“The kitchen is where we deal with the elements of the universe. It is where we come to understand our past and ourselves.” - Laura Esquivel
We had some avocadoes ripening in the kitchen and our next door neighbour asked if we could use some green tomatoes that she had picked (she/we usually make chutney with them). As we had the avocadoes, we decided to make guacamole with a couple of them. The recipe was given to us by a Mexican acquaintance.
Guacamole with Green Tomatoes
Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3 ripe avocados; peeled, stones removed
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red birdseye chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped (optional)
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
small handful chopped fresh coriander
2 green tomatoes, seeds removed, diced and drained
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
Method
Heat the olive in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the cumin and ground coriander for 1 minute or until aromatic. Transfer to a bowl. Add the avocado and mash until smooth. Add the onion, garlic, chilli (if using), fresh coriander, salt and lime juice. Add the diced tomatoes and stir to combine, sprinkle with cayenne (if using). Season with salt and serve with corn chips.
“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” - George Lorimer
The topic for this week’s Midweek Motif at Poets United is “money”. Here is my contribution:
The Will
And finally the will was read,
At the appointed time,
To all interested parties
As stipulated to the solicitor
By the testator.
“I give all my tangible personal property
And all policies and proceeds of insurance covering such property,
To my son…”
How odd, that he only called me “son” after his death,
While when he lived he simply ignored my existence.
So I have my “father’s” money,
Making his other relatives sour,
Their eyes dripping poison, choosing for me a slow painful death
(Had their eyes been daggers
I would have succumbed to multiple wounds and an easy death).
The stranger who on his deathbed acknowledged me
As his son and legal heir, made me a millionaire.
And yet how poor I feel, when no tears came to my eyes
At his death;
When no sense of loss accompanied his passing…
He left me money, but no memories;
I have no photos in an album;
He taught me nothing, we never spoke;
I know nothing of him, I have no knowledge of his heart;
He spent no time with, he took no interest.
The money willed to me, is but an afterthought,
A neat sum to buy some ease for his troubled conscience;
Atonement for sins of omission,
A purchase of a ticket to heaven,
Where all good fathers go.
“We cannot stop natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge: so many lives wouldn’t have to be lost if there was enough disaster preparedness.” - Petra Němcová
Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.
New Orleans (French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. Before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranked third, trailing neighbouring Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.
The city of New Orleans is geographically coextensive with Orleans Parish. The city is known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is famous for its cuisine, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz) and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is often referred to as the “most unique” in the United States.
New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, and occupies both sides of the Mississippi River. The heart of the city and its French Quarter is on the river’s north side. The city and Orleans Parish (French: paroisse d’Orléans) are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which lies within the city limits, lies to the north and Lake Borgne lies to the east.
New Orleans was catastrophically affected during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when the Federal levee system failed. By the time the hurricane approached the city at the end of August 2005, most residents had evacuated. As the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast region, the city’s federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history. Floodwalls and levees constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers failed below design specifications and 80% of the city flooded.
Tens of thousands of residents who had remained were rescued or otherwise made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana Superdome or the New Orleans Morial Convention Center. More than 1,500 people were recorded as having died in Louisiana, most in New Orleans, while others remain unaccounted for. Before Hurricane Katrina, the city called for the first mandatory evacuation in its history, to be followed by another mandatory evacuation three years later with Hurricane Gustav.
This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.
