Article
March 23, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Crustless Mini Quiche

As soon as the reality of 4 hours of class beginning at 8am kicked in, I realized that I needed to come up with a way to have a hearty breakfast that didn’t require me to get up at 5am everyday to make it. I did some research and started reading some of my favorite food blogs looking for the best hearty make-ahead breakfast ideas. While I found a couple good ones, the one that quickly became our favorite I found over at this site. I made my own adaptations to the recipe to fit the local ingredients available, etc. Tyler and I love these little things and I am trying to find time every week to replenish our stash in the freezer. Trust me, this recipe though seeming time-consuming at first is well worth the time.

What You Need For Batter:

1/4 cup cornstarch
 1 1/4 cup whole milk 
 2 large eggs
 2 large egg yolks
 1 cup heavy cream
 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

**note: I often substitute half-n-half and skim milk for some or all of the heavy cream and whole milk to cut down on fat and calories. So far, it has tasted great even with the substitutions so feel free to make them a little healthier.

For Filling:

minced garlic
sliced onions
sliced potatoes
chopped bell peppers
sliced spinach leaves
diced tomatoes
cooked bacon pieces
shredded parmesan cheese
fresh chopped basil
olive oil 

**note on the filling: you can put anything you want inside of these. This is my favorite filling, but I have added all kinds of things to these. You can add any filling you can invent.

Heat oven to 450°F.

To Prepare Batter: Put the cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisking steadily, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of the milk, mixing until quite smooth. Whisk in the whole eggs and egg yolks, mixing again until smooth, then gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, the cream, salt, and nutmeg. Be sure to re-whisk well if you let it sit for a little while as you prepare the rest, it tends to separate.

To Prepare Filling: To make my favorite filling I add a little olive oil to a large pan and add the potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper. I heat them over high heat to get them golden brown and then I turn the heat down to low to let them soften up. When they are almost done, I add the garlic and onions and let cook for about a minute, then I add the bell peppers and kick the heat back up. After the peppers start to soften, I add the spinach and stir for about 30 seconds and then remove it from the heat.

Oil mini muffin tins well. The original recipe was for mini muffin tins, but I used regular sized ones because that is what I had and actually found that one muffin tin sized quiche was the perfect amount for Tyler and I for breakfast. Put a pinch grated cheese into each muffin cup, a couple spoon fulls of the veggie mixture and throw in some bacon crumbles and a couple tomato pieces. Then top with fresh basil leaves. Into the cup spoon in the batter. Usually each muffin tin took about 1/4 cup batter.

All filled up and ready for batterBatter in and ready for baking.

Bake until the quiches puff and start to turn golden, 15-25 minutes. My oven is finicky, but it is important that they are set in the middle or you will never get them out of the cups. Let cool for 10 minutes and then carefully run a paring knife around the rim of each muffin cup. Carefully lift each quiche out of its cup.

Fresh out of the oven - they look tasty!

Fresh out of the oven - they look tasty!

I make these babies ahead of time and freeze them for breakfast. I make a weeks worth of quiche on Saturday and Tyler and I can have yummy breakfast all week. I take the quiche out of the freezer the night before (if I remember) and pop it in my toaster oven at about 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until hot.

These will revolutionize your early mornings. And they are hearty enough to keep me going even when I have 4 hours of class in the morning.

Enjoy!

** Sorry my pictures are not as pretty as the picture on top I stole form the website, but at least you know I really made them. I should really get out the nice SLR for these photos, but I am usually too lazy. 
Article
March 23, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Post-Exam Relaxation (Alt Title: Tyler and Stefanie’s Weekend of Crazy Bus Stories)

Drinks

The epitome of post-exams: cocktails along the perfect blue sea

Another exam week has come and gone. I am pretty sure that school is measured in exam weeks, not terms. Sure, 5 term until I leave Grenada.  But what I really see is 5 midterm weeks and 5 final weeks. My life revolves around the exam cycle. The lull right after exams end, the continual work in the inbetween, the intense seeming 24-hour blur of studying the couple weeks right before and then the amazing feeling of relief the minute you put the pencil down and hand in the scantron of the last exam. And no matter how aweful the week was, it always never seems half as bad the weekend after (and certainly not once you receive good marks)

