When you come, what to bring
>> Saturday, 5 September 2009
Are you like me – do you give your best friends and loved ones a list of food to bring when they’re coming to visit from overseas, especially if they are coming from home? I do! A few days ago I had a taste of home. My mom’s visiting and she brought for me Chinese Fried Rice and Chinese Cakes (moon cakes). Bliss! Click here to continue reading the column. I'd love to hear what are some of the goodies you request when loved ones are coming to visit :)
Fresh Black-Eye Peas
Last week, for the first time, I bought some fresh black-eye peas. It was a joy to cook with especially since it was done cooking in no time. It is not feasible for me to cook often with fresh peas though as it is costly. The amount you see here in the photograph - just over a cup, costs US$4. A few weeks ago I saw this dish, Aloo Lobia over at Monsoon Spice and knew right away that I'd be making it soon. My friends, Sonia, William and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sia's Aloo Lobia
For several years now, I've been seeing this particular variety of cucumber at the market here in Barbados but never felt motivated to try it even though I love cucumbers and purchase them weekly. It's simply called Bajan Cucumbers. The skin has always been a turn off for me - like something's wrong with it. However, last week, I thought that I'd give it a try and once I cut it, I found it was very similar to the regular cucumbers. It doesen't taste any different, it's just a different variety and it grows larger in size. It sells for more money too! If any of you recognize this variety of cucumber, please let me know.
Bajan Cucumber
Finally, plums are in season. These are caribbean plums. They're rather fragrant when ripe. Though they do not have a lot of flesh on them, they're a delight to have.
Caribbean Plums
Enjoy the weekend, especially for those of you in the USA celebrating Labor Day!
58 comments:
I always want red and green chile from New Mexico - and right now its the big green chile harvest and I sure do wish I had some!
Now I know what to bring :-D Great dishes and ideas, as always!!
The airline baggage restrictions have put crimp on the list but not by much.
I want to give those caribbean plums a try for sure.
Wow great dishes and loved that curry..mmm wish if someone can bring all these things for me.
Are you certain that they are plums? They look ... well, sort of like cumquats or loquats, to me.
Was the cucumber at all bitter, because of its larger size? The best we've found for growing huge and not getting bitter are Armenian cucumbers - they get to the size of a small baseball bat (around 3 feet / 1 meter long), and as big around as my forearm, yet they're not bitter whatsoever. Yum!
Are the beans really so yummy that they're worth $4?
Thanks, as always, for the yummy virtual food. :)
When my friends travel, I always make lists and ask them to bring back some food items... Great dishes! Yummy, as always!
Cheers,
Rosa
Hey, Cyn,
Can you not grow black-eyed peas? We did when I was a kid, and they're much tastier fresh, aren't they? YUM. Your cukes and plums are amazingly weird looking -- love all those variations on produce!
The black-eyed peas look awesome! My boyfriend always brings back homemade masalas made by his mom :)
Enjoyed the article Cynthia!! lol!! Those fresh black eye peas look pretty. I've never seen fresh ones. And for about $4 for a little over a cup of black eye peas... oye!! That's definately too much money, BUT, but I'd be willing to spend it just to taste fresh cooked black eye peas. :)
~Keva
Cynthia, the fresh beans look amazing! Really.
The dish with black eye peas looks delicious! and I would love to try those special cucumbers and plums!
You treated those back-eye peas well, my friend, it looks so fragrant and delicious!!!!
I am in the same camp as doggybloggy. New Mexican chili - especially from Hatch, NM, is #1 on my list. But you know what? They were roasting it today at my local Whole Foods Market! That's right - Hatch, NM green chili, right here in San Diego. Heaven!!
Great post Cynthia you have me thinking of one of my older posts about my dad's green corn from St. vincent. He also asks for that and....well here are some items from his list, green corn, tri tri fish, roasted breadfruit ( I don't get this one as he can just as easily roast his own), fried jacks conch, and whelks.
