When I was growing up in Jamaica, we would have this dish called “stew peas”, which is a very traditional dish made with red kidney beans, meat and “spinners”, which are oblong flour dumplings. It’s definitely a staple in the Jamaican diet, and my kind of comfort food. Last week I decided to make the Brazilian version of this dish, called feijoada. Instead of kidney beans, black beans are used, along with several types of pork and/or beef. It reminded me of my childhood when dinner would be cooking on the stove all afternoon long and sending mouthwatering smells wafting through the whole house, but with a wonderful foreign twist that I’d never had before. I made a big pot of the feijoada and we had it again and again all week long, along with orange slices, collard greens, and cashew coconut rice. At the end of the week my brother-in-law came to visit and had some of the last of it and raved about how delicious it was. We […]
Brews in Bruges
Follow my blog with Bloglovin I. LOVE. BRUGES. It is officially my favorite travel destination, and possibly the most magical place on earth (move over Disney!). I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a medieval town that was untouched by the wars, which means that all the buildings are original structures and oh so quaint. There are canals running through the whole town, with hundreds of swans swimming happily along. The swans are so important to the town that you can get thrown in jail for 3 years if you kill one, which makes the boat captains very nervous as they take tourists on canal tours. At least, this is what I was told. I could just be a gullible tourist… And then toss in the best chocolate, beer and waffles in the world and let that simmer in some Flemish stew. Not to mention that everyone there seemed to beĀ trilingual (French, Flemish, and English), so being an English-speaker was never a problem. OK, stop drooling and let’s get to […]