With each round of exams it gets both easier and harder. The material gets harder. There are more complex things to learn, more diseases and drugs to memorize, more material covered, and of course more to integrate. But it also gets easier. I get better at it. I learn how to pace myself better, how to motivate myself. I learn what work to do throughout the term so I enter exams in a better place. I learn how early to start so I am not rushing and cramming at the end. And most importantly for me, with each exam week Tyler learns how to be a more supportive husband. Living with a med student during exam week is not easy. I don’t even like being around my fellow students during exams sometimes. But he handles my stress better, helps me relax better, calms my nerves better, and learns not to take my short temper to seriously when I have only had 4 hours of sleep and one cup of coffee. And I too learn to maybe lay off the stress-induced rants about the dishes or curtains, or really whatever it is that I feel so frustrated by. We work better as a unit, learning to have a little grace and to try and bite the tongue when needed.

I am currently in the post-midterm lull. Exams finished last week and I am quite happy with how I did. However, trying to recouperate about 3 weeks of shortened nights and living in a continued state of stress and busy is hard to do in a weekend. It seems quite cruel to give us but a mere two days off. But alas, Tyler and I sought to make last weekend fun and relaxing. And as Tyler said, he was just happy to have me around again and to not have to spend any time in the study halls.

Friday started off with me and my study buddy getting massages. We have now decided that this will be a post-exam tradition and are pretty sure we will book now for after finals. So relaxing! And it gave Tyler a chance to finish up his work day without my distraction. Friday night we decided to go to dinner at a nice restaurant up near Grand Etang called the Spice Basket. We had never been there before but it was supposed to be a nice local food restaurant that forms part of the cultural center of Grenada. In true Tyler and Stefanie fashion, we decided we would take the local buses up there (changing buses in downtown and all) instead of taking a taxi. And of course it was rainy, we never get good weather when we want it. So we headed into St. George’s at about 6:30pm on a Friday night to be the only 2 white people there (seriously!) and to stand in the crowds of people waiting for buses to take them home.

Now I have long complained about how pushy the students are when getting on the school buses. People push and shove and rush the bus, and it is simply ridiculous. Well, apparently I hadn’t seen anything yet. The way the locals behave, I am surprised that people don’t wind up injured. After about the 4th bus came by heading the way we needed to go, we managed to get on. And naturally, we were the “odd white people sitting in back that wanted to get off way before everyone else did.”

The restaurant was truly lovely. We were the only ones there, likely due to the rain, but it was still lovely. The food was amazing, the drinks beautiful and tasty and we had a great time. And had great service since we were the only 2 customers for all 5 servers that were there that night. We loved the food and discovered a new local favorite, Callaloo lasagna. I think I am going to have to try my hand at whipping one up. Maybe in time to impress Tyler’s parents when they come this summer.

Our trip back was naturally no less adventurous than the first one. We can sum it up by saying that we were impressed that our driver was driving a stick shift in the pouring rain, drinking a beer, and watching music videos. I know, you are all probably terrified for our safety but like it or not, that is typical around here.

Breakfast MenuSaturday was a day of relaxing and adventuring. We went out to breakfast at the most adorable French Cafe! We love going out to breakfast, but it is not a typical thing to do around here. This is now my new favorite place, we will be going back for sure. The food and the coffee was delicious. I have never had better french toast in my life. And Tyler told me that he will by me the sweet Le Crusset ramekins so that I can make him the eggs en cocotte he so loved once we are back in the States. After a delicious and filling breakfast we decided to head to St. George’s to walk around and explore.

Latte

A delicious Latte!

The best french toast!

The best french toast!

It turned out to be a weekend full of crazy bus experiences because while riding in the bus to town, he suddenly started blaring his horn, sped up and zoomed through traffic the wrong way down the one way street and powered up this stepp shortcut up the mountain that leads to town. It wasn’t until I recognized the route from taking it when I go to the hospital that I realized where we were going. It turned out that once of the passengers was having an asthma attack so the bus turned into an ambulance. And once we got the the ER, the weirdness continued as some random man came up to the driver begging him to take back this shirtless SGU student. It is against the law in Grenada to be in a car without a shirt so the bus driver graciously decided to take the guy, who likely was brought there in some sort of post-exam drunken stuppor, home. The guy swore someone at the hospital stole his short, so it was quite an amusing scene.

