Article
January 24, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

The Long Overdue Post about Julian

So this post is way overdue, but break sure did fly by. I just lost track of time. We spent about 18 days in the States and it was packed full of family, friends, and stocking up on American goodies.

Our first big adventure shortly after getting to California was a trip to the cold. After spending the last 5 months in continual August, cold was what we wanted. Compared to Grenada’s sunny, humid, 87 degree weather everyday – California’s chilly 50’s were quite a shock for us. But we decided that we wanted to soak as much up as possible, so we decided to make a trip to the mountains in search of snow. We rented a little cabin at the most beautiful, cozy little inn in Julian for the night. Going to Julian during the holidays is already pretty special to us because last Christmas we went for the anual tree lighting ceremony which we sadly missed this year. But it is a tradition that I wouldn’t mind keeping – and so is staying up there at this inn – so beautiful!

Anyways, we  started off our little 36 hour mini-vacation by hiking up in Mt. Laguna. Snow was everywhere – about a foot and half to two feet. That might not sound like much to our friends in the mountains or on the east coast, but that is pretty good for the San Diego county mountains.Mt. Laguna

We were able to enjoy all of the classic snow activities, snowball fights, building a snowman, snow angels, and even a relaxing bath in a tub full of ice! It was super sunny and cold, for us at least, and the best part was that not too many people had tracked through yet so all of the snow was perfect and free of footprints.

Tyler sitting on an ice toilet reading an imaginary paper Taking a bath in a tub made of ice Tyler conquering the snowy log Me jumping off of a snowy log with mad ninja skills (until I got hurt)
The trail we hiked up Us at the end of the hike View of the dessert from a lookout in Mount Laguna

After our hike, we enjoyed Julian and the awesome Cabin we got to stay in. The main lodge of the inn has the best large fireplace where we sat and drank wine and beer, ate cheese and fruit, and read travel magazines. We even read one about the Caribbean – Grenada wasn’t even mentioned. We clearly know more about the Caribbean than they do. The main lodge of the Inn in Julian

It was the most perfect trip. We loved getting some time to relax, just the two of us after a chaotic semester. It was perfect – many, many husband points to Tyler for planning a great little trip for us.

Article
December 19, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

End of Term 1 and Our Return to America

Term 1 MaterialThis is a picture I took of everything I learned in the past 18 week of school. 18 week! I took all of the textbooks (leaving out the couple I never opened) plus all of my lecture notes plus any additional notes I took or made and – Voila! It is hard to believe that I actually went through that much material. I cannot believe I studied all of that – even if you just take everything that was paper (which I read over many, MANY times) – that is a lot of stuff to learn in one semester. People must think Doctors should know a lot or something. And I hope the post-its you can see in the pages of the texts prove they were well read and used. As I told Tyler, if anyone doesn’t understand why I was so MIA, this should make it clear.

But the massive pile of textbook and notes (that I have no idea where to store now) aside, this term was a lot of work. It was a lot of work, but flew by. And I am, in the end, really happy with how it went. I did extremely well on all of my final exams, including my clinical skills exam, and I feel like I really have gotten back into the swing of school and am loving it.

On a different note, after a week of cleaning the apartment and enjoying a little of the caribbean sun – we boarded a plane on Saturday and flew back to California. So far it feel big, cold, and a little weird. But at the same time, it is so good to be at home. The food and beer is so much better! Plus it has been nice to see Tyler’s family these few days, and we will see mine later this week.

As we took off, I took some sweet shots of Grenada. We were on the wrong side of the plane to get a view of the whole island from above, so these are just of the south side near the airport. It sure looks its small size as soon as you leave the ground.

Just look at those reefs and that water!Bye Bye Grenada

Article
December 1, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

OSPE Exams, Jumping Off Cliffs, the Christmas Season and Final Exams

I am not entirely sure where October and November went, but it appears that December is just a few days around the corner. And while it seems hard to believe that my first term of medical school is soon to be behind me.

The last week or so had been a whirlwind of pre-final preparations and all of the stress and work that goes into exam prep. Last Friday I had my first OSPE exam, which is a clinical skills examination that tested not only diagnostic skills, but our physical exam skills. The exam in itself is actually part of a 4th term class, but it was actually one of the more fun exams to prepare for. There is something about starting to master the techniques and skills that I will actually use everyday of my career that is really exciting. The exam in and of itself was a little disorganized which led to a long day of being sequestered, but it was a worthwhile experience. And it is nothing like heading to an exam wearing a white coat and carrying a stethoscope to make you feel really legit.

Cliff at SGUThis weekend was a weekend chocked full of studying – as usual. But considering I have been staying fairly on top of things since the midterm, I decided to set aside some time for Tyler and I to get a little R&R while he had a light workload due to American Thanksgiving and before the sheer madness of studying 18 hours per day of finals fully sets in. Saturday we pulled ourselves out of bed nice and early and made it to campus to get to work. But at 1pm we had plans with a friend to go jump off the cliff. There is a cliff behing the Caribbean house at SGU that is perfect for jumping off into the ocean.

