Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Day Five - Mmmm Chicken!

6.2.11 : 153/365



Thursday, June 2nd, 2010 was a stat holiday in France meaning there wasn't much to do by way of relying on businesses in Martinique... no trouble at all, we are very versed in entertaining ourselves!

To start we went for a drive. We were told, the evening prior, that because it was a stat we would be able to find that marvelous road side chicken that I promised the mister I would find for him. Turns out, this is really just a weekend thing (I was starting to panic when I couldn't find it), but stats are like weekends, so this was our day. So yes, went for a drive and purchased a road side smoked chicken, six cod accras, and a pineapple, all just outside of a roundabout (I'll show you more pictures of this in the next installment).

After all of this though, we spent a fair bit of time at the beach. It was busier than most days because the locals were out in full force, spending time with friends and family on the beach, swimming and playing a little 'football' (read: soccer). After a relaxing morning, we decided to go for a drive to explore the south Caribbean portion of the island that we had yet to discover.

Here are some pictures of Le Diament in the distance (more to come);



After a long afternoon drive, we went back to the flat and settled in for dinner;



Fresh pineapple from the roadside stand...Delicious!-

A totally relaxing and awesome day!
post signature

Day Four - Major Activity in Martinique

6.1.11 : 152/365




Day four was an incredibly busy one. We took off early in the morning and went for a scenic drive around the island. Basically, the way that the highway works in Martinique is that it hugs the water for most of the trip around. Plans today were a very easy; Climb the volcano and visit a distillery... no biggie, right?

Here we are coming up on Saint Pierre near the north Caribbean sea area of the island, home of black beaches and the original capital of the island that was destroyed by lava in the 1902 eruption of the Mont Pelée.

Here you can see the Mont Pelée in the background as we start to approach it;

This was just a nice church that we found along the route;

Here is the first picture of our trek, taken from the parking lot situated at 824 metres above sea level;

You can see the aforementioned parking lot in the background here;


There's the parking lot again;



And again;

A sign!

Saint-Pierre (remember that place?)

Another sign! (This is as far as we made it... even with two large bottles of water, we ran out!)






There is that parking lot again... we had to start heading down again to be able to see it;

Here are some signs that will help explain the 'route';


After the volcano, came ice cream, but after the ice cream came the distillery!



I remembered Saint James from being there 15 years ago, so I was looking forward to bring some back!


Here are some pictures of the rum museum;

(that's all the residual sugar cane from making the rum)








So the day was a scorcher and we probably lost A LOT of weight via 'sweat out' on the volcano itself but it was amazing... truly fulfilling!!

post signature

CARROT PARATHA



Ingredients:
Carrots ..... 1 (grated)
Wheat flour
Green chillies ... 1 chipped finely
Coriander leaves ... handful
Methi leaves ... 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder ... 1/8 tsp.
Red chilli powder .. 1/4 tsp.
Salt ..... to taste
Oil or Ghee

Method:
1. Knead dough for 4-5 parathas adding a little oil or ghee and salt.

2. Grate the carrot and add a little salt and set aside for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze out the water from the carrot completely. ( you can even use this water for kneading the dough) Mix the chillies, turmeric, coriander and methi leaves.


3. Roll out a roti and stuff a little filling in it. Roll it out again and roast on a griddle applying a little ghee or oil.
4. Serve hot with dahi and pickle.

Linking this to:

Veggie/Fruit A Month - Star Ingredient - CARROTS