June Photo-a-Day 13 to 16

Day 13
Art: 

Day 14
Time: About to get ready for work.

Day 15
Yellow: Emergency phone

Day 16
Out and about: A day at the zoo with my GF and her kids.

Stay tuned for more photos.

Much love,

June Photo-a-Day 7 to 12

Day 7
Drink: Stocking up on some vitamin C.

Day 8
Six o'clock: 1800 hours

Day 9
Your view today:

Day 10
Best bit of your weekend: Spending time with my family was the best part of my weekend.

Day 11
Door: My kitchen cupboard doors.

Day 12
From a low angle: In the kitchen at work.

Stay tuned for more photos.


Much love,

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

I absolutely love making a one pot meal, they are simple, save on time and are delicious. 

During the week, on the public holiday, I wanted to spend the day relaxing on my couch, but I also wanted to have a meal that was different, tasty and simple. I decided to prepare this meal for the Mr, my little bro and myself.
This meal is also perfect for a rainy Sunday like today. Here goes

Firstly, I washed the chicken parts and brined over night.  

For the brine I combined:

 ~  10 cups of water
 ~  1 cup apple cider vinegar
 ~  3/4 cup coarse sea salt
 ~  2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper

I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F

I removed the chicken from the brine, patted it dry and rubbed it with a mixture of:

 ~  2 tbs fresh ginger (minced)
 ~  4 cloves garlic (minced)
 ~  1 tbsp red pepper flakes

For the veggie portion of the dish, I used:
 ~  4 large Idaho potatoes 
 ~  2 medium carrots
 ~  2 medium green bell pepper
 ~  1 10oz. can Shiitake mushrooms (only because I didn't have fresh)

I chopped all the veggies into 1 inch pieces and placed them in a Ziploc bag. I then added the following ingredients to the veggies, sealed the bag and gave a good mix (shake), to ensure all the pieces were coated.

 ~  1 tbsp olive oil  ~  1 tsp coriander  ~  1 tsp garlic salt 

 ~  1 tsp cayenne pepper
 ~  1 tsp coarse black pepper
 ~  1 tsp onion salt
 ~  1 tsp ground ginger
 ~  1 tsp fresh thyme
 ~  1 tsp red pepper flakes

Place the veggies in a deep baking dish (with a lid), arrange chicken breast on top of veggies , cover with lid (ensure the chicken is not touching the lid of the dish), cook in preheated oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. After the 45 mins had passed I removed the chicken and checked to see if it was cooked all the way through. I then placed the dish, uncovered back into the oven for 10 more minutes to give some colour.

Do you enjoy making a one pot meal? What is your favourite one pot meal?


Hope you enjoy.


Much love,

June Photo-a-Day 3 to 6

Day 3
On your plate: Dinner at work; fried fish, fried bake, salad and garlic sauce.....yummmm

Day 4
Close-up: A hibiscus flower. This is somewhat a cheat, my co-worker took this photo and insisted I use it.

Day 5
Sign: Reverse parking is mandatory.

Day 6
Hat: My work hat; must be worn once I'm leaving the confines of the office.

Stay tuned for more photos.


Much love,

June Photo-a-Day 1 & 2

Day 1
Morning: Early morning walks on the beach are fun and peaceful; it always puts me in a nice, relaxed frame of mind.

Day 2
Empty: A swimming pool devoid of people, but then again who wants to swim in a pool when the ocean is fifty footsteps away.

Stay posted for more Photo A Day.


These are some of the people I will follow:
FatMumSlim  (on Instagram)
Simply Joolz


Much love,

Photo-A-Day: June

June photo-a-day starts tomorrow, and I will be participating again.

For those of you who don't know what photo a day is; it's a fun photo challenge started by Chantelle aka Fatmumslim, back in January. All you need to do is follow the list and take a photo for each day of the month. Once the photo has been taken you can keep it to yourself or share at various places on the net.

I will be sharing my photos here on my blog and in a public album on Facebook/Trinicountrygirl/June Photo-a-Day Challenge. (an maybe flickr)

Visit Fatmumslim for the how to's of the challenge

Here is the list

Do enjoy, and stay posted.


Much love,

Love is...

I was having a conversation with a girl friend yesterday, about a common saying about love. 

The saying goes, "be with the person who loves you, not the person you love".

I absolutely hate this saying...I hate it!!!! 