After a fun time hanging out in the pristine blue ocean, we braved the climb back up – which I have a few battle wounds to show for as my wingspan is much smaller than my fellow male cliff jumpers and my upper-body strength leaves something to be desired. But have no fear, I made it back up after a few tries.

Magical Christmas Tree Making Supplies

Before

Later Saturday night after some more studying and such, Tyler and I had carved out our epic Christmas date night in. We had made plans to do all of the things I associate with the beginning of the Christmas season, even here in Grenada. So first step was to close the curtains to hide the weather and lower the AC a degree or two, and then we put together all of our creative spirits and created a paper Christmas tree. It is beautiful! I was quite impressed on what we were able to make out of a couple paper presentation folders and some glittery fabric paint.

Christmas Tree

After

After we “decorated” the apartment, we commenced part 2 of our date which included baking chocolate chip cookies and making Grenadian peppermint hot cocoa from scratch. I will admit we had to cheat and buy cookie dough, but considering we don’t eat cookies around here, they were amazing! And since Tyler had brought home some good Grenadian cocoa sticks, we were able to make a pretty good try at hot cocoa. My recipe might need a little perfecting, but it came out pretty good if I may so myself.

And then part 3, after we had made the appropriate snacks, was to watch the movie Elf. Tyler had never seen it, which was of course a tragedy, so we enjoyed our cookies with hot cocoa while watching Elf. We probably ate way too much, but that is okay.

Cookies and Cocoa

Pure Christmas Joy

It was a great, fun, and relaxing night that really helped to give me the energy to push through finals. And it is hard to believe that in something like 10 days I will be done with finals, term 1 of medical school, and we will be preparing for our trip back home. For now, pray for energy and strength and peace of mind and pray that I will rock my finals.

Article
November 25, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Tyler’s Parents Vist: Part 3, The Chocolate Factory

Grenada Chocolate CompanyThe minute I found out that Grenada had a chocolate factory, it was added to Tyler and I’s bucket list. Tyler and I had been trying to visit the area for a while. We tried to rent a car for my birthday to go, but couldn’t get a car. We tried again after midterms but learned that it was closed on Saturdays. So, third times the charm, we planned to go while Tyler’s parents were here after spending the first part of the trip on the south side of the island snorkeling, exploring and eating lots of fish.

Belmont Estates is located in Heritage, which is up toward the North-Eastern side of the Island in St. Patricks. Belmont Estate actually grows the cocoa beans for the Grenadian Chocolate Factory. It is quite a long drive up there, about an hour or so, but totally worth it. Windy Grenadian roads and lacking road signs make all road trips an adventure. Mom didn’t handle the drive so well, but she survived and the tasty food and amazing chocolate I think we can agree made it all worthwhile.Belmont Estate

We decided to tour the plantation first. We got to see what a cocoa pod looks like – which honestly, I never would have assumed that this was where chocolate came from. We even got to taste what the cocoa pod seeds taste like. Then we went through the process of how the cocoa seeds are fermented and darken to form something more closely resembling something I might assume makes chocolate. Next the beans dry out in the sun for some time and the beans are regularly walked. Yes, walked! Tyler contributed a little to the chocolate making process even.

The cocoa pod The fermenting cocoa beans Tyler walking the cocoa beans Some local Grenadian goods

The best part of the tour was the fact that it ended with samples of cocoa tea (which was incredible, mostly because it was a less-sweet version of hot cocoa) and some of the chocolate made at the Chocolate Factory. It was hard not too eat the entire tray of chocolate pieces as they are so, so good.

Drinking cocoa tea

Our tour of Belmont Estate ended with eating lunch at the plantation restaurant. Let me just say that I still dream of this meal. It was an amazing 3 course Grenadian meal that made me so full that it hurt. The best part, hands down in my opinion, was the ginger-pumpkin soup. It might have been the cold I was fighting, but the soup was SO good! I want so very bad to learn how to make it because I think I could eat that soup all day. But the soup was followed by a buffet main course with delicious beef and fish and veggies and an amazing baked breadfruit cornbread-like thing. And since all meals are not complete without dessert, Grenada’s famous nutmeg ice cream followed. Can you see why I was so full it hurt? To top it all off, it started to rain as lunch ended and when it stopped, the most beautiful, full arc rainbow was visible through the tropical foliage.

I loved our visit to the Chocolate Factory. It was such a fun trip to all make together and such a fun experience. It is so beautiful up there. I am already secretly hoping for a return trip this December once finals are over.

