Steamed Mussels in Rum Sauce Done My Way

             While shopping at Fairway and walking by the seafood section, my eyes suddenly locked onto a bag of mussels bounded by a thin purple net. I frequently enjoy mussels as an appetizer when I go out to eat, but I never actually tried making them myself. For some reason I'm always hesitant when it comes to cooking seafood because it always seems more complicated than other categories. I walked away from them to go after other items in the store, but I couldn't shake the prospect of cooking mussels off my mind, so I went back and bought them.

             Mussels that are purchased in a store or supermarket were likely raised on a "seafood farm" and already cleaned, but of course it's best to wash them off in a bowl and let them soak for about fifteen minutes before cooking. Any that are broken or already fully open should be thrown away promptly. Typically mussels are cooked in a wine sauce, usually white wine. For some reason I thought I had a bottle of white, or at least red, under my sink as an old gift someone had given to me that I never opened. The options I was left with instead was a spray bottle of Windex cleaning fluid and a bottle of Rhum Barbancourt, which is a rum brewed in Haiti. I didn't feel like walking to the liquor store to buy a bottle of wine, so the rum was going to have to do. I like pasta with my mussels, so I also planned to make some fresh (of course) linguine in tomato sauce on the side with it. In addition to the mussels, rum, linguine, and tomato sauce/paste, I what is needed is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a bouillon  salt, black pepper, herbs, and garlic powder. 

             Since the pasta takes the longest to cook, I boiled up some water and sprinkled in some salt to get that started. Mussels take the fastest to cook, so I just left them soaking in a bowl of water as I focused on the gravy. I went with three cans of sauce, one of paste, poured in a little olive oil and vinegar, sprinkled in garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and herbs, then crushed a bouillon cube and dropped it in. I put some fire under the sauce and stirred it up. By this time my water was boiling, so I poured in a little bit of olive oil and dropped in two handfuls of the fresh linguine. With the pasta and sauce well on their way, it was time to work on the mussels. They could be steamed, grilled, broiled, and I really wasn't sure yet what method I was going to use. I looked in various kitchen cabinets and luckily discovered I actually had a steamer pot, which I don't recall ever having before and don't have a clue where it came from. 

            Whether using rum, Windex, or the more traditional white wine as a sauce, its important to not use too much of it, otherwise it dominates the flavor of the mussels and defeats the whole purpose. When mussels open up from being cooked, they actually emit their own juice which give them their unique taste. Pouring too much of the sauce into the pot will dilute these natural flavors from the mussels when they open. Use about a cup and a half into the pot before dumping in the mussels, then when the mussels are in, pour the remaining half cup amount on top of the pile. So really in total its about two cups worth of sauce only being used. Also at the bottom of the pot I put in some olive oil, black pepper, herbs, salt, and garlic powder to flavor it up more. Once those were settled in, I put the cover on the pot and had all three parts cooking in tandem. As mentioned before, mussels cook very fast and after only five minutes I peeked in and noticed most of them were already opening. I used a big spoon to mix them up a little so they could all get an equal splash of the sauce flavoring at the bottom of the pot. Then after another four minutes they were all done and I turned off it's fire. 

            The pasta and the sauce soon followed suit and I was just about ready to sit down to this rum-experimented meal. The great thing about cooking mussels in a pot is that it is also typically used to serve the food in as well, so that's less plates to worry about cleaning later. All that is needed is a bowl to dump the empty shells in. After straining the pasta and placing it on a plate, I poured some sauce on top, and since I had plenty of sauce leftover, I poured the rest on top of the mussels to add more flavor and provide a nice decor. Its recommended to have a nice soft loaf of Italian bread to dip into the mussels' sauce, but since I didn't feel like going out before, I had to utilize slices of wheat bread for that. The mussels certainly had a kick to them due to the rum, and it was almost like taking mini-shots, especially after eating the ones at the bottom which had been soaking in the rum sauce the longest. All in all I must say it turned out better than I imagined it would be and found a new taste with mussels I never had before. 

             With all the rum, I felt very sleepy and had to take a nap after eating....

                                         

The Haitian Beef Patty War

            It had been close to a year since I last had a Haitian patty and last weekend the craving struck me so much that I had to make the journey to Jamaica, Queens to pick some up. With the lady away in Haiti for 2011, there's was nothing that would bring me to that area, so I wasn't having any patties at all. The patties were a normal weekend ritual and each time tasted as good as the first time I tried them. I was planning on brining Leo to the park that very same day, but the sudden craving forced me to call an audable, so I ended up brining Leo with me for a ride to Queens, and then after we would go to the park.

