I missed most of Christmas Day in town as I was busy preparing a turkey dinner here at the Rose.
Joel made the rounds in the truck and gave many of the old folks a ride. Uncle Will spotted the truck from his porch and hailed Joel for a ride. He likes the truck. At 87 he’s given up his bicycle.
Guests dined at Island Thyme with Haidee and Porter doing turkey.
Between myself and Cathy Doyle, we managed to cook up a pretty good meal of hors de ouvres, turkey, dressing, French potato dressing (Dirty Potatoes), gravy, Waldorf Salad (the fruit was a hit), and glazed carrots. M&M cookies and Spiced Rum Cake filled out the menu.
Nurse Joseph arrived with his date (the dialysis nurse from Grand Turk), Cindy and Adolpho (assisting Salt Cay Divers), Ed and Cathy Doyle, Debbie, Ollie and the McNairs, rounded out the table. Lots of wine, rum and good food was had by all.
This reporter hasn’t seen Debbie laugh as hard as she did last night. I’d tell you the story she was trying to tell, but she was laughing so hard, and I was laughing so hard with her that I never really did make out the event... something about her and Candy and something with holes in it...
We then left the dining deck for the observation deck under the full moon and enjoyed the beautiful Christmas night here on Salt Cay. It was unbelievably clear and bright last night and the moon on the ocean was amazing.
Chief Minister’s Christmas Luncheon
Chief Minister Michael Misick and members of his cabinet, visited Salt Cay for
their island luncheon on December 21, 2004. Included among the Ministers attending was the Minister of Public Works who will apparently be spending time on our fair island in the next months.
The CM announced to the Salt Shed audience several items of significance:
- The dock and harbor are now under contract, or will be within the next few days, for rebuilding and refurbishment, as well as enlargement;
- There will be runway lights on Salt Cay in 2005. Middle Caicos’ lights are now on and operational as of this month;
- The streets of Salt Cay will be rehab’ed. How and what of will be the subject of many meetings, with a definite bent towards keeping the historic nature of Salt Cay in mind..blacktop or something else?
- Be prepared for an economic boom in the TCI’s as well as on Salt Cay. It almost sounded like an invasion, but he was adament, as were the other Ministers, that the next year will be one of great economic expansion;
- Be prepared for growth on Salt Cay in the form of "low density cottages". Now what that means, I cannot say as neither did he;
- Salt Cay will NOT become Provo, it will keep it’s basic historic nature.
The remarks of the CM were confirmed, especially by the Minister of Public Works, and others. Most encouraging were remarks by one Minister who stated that the island passed down by our Senior Citizens of Salt Cay, would not become a different island...but one that reflects the historic values and look of the one passed down by them.
Representing the Seniors was Vita Talbot who gave her remarks, as well as DC Dottis Arthur.
Sharon Shafer, representing the hoteliers of the island, emphasized quite well the needs of the island: non-asphalt street improvements, a dock and harbor, lights for the runway, that the DC and Nurse Joseph be allowed to remain on Salt Cay for the foreseeable future, and a "supermarket" for the people of Salt Cay.
A lunch was served for all the Islanders, residents and guests of ham, turkey, chicken, macaroni and cheese, salad, peas and rice and numerous desserts. An open bar was well tended by Miss Ella’s grandson, Bernard.
Lionel was in attendance desquised as Charley Pride; Miss Netty and Rock’s granddaughter Randy Ann was also present. Tell me she isn’t the pride of Rock and Netty (photo below); and the turnout was great, despite the threatening weather.
The Dominican Store and Other Grand Turk Secrets
store? Do you know what and where it is?
Maria turned me on to this little store several years ago, and I never miss a trip there. Why?
Coffee. The DR coffee, already ground, in 1 pound bags is wonderful, full bodied and strong. It’s $5. There is another coffee there as well, Spanish I think, vacuum sealed, which is quite light in its roast, but also very good. It is about $4 for 12 ounces or so.