Tyler and I had a blast while Mom and Dad were here – it was so nice that they came. It was like a vacation for us too! We hope we can leur more family and friends to come visit – we promise we will go to the Chocolate Factory…and that sure makes it worth it. Plus Tyler and I are pretty cool too!    🙂

Article
November 18, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Roasted Vegetable Pesto Sandwiches

So one of our favorite restaurants here in Grenada is Umbrellas. We love it mainly for the fact that it is right on the water and has an amazing view of the ocean sunset and because they have a 5EC happy hour Tuesdays-Fridays. We also like going there because they have really good food. While we often praise them for being out favorite nachos on the island (although we REALLY miss SoCal’s Mexican food) but they have some really good sandwiches. We often order a grilled vegetable and a grilled fish sandwich, an order of sweet potato fries with jalapeno dip and share. It is delicious, especially with a rum and Ting to go with it.

Anyways, I got inspired by the deliciousness of those veggie sandwiches and the overabundance of eggplant in the markets to try my hand at making my own sandwich. I clearly do not have access to a grill so I decided to roast my vegetables. But ever since my discovery of the greatness of roasted eggplant, I am obsessed with incorporating it into every meal possible.

What You Need:

2-3 eggplants
2 carrots (local Grendian carrots are small, so you might need more)
3 green bell peppers
1 small onion
goat cheese (strongly recommend the cheese from Belmont Estate)
pesto sauce
salt and pepper
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
focaccia bread (I actually found some good tomato and parmesan focaccia that worked well, so you can find some)

The trickiest part of making these sandwiches is that the vegetables take different amounts of time to cook. I found that getting the carrots to be soft took way more time than the eggplant took – and of course onions and bell peppers really don’t take that long to roast. I sliced the carrots into thin, wide slices and I cut the eggplant along the diagonal to yield larger slices. I simple sliced the onions and left the bell peppers whole with only the stems removed. I first placed the carrots into a baking dish and seasoned them with sea salt, pepper, a little olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. I put the carrots into a hot oven to roast, about 400-450 degrees. I gave them about a 15 minute head start before adding the other veggies.

I added the slices carrots and bell peppers to the same dish as the carrots and gave everything a stir and added in the eggplant on a different dish. However it works with your kitchen, the goal is to wind up with all of your veggies soft.

I sliced the bell peppers into usable slices once everything came out of the oven. I had previously warmed my bread a little in the toaster oven on a low setting. To make the sandwiches, I spread pesto on each slice of bread, placed on heaping amounts of eggplant, carrots, onions and bell peppers. Then I crumbled on some goat cheese (or a lot) and presto – yummy sandwich!

If you want, you can also add some fresh sliced tomatoes or some lettuce to your sandwich too. I also found that a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar on the finished product was also good, but these are all up to you.

We were quite pleased with our try at this sandwich – it came out really good. You won’t be sad making some of these up for dinner one night.

Enjoy!

Article
November 17, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Roasted Eggplant

Roasted EggplantThe eggplant season is in full swing. And let me tell you, they are beautiful! I have always liked eggplant, but honestly they can be a little expensive in the states. I also never really used them to make too much outside of Italian food. An eggplant parmesan here and there was generally the extent of my eggplant usage. But when I learned I could get a couple pounds for about 3EC, I decided I needed to branch out.

I wanted to use up some eggplant as a side dish for a simple weeknight dinner so I suddenly realized I should give roasting a try. I found a sweet, simple recipe online and gave it a try. I proceeded to fall in love with my new roasted eggplant discovery.

What You Need:

A few eggplants
2-3 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper 

All you need to do is slice the garlic cloves into thin chips and then slice the eggplant into about 1-1.5″ thick slices. Arrange them into a lightly sprayed baking dish or baking sheet, brush the eggplant slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then press into each eggplant slice one (or a few) garlic chips. Then place it into a nice hot oven (somewhere around 400 degrees or so) and roast for about 15 minutes or until soft and golden brown.

The roasting highlights how buttery and sweet the eggplant is and the garlic tastes oh so good. And if you are looking for a fun alternative or want to add some extra flavor, I also tried adding a light drizzle with balsamic vinegar before roasting with great results.

Enjoy!

Article
November 13, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Savory Baked Snapper

So one of my favorite things (as those who have read other posts can attest to) are these little spice bundles that are sold along with green onions at the local market here. I love that I can get some fresh herbs and spices for basically free around here. But I had picked up a couple really nice bundles at the market and they always include this little leafy herb known here as shadow benny. I have only more recently actually learned what it is called, but it smells so savory and delicious I have thrown it in a few meals here and there when it just felt right. But inspired by this savory, almost stew-like herb – I decided to play around with a savory snapper dish.

What You Need:

2 snapper fillets
green bell peppers, sliced (or any other color, but green are local here)
onion, sliced
4 bay leaves
2 shadow benny leaves (optional)
2-3 limes, sliced
green onions, chopped
black pepper

What I did was I first constructed some aluminum foil baking pouches. I sprayed the inside lightly to prevent the fish from sticking. Then I quickly sautéed the bell peppers and onions to give them some flavor and assure they would be soft and added about 1/4 to each pouch. Then I placed in a bay leaf and then laid my fish filet, skin down, on top. I seasoned the top well with pepper, placed my shadow benny leaf, and then covered it with lime slices. Then I added another bay leaf and topped another 1/4 of the vegetables in. Fish in the pouches ready for the oven!

