Love in the Time of Cholera with Empanadas

It was my turn to host our Book Club for a discussion of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to turn this into a full gastronomic celebration, so I made Colombian Empanadas with a little help from Liz, Joyce and Joann.

And while in frying mode, we added some yucca to the mix, with chimichurri sauce for dipping.

Shrimp and avocado salad and Colombian cole slaw rounded out the menu. Passion Mimosas proved to be very, very inspiring.

Here we are, in full discussion mode. 

The moon made a guest appearance.

A bite of Dulce de Tres Leches and fortified by a little red wine gave us the strength to forge our discussion long into the night.

Summer Travels and the Muse

This past July our travels took us to my native Colombia. We enjoyed a family reunion at Villa Clara, my sister's farm near Ibague.



I was captivated by the magnificent beauty of the Andes Mountains surrounding us.



In August we returned to one of our favorite playgrounds on this beautiful planet. We chartered a boat out of St. Thomas and made the rounds through the British Virgin Islands.



While some of us snorkeled the pristine waters, our crew mates Brooke and John preferred diving for deeper treasures. Here they brought up a gorgeous starfish for a quick visit to the surface.



Being on water for seven days recharged my creative batteries. I sat on the boat admiring the beauty and I got to imagining a mermaid named Marlena. I could see her amid the coral, playing hide and seek with the schools of angelfish and blue tang. She came home with me and followed me right into the studio. She's here for an extended stay.



You can click on Marlena or any of the photos for a close-up view.

Mamoncillo

When I moved to St Croix, I was elated to find on the roadsides trees laden with a fruit from my Colombian childhood: Mamoncillo. Except that here in the Virgin Islands they call it Genip and in Puerto Rico, Quenepas. Wikipedia saved me from trying to figure out how to describe it: "A mamoncillo fruit has a tight and thin but rigid layer of skin, traditionally cracked by the teeth. Inside the skin is the tart, tangy, yellow pulp of the fruit, which is sucked by putting the whole fruit inside the mouth (the seed takes most of the volume of what is inside the skin)."
Wikipedia also taught me some facts I didn't know about Mamoncillo: it's part of the Sapindaceae family, which includes the Lychee, the Rambutan, and the Ackee. The mamoncillo is commonly planted along roadsides as an ornamental tree, and according to Caribbean folk wisdom, girls learn the art of kissing by eating the sweet flesh of this fruit
There is a row of Mamoncillo trees that we pass on our morning walk. We've watched it fill with fragrant flowers and abuzz with bees in the spring. Then the tiny fruit began to grow, and now there are beautiful clusters of mamoncillos. I plucked this one and brought it home imagining the sweet tartness of the pulp. But when I cracked open the first one, it was too tart and not juicy enough. They're not quite ready yet, but soon... very soon...