Maybe I don't fully understand what the saying is about (I hope so), because what this says to me, is be with someone who loves you and hope that you eventually love them back.

I think it's selfish, so you are to deny the person who is in love with you LOVE, your LOVE, the LOVE of another? In a relationship there is nothing that hurts more than when you love someone who doesn't love you back.

So here is my saying, "be with the person you love, who loves you back"

what love is to me

What do you think about the saying "be with the person who loves you, not the person you love" ?


Much love,

Mother's Day

One of the things I look forward to in this life is becoming a mother, to bring a life into this world. To be responsible for someone's upbringing, their safety, their health, the way they grow up in this world. To bestow on them the same type of love my mother bestowed onto my siblings and myself. There is nothing greater than the love a mother and child shares.

To all the mothers out there, I tremendously respect the role you play in the lives of  those dearest to you....your children.

Happy Mother's Day

card from ShareHolidays

Would you trade being a mother for anything in this world? What would that thing be?


Much love,

A Month Well Spent

So the B'Day month is over *yea I'm 30* and I think I'm in withdrawal. This month has been the most fun I've had in a looooooong time. It was filled with some of the things I luv to do and some hair pulling instances, but I survived it *super woman stance* 

Queen Me

I planned, I prepared, I cried, I cursed, I drank, I sang, I ate, I ran around naked in a drunken stupor, the Mr sprang a surprise on me, I had fun at the beach, I was admired by guys, I had loads of cake, I spent time with the people that matter, I almost got a lap dance...lol, but the most important thing is, I had FUN!!!

The Mr & Me

My B'Day week started with the Mr. taking me to dinner, i was pleasantly surprised, and shocked shitless when we arrived at a sushi restaurant and he was willing to try sushi. That night was a great night, a night full of wonderful surprises. 

My girls, Me & some Nylon Pools

However the star of the week was the girls lime weekend getaway in Tobago. My girls, Desta and Mary, and myself did Tobago crazy!!!!!!! 

Beaches, mini villa and pool to ourselves, free drinks at a bar, weird museum down the street, three foot Suzie (the watch dog at the villa), wine, bikinis, car trouble, B'Day dinner, gyrating by the pool, big mosquitoes, almost missing our flight home, cake, running through the rain, embarrassing moments, me hungover, tasty food, late night talks, loud singing in the car,  gyrating in a bar, not wanting the weekend to end....the list goes on and on.

This was the best 30th B'Day ever.....lmao

Below are some of the memories we captured.

B'Day Cake

FUN!!!

The drinks

Bhagi rice cook-up with pigtail and fried plantains

The Kimme Museum

Pink Salmon

Kiss cupcakes

FUN!!!!

The Pool

Beautiful sunset

How fun are your B'days?


Much love,

Memories: B'Day 2011

B'Day 2012

Last year for my birthday, I invited my girlfriends over and prepared a meal for them. Everyone kept asking if I was sure i wanted to be in the kitchen, cooking on my birthday, the answer was yes. I love to try new recipes and I love to entertain small, intimate groups of people.

I remember that days so well. I had gotten up early because for some reason I had a lot of errands to run (which seems strange now, because I would never want to have a hassle of a day on my B'day). Anyhow, I had a lot to do, which included going to the hair dresser and getting home in time to prepare the meal.

Needless to say, the day was crazy and I barely made it home in time to cook. But it was a great day none the less, I cooked, my friends came, we eat and drank, reminisced and made a new memory.

I had a lot of fun hanging with my girls at home last year, and I plan to have even more fun with them this year. However we would not be staying at home. You'll know the saying 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'? Well, we're not going to Vegas, but we are to have a Vegas moment....what happens in.....

Below is the link to the main dish I made. I found this recipe on a blog about food, the person is from South Africa, but sadly that's all I remember, I don't even remember the name of the blog. But the great thing is this recipe is great and we truly enjoyed it.

Greek Pastitisio

How do you prefer to spend your birthday?

Much love,

Greek Pastitisio

I made this dish last year for my B'Day lime with my girls. I found this recipe on a blog about food, the person is from South Africa, but sadly that's all I remember, I don't even remember the name of the blog. But the great thing is this recipe is great and we truly enjoyed it.

