Saturday cricket in Barrackpore

 1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad  No Responses »
Apr 262010
 

As much as I love cricket, I never had the chance to play village cricket in Trinidad.

The only time I was in Barrackpore was going to see Ria Maharaj at Princes Town. The things that a young man will go through just to see a girl … young and dumb!

The only problem with village cricket is that the only people who care, are the ones who are drinking in the rumshop across from the cricket ground :)

 Posted by rishiray at 4:04 pm  Tagged with: , ,

Maracas … Sunday … Win

 1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad  No Responses »
Apr 262010
 

 Posted by rishiray at 6:55 am  Tagged with: , , ,

“Bake and Shark” at Maracas Bay… really … why not just “Fish Sandwich”

 1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad  13 Responses »
Apr 262010
 

For all the Food Network specials with Andrew Zimern and Anthony Bourdain about “Bake and Shark” … the sad thing is that there is no authentic “bake and shark” anymore and they’re advertising something that is no longer available, yet the masses come in search of a “bake and shark”.

Looking at the menu board at any vendor at Maracas Bay, the questions one should ask are :

“Where are they finding all these “Sharks”?”
“Why is “Shark Meat”, the cheapest fish meat on the menu?”
“Someone actually eats a plain bake? (Bake with no dressing)”

Ok, the last question is a rhetorical question. The plain and simple truth is that the “Shark meat” being served at these place are probably either what Trinis call “Catfish” (a bottom feeding fish – scavenger), “Skates” (a type of ray) or “Grouper” (another scavenger fish). These are in available in sufficient quantities to feed the masses now expecting their “Bake and Shark” fix when they go to Maracas.

I have no problems with an excellent fish sandwich, but I think it is about time to stop the “Bake and Shark” charade, but I know it will never happen, since “Bake and Shark” is now “controlled by the Ministry of Tourism and regulated.” … this was according to one of the vendors, I’ve verified nothing to that aspect.

I refuse to eat “Bake and Shark” at Maracas anymore because there is no “Shark” meat in the sandwich. I do love “Kingfish”, so I’ll always get the “Bake and Kingfish”.

What makes the fish sandwiches at Maracas so good is the quantity and variety of the dressings that you can top your sandwich with.

When the list of dressings includes :

  • Garlic Sauce
  • Fresh Chadon Beni seasoning
  • Lime water
  • Super Hot Pepper sauce
  • Regular pimento sauce
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Along with fresh pineapple, green mango salsa, grated mangoes, cabbage slaw, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, water cress

The dressings make the sandwich, as evidenced by the line up to dress the sandwich. These sandwich vendors are making a killing and with good reason, a Maracas beach lime is truly not complete without a “Bake and Shark”. Blame the Travel Network and savvy marketing for the association … even your world traveling Trini friend falls victim to it.

 Posted by rishiray at 5:00 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

What’s the cure for Doubles-itis??

 1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad  No Responses »
Apr 252010
 

Ok I seriously think I am going into Doubles shock now.

This is the third day in a row, that I’m gorging on this hot, oily chick pea – flour concotion slathered with Coriander(“Chadon Beni”) hot sauce, tamarind sweet chutney and mango kutchela. I think my blood is slowly turning into Chickpea sauce.

Now a new innovation I have discovered is the development of Doubles Automation and outsourcing. One would assume that IBM or Accenture came in here and showed some Powerpoint slides about the cost-benefit analysis of centralizing double production coupled with an revenue graph plotted by sales against time. So after our Saturday night out with the boys – my little brother took to me to the village of El Socorro to see the “Doubles factory”. I was impressed and appalled all the same time .. of course my stomach would have nothing of my brain and I proceed to have the following : 2 baiganis (Fried pies with eggplant in them with chickpeas and chutneys)

Then coupled that with 3 LARGE doubles with tons of hot sauce and chutneys

All within the confines of mass doubles production. Each cooler contains 500 “baras” and they scoop the chick pea mixture from this massive cauldron.

Finding this place is to know it. The location isn’t top secret, but it isn’t common knowledge as yet, but after  a couple Angostura 1824′s neat – getting your Doubles fix becomes mandatory.  I couldn’t find this place again, if my life depended on it, but thankfully after some liquor, my doubles auto pilot will kick in and it will all be great for steaming hot, fresh doubles.

 Posted by rishiray at 3:00 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Sunsets at the Temple in the Sea

 1 - All Trinidad Posts, 2010, Trinidad  No Responses »
Apr 252010
 

The “Temple in the Sea” is really a Hindu temple built on reclaimed land in Waterloo, Trinidad. In 1947 Siewdass Sadhu a devote Hindu built a temple near the seaside on land owned by sugar cane company Tate and Lyle. He was persecuted for trespassing and fined £100 or 14 days in jail. So what … the company didn’t approve of a temple on their land, so instead he went and built his temple just outside the companies land.

Today, the temple is a monument to the persistance and devotion of one simple Hindu man. Over the years, the sea reclaimed the original structure but local businessmen rebuilt the structure into what we see today.

He started working toward realizing his dream. His great fete was one of determination. He moved soil and land firstly by bucket and bicycle. After many years of difficult laboring, he managed a pathway 200m out into the gulf. It took him 25 years to build his temple.

Some called Siewdass mad at the time, but it’s not likely that those people realized how prolific his temple would become. It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it, and the Waterloo Temple in Trinidad is a fine example of human persistence.

From the other side of the temple, it’s just you and the Gulf of Paria and the fishing boats …

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