Shoestring Gourmet: Ants in Our Plans |
August found our Shoestringers at the Morgan residence for an evening in Jamaica. Hosts Jim Morgan and Marilyn McDonald had the appetizers out as we arrived: crunchy yucca chips and sweet bulla bread, which is made with coconut milk and nutmeg. This bread went well with Jamaican "tasty cheese" (a national favorite), and imported Jamaican ginger pepper jelly. Busha Browne’s jelly proved to be a lot sweeter than its ingredients would suggest (imagine ginger marmalade!). It was donated by Carl, proprietor of Tempe’s Kim Bong Jamaican market, for the occasion. As we sampled all of this, Jim and Marilyn’s rum and key lime punch helped us relax before the meal.
Ray Pisar and Diana Toone prepared ackee, the favorite national fruit, with salt fish. Ackee has an avocado-like delicacy and looks like scrambled eggs. Jim and Marilyn cooked callaloo, a Jamaican variation on collard greens, then followed with a tender and wondrous curried goat with chutney. This went well with Ursula Gore’s jerk rice, a combination of allspice and peppers simmered with rice. Our newest members, Linda and Jerry Brazelton, accompanied this with fried plantains. Kebba Buckley baked solid and filling "bammy" – cassava bread. Ray and Diana brought sweet rum balls, which we all found highly addictive. To finish up, we tasted Kebba’s Blue Mountain coffee, one of Jamaica’s most precious and exotic exports at $50/pound.
This month, we will meet at the Gore residence on the northwest side on Saturday, September 11, at 6 p. m. This time, our theme going to be picnic food. Feel free to be as simple or as fancy as you want. Making no risky assumptions about the weather and the ants, we will prepare to dine indoors, but we will be fully equipped for barbecue dishes, and anything else that might conceivably be served at a picnic. And…we promise not to hang the bug zapper over the table.
Please call Ursula Gore at 602-863-9648 by Thursday, September 9 to coordinate dishes and get directions.