Once we made it to town, the real fun part began. There are so many little stores and we never have time to just walk around. Our day ended up being not only fun to walk around and see new things, but we came home with the most beautiful, huge canvas painting. We had been talking about buying a painting by a local artist from the art gallery for a while, and when we saw this both one we both died! It is all wrapped up now, but hopefully it will have a spot to be displayed in our new apartment and we can post a pic then.

Big Stairs Old Anglican Church more of the church Looking down the street.

Saturday ended with some sunset coctails at Dodgy Dock and watching a movie over some of my homemade taco bowls. Tyler missed my cooking I think. It was great! While Sunday was mostly cleaning and all that productive stuff, it was great as always to forget about school.

Thanks for all your prayers during exam week! It paid off, I did great.  🙂

Article
March 1, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Hospital Visits, DES, and our New Apartment

So I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time. There are so many updates to be shared, but then exam time snuck up and I have been spending every last hour I am not sleeping studying.

First big update has been my selective I am doing at the hospital. I started a couple weeks ago making regular visits to the hospital as part of the selective where we work with physicians and take patient histories and do patient exams – a basic H&P. It has been so cool. I spent over a year volunteering at a hospital in Long Beach before coming to SGU which, in some ways, I was able to see way more than I will ever see in Grenada. However, I love how much we now know. It seems that with each patient I see, I have a pretty decent idea of what is going on. I understand the lab work, I can read and interpret the x-rays and imaging very well, and now I can even understand and start to interpret EKGs. I think the part I enjoy the most is that I can start to see how all of this knowledge I am stuffing into my brain really works together. I work with two different doctors, one who is in ER and one who on a basic medical ward in the general hospital. So far it has been so much fun and so rewarding. The 8+ hours out of my week has been draining, but I think totally worth it. And since we have the next 2 weeks off for exams, I can through myself back into school.

The next big thing I have been doing is leading DES review session for Anatomy. I am pretty sure everyone here knew that I wanted to lead these session by about our 4th week of classes last term. Peer tutoring and explaining concepts is something that I love to do. Perhaps in another life I would make a really good teacher, but I want to be hands on way too much to be able to do that long term. Nevertheless, it has been such a wonderful experience to sort of guide the new class of 1st termers through their hard classes. And as a plus, I think I now know my anatomy about 5 times better than I did after exams last term. Something about seeing it again makes it set in, plus I am constantly surprised by how many of the small details I still remember.

Thirdly, in a non-school related matter – Tyler and I have found a new place to move into this May. We decided last term that our current apartment was simply a little too quirky and a little too small for our likes. Plus, we knew that we could find a nicer place for a lot cheaper rent, so we decided that we would definitely move this summer. We found the most wonderful apartment that is sort of “off-route” as they would call it here. Since it is not on the main road to campus, the rent is almost half of what we pay now. But, it is on the water of the bay, has great big open windows to let the breeze in, is within a gated yard with fruit trees, has a little patio right in front that is all ours. Plus, the property has a big deck and pool that will be fantastic to have on those occasions where we can just sit outside and relax. When we started looking for places, I came up with a bunch of lofty desires for our new place in hopes of being sure that we spent time finding one we would really be comfortable in and that would easily accommodate us both needing to do work and school at the same time. And amazingly enough, we found a place with all of them (minus the hammock, but I will live.) Oh, and it has couches. 3 of them! I cannot wait to move and I am already coming up with ways to craft some cute decorations to make it more homey.

I feel like those are the big highlights. Exams are not too far off, starting a week from Monday. This term is just flying on by. Your prayers as I prepare would be much appreciated.

And for those of you that read regularly, it is spring on the blog again! Since the blog kicked off with our lovely green spring tree (our wedding tree I might add), I feel like we have come full circle. And it also means that our first year of marriage is quickly coming to an end. Crazy how fast life moves sometimes.

