The Very Wet Dry Season

While at work this morning I was talking to a coworker at the over abundance of rain during the dry season this year. It sounds funny, but it is the honest truth. Dry season in the tropics starts in January and continues through the "summer" months. When my group of volunteers arrived in the Eastern Caribbean in February of last year it was dry, hot and waterless. I remember thinking how strange it was that everything was brown and crunchy when the picture in my mind had lush and green.

Grenada experienced one of the worst droughts in history last year, with many houses without water for days on end. It was painful, but thankfully the country made it through and the plants have recuperated. During the dry season this year, which we are currently in, its still raining at least once throughout the day. Today it has been raining consistently since I woke up this morning and the weather is predicting it to continue the rest of the day. I'm so thankful for the rain, as it helps our plants grow and our bodies stay nourished, but when its raining sideways as I walk to the bus stop, nothing is going to save my dress clothes.

Check out these pictures.

This year February: Lush and Green

Last year February: Brown and Burnt

 

I'm so sore I can't move...

After rigorous fundraising, planning and implementing we have started our school murals project at St. Paul's Government School today. I successfully carried three gallons of paint on the bus and up the hill to my school this morning. That is only the beginning of my soreness.

The principal and teachers at my school decided on an underwater scene for the corridor walls from kindergarten to 3rd grade. It will have lots of fish, crabs, shells and even a pirate ship, all equipped with math facts and word families to inspire kids to want to learn. I'm very excited to start the drawing and painting of the scene and hope everything works out perfect. I can only hope right?

Today we scrubbed the walls (enter soreness here), taped off the corners and applied the first coat of primer to the wall. We hope by putting a base coat of primer we allow the colors to be brighter and stand out more. After this coat we will be applying the sea blue color and then pencil sketching the drawing on to the wall.

Things are moving slowly, but since getting paint on the walls I can feel things speeding up a bit. I'M EXCITED!!!!!

Before picture, with tape job complete

One part of the wall

Primer complete!

Looking good.

The entire hallway that will be painted

Just Call Me Rachel Ray!

I had my moment to shine in the kitchen tonight and thought it deserved its own blog post. Just a small disclaimer before I continue. I can cook fairly well (thanks to learning young), but I have a tendency to cook the same things over and over. My recipe list under my favorites tab is RIDICULOUS, most of them never making it to my plate. I'm scared of wasting food by making something gross, so I just stare at the recipes thinking "hmmm I bet that tastes delightful".

Anyways...tonight I was pondering what in the world I was going to make for supper with the bare bones in my cabinet (a little broke this month, c'mon Peace Corps payday!) and noticed a can of black beans. My LAST can of black beans. UGH. The grocery store that carries black beans is completely out of my way, so I have to be in the right mood to make the trip and buy in large quantities. I have eaten my fair share of black beans and rice, black bean enchiladas and black bean burritos in the last few weeks that I wanted something new. Hmmm...lets refer to that wonderful recipe list and see if I'm up for getting creative. Yup, in truth I was, and thats how black bean pizza came about.

I love pizza. Any way I can incorporate cheese, sauce and bread into my diet I will do it, regardless of health consequences. I'm hitting all the major food groups right? I put veggies on pizza all the time, although I haven't found a way to incorporate fruits into pizza, hmmm. I will report back on that one asap. This pizza was an experiment but TOTALLY worth it, as it turned out one of the best pizzas I have ever made. YAY for ME!

Black Bean Callaloo Pizza Recipe

Pizza dough (I make no yeast pizza dough because I don't like little creatures causing my bread to rise)
1 can of black beans
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of chili powder
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic (or 7 if you like garlic like me! Its good for the immune system)
1 cup callaloo (a veggie similar to spinach and native to the Caribbean, so you can replace with spinach)
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup cheddar cheese (monterrey jack or mozzarella would be better, but we don't have it here)

Directions
1. Bake pizza dough until done, remove from oven.
2. In skillet, saute onions, garlic and callaloo until tender
3. Mash black beans in bowl with cumin and chili powder, spread evenly on pizza crust.
4. Add salsa on top of black beans.
5. Add onions, garlic and callaloo to pizza.
6. Spread delicious amounts of cheese on pizza
7. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.
8. Bathe in the glory of deliciousness.

Now THAT is Rachel Ray quality pizza right there. I might go to her website and nominate myself for the next up and coming star. Just saying. Hope you enjoy my new creation as much as I did.

Before taking the dive into the oven

OH. EM. GEE.

Don't you worry, I ate half the pizza!