Ann's Blog
Chaguaramas, Trinidad:
December 24, 2011
Happy Holidays
Our first Christmas in Trinidad. My sorrel has been steeped, my ponche de crème is chilling, my cookies have been baked. The smoked fish we’ll be having for our traditional Christmas breakfast is in the fridge – house, er, boat-smoked in my little stovetop smoker (though sadly, we didn’t catch the fish ourselves). We’re ready. Yesterday, we ran into Deryck, one of Jesse’s drivers, and he told us the tune playing in his van at the moment was one of his holiday favourites, because it describes all the great things to eat in Trinidad at Christmas.
We ducked our heads in to listen: “The 13 Days of Christmas, Trini-Style” Here is the list:
On the 13th day of Christmas, my compere gave to me
13 leaves of sennai,
12 glass of sorrel,
11 slice of sweet bread,
10 bottle of babash,
9 roast duck,
8 pounds of wild meat,
7 bowls of pastelles,
and 5 roti,
4 homemade bread,
3 turkey legs,
2 puncheon creme
and a boil ham in a pitchoil pan.
Wherever you are, I hope your Christmas is merry and bright and full of all your favourite things.
Now we’re off to the beach. Maracas Beach. An ocean swim on Christmas Eve afternoon has been our tradition since we started cruising. Post-swim, a bake and shark at Richard’s will be required. That is, if we can get to the beach: There was a landslip on the North Coast Road two days ago, and a humongous boulder is apparently still blocking part a lane. Cross your fingers.
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Ahoy Receta & Merry Christmas! Best holiday greetings from NJ. All’s well up here and we’ll have some sun for Christmas – but a lot less heat than in Trini! Loved the food list but now have to search a bit to figure out what they are. Cheers! S & T
Oh, Ann, whist I might not trade the rushing around and children begging to open their presents early and all the fuss and hooplah, I do envy you your onboard Christmas. I have this vision of leaning against the mast in the warm, salty night air, gazing up at the stars, gentle waves against the hull…
A very merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
Happy Holidays from NY. Love your books and posts.
We have a friend, Graham, on The Pearl in your harbor. If you see him send our regards!
Happy New Year!