Article
February 14, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Shark Sliders

So this recipe post is way overdue, but I wanted to write about it because they were so tasty. One day when Tyler went to the fish market downtown he found shark for so cheap. So when he came home, he handed me a bag full of a pound of little shark meat pieces. I was a little unsure how one goes about cooking shark, but then I decided that nothing could be better than making it into little burgers.

What You Need:

shark
little rolls
Italian dressing
pepper
lettuce
ketchup
mayonaise
hot sauce
lime juice

I marinated the shark pieces in the Italian dressing with a little extra black pepper for about 30 minutes or so. While it was marinating, I mixed together some mayo, ketchup, lime juice and hot sauce to form a little sauce for the buns. I cooked the shark in a hot skillet on the stove until done and flaky. I added the extra marinade to the pan to keep it nice and moist. Onto warmed rolls I spread the sauce and added a couple shark pieces and lettuce.

It was simply delicious. And the best part, took practically no time and no effort. We liked it so much we are hoping we might find more shark soon. And at only 5ec a pound, it was a steal.

Enjoy!

 

Article
February 14, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

‘Grilled’ Marinated Sailfish

Marinades are my favorite.  Mostly because I can just dump a bunch of stuff I have in my cabinets into a bag with some meat, place it in the fridge, forget about it, and it always tastes yummy. So, with our new fish obsession I was looking for some other things to try.  I came across this super simple marinade and thought I would give it a try – and it was fantastic!

What You Need:

Sailfish steaks
4 cloves of garlic
1/3 or so cups white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice (or lime)
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs olive oil
pepper
thyme
rosemary
a dash of nutmeg 

With the citrus and the wine, this marinade didn’t need too long to sit. It was done after about 30 minutes or so (perfect amount of time to get a little more studying in). The inspiration recipe was for grilled fish, but we don’t have a grill in Grenada. So instead I just cooked the fish in a skillet on the stove. Not the same as grilling, but it actually came out really good. The marinade kept the fish really moist. I just seared the outside on high heat and then cooked the rest of it on low heat until it flaked easily.

Tyler loved this dish. It came out really well for being such a different take on fish. I hope to try this at some point when we are back in the states when I can actually grill the fish.

Enjoy!

 

Article
January 30, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Chicken and Rice Bake

I have been looking out for some good casserole type meals that are quick and easy. I always like being able to throw some ingredients into a dish, pop them in the oven, and do some reading while it bakes. No one has to know the oven does all the work right?

So I found the inspiration for this meal over on Big Oven, one of my favorite cooking apps on my iPad. A simple, savory chicken and rice dish. And despite the heavy helping of broccoli inside, Tyler still liked it too.

What You Need:

2 chicken breasts, thin
3/4 cup rice (I used brown)
1 can condensed cream of broccoli soup, low fat (any other kind is fine)
1/2 package frozen broccoli
3/4 cup of water or so
fresh ground pepper
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
dried thyme
1/2 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

To make, mix the rice, water, and the can of soup in your baking dish. Then stir in the broccoli and add a little black pepper. I seasoned the chicken breasts on both sides with some pepper, garlic, cayenne, and thyme and then snuggled them into the dish.ready for the oven

Cover the entire dish with aluminum foil and place into a 375 degree oven (I now have a oven thermometer, so I can actually semi-monitor my oven temp and try and keep it steady). After about 30-40 minutes, it should be done. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the chicken is cooked all the way through. Once the dish is done, top with the shredded cheddar cheese and allow to melt. For an added touch, add some breadcrumbs (or crushed cornflakes) on top and give it a quick pass under the broiler to develop a slightly crispy top layer.all done - looks great!

With a nice, fresh salad or some extra fresh steamed veggies you have a delicious dinner. Enjoy!

Article
January 27, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Rough Beginnings

Wind

It had been particularly windy here the last few days.  Why, I am not really sure. It is usually breezy, but the wind has been particularly strong recently. So much so, that these eerie sounds get made from the way it whips around our apartment that I can hear at night or in the early mornings.

