Archive for August, 2008
06
Caribbean Food - A Little Histor
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The Arawak, Carib, and Taino Indians were the first inhabitants of the Caribbean islands. These first inhabitants occupied the present day islands of British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Trinidad, and Jamaica. Their daily diet consisted of vegetables and fruits such as papaw, yams, guavas, and cassava. The Taino started the process of cooking meat and fish in large clay pots.
The Arawaks are the first people known to make a grate of thin green wood strips on which they slowly cooked meat, allowing it to be enhanced by the flavor of the wood. This grate was called a barbacoa, and the word we know today as barbeque is taken from this early Indian cooking method.
The Carib Indians added more spice to their food with hot pepper sauces, and also added lemon and lime juice to their meat and fish recipes. The Caribs are said to have made the first pepper pot stew. No recipes exist since every time the Indians made the dish, they would always add new ingredients. The Carib had a big impact on early Caribbean history, and the Caribbean sea was named after this tribe.
Then the Caribbean became a crossroads for the world . . .
Once the Europeans brought Africans slaves into the region, the slaves diet consisted mostly of food the slave owners did not want to eat. So the slaves had to be inventive, and they blended their traditional African foods with staples found on the islands. The Africans introduced okra, callaloo, fish cakes, saltfish, ackee, pudding and souse, mangos, and the list goes on.
Most present day Caribbean island locals eat a present diet that is reflective of the main ingredients of original early African dishes, and includes cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, bananas and corn meal.
African men were hunters in their homeland, and often away from home for long periods of time. They would cook spicy pork over hot coals, and this tradition was refined by the early slaves in Jamaica. The technique is known today as “jerk” cooking , and the secret involves a slow meat cooking process. Jamaica is famous for jerk chicken and pork, and you’ll find jerk all over the island.
After slavery was abolished, the Europeans went to India and China for labor, and more cooking styles were introduced. Much of the Indian cooking culture remains alive and well in the Caribbean of today with the introduction of curried meats and curry powder. Indians call it kari podi, and we have come to know this pungent flavor as curry.
The Chinese introduced rice, which is always a staple in home cooked island meals. The Chinese also introduced mustard, and the early Portuguese sailors introduced the popular codfish.
Most visitors to the Caribbean have no idea that the fruit trees and fruits so familiar to the islands were introduced by the early Spanish explorers. The fruit trees and fruits brought from Spain include orange, lime, ginger, plantains, figs, date palms, sugar cane, grapes, tamarinds and coconuts.
Even the Polynesian islands play an important role in Caribbean cooking. Most of us remember the movie “Mutiny on the Bounty”, but do not know that particular ship carried breadfruit, which was loaded on board from the islands of Tahiti and Timor. In the movie the crew took over the ship, forced the captain into a small boat to fend on his own, and they threw the breadfruit, which they considered “strange fruit” overboard. Another ship was more successful in bringing breadfruit from Polynesia to Jamaica and the St Vincent and the Grenadines. Breadfruit is a staple diet in the current day Caribbean
America is responsible for introducing beans, corn, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, and chili pepper to the Caribbean. In fact these particular foods had never been seen in Asia, Europe or Africa, so America actually introduced these foods the rest of the world via the Caribbean.
So it’s no wonder Caribbean cooking is so rich and creative with the flavors of Africa, India, and China, along with Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, French and British influences. Food served in the Caribbean islands have been influenced by the cultures of the world, but each island adds its own special flavor and cooking technique.
05
Skip Bins and Waste Management
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Waste is an ongoing problem for society, a problem that will never go away, but if managed effectively, can be controlled.
Governments and private companies aim to control waste by offering toilet to households and businesses to dispose of it, one of the main approaches used are the provision of skip bins. Electronic waste is also recycled these days and includes components from disused computers and other IT equipment. Hazardous chemicals and contaminated waste can’t be put into skip bins due to the dangers involved and so for these materials it is required to call the local council and they will tell on how to dispose of them, hazardous substances include acids, solvents, cyanide waste materials, paints and oils. Recycling products and materials is becoming the norm due to the upward considerate of the effects it has on our environment; concern something like waste disposal practices to our surroundings and is an notable issue to companies and local governments. Fortunately rubbish tips are no longer regarded as an correct solution to dealing with waste; [efuse, garbage, trash, rubbish, scrap, however you want to name it, is now being usual as a valuable resource that shouldn?t only be land filled but originate many valuable and resourceful uses for.
Once, the management of waste would have destined the dustbin truck captivating your refuse and transporting it to the parochial rubbish tip.
The skip hire hard work and resource recovery facilities are mostly essential for the future of the environment as they create an discernment of how everyone can help in getting higher the total of waste recycled and thus reducing landfill. Nations all over the world are joining in the stab to find ways of recycling waste, from using complicated procedures to change the calorific content contemporary in barren into electricity or sorting through landfills to remove recyclable materials and upgrade the volume of waste that needs to be predisposed of. For example, lime waste skip bins are used for anything from tree clippings to grass and hardfill skip bins for substances like concrete, soil, rubble and tiles. As well as skip bins, amenities are granted to safely dispose of and destroy private documents such as quarantine stock, computer hardcopy, tapes and microfiche and out of date products. What is waste management? Simply put it is the compilation of waste materials produced by human consumption and activity, transporting it to a facility that will treat it and then the recycling of the waste material, or if it is not reusable, disposing of it for good. Collection and treatment services be present for clinical and medical waste from businesses and industries such as laboratories, surgeries, veterinaries, dental surgeries, food processing plants and hospitals.
The kind of skip bin prerequisite will depend on the type of materials you are planning on disposing of. There are also bulk bins and skip bin hire solutions for the collectanea of refuse from businesses such as building and construction sites, large size developments and manufacturing companies. Skip bins can be hired to collect a variability of waste including food, plastics, metal, furniture, woody and construction, garden and electronic waste.
04
Avoriaz 2008 Photographs Online
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Well I got the Lech photos online and now the Avoriaz 2008 holiday photographs are online.
The gallery is here.
There are lots of photographs but most of them are very good.
Myself, Mike, Steve P and Steve W all went, but Steve W broke his back at around 11am on the first day. This means there isnt alot of Steve W.
This is one of Steve W before the accident.
Mike ready to go.
Steve waiting for Mike.
Where were we?
Steve and Mike bombing down.
Steve W working hard.
The view down into Avoriaz