I closed up my little foil pouch and placed them into the oven, at about 350 degrees or so (my oven has numbers, so I went with 3 in my 1-4 scale, whatever that is). Once the fish was cooked and flaked easily, I considered them done and served them up with some fresh veggies and probably some rice, Tyler’s favorite. The fish was so moist and so flavorful!Cooked and Ready for Eating

We were in love with this dish. I highly recommend it. And for all of my oven-less friends on the island, a toaster oven is your best friend so don’t forget it can bake too! You so need one. Enjoy!

 

Article
November 13, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

5-minute Chocolate Cake

Seriously, this recipe is bomb! And a major go-to for emergency chocolate cravings, stressed out medical students, moody girl time, and treating hubby’s belly. A friend of mine found this and posted it on a Facebook group for all of us students. I must say that even though I do, in fact, have an oven – this is so easy to make. Plus, I don’t have a mixer or a huge supply of baking dishes here but I do have coffee mugs. We have played around with the recipe a little and we definitely recommend adding a chocolate bar in if you don’t have chocolate chips (so far M&Ms, snickers, and Grenadian Chocolate Bars have all been fine contestants). I would also say feel free to add a little extra liquid, I found that mine came out a little dry but one I added a splash extra milk – it was pure delight. Last tip, don’t overcook! Nothing like a dry, hard cake. But by the second try I had a delicious, fudgey, warm chocolate cake right out of the microwave – literally taking only 5 minutes. Check out how to make it here, or watch the video below. Enjoy!

 

Article
November 11, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Quick and Easy Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant is everywhere here these days. Neither Tyler nor I would have expected eggplant to be a local produced item here, but it is and it is cheap and delicious! So, we have taken to eating a lot of eggplant these days, mixed into pastas, roasted, on a sandwich, you name it. One of my favorite dishes is eggplant parmesan, but the way I generally make it is a bit time consuming. The breading and the frying and then baking takes a bit too much time for my med student schedule when my hopes are to come home from class and get dinner on the table in 30 minutes or so if I can. So I invented a quick and easy version that tastes almost as good as the real thing.

What you Need:

Eggplant
Fresh Basil
Tomato Sauce
Parmesan Cheese
Mozarella Cheese
Dried Thyme
Ground Pepper
Sea Salt
Olive Oil

So what I do is just chop up the eggplant into some bite-sized pieces and saute in a really hot pan with just a touch of olive oil. Eggplant tends to absorb oil and get mushy or oily fast, but I found that a really hot pan with just a touch of oil and some salt and pepper. I found the the eggplant gets crispy on the outside and soft and sweet on the inside. Then coat a baking dish with some pasta sauce, add some freshly chopped basil, add eggplant, add more basil, cover in sauce, then top with cheese and pop it in the oven. I generally shoot for an oven somewhere around 350 degrees. After about 20 minutes and the sauce is all bubbly and the cheese golden brown, it is ready for some eating. Serve over some pasta for the perfect quick dinner. Enjoy!

**Sorry I don’t have any photos of the making, my camera battery charger got shot in the move and I didn’t have my new charger yet. It is okay, trust me, it looks and tastes amazing!

Article
November 1, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

All Hallow’s Eve – The Night We Took the Off-Route Bus

Last night was Halloween. We knew it was Halloween because as we were walking back from the study hall we saw big groups of people dressed in odd costumes heading to a big party. Yep, we are so cool that we decided to study on Halloween. HAHA. But since Tyler’s parents were just here last week I am still behind on coursework plus I was sick for another week and it has left we with a lot of studying to do these days.

But anyways, we missed the big bus that stops right in front of our apartment by a mere minute or so. At night, the bus runs only ever half hour so this was quite tragic. And for some unknown reason I have been experiencing some really bad neck and back pain the last couple days so walking home with my heavy school bag was just not what I wanted to do. But as we stood there evaluating our situation, the Grand Anse off-rout bus drove up and since it was not full, we figured we would just take that. The school has these little vans that run only at night to take students straight to their door if they live off of the main bus route so they don’t have to walk up the hills or small roads they normally do to get to the bus stop.

Anyways, we figured that we lived not too far away from school so the bus would pass by our apartment before beginning its “off-route” journey. Not so! We ended up going on a tumultuous, high-speed, bouncy adventure through the back roads and neighborhoods of the little part of Grenada we call home. These bus drivers are crazy the way the whip though little roads and up through these neighborhoods, in the rain no doubt! It was quite amusing as we never drove by our apartment at all and we were the last to get off and had to explain to the driver we actually lived on the route, we just missed the bus. He was super cool though and dropped us off no problem.

It was actually kinda cool to see some of the neighborhoods, even if it was dark. We are excited to think about moving into a more homey, residential area and out of our little studio.

