Virtual Pot-Luck

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YOU are invited to a virtual pot-luck.

Please bring a picture of your favourite, tasty dish of food when you visit this blog.

How do you do that? (It's a piece of cake if you know how to download pictures or a picnic if you get someone to help you.) Take a picture of your favourite dish the next time you make it and download it here in the message section.

"What's the occasion?", you might ask.

Well it is Mother's Day today, so that's good for a start. Fortunately I was up this morning to receive a beautiful surprise. Lavonnia, a terrific person from the marina office brought all the boaters a gorgeous rose for Mother's Day. As you can imagine, flowers aren't a big part of the boating scenario, so this one was really welcome. We are happy to mention that kindness and warmth, not to mention humour and playfulness, are a good part of the Bahamian culture.

We could also say it's a Birthday Pot-Luck. Whose birthday? Not mine. I'm at the end of May and Frank's is in December. We're both hopeless at remembering birthdays and that probably won't change. So here's to birthdays in general! Let's keep 'em coming! And !surprise! and congratulations to the reader who is celebrating their birthday today.

The nice thing about pot-lucks is that you don't need a reason to have one but they magically turn out well. You might call for a pot-luck because you have too many carrots or chicken was on sale! Over the years I've enjoyed wonderful shared meals hosted by Kathryn at her farm in Shannonville and gastronomically decadent events with my sleep-over group. We've also had huge fun with Halloween and New Year's Eve dinners at home. Moose chili, venison pepperoni and bear roast from Frank's friends at Parmalat come to mind.

When it’s your turn to post your dish, you could dedicate it to any person or purpose that suits your fancy.

The bright dish we brought is one of our boat/house salads. Let's call it "GB Sunny Slaw". We've made it often here for good reason. Many carrots have been donated to our ship's stores by folks clearing storage before flying home for a few weeks. Carrots and onions also keep fairly well on board in the heat, so we keep them on hand.

Recipe: Grand Bahama Sunny Slaw

1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup of lentil sprouts
1 cup of finely chopped celery (or a can of nibblet corn)
1 chopped apple (or 1/2 cup canned pineapple tidbits, grapefruit, grapes)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cranberries (and/or raisins, sunflower seeds, nuts, coconut)
1/4 cup salad dressing (vidalia onion, raspberrry, caesar, balsamic, olive oil/lemon)
-1/8 cup red pepper jelly, relish, pickle is optional

Mix and refrigerate to marinate for at least 3 hours before serving. Better overnight. Keeps well.

We grow lentil sprouts or other varieties of seeds or beans everyday so we can always have fresh veggies. Lentil sprouts have a nutty flavour and crunchy texture if eaten raw and a gentler taste when steamed, fresh pickled or fried. If sprouts aren't fully sprouted you can still add them successfully to bread or simmering soup.

There was a picture of our official plastic sprouter in another blog. Today we're showing spouts in an old-fashioned stainless drip coffee pot. Such sprouting equipment, including sieves and strainers can always be found at a re-sale store. Smaller seeds, like radish, alfalfa or mustard seeds need finer equipment so the roots don't tangle in the strainer. Make sure you loosen the sprouts every time you rinse them.

Our sprouts appear at most meals; added to 1. breakfast: omelette, 2. lunch: sandwich, slaw, jellied salad and 3. dinner: salad, stew, soup, pizza, baked bread or stir-fry. Frank is grateful I haven't worked them into dessert yet... but I suppose they would disappear nicely into a loaf cake or muffins...?

Got to go and ask Frank what he's bringing to the virtual PL. He liked the Spicy Lime Salad of jellied celery and grapes with Lea Elliott's amazing Jalapeno Sauce, but there's not enough left. And the cream cheese dip with Sawyer's Bahamian Coconut Pineapple Jam is only a memory. The local cheddar cheese is pretty darn good and there's some hidden at the bottom of the fridge. Or how about those porcelain perfect red berries he picked from the hedges along the walkway. Called Bahamian cherries, they're a juicy sweet 'n sour squirt wrapped around a pit. We'll wait and see what Frank comes up with.

Can you believe it? We've made it all the way to the end of this blog without mentioning the 'H' word. For those mature souls who read carefully to the end, let's say it now. This recipe, and for that matter, the whole pot-pluck process is healthy, healthy, healthy!

So get busy conjuring up your condiments. Bring a yummy dish with you the next time you visit our blog. Put it on our message board with the recipe so we can feast our eyes on your creation.

Didn't some ancient sage claim that, "Foodliness is next to goodliness"?
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Guest Dishes here or on the message 'side-board'.

Our first virtual guest has arrived. Thanks to Gord for 2 beautiful dishes from potlucks he has attended. The Kiva concept of supporting micro-investments is really interesting. Check online.

Bon apetit!

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