A little European, A little more Caribbean and A lot of French

From Maui, we travel now to the island of Martinique in the French Caribbean. I journeyed there with a group of friends in an attempt to improve my french and immerse myself in the culture. I would describe Martinique, as a tropical European paradise. On the one hand, you have the beautiful, pristine waters of the Caribbean Sea, the swaying palms and rich dense foliage, the rhythmic sounds of Zouk music and the creole infused french cuisine. On the other hand, you've got the infrastructure, fashion and flair of Europe...France to be exact. Of course, Martinique is still a colony of mother France, but they've managed to create a unique blend and identity for themselves.



I've always had a keen interest in the French - their language which is so romantic, their cuisine, their perfumes, their wines...the list could go on. This trip gave me the opportunity to enjoy it all. I was fortunate enough to be there for carnival time, so I donned my costume (more like a red outfit) and took to the streets of Fort-de-France, for Mardi Gras. It was certainly an interesting day, filled with parades, old scrap-heap-worthy cars packed with people driving up and down, music and of course food.

I had the unique opportunity to stay with a local family, and one thing I found very interesting - and might I add palatable - about the french is that they actually have 3 course meals at home! My cousin and I were sitting at lunch one day, and our hostess served us with some scrumptious french bread, tuna salad, french butter (of course!) and sliced tomatoes. My non-french cousin was voraciously digging in and was quite amazed that our host wasn't eating very much. So her curiosity got the better of her and she asked him. He answered her quite matter-of-"factly" and said, "Well I have to leave room for the next course" (yes he spoke English..), and she didn't skip a beat in her amazement..."There's more?". Yes my dear, there was indeed more. Next we were served a mouth-watering Lamb dish with potatoes. Too bad my cousin didn't have much room left for the other courses!



I came away from this trip with a better command of the french language, but even more so a zest for french food. Needless to say, I picked up some delicious recipes.

Plantain Mash

Ingredients:
5 ripe plantains
1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet/green pepper
1.5 cups grated English Cheddar Cheese
Butter (french)
White pepper
Seasoning salt to taste

Method:
Cook plantains in salted boiling water until soft.
Sautee tomatoes, onion, green pepper with butter and seasoning salt.
Mash plantains with sauteed ingredients, extra butter and grated cheese.
Serve hot with beef or lamb stew.

Enjoy!