You can also obtain Brugal (yes, like the rum) clear and dark vanilla extract. Once you smell this vanilla, you’ll recognize the scent. But I’m not going to tell you where you’ve smelled it before–you’ll have to figure that out yourself. The vanilla is a whopping $1.75 a bottle. I have to say, I have never seen clear vanilla before this. With the holidays, there was run on vanilla and hopefully they’ll be restocked soon.
The DR store also sells raw black beans, in bulk, so you can mix up a batch of Black Bean Soup or Black Bean Smashers (recipe follows). They carry Salzon, which is Maria’s secret ingredient for her Peas and Rice (she showed me that one) and many other items–you just have no idea what it will be.
Porter found various incense flavors (whatever they are) much to his surprise. I don’t think he really realized what a find this little store is.
Anyway, check out the DR store on Grand Turk. It is located directly south of Building Materials, just across the side road where they load your truck–same side of the street. They have cold water in the fridges in the front of the store by the way if you’re waiting for a ride to the dock.
Ever noticed the 7-11 store downtown, next to the old Cee’s location? That is another gold mine as far as I am concerned. And run by very nice folks to boot. I tried to buy some Parmesan cheese there last week, probably the last one on the island. The lady at the counter took it away from me and said I couldn’t buy it, it was way out of date and should not be bought.
The 7-11 has an interesting variety of canned goods, sauces and such you might not find elsewhere. They also have a bank of freezers to look through.
Not a secret is the new Cee’s Warehouse. Costco/Sam’s it isn’t, but what a place. They have added glass front freezers, cold foods, vegetables in bulk, breads, bagels, dairy, meats, ice cream galore the other day...more appliances to chose from, and more room for the old stand- byes.
R&R Market, on the road to LuLu’s, by the salinas, has really up-towned their interior. They have SHELVES! Rows! Glass front coolers/freezers! Pepsi too.
And of course LuLu’s–which is now including a lumber section with the tile, grout, canned green beans, ironing boards, fresh vegetables and PVC of all sizes. After a long day of shopping, we found ice cream sandwiches in the freezer box and they really, really, hit the spot.
I like to stop at LuLu’s last, because you absolutely never know what you’ll find there, that wasn’t any place else.
Black Bean Smashers
This is a great low cal, low fat, high protein way to do black beans for use on quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, and so forth. Black, refried so to speak, beans. Everything is available on Salt Cay too if you shop right in Grand Turk. Get the beans in bulk at the DR store on Grand Turk.
1 ½ pounds or so of black beans, soaked and sorted, rinsed and drained
1 Tablespoon oil, olive oil or bacon drippings
1 yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 Anaheim green chiles, peeled, seeded and chopped (use more, use hotter, use what you like for taste. Use canned if that’s what you have)
1-2 tablespoons Chile powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano (if you have it–otherwise don’t use Italian)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 beer
Left over coffee from the pot
Water
Soak the beans for a few hours, or overnight. Rinse them and sort them so you get out bad beans and potential stones.
In your bean pot, saute the onions in either canola oil, butter, olive oil or bacon drippings–it won’t take much to saute with, on medium high heat. Add the garlic when the onion starts to soften. Add the peppers and mix together.
Clear the center of the pot and add the cumin, chile powder and the Mexican Oregano. Do not use Italian Oregano as the taste is quite different. Toast the spices in the bottom of the pan. Careful not to burn them. This will take just a minute or so to do.
Add the bottle of beer to the onion mixture and stir it up good to mix. If it’s cold and not too early in the day, enjoy a swig or too to get you through the rest of the recipe. The alcohol in the beer will dissipate with the heat of the pan by the way.
If you have some left over coffee in the pot, throw that in too. Coffee was a traditional liquid in the old western cattle trail recipes as liquid (like here on Salt Cay) was never wasted. If it wasn’t drunk, it was used in the meals. It does add a unique touch to the beans, as do the hops from the beer.
Add the beans to the pot. Salt and pepper to taste. With beans you need salt, but don’t over salt.
Add water to cover the beans and allow for them to soak up the liquids. Bring to a boil and then a good simmer until the beans soften and are ready to smash. There should not be much liquid left to speak of. Now, take your potato masher and smash the beans into a paste. Black beans really thicken up nicely.