Greek Pastitisio (Baked Pasta with Ground Beef)

Makes about 8 large servings

For meat sauce

• 2lbs beef mince (ground beef)
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tins Hunts fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Beef maggi cubes
• 1tsp dried mint
• 1tbsp dried oregano
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground cloves
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 2tbsp flour
• salt & pepper to taste

 For the Béchamel sauce (white sauce) 

• 4tbsp butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 ¾ cups milk, heated
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp paprika
• 1 cup Gouda cheese, grated
• salt & black pepper to taste
• 1 pk penne pasta, cooked

1. Start by making the meat sauce. In a large pot, fry the minced beef until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. In the same pot, fry the onions, carrots, celery and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the bay leaves. Add the minced beef back into the pot and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, herbs, flour and sugar. Allow to come to simmering point and turn the heat down.
3. Place the lid on the pot to simmer gently and allow thickening for 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c and grease an oven proof dish (make sure it’s big enough).
5. To make the bechamel, gently melt the butter in a saucepan ensuring it doesn’t change colour. Stir in the flour until a glossy paste is formed.
6. Slowly pour in the warm milk. Only pour in a few tablespoons at a time and make sure that it’s well incorporated before adding again. When half of the milk has been incorporated, switch to a balloon whisk and add larger amount of the milk whilst whisking. The sauce should be thick and smooth.
7. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the spices and cheese. Season to taste. At this point, also check the seasoning of the meat sauce and adjust.
8. To assemble the Pastitsio, combine the cooked pasta with just over half of the Béchamel sauce.
9. Pour all of the meat sauce into a prepared oven dish and smooth out. Follow with the pasta and finally the remaining of the Béchamel sauce.

10.  Place the assembled Pastitsio into the pre-heated oven and allow baking for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

11.  Remove the Pastitsio from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed it.


Much love,

iRant

This would be my first rant post. Why am I ranting you may ask? Simply because it threatens the fun packed weekend I have planned.

It all started on a dark and rainy night....lol....I kid, I kid (is it weird that horror stories always start that way). It was actually midday on a cloudy, cool Friday.

Anyhow, me being in preparation mode for the highly anticipated weekend, and wanting to look my best (after all, it's 'my big three O'). I decide to pay a visit to the beauty spa, this is a place I frequent almost every month to get a facial and some minor waxing done. 

STOP!!!

Hold on, wait a minute. Let me start by saying upfront, the service I recieved here has always been good, and on that day, the actual facial was the BEST I have ever had at this spa. The young lady was very pleasant, gentle and she took her time with me.

Ok...back to the RANT

So there I am lying on the bed with my eyes closed. The beautician comes in ever so quietly that I didn't even realize she was in the room till she started coughing. We exchanged some pleasantries (how are you,  which type of facial, when was the last facial etc), then the facial started (she has the most gentle hands). 

Cough, cough, cough....cough, cough, cough. Me, "are you alright?" to which she replied "yes". Me: *raised eyebrow* Ok, she said she's OK, probably she just has that annoying, non-contagious, non-infectious, nothing to worry about cough, that cough everyone was left with after the flu has left them. However, as the facial progressed, the cough persisted. That coughing spell lasted the entire appointment, the ENTIRE appointment!!! 

So the appointment is over now, I thank her, told her she did such a wonderful job. I get up, and looked at the her and realizes she looks ill, so I ask her again, " are you sure you're OK? do you have the flu?" to which she then replies "yes". 

YES??? WHAT!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!! Y'ALL HAVE TO BE JOKING!!!!

If you are providing a service, especially one that involves personal hygiene, and your employee has the flu (the very contagious flu). Send them to F home until they feel better. So as to not risk paying customers such as myself being infected with the flu. And in my case being infected with the flu days before 'my big three O'. What the hell are you trying to do? Ruin my celebration?

I am very disappointed with the spa, VERY disappointed. It's Sunday, I'm on work, tired, weak, feverish, congested, I have a headache,  my nose and eyes are runny, my throat is sore; and i'm guzzling down Nyquil, Panadol and Chloraseptic lozenges hoping to get over the flu before the weekend. This is not how I envisioned my week. I'm supposed to be bursting with energy and excitement. 

Places such as these establishments need to be better business people and human beings and look out for the well being of there customers and fellow human beings.

I now wish I had noticed she was ill before the start of the appointment. I would have requested someone else do the facial.

END OF RANT

Have you ever experienced this, or a similar situation? Do you think places such as these establishments should be held accountable for public health?

Much Love,