When travelling abroad most Trini's want preserves ( salt prunes, red mango, Tamarind balls etc) roti skins, pastelles, curry powder, rum.
Finally if I lived abroad I'd ask folks to bring me ketchup as I don't like the acidity of the foreign brands
Are those Caribbean plums what we call pommecythere in Trini? :)
Cynthia asling to bring cola, that is the first i hear, buti have to agree it must be tasting different otherwise you woudn't ask to bring that.
Last year when mmy sis came to visit me from Indi , I asked her to bring fresh curry leaves and she bought 2 kilos which i put in different packets and in the freeze they went.
Ialso asked hr to bring home made mango pickles, coconut oil etc.........they list is too long :-)
I have nevr seen fresh beans like this here, only had dry ones.
I ask for vegetables depending on the season. Though my parents live in the same country, they are in a different state, and I like the vegetables there better, and some of them aren't available where I live. Hyacinth beans which are not all pod, normal-sized ridge gourd unlike the mile-long ones we get here, ginger-garlic paste (which I don't bother grinding if I know my folks are coming or I'm going there), pommelo ... and if it's family from abroad, dark chocolate.
As for that cucumber, it's available here too, think it's called the Malabar cucumber. There are the oval and long varieties but they are not as tasty as the lemon/melon cucumber and the salad cucumber - they are very flat.
I usually have a long list ready which I trim down as it can't be fun for them to lug down. One has to be considerate, unfortunately. :)
Last time my sis got be baking books, some bake ware, acake decorating set, herb seeds, dried cranberries, macadamia nuts, hazel nuts, pecans and loads of chocolate! My daughter had her little list.
You can see we were very considerate. ;)
I've never seen those beans freash, only dried.
That cucumber looks like what we call "Vellirikkai" or Indian yellow cucumber. Not particularly tasty but good when cooked.
We use it a lot in cooking. You may check out if it is the same as this on my blog.
http://mydiversekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/vellarikkai-puli-pachadi-cucumber-in.html
I am not sure about the name of this cucumber. I use to think they were bad myself with this skin. I love Hog plums. There is not much to do with them just eat it...
From home I would ask for Indian Girl cornmeal because I do not make cou cou without it.
Eclipse biscuits whole wheat
That is about it..
I never saw green black eye peas however I am growing some now just to eat them fresh
I am also like you yearning for the taste of home .. and when my mom came visiting to US she some how managed to hide my favourite food varieties in the baggage andescaped the customs ....
those carrobean plums are so tempting :)
That cucumber is called vellarikka in Kerala. It grows here abundantly and is used widely in cooking.
that's the only kind of cucumber that's widely used in Kerala, called vellarikka :)
and i never knew fresh black eyed peas are slightly green in colour!
MMMMMMM,...that dish with the black -eyed peas looks so lovely!!
That cucumber, I would love to taste!
Loved that curry.Awesome clicks :)
This is known as old cucumber and as Chinese Cantonese we used to boil soup with dried scallop, ribs, red dates and dried octopus. The soup has to be boiled for at least 3 hrs to bring out their flavour.
What a beautiful dish. I have never seen fresh black eyed peas.. they are gorgeous!!
Enjoyed your article synthia :) recently my parents had visited me and half of the weight of their luggage was due to my stuff :)
great idea!! use to tell my relatives to bring a lot of food items ven they come back home :)
My sister will come for the end of this year and I will for sure ask her to bring a bit from home too...But the stopover and dozen of hours of flight will restrict the choice.
I'd like to try these cute carribean plums...
My list is too long!!!!! I miss a lot of things from my country, but I always want Colombian chocolate, coffee, hot sauce, coffee liquor......Great post!
Yes, I'm like you. The first thing I can think of when someone says they're going overseas is: "can you help me by *insert food name here*?"
haha, and DID YOU SAY MOONCAKES?!! OMG, those things are orgasmic! Awesome stuff you got, I am so jealous!
It looks like those peas where worth every penny! They sure look it!