            Haitian patties themselves aren't expensive, but since I had to go over the bridge my appetite was adding an extra thirteen-dollars to the food. The place we always go to is called Le Bon Pain and its located on Jamaica Avenue off of 212th St.(you may require a degree in scientific engineering to understand a Queens street map). Typically when going there the line is nearly out the door, and the place is so popular there's cars double-parked all along the front street. Plus, there's the usual hustle and bustle of Jamaica Avenue with cars, livery cabs, dollar vans, police cars, buses, and in the summer, Mister Softee trucks, flying all over the place. When the traffic gets near the double-parked cars in front of Le Bon Pain, its a real demolition derby. Each time I approach the block I'm worried over losing a side-mirror or just having a bus cream me from the other side of the street as I make a left turn. There's lots of red lights on Jamaica Avenue, and everyone is in a rush to not get caught by one. As I made my approach this time towards the Le Bon Pain Bakery and was only a block away, I looked to my left and saw a big flag of Haiti that caught my attention. Taking a closer look, the flag was in front of another bakery I never saw before, the Abou Bakery. Like I said, it had been about a year since I last was around that area, was someone bold enough openly challenge Le Bon Pain?

             As usual there were cars crammed all over and finding parking was impossible, I ended up parking three blocks away on some residential street. Knowing Le Bon Pain was likely to have its typical long line and a fifteen minute wait, plus I had interest in seeing the new kid on the block, I had to worry about Leo in the car. Usually he just hides under the seat when he's in the car, but what if he panics that I'm gone so long and ends up going to the bathroom in the car? Or what happens if someone decides they want to borrow my car and end up adopting Leo too? There was certainly some pressure involved in the visiting of these two bakeries. I first went to the mainstay of Le Bon Pain, and as I expected the line was all the way to the entrance, in fact my back was pressed against the glass door. There were nearly twenty-five people on the line, but with two cashiers working the registers I was hoping it would go fast. Although the patties are their bread-n-butter, it is a full bakery that specializes in wedding cakes, regular cakes, breads, and all sorts of Haitian treats. I even saw red velvet slices of cake added to their menu, but I had to give those a break as it seems I'm eating red velvet every week. The wait on the line only came out to about ten minutes, and the patties I ordered were two beef(my favorite), one chicken, and one fish. The total for all four patties came out to a very modest three-dollars.

             Once I was outside I had to choose between checking on Leo in the car, or going to the new bakery first and then heading back to the car. I never seen inside the Abou Bakery before, so I had no idea if their line would be as long as Le Bon Pain's. I figured since the place is probably new, its likely they don't draw as many customers and I'll be in-n-out quickly, so I decided to head over to Abou Bakery. Once again my instinct served me well as there were only two other people inside when I got there. They weren't sure yet what they wanted, so I got to go first. I ordered one beef and one chicken patty. The girl behind the counter informed me they just ran out of the chicken, but luckily one of the cooks in the kitchen overheard my order and came out with a fresh chicken patty for me. The two patties came out to two dollars, whereas at Le Bon Pain I got four patties for three dollars. Now with a total of six Haitian patties in my clutches, I headed back to my car and happily saw it was still there. In fact, Leo had left his usual hiding spot under my seat and was walking around the inside of there car. As I promised, I brought Leo to the park for about an hour, we actually had to cut the event short because it was starting to get chilly. Also, I couldn't wait to get home and try the patties from each of these bakeries to find out who has the best.

            Since the patties were in the back seat of my car while I was at the park with Leo, they got a little cold(patties are served warm). I took one patty from each bakery, placed them in a plate, and heated them in the oven for a few minutes. To make it an even contest, I decided to use the beef ones from both so its similar flavors. First up was Le Bon Pain, I noticed they fold their patties higher which causes the insides to pour out a little. I took my first Haitian beef patty bite in a long time and it was as good as I remembered, it seemed Le Bon Pain hadn't lost its touch. Next up was Abou Bakery, compared to Le Bon Pain it seems they fold their patties more completely which covers the inside meat entirely, and gives it a longer look. I had a bite of Abou's, and I needed to take a second one immediately to confirm, it tasted nearly identical to Le Bon Pain's. I took another bite of the Le Bon Pain patty and it indeed they both tasted the same. Overall the Le Bon Pain patties seem to contain more meat inside and have a firmer pastry texture, plus turned out to be priced lower, but I have to say it would be very difficult to tell the difference if I was blindfolded. Customers are usually very loyal to their bakery, so despite the long lines and wonderful parking conditions out front, Le Bon Pain should have no problem maintaining their dominance, but they can't get sloppy otherwise the Abou Bakery can offer a patty just as good to attract the wandering stomach.