Not much more has happened recently. It has been a week of dealing with lots of little annoying things. This school has been sending me round in circles. Wednesday I attended a training session to be a facilitator for review sessions for new term 1 students. I signed up months ago and was assured that it was a for-sure thing if you pass your classes. I go to the training and my name is not on the list. They have no record of my sign-up (even tho I have proof I submitted the application) and wrote my name down to add-in. I have yet to hear if I got scheduled and when my group will meet. They start Monday and it would be nice to know if I need to be preparing, etc. Unfortunately, I feel like I have pestered them enough today so I will have to wait until Monday and hope that I don’t have a session that starts on Monday.

Secondly, they posted grades today for my finals I took Monday and Tuesday. When I originally checked my parasitology grade, it said I failed. This seemed crazy to me, so I frantically emailed the professor and then worried ran to the office. I was thankful to see a friend of mine sitting there frantically looking through scantrons which gave me the reassurance that it was most likely an error. Fortunately it was just that, an error on their part, and my grade is supposed to be corrected to my rightly earned A. Sigh of relief there.

And thirdly this week I finally turned in my selective papers. SGU offers optional extra classes that are usually clinically oriented. I am (hopefully) taking a community health selective that will allow me to get some experience visiting the Grenada general hospital and taking patient histories, etc. I am really looking forward to it and one of my friends and I decided to sign up together. After finally finding the office we needed, the person we needed to speak with was not there so we handed our papers to a secretary to hope the class is not full. I really hope we get in, we are very excited about taking the class. It sounds like a great opportunity. I guess we will see, lets hope they can be prompt about letting us know. I think it starts in a week!

Anyways, prayers that everything will work out are much appreciated. I am looking forward to getting to do a few things outside of just class to help gain some extra experience and course review.

Tyler and I are hoping to head to St. George’s on Sunday for some Independence Day festivities. There seems to be a sort of national fair thing happening. I am sure that will warrant some stories you can look forward to!

Article
January 24, 2012
by Stefanie Paulson

Two Weeks and Two Classes Down

Today I finished final number two. Can you believe that it is only week 3 and I have already taken two finals!

We had only two classes the first two weeks which all ended today and tomorrow my other 4, much harder, classes begin. It has been nice to transition in slowly, but a super bummer that I have been so not busy and Tyler has been playing catch-up with work. He says that starting next weekend he shouldn’t have to work on the weekends anymore, just when I will be back to studying all weekend. LAME!

But anyways, we are enjoying being back to normal life here on the Island. Back to a nice sunny 85 degrees everyday with sporadic rain showers. In fact, I think that this afternoon I will hit the beach. And maybe if I am lucky, I will pull my husband away from work this evening to come join me and we can get some fun, fruity drinks at Umbrellas.

But we are actually very thankful that Tyler is now working full time for one company. God has blessed us there and he loves his job so much, so that makes me very happy. I am looking forward to time changing again so we will only be 3 hours ahead of home, then 5pm there will be only 8pm here. And you can pray for school as real classes start up. I am also leading DES review sessions for 1st termers this term for Anatomy and Biochemistry plus, which some luck, will be taking a community health selective that will allow me to round at the Grenada General Hospital a couple times a week. It will mean that I am really busy, but it should help me really solidify and integrate all that I am learning.

With love from us here in Grenada, we hope you are all enjoying your cold winters and snow storms. If you need a sunny break, come visit!

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 13, 2011
by Tyler Paulson

Tyler’s Parents Visit: Part 2, Devouring Lots of Fish

Fish Friday Lobsters

The men with lobsters!

After snorkeling, we took a much needed nap and headed out for the Grenadian Friday night tradition, Fish Friday. Fish Friday happens about 22 miles up the coast of the Caribbean Sea in a town called Gouyave. Stefanie and I were hoping to have a little better experience than we did the previous time we were up in Gouyave when we got stuck there for a few hours longer than we would’ve liked and I puked multiple times into the local gutter.

It takes a little over an hour to get to Gouyave during rush hour. Unless you drive like a maniac you don’t go too much faster than 25 miles an hour on average on the island due to the windy narrow roads. The drive up was quite the adventure – though I’d driven in Grenada before, this was my first time driving a car with a steering wheel on the right and I was still getting used to having a lot of car on my left, especially so on our full-size SUV. Also, Grenada doesn’t really bother with putting up guard-rails, which would just make too much sense on a road with scores and scores of tight turns on the side of gigantic cliffs.