That was pretty much the exciting part of yesterday, our crazy scenic route home through the backroads of Frequente, Point Salines and Limes.

Article
October 30, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Broiled Cajun Red Snapper

Yummy Snapper DinnerOne of the best things about living on a tiny Caribbean island is the fresh fish. Fish that was swimming probably that morning winds up on your plate and it is so yummy. Tyler and I went to the market last weekend and were fortunate to find that there were a ton of huge red snappers, which has quickly become one of our favorite fish. So for about 15 US dollars we were able to get 6 pounds of freshly caught snapper. We gave the “fish master” a couple bucks to fillet them for us and have since been reveling in the deliciousness.

That night we decided we had to have fish so I made one of our favorites, Broiled Cajun Red Snapper. The fish comes out moist with that amazing citrus taste and yummy savory spicy goodness.

What You Need:

Red Snapper Fillets
Cajun Seasoning (this is super common here in Grenada, but you could easily mix your own if you don’t have the pre-mixed stuff)
Limes (or lemons)
Onion 
Garlic cloves
Olive Oil
Black Pepper

First I dice up the onions and the garlic cloves. Then in a hot pan I saute them with some olive oil until they are a nice golden-brown in color. I slice the limes up into thin circular slices and then set them aside. Next, I spray my trusty toaster oven broiler sheet with some cooking spray (we don’t have a broiler in our oven, but a regular baking sheet in an oven will work too) and place on my dried fish filets. Next I season the fish well with a little black pepper and lots of cajun seasoning. I drizzle on a little more olive oil, top with the onion-garlic mixture.Fish with the onions all ready

ahen cover with the lime slices. Then place the whole sheet into the broiler and cook until the fish flakes, about 10 minutes or so. That is all it takes.

This is seriously one of our favorite dishes. So much so that not only does Tyler request it, but we made it for his parents when they were here too. I usually make it with some lime flavored white rice and steamed veggies for a good, healthy mid-week dinner. Enjoy!

All Done!

Doesn't that look delightful?

Article
October 16, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Road Trip Around the Country

My faithful driverLast weekend marked the end of midterms! After a week of studying nearly nonstop, I needed a break and both of us wanted to not only get far away from the campus study halls, but far away from our side of the island. So Tyler rented a car and we decided that on Saturday we would drive to the other side of our country (our little tiny island of a country) to the north side and see what kind of good stuff was over there.

Tyler, in all of his super awesomeness, found a sweet little resort inn for us to have lunch at. So we loaded up the rental car and braved the Grenadian roads and the left-hand driving to start our adventure to the north side. The little touristy resort “road map” of Grenada is in fact the official driving map and we did our best to follow the yellow road up the Atlantic coastline until we reached our destination – and we managed to do so with remarkable success considering there are maybe 15 road signs in the entire country. Oh, and this was made even more interesting by the fact that we had a left-hand drive car too!

Entering St. Patrick

A little view of the northern cities.

Driving was actually really fun! You have to honk your horn when going around corners, which is absurdly hilarious. We got it down after a while. And it is funny how many goats you see walking along the side of the road or when you get to a fork in a road and really have no idea which way to go because there are no signs. But every time we could see the beautiful ocean it was so great. After about 90 minutes of driving up the coast on what was a spectacular Saturday here, we got to the resort. It is owned by a British couple so we had some British cider and some legit British food for lunch while sitting in this super cute little restaurant overlooking a perfectly crystal clear ocean with all of Grenada’s smaller islands visible right off the coast.

So Fun!

View at Petite Anse Restaurant

After our delicious lunch, we just checked out the area a little and admired the view a little while longer. They had some sweet lounge chairs on their pool deck and we spent some time admiring the view and relaxing and enjoying a whole day in while we did not have to do anything. No schedule, no agenda, just fun and relaxation.

The spectacular view

Isn't that view just spectacular?

After lunch we started on our way to Bathway beach, which is a locals beach on the northern Atlantic side of the island that Tyler had read about. So we got back into the car, opened the sun roof and all of the windows, turned up the sweet driving CD we burned (so 90’s right?) and traversed some more roads.

Carib's Leap MemorialOn our way we saw the spot for Carib’s leap, which is a historical site of where the native Caribs committed suicide when the Island was under French control. We had heard about it and really wanted to see it. It was not nearly as impressive as we thought, but there was a sweet memorial and a beautiful lookout. However, it was kinda at the end of the cemetery so we were glad we went in midday because walking through a cemetery at night is just way too weird.

After our little detour at Carib’s leap, we managed to make it to Bathway beach. We were at first confused by the no swimming signs, but soon learned by the help of a passing local that we were just not supposed to swim beyond the rocky ridge that was a little bit off-shore. The waves crashing over the rocks made floating and swimming around here a lot of fun. We certainly enjoyed it. And after our little beach swim we decided to partake in the single most common Grenadian tradition, drinks from a local rum shop. These things are everywhere and are open at any and all times. So, the nice lady who had a little wooden shack right on the sand made us some drinks which we enjoyed while admiring the water and the waves.