              With the six patties I bought from both bakeries, the real winner from this contest was me...

Ile a Vache Doesn't Make it Easy to Leave

            Who wouldn't want to stay on a nice island with warm climate and nice beaches, but it was time for us to leave. Unfortunately for us, the island had different ideas and getting back to Port-au-Prince wasn't going to be so easy.

            The Abaka Bay resort that took us from the mainland to the island stilled owed us a boat ride back to the mainland, even though we spent the final night at Willem's house. It turns out Willem needed to leave earlier than us to go to the mainland for business purposes, so he took a different boat as we were schedule to take the Abaka Bay boat at 11am. Willem had a boy escort us to the trail from his house to the resort, and he picked the route that was both the shortest and the most physically taxing. We climbed up and up and up again, while carrying bags. As soon as we reached a highpoint, we would look up and see another hill to climb, and it would happen again and again. We just about finished the bottle of water we were going to use for the entire trip home in about only ten minutes. When we finally reached the highest of highpoints, we saw the resort just below us and it offered some magnificant views of the land, but overall wasn't worth the physical toll to get up there.

             We had scheduled to have the boat take us at 11am to catch the 12:30pm Transport Chic bus, which would have been more than enough time to get there and get a good seat. That was the last bus leaving Cayes for the day and I needed to be back the next day to catch my flight to America, therefore it would have been bad and expensive news to miss that flight. Plus, we were just about out of money, so if we missed the bus, we didn't know how we would be able sleep at Cayes or buy new bus tickets if no refunds were available. The ride to mainland by speedboat is only about fifteen minutes. We first sat at the resort outdoor bar to have juice and water to cool us down from the demanding walk to get there. We arrived a few minutes before 11am and were anticipating to leave soon after we finished our drinks. As 11am passed and it became 11:15am and then 11:20am, so we asked when are we going to leave, we needed to catch the 12:30pm bus. Then the person we made arrangements with gave us the great news that they didn't want to make multiple trips with the boat, and were waiting for another group waiting to go to the mainland as well. To top it off, the other group first needed to eat lunch and then be ready to go.

             Something seemed wrong when she started yelling at the hotel staff in creole, and eventually I found out the trouble we were in. Luckily she had the idea of purchasing our return tickets in advance, otherwise there was no way we were going to be on time for that 12:30pm bus. Had the boat left at 11am, as we scheduled with them, the time it would've taken to drop us off at the mainland and return for the other group, would have been well before they were even done with their lunch. It was a case the Abaka Bay management didn't want to use up the any extra gas in the boat's tank. She called the bus company to inform them we'll likely be late and see if they could hold up the bus a little, but that was only going to last us so long. Around 12:06pm she asked one of the hotel staff to ask the group if they were done with lunch and ready to leave, fortunately they were. As we all rode together on the boat we explained the situation we were in and why we were in such a ruch. They were nice enough to offer us a ride back to Port-au-Prince in case we missed our bus and gave us their phone number, but our goal was still making the 12:30pm bus.

            The boat was getting closer and closer to the dock, and as soon as it seemed we'll be alright, the boat's engine cut off and we were stalled in the water. So close, yet so far away. It seemed as if everything was against us catching that bus. The driver eventually got the motor running again and we finished our way to the dock. The next challenge was finding a moto to drive us a few minutes to the bus station. There was one moto who was already about to take a lady, but after explaining our pressing time needs, she was nice enough to defer the bike ride to us. Once we reached the bus station I was happy to see the bus was still there. Just like on the way to Cayes, since we were late I had to take a cramped seat up front next to the driver. By the time the bus started moving the time was 12:45pm, so we got very lucky they held the bus up that long for us. On the road back there was quite alot of traffic caused by a UN truck that was smashed by another large truck apparently. The delays set us back about an hour, but it wasn't a concern as we were still going to make it back that night and I would be able to make my flight the next day.

            I guess my birthday gift to Ile a Vache included drama and action as well...

The Hike for Reasonably Priced Fish

            We returned to our guide Willem's house for our final day on Ile a Vache. The plan was for us to take a long hike to the marketplace to purchase fish and other ingrediants to cook up later in the day. We were to spend the night at his place and then head back to the mainland of Haiti the next morning.