Mom Eating A Whole Fried Fish

Mom eating a whole fried fish!

But alas, we didn’t die and I got over my fear of driving right through the center of downtown St George’s so it was time for some delicious seafood! Fish Friday is essentially two perpendicular alleys filled with lots of tents of people selling all the local seafood cooked Grenadian style – well done. I made my way straight to the lobsters and we grabbed a bunch of other items to accompany them – fish and shrimp kebabs, egg rolls, fried fish balls, fried fish patties and a fried whole fish to name a few. We ran into a bunch of our friends and got to introduce them to my parents and afterwards we finished off our meal with some excellent homemade nutmeg ice cream! It was a real fun night.

The next morning we rallied and woke up early to take my parents on a reggae bus to downtown Grenada for Saturday morning market. Saturday morning market is a big part of our experience here; a lot of weeks we’re really busy with school and work and don’t get out too much, so Saturday morning market keeps us feeling in touch with local life here.

We made our way over to the fish market and it had been an excellent week for fishing! We saw the biggest Red Snappers we’d ever seen and immediately bought two of them and took them over to the “fish master” to be filleted, which is a always a bit of a show, at least to us foreigners.

Tyler with Sailfish Weighing Sailfish Red Snappers The Fish Master

After we got our fish we then made our way over to market square to check out the world famous Grenadian Spice Market to smell and pick up a few of the local spices, mingle with the locals and also buy up our vegetables for the week.

That afternoon we used the car to go down to Morne Rouge beach, a first for Stefanie and me. Morne Rouge is a quiet bay just to the south of Grand Anse with more of a local feel to it. After spending an hour in the water, we were in the mood for…more seafood!

Rice & Fish at BB's CrabbackI had heard from various sources that BB’s Crabback was the restaurant to try in Grenada so we headed down to Le Carenage, navigated through the government restored French colonial buildings and sat down on the water for dinner. We of course, ordered the crabback as an appetizer, which is a local Grenadian speciality. Stefanie and I had a little trouble with the idea of eating the funny land crabs that primarily seem to roam Grenada’s storm drains – but with BB’s special sauce boy were they good! We got four different local fishes prepared four completely different ways for entrées and they all were delicious and had a lot of personality to them. To close it off the meal, Stefanie and I ordered a dessert that was lit on fire!

Mom with BB's GranddaughterBB’s is a completely family run restaurant. BB crafts up his creations in the kitchen while his son and daughter-in-law run the dining room. They were all incredibly friendly. BB’s adorable baby granddaughter had been hanging out in the restaurant all night. My mom had her eye on her and let her parents know that if she needed to be held, she was up for the task. So at the end of the meal, they brought the baby over and my mom got to give her some loving. It was very cute and very my mom.

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 6, 2011
by Tyler Paulson

Tyler’s Parents Visit: Part 1, Snorkeling

Two weeks ago my parents packed up their bags in sunny San Diego to come to, well, sunny Grenada and see firsthand this crazy place Stefanie and I now call home. Stefanie and I were really excited to see them and have a little vacation in our own country, plus they brought coffee, popcorn and M&Ms!

After an obligatory first evening trip to Grand Anse beach for swimming, sunset and fresh vegetables and seafood at Umbrellas; we woke up early, grabbed our swim trunks and flippy-floppies and hopped on a boat to see what the Caribbean Sea looks like below the surface. Our first stop was the world famous underwater sculpture park. Viewing the sculptures is a lot of fun since you have to submerge about 15 feet to get a level look at them. The works have evolved to a form of their own over the years beyond what the sculptor created as they become more and more apart of their environment and sea-life starts to grow on them.

Photos of some of the sculptures (click to enlarge)

Our next stop was Flamingo Bay where we spent a few hours snorkeling along a reef to get some good views of coral and fish. When we pulled up, there was a kid who had climbed a hundred feet up a cliff on some vines chasing after an iguana – which can apparently grow to be up to ten feet long here! We all watched in both terror and amusement as he tried to shake it out of the vines onto his friends onlooking below so they could kill it and have it for dinner.

After four hours at sea were were all sun-kissed and ready to eat some seafood, good thing that night was Fish Friday!

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?