An Event-ful Weekend

This is a big weekend in the Caribbean not just because of Easter; it is even bigger in countries like Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago because these are such diverse societies. Thursday was a national holiday as they celebrated Phagwah (Holi)- the Hindu festival that heralds the beginning of spring. The riot of colours, the food, the music, the laughter! Gosh I miss it! Today is Yuhman Nabi, a Muslim holiday celebrating the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet, Muhammad. And of course, spread throughout the weekend is the most important celebration of the Christian calender, Easter! Wow, what a weekend, I feel so blessed to have grown up in such a society. The appreciation I have cannot be put into words. Here in Barbados, the public holidays are only for Easter, the other two would be celebrated quietly as the Hindu and Mulsim communities here are very small.

Moving on to other event-ful things... I don't generally get the time to take part in blog events because of the myriad of things I have to do, but sometimes I am able to sneak in an entry here and there or someone would tell me that a dish I've made can be submitted to an event :) So, this week, because I got a little break from writing my column because there is no weekend newspaper in Guyana given the long holiday weekend, I thought I'd get a couple of entries in.

First up is CLICK, the theme this month is METAL. A few weeks ago I found these small beautiful karahi pans and fell in love with them immediately. This is my entry to CLICK.

I have been a good girl and dutifully cooked fish yesterday (Good Friday), I made curried fish (gilbaka) and threw in some okras and finger squash.

Speaking of squash, my friend, Charlotte over at Great Big Vegetable Challenge, will, beginning Monday, March 31st, be featuring a variety of recipes using squash so if you have any, be sure to send them along to her.

The squash I am most familiar with is the bottle-gourd squash. When we cook it, it is generally, steamed, sauteed, stewed or curried. Here, I sauteed mine with lots of herbs. I find it to be a bland ingredient and so you have to aggressively flavour and season it, but is a healthy and delicious vegetable.

I am therefore submitting this dish as my contribution to the Great Big Vegetable Challenge.

Given that we also eat a lot of veggies for breakfast with roti, I am submitting this dish also to dear Mansi of Fun & Food who is this month hosting Weekend Breakfast Blogging with the theme balanced breakfast.

Finally, my fellow crabby-chick, is letting off some steam over at Forgive Me My Nonsense... about some blog readers and their rude comments. Be sure to go over and weigh in.

Thanks for all the kind emails and comments, I am feeling much better :)

Enjoy the Easter, Holi & Birthday celebrations everyone!