Hah! I can see why you blanched when you first saw those cucumbers. I probably would, too. But I guess you can't tell a cucumber by its mottled skin, huh, just like a book by its cover? ;)
Excellent ideas. I must say, the pictures on your blog are absolutely amazing.
Makes me hungry just looking at everything. Loved the picture of your cake with strawberry glaze I saw on another post.
Nice dish, Cynthia. I ask my cousins to bring back some Limoon Aswad from Kuwait, where I used to live. :)
The plums looks lovely. My fav is when they just start turning ripe (half ripe) with some salt and crushed scotch bonnet peppers.
All these years and I'm still to try fresh black eye peas.. had the canned stuff a number of times though.
This post just reminds me of how similar and different we all are and all at the same time. Everyone from my home town already knows not to visit without getting "the list".
That cucumber is really unusual.
I get the fresh peas here (CA) in summer but expensive.
In the list: there is always some fresh masala!Those plums are quiet impressive!
Nice...I'd like to try the Caribbean plums :-)
Those peas! And I thought they were beauties when dry. ; P Nice assortment of still lifes.
Yep, that's me!!
I always ask my mom to get some homemade savouries even if I am just 10 kms away from her place :-) Hope u got my mail with the attachment file regd the marking for dishes..waiting for your response
Cynth!
I hear you that the cucumber's skin is a turn off. For me yellow cucumber skin means bitter cucumber. But being a different kind, then it's a different story...
Lovely pics!
What I want from home? the list is endless... but I don't have much family coming now, so it just remains a wish!.. mostly homemade & local things.
That cucumber is not salad kind, it tastes good when cooked. We would cook it with shrimp. (in fact any cucumber that got old would be cooked with shrimp back home).
Love lobia... but never saw the green ones.
HI, im a great fan of your blog, as well as those wonderful recipes. Great recipes as always.
do drop in my place sometime.
I have added you in my blog roll :)
My parents posts me goodies from home like smoked tuna and spicey snacks and fried breadfruit chips.
I always visit supermarkets and farmers markets when ever i get the chance to go some where new :). I have seen those cucumbers here they refer to it as chinse cucumber, although even i dont like the rather dull out side .
You get whatever we get in Kerala and more than that.. am so jealous to you.. :)
This time ofthe year it's mooncakes! I normally request for bah kut teh spices along with other Chinese herbs.
The aloo lobia looks wonderful.
As I have a major sweet tooth I usually ask folks to get some sweets like cashew barfi for me...and then they get for me dry masalas even without asking :) You know that cucumber you have put up on ur post...thats my favourite. If you make sambhar add it in that. We usually make a curry of prawns and that cucumber...tastes like heaven! I have not seen it here in the US....lucky you :)
I always ask for food items I can't find around here. Great post.
Your food looks SO good!
Can I move in...please...he he!
Well done!
When my family visits from Azerbaijan I request all sorts of dried fruits, Azerbaijani chai (tea) and anything else they want to spoil me with:)
I don't think I've ever tried Caribbean plums. Will keep my eyes open to see if they sell it in some markets. They look so good!
Everything looks so good!!
I think your Caribbean Plums are actaually Kumquats - they are a tropical fruit and we have lots of them in Florida. Quite expensive at the store, more so up North I'm sure, but the ones that my daughter gets from a friend's yard are oh-so cheap :)
What a wild cuke!
The aloo lobia looks really tasty. We can generally only get dried beans too.
I am hoping that we get some good Latin ingredients here in Canada. We have a decent representation of Indian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern now, but Latin is sorely lacking. I dream of being able to make all the dishes in Bobby Flay and Rick Bayless's books.
i am loving your blog Cynthia..
the sil lorha in the last post is just so alluring...i am a collector of such things...
the cucumber is available here too and i prefer it for it's higher fiber content and also because it keeps fresh in the fridge for longer...
and the carribian plums you have mentioned ...are they very sour when unripe...i think they are called amda here n are used to make pickles..do you get meshy fibers in the ripe ones?
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