all of 10 minutes at most, and covered a tenth of a mile. The event was centered around Woody's Bar and the Quiet Mon Irish Pub, where the VIPs get a balcony seat. Beer starts to be poured by 9AM.
The St. Patrick's Day "parade" is one of white faces, one more divide where the two sides will not meet. I'd never been to it but I wanted to do some grocery shopping anyway so I thought I'd check it out. The parade lasts all of 10 minutes at most, and covered a tenth of a mile. The event was centered around Woody's Bar and the Quiet Mon Irish Pub, where the VIPs get a balcony seat. Beer starts to be poured by 9AM.
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| Ground Zero - The Quiet Mon Pub |
Ok , it was fun. You can't help but laugh, what's not to like, it's totally insane. People were in costume, music was blasting, hula hoop women were putting on a show. A truck came by throwing out trinkets and t-shirts a la Mardis Gras.
I'm just sorry there weren't any West Indians.
What surprized me the most was that so many people have green t-shirts and costumes. I don't have anything green. Where do you even get this stuff? OrientalTrading.com! They must collect it over the year and keep it stored away. It's that important.
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| Taking Over Cruz Bay |
Su and Tom came to dinner, Su made her corned beef and cabbage. I have to admit, I have NEVER had corned beef and cabbage, a real staple on St Paddy's. Aren't I bad? It was delicious and I'm not a big meat eater. Su served it up with potatoes and carrots, we had spicy mustard and horseradish - how do you say YUM in Gaelic? It went great with the iced Rex Goliath 47lb Rooster red and white wines. Good peeps, good food.
We don't have an oven here , and chocolate was THE order of the day. I dedicated all of ten minutes making this no flour refrigerator chocolate cake. It's the ultimate
lazy chocolate dessert. You can call it a slice-able truffle. If
you have a some dark chocolate, cream, and something to infuse the cream
with, you're in business. It's less trouble to make than it is to go out and buy something, not that I would have that option here, so we make it work, right?
A
small slice goes the distance. It's intense, it's hardcore chocolate,
and paired with a touch of whipped cream, you're sure to impress your guests. I
infused the cream with (no espresso) allspice and sugar, but you could just have it plain, or take it in any direction
you want. drizzle cinnamon on the whipped cream and for St Paddy's a touch of green lime garish.
But don't squeeze the lime on the cake, that's what George did and he said it was pretty bad.
But don't squeeze the lime on the cake, that's what George did and he said it was pretty bad.
The parchment paper is important if you ever want to get the cake out of the
pan. For this cake, I used a cute little loaf pan they had at - believe me - KMart. A bigger pan will mean a thinner slice. A small loaf pan like
this yields a deeper slice, and so on. It's hard to mess this up.
You need:
butter,
to grease pan
8 ounces
70% chocolate, well chopped
8 ounces
heavy cream
½ teaspoon allspice (optional
1T sugar
2tsp
finely ground coffee or espresso (optional)
¼ tsp
fine grain salt
Cocoa powder
to serve
Lightly butter your pan. Line with parchment paper and set
aside.
Barely melt the chocolate over gentle heat. (I nuked it but melting chocolate here is never a problem, set it in the sun)
In a separate medium pan heat the cream over gentle heat. When the cream is very warm/ hot
to the touch, remove from heat and stir in the salt, sugar and allspice.
Pour the chocolate into the cream, and very slowly and steadily stir
until everything comes together smoothly. Make sure the components
aren't at all separate. Pour into the prepared pan, cover with plastic
wrap and refrigerate until chilled throughout, a few hours, or
overnight.
When ready to serve, remove from the pan, let set at room temperature
for ten minutes or so, dust with a bit of cocoa powder, whipped cream, top with some cinnamon and slice.
♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣
A St Paddy's Day Joke thanks to Elizabeth Murphy:
Turtle Holiday Rock. Every occasion this rock is decorated appropriately.
~~~~ Happy St. Patrick's Day!~~~~~
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