Tomato Choka and other Tomato Ideas

by Adrienne Wilson on

Every once a month I stop into Island Events to read about all the fetes
and partying happening that I can’t attend at the moment, but I am preparing early for next
year’s Carnival. (It has been said that Trinidad and Tobago has the best Carnival in the world. Also the
Great Fete Weekend is something to be
checked out too if in the area.) Yet another column on their web site always seems to grab my attention; that about
food. Normally they’ll feature a spicy island favorite, but this week they catered to tomato lovers. And I love
tomatoes. What they have provided is a good list of ideas to preparing your tomato. Basic ideas include salsa, dried
cherry tomatoes, tomato bruschetta along with eating your tomato plain.

One I wasn’t quite accustomed to was this
tomato choka recipe. Let’s just say it
involves boiling a pound of tomatoes. After the tomatoes have been boiled you’ll want to peel and crush them, add
onions, some salt and pepper then mix well. While doing this you can begin to saute your garlic cloves. When they have
finished add them to your dish along with some Sada roti and you have yourself another prized island meal.

Another Top Ten Hotel List

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here it is folks. Just when you started working on the first couple ten list of hotels I am going to
provide you with another. I was hoping to follow-up on the actual chain of
eXtreme Hotels I blogged about a few months
back, but my google search retrieved these results instead. Gayot dot com has a list of their
Top 10 Extreme Hotels and they are
considered such for very different reasons. Sweden’s popular Ice Hotel makes the list due to its being completely made
of ice while the Skyland Ranch out of Washington state keeps the Native American way of lodging
alive.  

 

IMO, the best on the list has got to be the Jules’ Underwater Lodge located in Key
Largo, Florida. I’ve never been, but I want to go badly. The underwater research lodge was inspired by the world of
Jules Verne and certified divers can enjoy unlimited diving while earning an Aquanaut certificate. Whether you’re
actually diving or not, staying there must be a real treat from what I’d imagine. Anyhow, check out the list for other
incredible extreme stays around the globe.

Dry Your Food

by Erik Olsen on

Long camping trips require significant preparation, and among the things you have to think long and hard about is
food. While the wilderness is often the best sauce, as they say, trying to subsist on Power Bars alone can be a real
drag. But lugging along a backpack full of fresh grub is prohibitive, and so many people resort to buying expensive
freeze dried meals like Beef Stroganoff and Lasagna. But what about drying your own stuff? Is that possible?

This brief article in Canoe and Kayak Magazine gives some tips on how
to do it yourself. First tip: buy yourself a dehydrator. Most food is 50% to 90% water, and water is very heavy. A
decent dehydrator, they suggest, will set you back between $75 and $200, and will pay for itself in the long run. Next,
yourself a heat-sealing vacuum-bagging kit to seal the food and to keep it fresh. The assortment of stuff you can
dehydrate and store this way is impressive. Meats, veggies, eggs, fruits, all dehydrate nicely, they say. I haven’t
tried the drying technique myself, but it makes sense, and could be a great way to enhance the outdoor dining
experience.

Gorp’s Top Ten Music Festivals

by Erik Olsen on

In the good old days when summer meant three months of time off, I used to hit as many of the country’s music
festivals as possible. I used to do the Telluride Bluegrass Festival somewhat religiously, as well as several of the
other Jazz and Rock festivals around the country. My memories are a bit hazy, given the passing of time and the nature
of such events, but I remember many of these festivals somehow involved funnel cake.

Anyway, as we slide into summer’s mid-point, it behooves us to ask: which are the best music festivals in the world?
Good question. In this Top Ten List,
outdoor sport site Gorp tries to answer it. From the
JVC Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island
(August), to the Barossa Music Festival in Barossa, Australia (August/September),
the list gives a nice run down of the global opportunities for live music listening. Some are past (i.e. Telluride was
in June), but some lie ahead, providing ample time to book your trip now and add a little backbeat to your summer
fun.

Korean Food Blog: FatMan Seoul

by Adrienne Wilson on

Unfortunately, it looks like FatMan has relocated and no longer blogs at
FatMan Seoul, but what is
left for late-comers like myself is quite appetizing. Now, I assume FatMan is your
ordinary guy who loves to eat and maybe even has a little extra baggage (actually he makes note of this himself in the
sidebar), but what FatMan really does is embrace Korean food. If you know little about dining in Seoul, you’ll walk
away learning something. He’s surely not an expert on Korean cuisine, but he has great pictures of food courts and
these rice crackers that he repeatedly states are ridiculously bland. Seems a little hard to believe as some look
identical to Rice Crispy Treats (check out his close-up shots), but I guess I’ll have to take his word for it now.