             Like the day before, Willem and his dog met us at the end of the beach at the resort and we walked to his house to drop off our stuff. Walking around the property I saw he had a solar panel used to collect sunlight during the day which could be used to power lights and other electrical outlets at night. We started on the trail and things were going well at first, but we had one slight problem in that the dog kept following us. His property does have a fence, but there's plenty of openings for his dogs to get out anytime they please. Time after time he would see the dog and have to throw a rock or a stick in its direction to scare it back home. Once we thought the dog was gone, soon enough we would turn around and see it trailing us, and Willem would have to make it run back. The dog's last attempt came when we were about 20% into our hike, so the dog certainly knows the island.

            The hike was far more challenging than I anticipated and luckily we brought a bottle along with us. We walked over busted concrete bridges, up hills, down hills, on beaches, on dirt roads, back on beaches again, the trail never seemed to end. What also made it tough was that there were animal droppings of almost every species all over the place, so one must really walk carefully. Plenty of the local people were walking around on that in barefoot, which had me in some surprise. Willem must be quite a popular person on the island as almost every person we passed greeted him and offered a small chat. I took noticed that several of the homes throughout the countryside had graves of their relatives on their own property in mosuleum-style. Since there's no vehicles on this island, that I saw of, the mode of transportation besides feet or boat is via a donkey or horse. Frequenty we would hear a gallop and a few seconds later a person would come buy riding on a horse. Both adults and even small unsupervised children would also be riding donkeys back home with the goods they purchased from the marketplace.

            After about more than an hour of walking we did finally reach our destination, which was a jam-packed affair of people and booths. There were tons of trash on the floor and people were in close proximity passing by eachother. I was warned to guard my pockets very carefully. The marketplace is only open on Mondays and Thursdays, so on those days it seems like everyone on the island has to be there. We bought another bottle of water for our journey back as well as some fried finger foods from a vendor to hold us over. Our main goal was to purchase fish, and fishermen were catching them near the waters off the marketplace so we knew they would be fresh. It turns out two of the fish vendors we asked wanted way too much for their product. In Haiti, almost everything is a negociation when it comes to making purchases, and of course the marketplace is no exception. Unfortunately, these ladies weren't budging at all. The first lady had a whole cooler filled with fish and one would think she would want to get rid of them for as much as she reasonably could, but no. So in reality, we just walked away with some peppers and onions, but not the main goal of fish.

            We returned via the same route we got there with and passed the same terains, complete with animal droppings of course. Willem showed us his grandmother's property he grew up on and he asked some other fishermen we passed if they had any catch to sell us, but they didn't. The dog was happy to see Willem back and Plan B became for us to eat conch instead. As we took a nap at Willem's house to rest from the very long and challenging hike, a woman came over to cook up the food. She made a conch soup and prepared fried plantains, rice with peas, and cut raw onions that had a very spicy sauce on them. Willem sent for a young boy to buy two bottles of soda for us at a nearby vendor a few minutes away from his house. The sun went away as we ate, but Willem was able to provide us with some light from his solar powered generator. For the night, we were to sleep on his bed and he was going to sleep on his couch. Willem had to go out somewhere, but he was to return a few hours later. The first snafu was that it was only 7pm which is far earlier than I'm able to go to sleep. With not enough power available for a TV and limited light for reading purposes, time at night on the island moved very slowly.

            We did have a light in the room, but as soon as Willem returned home and sounded like he was settled in, she turned the light off and all of a sudden there was nothing but pitch black. There could have been a million dollars or a polar bear in front of my face and I wouldn't have seen it. I suggested we have some light as generally its a good idea to be able to see what is in front of you, even at a limited capacity. She was able to use her cell phone flashlight feature and we kept it on near my edge of the bed. Then for some reason something in my head told me to use the light to check the side of my bed against the wall, so I shined the light there and saw the absolute biggest spider outside of a petshop or a zoo I've seen in my life. Granted we did have a mosquito net covering the bed area that was to protect us from bugs, but no net is full proof. I woke her up and informed her of the spider, she was scared to even look at it thinking it was much bigger.

            When she finally mustered the courage to look at it, she complained to me it wasn't big at all and killed it with a shoe. She must have had a bad angle seeing it, as it wasn't as big as a tarantula, but it was certainly much larger than the ordinary house spider she claimed it to be. The thing looked like something that would be used for a Halloween decoration in someone's window. The fact it was initially pitch black in the room and something like that could be walking on my face made me keep that cellphone light on. I constantly used it to check around me and noticed the occasional mosquito or other bug flying around inside the net, just waiting for me to fall asleep. The night was long as it was maybe only 10pm and I still had about nine more hours to go till the sun would rise. Even with the light, I covered my whole body in a sheet and wasn't taking any chances of another one of those big spiders getting on me. Somehow, someway, I eventually drifted off asleep and woke up to little beams off sunlight entering the small openings of the metalic roof. I can't remember ever being so happy to see the sun.

