I love to cook, bake, create, and most of all, dare I say, EAT !!

Except for this week, where I seemed to have caught some nasty virus, bug, Tourista, ate too much fruit, or swallowed too much sea water (while hoping to exercise all those extra pounds away from loving to cook and loving to eat (which, by the way and thus far, hasn't really been working all that well))...

and thus being out of sorts, cranky, and all that, and hence not blogging for a while (my apologies to all our faithful followers and friends) although I did ask that the Capt'N write his long overdue weekly report (to which he quickly retorted, that it wasn't a Weekly Report but rather an Annual Report), so remember that promise for future reference dear readers and friends,

but alas, being sick and out of sorts and glad that the heads were onlyna few feet away, seriously affected my brain which had somehow turned to mush and I couldn't even put 2 and 2 together, as evidenced in our Pass the Ace game with Mike and Rebecca the other night. But anyhow, I digress...

Dave is the lucky recipient of all that creative happenings in the galley. Sometimes he crinkles his nose, and wonders what on Earth I've served up this time, but try it all, and quite happily, he does. A true Match Made in Heaven.

Life on Land usually had us conspiring together in the kitchen, sharing stories and sipping a glass of vino in the process. Life on Banyan does not quite allow for that much freedom of movement (two people don't fit in our galley), and so he often keeps me company, glass of vino each in hand, while I go about slicing and dicing. Which works just as well. Fun times.

Today, Rebecca (Zero to Cruising, Andy and Trudy (Manureva), and I attended a cooking class held at True Blue Resort. It was nice to see Teresa (Seismic Wave) there as well.



The class, featuring local ingredients, is hosted by Esther and Omega,



who have been doing this, on a weekly basis, for going on four years now and are in the throes of producing a Grenadian flavour cookbook.



This cooking class was born following many-a heated discussion between the two of them and the True Blue bossess needing to channel all that, ahem, energy towards something useful, suggested they bicker and hold heated discussions while slicing and dicing and conjuring up local delicacies,



and so here they were, four years later, teaching local cuisine and dishes to any and all interested at the modest sum of $12EC. Today's menu was featuring Creole Sauce, although they talked so much about Pizza Sauce, I wasn't quite sure...

Esther had the run of the class today (as Omega wasn't feeling well, which made me wonder if she had the same bug as I had?) and so, as she added the ingredients, she explained and sniffed and whisked,



the scents and smells quickly overtaking us hungry listeners, and what resulted was one huge pot of "sauce",



that for us liveaboard cruisers who have freezers, can be frozen in premeasured serving size portions for later use, most specifically as PIZZA sauce. I think these two have an aversion to buying pre-made (expensive) cans of pizza sauce, and you know what, they ARE right.

Pizza sauce is something we used to buy back home. Down 'round these parts it's not found in stores much. So I've taken to using "spaghetti sauce" that I've added extra herbs, garlic, etc ... and you know, the result is much tastier, easier, cheaper and better, and ladies, I vow to never ever buy pizza sauce again !!

Every recipe has a magic ingredient that makes IT what it is and has the guests asking for seconds or better yetm "please share the recipe!" Most chefs hesitate to divulge just what "it" is, but not these two. They quickly brought out the bottle to show me so I could head out and buy IT. IT held such a nice touch of spicy sweetness that I instantly fell in love with. Sweet Chili Sauce.

For today's session, they added some pre-cooked chicken and Esther served it up over spaghetti. Omega wasn't looking too sure about the whole thing,



And voila, heres the end result, Rebecca and I opting for some minus the pasta.



What a great afternoon!! Bon Appetit !