Unlike traditional refried beans, there is no lard added to these to thicken them. They’ll do that on their own if you cook them down.
You can vary this recipe, using Pinto beans. When doing pintos, I like to add some diced tomato, at least a can with the juice, just to make it a little more interesting.
Add more peppers, more onion–do what you want to make it yours. The onion and peppers disappear into the mix as it cooks down pretty well, and then are really gone with the smashing.
Wipe some across a fresh flour tortilla, top with cheese or sour cream and some salsa. Build a salad burrito with some lettuce, red onion and tomato and fold it up.
The Weather Report
breeze of about 8 mph. The sea is flat and wonderful, with a surface temperature of about 80+ degrees F. Supposedly a front is coming, but with any luck it will get lost on its way down here.
New Year’s Happenings
With more ex-pats on the island now that the Christmas holiday is behind, New
Year’s looks to be a happening of some dimension. Fortunately, no one will have a long drive, no fog, no snow, no DUI checkpoints to circumvent. The only thing we will all have in common is avoiding that drunk driver in the other golf cart. You folks will miss our dilemma of trying to avoid dumping your cart into the Salinas, the ocean or just losing it somewhere between Porter’s and home.
Critter Report
Crown’s land down south and the sounds are even more intense–and maybe they really do mean it this time. Several are with donkey and out of the loop, so to speak.
Cathy and Ed report the cats are in heat in their neighborhood. They were entertained the other morning at dawn.
Cathy and Ed also found a water snake at the cliffs while snorkeling. They saw a large grouper, rays and this eel snake (per Ollie). Ed figured he was tired at the point in which he saw the snake and called an end to the snorkel trip.
The cows are eating cardboard faster than you can shake a broom at them. Though I don’t mind them keeping the sand burrs and their originating grass low, you just cannot trust them like you can a donkey.
Lop Ear, our resident donkey, comes in and does a fine job of keeping the grass down–and he doesn’t really need supervision.
But the cows! Geez. Turn your back on them for a moment and they’re trying to eat your cement bags, the cardboard box your Sarah’s order came in, and ignoring the grass you hired them to eat!
Debbie reports that a mother donkey and her baby have taken up residence in her yard and doing a fine job as a family keeping the grass down. They apparently arrived by the art of the leap over the wall. At least they’re cute.
After Christmas dinner I put out the aluminum pan with the turkey debris in it. This morning (Boxing Day) the pan was empty and about 10 hermit crabs of various sizes were struggling to walk away from the pan. They won’t squeek for a very long time. Then I put out the turkey carcass after I made my soup stock and that was empty an hour later. Nothing goes to waste here.
Flies are up, mosquitos are down, but mosquito futures remain strong, awaiting the next hatch. Sand fleas remain an unpopular investment that cannot draw flies, but are stable at their usual low level.
Comings and Goings
several months. Beet futures are strong on Grand Turk with many stores investing heavily in canned beats on news the James’ were arriving before the end of the fiscal year. I would suggest bailing on beets and selling short by mid-April though.
Ed and Cathy Doyle are here through the New Year before they trade in their shorts for the chill of Nanook of The North and attempt to stem the tide of worm poachers in the Canadian farmlands. They are looking forward to a hot shower. Seems not much progress has been made since last January on their electric water heaters.
Ann and Mike Hawkins are apparently scheduled to arrive the day before this reporter evacuates the island for the fresh powder of Park City. Though word is they may not be arriving till late January. Percy Talbot is counting the days as his golf cart is down for the count and apparently Captain Mike has the magic touch with it and many others. But first, the sand delivered by Frances will need to be removed BACK to the beach from which it came and allow the floaters to resume their posts on the beach and water.
Haidee Williams arrived on December 23 to positively identify her husband, Porter. We all looked forward to Haidee’s arrival and we and many others arrived at Island Thyme to greet her.
This reporter’s son and grandson arrive on December 27th for their first glimmer as to where their inheritance has gone. Marley will be thrilled to see his boy (Zach is 13) and I’m sure they’ll both be wet for a week.
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