Bathway BeachRum shop drinks

 

 

 

 

 

 

To end our night we decided that we would drive down the Caribbean side, thereby effectively driving around the entire island, and watch the sunset and just enjoy our country. We had a few funny experiences, one of which being the funny local Grenadian guy that took us to see the rock carvings at this random fisherman’s beach. The views were breathtaking, even if the rock drawings were less than impressive. But apparently best on the whole island!Duquesne Bay sign

After that little stop we pretty much drove straight home. It still takes over an hour to drive from north to south so we got to see the entire sunset along the peaceful seaside road. We even stopped for some roasted corn being sold on the side of the road, which was unexpectedly delicious.

All in all, we had a blast. We have learned that our little made up adventures are always the best. Tyler and I had flashbacks to our first roadtrip together we made last summer where we went border to border along the west coast. Hard to believe that we traversed an entire country in a single day when then we spent 2 weeks going through only 3 states. Makes the sheer size difference of our new home quite real. We look forward to possible getting a car sometime in the spring and then we can take more trips like this and see more that Grenada has to offer. We have quite a few things on our bucket list we want to see and do anyways.

Sheer Perfection!

Article
October 15, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Baked Sailfish Revisted

One of our favorite and very Grenadian dishes has been making baked sailfish. I wrote all about it here and you can follow my recipe as trust me, you will not be disappointed.  However, I wanted to take a minute to write about a variation we tried out. Since we get so many awesome local and  fresh spices in these bundles with our green onions, I got inspired to get extra savory with the sailfish. I sliced up some onions and green bell peppers but also added some carrots and celery to the dish (celery comes with the green onions). I seasoned the sailfish the same way but omitted the lime juice. I also through in sprigs of all the savory spices there was. I added some of the thyme and then a few other things that I honestly did not know what it was, but it smelled delicious. Then add a bay leave to the top and place the tomato slice on and bake it. It really did taste like a different dish. We were very happy, it was almost like a fish roast. Give it a try, especially if you can get your hands on a delicious bundle of Grenadian green onions and spices.

Article
October 12, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken ParmesanI know I have mentioned I am sure dozens of time about the local produce markets, but really – I just love them. We went this past Saturday and I was looking for some green onions. As I am now a pro stand shopper, I scoped out a lady on the street who had the best pickings and went to her. I bought two bunches and as she handed them to me I could just smell all the fresh herbs tied up with my onions. I feel as though I have mentioned this practice before, but I really think it is awesome that they do this. It is like fresh herbs for free. When we got home I was taking things apart to store, and noticed that in addition to the typical thyme, there was so much fresh basil and some celery and some other savory leaves that I don’t even know what they were. You can read what I did with the celery and such here. So with my new acquisition of so much fresh basil, I was inspired to try my hand at making one our favorite Italian dishes, Chicken Parmesan, here in Grenada.

What You Need:

2 chicken breasts
fresh basil
1/2 jar pasta sauce
mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
thyme
oreganogarlic powder
bread crumbs
flour
1 egg
olive oil
salt and pepper

You start off with a simple breading of your chicken.  I add some pepper into my flour mixture and then add the dried thyme, oregano, and garlic powder to my bread crumbs. Then pat chicken breasts dry, dip in flour and shake off all extra, dip in egg, then coat in breadcrumb mixture. Then saute the chicken breasts in a pan with a little olive oil until golden brown. Then, take a baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of pasta sauce. Then add lots of fresh basil leaves. Then place your chicken breasts in, top with some more pasta sauce and more fresh basil leaves (and a little sprinkling of thyme if you wish) then top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Place the whole thing in the oven (around 400 degrees) for about 15 or 20 minutes until warm and bubbly. And that is all it takes. I usually serve it on top of some angle hair pasta (or spaghetti or linguine – whatever you like) and of course some garlic bread which is a favorite of Tyler’s when I make it with fresh chopped garlic pieces.

It was quite a delicious meal. We have decided that for the next time we get some basil, we might make this dish again and check out the wine shop and see if we can find something suitable there.

Enjoy!

Article
October 3, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Fall in Grenada (Sort of)

So the other day it was really windy. The gently breeze is basically a constant here, but this was an unusually windy day. As I was standing outside waiting for the bus there were leaved falling from our neighbors trees and blowing everywhere. And they were even multicolored! It was like a little snapshot of fall, even if it was of the Grenadian sort. Or course, it was still 87 degrees outside and all and I am not holding my breath for any of the delicious fall treats to hit the stores (no Thanksgiving here and all – but I did find a recipe that I am going to make for pumpkin maple bacon bars!), but the leaves were fun. However, as I read friends from back home talking about their pumpkin latte’s I do miss Peet’s and Jameson Brown and Kean and all the wonderful coffee shops from back home. Tyler and I decided that over break we might just hang out in a coffee shop all day and just tell our friends to come to us. Sip yummy coffee and catch up with old friends.

