I got this story off of First-Magazine’s blog. This is a nice piece of history that relates to the men from the Caribbean who served in the British Royal Air Force. Cy Grant was a former airman who died at the age of 90 on February 13, 2010. Before he passed away, he was able to put a website together that commemorates the contributions of Caribbean airman who have been forgotten by history.

Volunteering as navigator for a Royal Air Force bomber, Grant spent two years in a German POW prison after he was shot down in the Netherlands; became ‘Britain’s best-known black person’ as a famous Calypsonian and then actor…and all before finishing up as a cultural activist.

“Of course, I was aware of the racism in British society – witness what happened to me, an ex-RAF officer and a prisoner of war. After qualifying as a barrister – no job opportunities,” he told the Islington Tribune. “I was forced to confront myself, to stand up and be counted, so to speak.”

- First Magazine

The NY Times had a travel article about Guyana, explaining how it has risen as a tourist attraction in recent years for naturalists and eco-tourists. It talks about the rich wild life and stunning landscape as well as how to plan your own trip there.

… Guyana is truly off the tourist path — a place, as Evelyn Waugh wrote in “92 Days,” his 1932 travel memoir of what was then British Guiana, “of conflicting cultures and states of development where ideas, uprooted from their traditions, become oddly changed in transplantation.”

Nestled between Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname, Guyana — South America’s only English-speaking country — is a place that rarely registers as a vacation spot. In recent years, however, the country has started pushing to capitalize on its often stunning scenery, abundant wildlife and rich Amerindian heritage, repackaging itself as a haven for adventurers, naturalists and eco-tourists.

… Once in the interior, you can forget any ideas of rambling off on your own, thanks to a lack of roads and often limited accommodations and food supplies in the rural villages. (And don’t even think about visiting the rain forests without a local guide, unless you are fully prepped in the niceties of dealing with caiman, black widow spiders and armadillo wasps.)

This isolation, though, has resulted in the emergence of eco-lodges across the country, built with the help of both foreign aid and Amerindian knowledge — meaning that visitors get in-depth, personal, insider perspectives. In Surama, where we stayed, a tiny Macushi village of about 300 inhabitants set in a five-square-mile patch of open savannah in the northern Rupununi, two four-bed eco-lodges have drawn a steady stream of visitors. (Built in 2004 as part of a sustainable tourism initiative between Guyana and the United States, the lodges are now managed and operated by the local Macushi tribe.)

Follow the rest of the article here.

Insprired by a recent trip to Back Home Bakery in Brooklyn. A little late with this one, but this recipe is still right on time….check out the details below…

Sweet Bread

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups grated coconut
• ½ cup melted butter or margarine
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tbsp shortening
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup candied cherries
• 1 egg - beaten
• 1¼ cup evaporated milk
• 1 tsp almond essence

check out the rest of the recipe after the jump…

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When a cousin brought some of this when visiting my family from Guyana, I figured it was time to look up the recipe. I never realized it was so easy to make. Check out the details below….

Vanilla Fudge

Ingredients:

• 1 lb sugar, brown or white
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2 tbsp margarine

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This one came up during convo yesterday, and I was inspired to post the recipe here. Check out the details below…

Souse (Guyana)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pig’s trotters
• 1 lb pig’s face and ears
• 1 lb shoulder steak (pork)
• Juice of 4 large lemons or 5 large limes
• ¼ pint vinegar
• Salt to taste
• 1 - 2 cucumbers
• ¼ lb onions
• 1 large hot pepper or wirri-wirri peppers
• Eschallot
• Celery (not the stalk type)
• 1½ pints water

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A day late, but still right on time. Happy Boxing Day folks. Check the video below…

…via TSS.

Interesting article from the BBC on the recent G20 Conference in Copenhagen and how the decisions made there affect Caribbean nations. Check out an excerpt below…

The message from small island states in the Caribbean was so simple, it could be reduced to song lyric form.

“1.5 to stay alive” was the song written and performed by Barbadian performance poet Adisa “AJA” Andwele.

AJA is also the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Spokesperson for Peace and Poverty Eradication for Barbados and the Organisation of Eeastern Caribbean States (OECS).

The theme of the song refers to the centigrade degree limit to which global surface temperatures can rise before Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are severely compromised in their ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

But, with world leaders failing to provide a binding solution to climate change at their just-concluded summit in Copenhagen, small states such as those in the Caribbean are left to assess where this leaves them….

Check out the full article here: “1.5 To Stay Alive”: The Caribbean and Copenhagen.

….also, for those who didn’t catch it see Guyana’s deal with Norway to protect their rainforests.

A pretty simple recipe for a snowy Sunday (at least here in NYC anyway…). Check the recipe below…

Guyanese Banana Fritters

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• ½ oz sugar (1 tsp)
• 2 oz. flour (1/5 cup)
• ½ oz baking powder (1 ¼ tsps)
• Icing (Confectionery) sugar

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Tony Starks adds a little bit of Wu flavoring to Melanie’s hit “It Kills Me.” Not sure if this is official or not, but it works. Check out the audio below…

Download the song here: Melanie Fiona feat. Ghostface Killah: “It Kills Me” (Remix)..

…via RapRadar.

I’ve been waiting until the holidays before I posted this recipe for Black Cake, a dense rum-soaked fruit cake which is usually made for Christmas and weddings. When my mother started her batch last weekend, I knew it was time. Check out the details below…

Black Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 pound prunes
• 1 pound dark raisins
• 1/2 pound golden raisins
• 1 pound currants
• 1 1/2 pounds dried cherries, or 1 pound dried cherries plus 1/2 pound glacé cherries
• 1/4 pound mixed candied citrus peel
• 2 cups dark rum; more for brushing cake
• 1 1/2 cups cherry brandy or Manischewitz Concord grape wine; more for grinding fruit
• 1/4 pound blanched almonds
• 1 cup white or light brown sugar for burning, or 1/4 cup dark molasses or cane syrup; more molasses for coloring batter
• 4 sticks (1 pound) butter; more for buttering pans
• 1 pound (about 2 1/2 cups) light or dark brown sugar
• 10 eggs
• Zest of 2 limes
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Angostura bitters
• 4 cups (1 pound) all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon.

For a little background on the desert, check this article from NYT: A Fruitcake Soaked In The Tropical Sun - NYT.
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