            Haiti could be intimidating in certains regards, but that spider was the scariest thing I ever saw there...

The Thug of Lover's Island

            Day Two of our trip to Ile a Vache in Haiti included a journey to yet another small island fifteen minutes away called Lover's Island. We started the day with our complimentary breakfast at Abaka Bay, which included the first cup of coffee I had in Haiti. Afterwards, we met up with our guide, Willem, who waited for us at the end of the resort's beach to take us into the village and ultimately to the place called Lover's Island.

            The walk to the village took about ten minutes, going up and down hills and passing by various farm animals tied up to ropes. Willem even bought his trusty dog along with him, who probably knows the trail just as good as he does. We eventually made it to the village, which could be described as a fishing community, and first made a rest stop at Willem's house. The dog that was walking with us was a female, and two of her offspring were waiting for us too at his place, especially the younger pup who was more than willing to pose for pictures. A simple motor boat took Willem and us out to the waters and there must have been a small leak at the bottom because the driver kept using a small bowl to scoop up water and toss it overboard. We passed a few tiny islands and fishing boats as we buzzed through the calm waters. There was even one tiny island which was summerged under water, but clearly visible by the white glow above on the water's surface. Apparently, when the tide is high, the land is covered. When the tide is low, it pops out from under water. The island we went to didn't have this same issue and was above water level all year round.

            The residents of the island live a very simple and old fashioned life style. In fact, one small child was scared of seeing me as he wasn't used to caucasians. The homes were mainly little huts made out of leaves from the coconut trees. Most, if not all the children were walking around naked, and the only "clean" water source was a well with sand at its bottom. How people drink that and don't get sick is somewhat of a mystery to me, but I guess it works for them. After walking around a little and seeing the place, we picked up a number of colorfully designed sea shells. There were so many to choose from just laying around on the sand, but we were only able to take a small few with us. There came a point where we asked ourselves where do these people go to the bathroom and there didn't seem to be an outhouse around, well, at the opposite side of the island we smelt something foul and got our answer. Hopefully, none of the sea shells are used for toliet paper as in 'Demolition Man'(1993). Getting back to the good side of the island I checked around to make sure there were no surprises laying around, and when it seemed clear, I went in the water for a quick dip.

             When lunch time came we had a number of seafood delights as in lobsters, grilled fish, and conch cooked right in front of us. For drink, we had a few coconuts cut open for us, and each time we would turn our backs on a coconut, one of the goats would come over to try to drink up the juice inside. Most of the people there seemed friendly, except there was one guy, who was dressed like a LA gangbanger, being bossy to people around him and complaining we should be paying for spending time on his land. The thug, as we named him, didn't say anything to us directly, but he was making his opinions known to Willem and his fellow islanders.  Nothing much came of it, but overall poverty sure had its influence on the residents. One girl wanted to charge money for a number of shiny-looking shells she had in her possesion(which we could pick up on the floor for free), and then another lady wanted money for really no reason other than she claimed visitors usually give her money. After lunch was finished and we were done with our visit, it was time to head back to the main island we were staying at. Before getting into the boat, a group of small children on the beach stopped to pose for pictures. With their bodies wet from the water and the white sand sticking to them, they looked like an African tribe with their war paint on, ready to head into battle.

             Once we were back near Willem's, we made a little detour to the village library that had a few large speakers out front blasting music for people to dance to. I didn't know it was a library at first, but once I went inside and was offered a beer, I looked at the shelves and noticed encyclopedias and other books housed all around. As I sat, two small children, with clothes on this time, noticed my camera and started dancing so I could take pictures of them. They were quite amused at seeing themselves in photos and videos that I showed them. Willem, and the dog, escorted us back to the Abaka Bay resort and with my swimming trunks still on, I decided to go in for another dip in the nice water. As I was swimming, I went out a little further than I normally would have, and while moving my arms I felt something slash across my left arm, which left a red mark. I'm not sure what caused that, might've been a long and sharp tree leaf that was in the water, or some type of water creature I bumped into. Either way, I stayed in closer from that point on. With my goggles and snorkel on, I was able to scan the underwater surface and saw all types of colorful small fish. There were also shells and small pieces of coral laying around the ocean floor.

             Naturally, since we ate lobster for lunch on Lover's Island during the afternoon, that night at the Abaka Bay hotel resturant, they had to serve lobster for dinner...