Nevertheless, fall is here. Although, I am sad to report that the once colorful crunchy leaves are gone from a couple days of good ol’ Caribbean rain.

Oh, and I am one midterm down, two to go in the craziness and insanity that is exam week, so back to studying I go.  🙂

Article
September 27, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Less Energy, More Exams

So Midterms start in just under a week. In fact, I think to myself that sitting here writing that in a sentence is such a terrible waste of time. Midterms make it feel like 24 hours in a day is simply no where near enough time to review everything there is to know for the exams. And our professors kindly remind us how many pages of objectives they have given us and how sleeping is for after midterms.

Sadly, as I get busier I also tend to get exhausted. Stress, hours of studying and the transient feeling of being overwhelmed tends to zap my energy pretty good. But of course, having no energy only makes the problem worse. Then today, I am feeling a lot groggy and a little like that could be my immune system conceding to something. Being sick, or being tired really in general, needs to not happen over the next week and a half so I hope that this will pass quickly. Emergen C and coffee will be my friends and hopefully will do the trick to not send me into the land of being sick. So, if you’re thinking about us then please pray for my exams next week and pray that I will have inordinate amounts of energy to tackle and learn and review all that I have learned in the last 8 weeks. Then I can sleep and enjoy Grenada on the hopefully really awesome fun day-after-midterms-date Tyler is planning for us.

Article
September 22, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Mexican Taco Salad

Mexican Taco Salad

First I just want to apologize for our bad photography. We have some of the worst energy saver lights in our apartment and we didn’t have enough room to fit the nice camera anyways and the battery charger for my camera got damaged, so phone cameras and poor light it is. But anyways, you get the idea.

So anyways, Tyler and I love Mexican food! Southern California kids and all so we were craving some taco salad action not too long ago. We had also found a really nice and ripe avocado so we figured there was no better time to make some taco salad.

What You Need:

Lettuce
Avocado
Tortillas (or chips)
Grated Cheese
Ground Beef
Dices Onions
Spices – cumin (called guerra in Grenada), chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper are my recommendations
Kidney Beans
Sliced Sweet Peppers (the tasty small Grenadian bell peppers, bell peppers could be substituted though)
Salsa
and anything else you want to add in really – it’s a salad, anything goes.

First, saute the onions for a few minutes until soft, then add in the ground beef and spices. I cooked it until almost done (no longer pink) and then added in my kidney beans. I also added in some hot sauce (which is optional) to make it spicier. Since corn chips are not available here, I just microwaved some corn tortillas for about 3 minutes until crispy and golden brown and broke them up into the salad instead. As an added benefit, it is way healthier too. Then I assembled the salad by mixing all my freshly washed and chopped lettuce and veggies and topping it with salsa, using it like a dressing. Then top with the tortilla chips, meat mixture, cheese, sliced avocado. Simple as that. So yummy! Tyler calls this the manly salad since it is savory and hearty, he doesn’t do fruit and vinaigrette salads.
 

Article
September 13, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

First Big Test and First Big Storm

Rain

I actually haven’t really blogged much just about school. Mostly because it seems rather boring to report about the 4 + hours of lecture I attended that day and the subsequent 4 + hours I spent in the study halls studying that lecture material. And also I feel as though most of our friends and family do not find learning about the detailed aspects of fibrous connective tissue or lymphatic drainage of the upper limb as entertaining and fascinating as I do. In fact, most people don’t have any idea what I just said, but that’s okay.

Anyways, I had my first big test yesterday. It was something that I was half excited to take primarily for the fact that I can finally get a good idea of how I am actually doing here. How well I am studying, how well I understand the material, etc. And they structured this quiz which compiled everything we have learned thus far in every class into one giant test that was not worth much of our grade to provide us with a good indication of how well we are doing. And while I am still waiting on the scores, I can now get a sense of where I stand. And I do think I did okay, but with midterms just 3 weeks away most of what I can think about is how much work I need to put in to not only fill in the gaps in the things I did not know on the test, but also to keep up with the 60 + more lectures we will have between now and the midterm (we learn A LOT in medical school).

I love what I am learning, I really do. It is fun to study it, but it is so exhausting and even if I could study 24 hours a day I could not physically go through all of the material that is given to us. So I am continuing to work through how to condense notes, how to study, how to learn everything I need to know in the few meager hours a day that I can study, and still do really well. And not having been in school for a while leaves me a bit out of practice of all of this. Although, I never worked this hard in undergrad anyways. Medical school makes UCI look like a breeze, and I went to a pretty darn good undergrad! But while medical school is a lot of work and a lot of information, the best part is how relevant everything I do study is and how we are finally done with pointless prereq classes, it is all just applicable clinical knowledge.

