Yves and Lai (photo by Roberto Marquez)

Wishing you an excellent 2011

January 1st 2011, from Cartagena de Indias in Colombia.I have just learned how to prepare patacones, plantain cooked in the Caribbean way. A recipe from Lai, the maid from Gases del Caribe office in Cartagena,  department of Bolîvar in Colombia. Very simple recipe.

Take a few plantains; they should be ripe (black in the outside).

Cut the plantains in quarters.

Deep fry them in vegetable oil; half cooked (they should be not too soft)

Remove them from the oil; then flatten each quarter between two pieces of wood; any type; (two cutting boards may work too)

Then, in a mixture of salt,  crushed garlic and paprika (for colour) that you will put in a bowl of warm water, dunk the flattened plantain.

Then put them back in the oil and deep fry again; they should be crisp. And that’s it! Great to accompany fish or any type of meat.

And to sign off 2010… Another year went by, and this one was fast. We must at all cost slow down the time we have left. For that we have to learn how to say no, the “altruistic ‘no’”, and learn how to live in the present moment, the now! We also have to love, and a lot! We have to forget the many passed times, or the many “pasts” (in plural) and to remember our dearest ones; let’s not forget History with the capital “H” and the one smaller one, ours, our mid-teens when we Were, a time when passion for a better World inhabited our soul. Let’s go back to this state of being. We all wish you a great 2011, full of love, health, success and good will. Thank you for being part of our lives.