But moving on to the second part of this post – after the test, Tyler and I decided to go out to dinner last night. We decided to go to Sushi down in Grand Anse. It was pretty cloudy and was raining a little, but we didn’t think much of it and decided that it was probably on its way out anyways. We grabbed just my umbrella and left. About halfway though dinner, the rain picked up and it was raining so hard that we had to yell to hear each other over the sound of the rain falling on the roof.  We waited it out for a while, but finally decided that we would just have to go for it and try to catch a bus home.

Another couple that we are friends with was eating nearby and were also doing the “how on earth do we get to the bus?” contemplation. Tyler and I decided that we would try and walk up the road to the supermarket where we could wait for the bus under the overhang and then run out when it came. Our friends decided to hang out by the restaurant and then run out when the saw the bus. So Tyler and I tried to make our way over to the mall but soon realized that the entire road was a one foot deep puddle of muddy water. We could not find a way across.  Tyler saw the bus and had the idea that running in the middle of the road would be the best decision as it would flag the bus driver down and we could just run over to the other side of the road and get on the bus there. As we start running up the middle of the road, we see our friends dart across the street too in hopes of catching the bus.

As we are maneuvering around puddles and getting onto the sidewalk (which really wasn’t any less puddled with water) we see our friends neck deep in water flailing around. Well, sidewalks here in Grenada are bordered by about 3 or 4 foot ditches and it had rained so much, that they were completely full of water. The girl had accidentally run right off the sidewalk and into the ditch and her husband, thinking she was getting swept away, jumped in to help her. It was the funniest thing ever and they were both okay. The bus driver was laughing hysterically at the four Americans fighting the torrential Caribbean rain and very kindly allowed us, even our soaking wet friends, on the bus anyways and very gingerly drove us home.

Tyler and I were glad to see that our apartment withheld the rain. We have not had a storm quite that strong since we have been here. It is very strange though to realize that the best rain gear is really shorts and rubber flip flops because it is still so warm, it is just better to wear clothes that wont get wet and shoes that dry easily.

And that was pretty much our Monday, exciting right?

Article
September 6, 2011
by Stefanie Paulson

Baked Sailfish

The fish market in St. George’s is incredible. You can buy so much local, freshly caught fish at amazing prices. We had some amazing red snapper a while ago that I broiled and the fish only cost us the equivalent of 4US dollars. The fish market can be a little hit or miss though as to what they have, so we have learned to stock up. One fish that is very abundant here is sailfish. They are huge fish that are very steak-like and the awesome fish lady that Tyler mentioned just whacked right through the middle of the fish with a machete to give us our one pound slice we requested.

In looking for recipes, I learned that it isn’t all that common to be sold so finding recipes was a little tricky. However, due to its similarity to swordfish, I pulled some inspirations from a bunch of recipes I found and put some of my own creative magic together to try something out. I also decided that I would try out our oven. It has a dial marked 1-4 and no temperature regulation as there is no pilot light, so I have not been sure what to expect. But I figured I could just use my own temperature senses and try it out on a dish that is not too temperature sensitive.

The best part about this dish is that everything was local. We used all local produce we either bought at the Saturday market or from vendors on campus and then, of course, the fish was caught right off shore for sure.

What you Need:

1 lb sailfish steak (no skin)
2 green bell peppers (not common in Grenada, but you can find them sometimes at the local markets and they are amazing)
1 small onion
2 green onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
olive oil
sea salt and pepper
lime

Chopped Veggies

Chop some peppers and onions.

First I lined a baking dish with aluminum foil (for easy clean-up) and sprayed lightly with cooking spray. I found a baking dish for only 20EC at the store so if you are like me and didn’t have one, it isn’t that expensive to buy and so handy. Then I sliced up the bell peppers and the onion. I laid these in the baking dish, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled on some sea salt and black pepper. Then I nestled in the fish which I pat dry and covered well with pepper and squeezed a few lime wedges over.

I sliced up some green onions reserving the top part as a garnish for after and sauteed the bottoms with some minced garlic. I toped the fish with the garlic-onion mixture. I sliced the tomato into thick slices and then laid them on top of the fish.

I covered the whole dish with some alumminum foil and placed it into my oven. The oven doesn’t really have a temperature setting but instead a flame level so I choose a medium-high setting and cooked the dish about 30-35 minutes. The goal was to get the fish to flake off easily. I cannot say exactly my time and temperature combo, but I was aiming to allow it to bake in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

It is looking good.

Add the tomatoes and this puppy is ready for the oven.

While it baked I made some simple white rice and cooked some fresh green beans to balance out our meal and presto – delicious fish dinner for two. I sprinkled the remaining green onions on top of the fish before serving and had some extra lime wedges for a little extra citrus punch. The lime helped to add some flavor to the rice as well.

I was actually surprised at how easy it was to make and it tasted so good. It was delicious and fresh. We didn’t know what to expect, but sailfish might just make it into our more regular diet. I had actually frozen this piece from a few weeks ago and it still tasted great so I have no problem buying a little extra just to have stuff on hand.

Enjoy!