Sundays In My City - Memories of Home

This morning I was up walking the baby under the cocoa tree and the birds were so loud, I though I'd capture it for you. I'm pretty sure most of you have never seen where your chocolate comes from. :-)
This is a baby cocoa pod, and you can't really see it because of the angle (they grow straight out of the trunk of the tree) but it's almost football shaped (not soccer this time, but the good ole pigskin kind). When they're harvested, the beans are fermented and dried and produce cocoa powder, cocoa butter and of course chocolate!

It was such a nice peaceful morning, it really reminded me of my grandpa. He was in agriculture and worked on some of the large estates on the island. Most of them are being sold off for residential construction now. Which is a shame...

But I spent most of my childhood in what used to be a huge estate right outside the capital city. It had long been turned into residential homes, but there was a lot of greenery kept when they planned these suburbs. This is the old estate house I believe. I don't think anyone uses it anymore, but it's still in pretty good shape.

This is the park right next to it. I came here fairly often as a child. It was the only park in the neighbourhood with swings and a slide and a merry-go-round (which I don't think I went on til I was grown). :-)

This is the park I went to almost daily. I lived one block over, and in the evenings I got dressed up and would go for a walk. Both parks are pretty littered this morning. I'm sorry I don't have pictures of them in better shape.

I love the old Woodbrook houses. Some of them still remain in pretty much original condition. This one has special significance to me because I am close to the owner. It's a little wooden house with the original jalousies we call them - little wooden louvres in the doors and windows.

She's kept the latticework and has the typical banana trees next to the house (out of the shot). Many of the Woodbrook houses have them all along the sides of the houses and she recently told me why - banana leaves are flame retardant. Yep. It actually happened to her that the neighbour's house caught on fire, but hers was spared damage because of those banana trees. The only damage she had was water damage from the firemen's hoses trying to save the house next door!

Some of the homes kept the structure and the wooden elements, but they're concrete and brick now. This one still has the window frames, doors and lattice work. And that window that looks like an attic - it's not. :-)

Those windows are for cooling - they let the air circulate through the house. It's just high ceilings inside. Also, you'll notice that all the houses have a couple steps up - that's because the houses aren't built with their floors directly on the foundation. They are raised off the ground so that the air can flow freely below there and keep the hardwood floors of the house cool. It's a nice cool space for the dogs to go in the afternoons. I spent many childhood hours under the house with my dog. :-)

Another more concretized house, but based same idea.

This one is all concrete and brick. Most homes here are like this one. It has a little hint of the wraparound porch that was also a common feature of these homes. But this one I really chose because of the jhandis - the Hindu prayer flags out front. They're very common all over the island and especially so where the East Indian heritage is strong.

Tis is the real reason we left our house this morning - breakfast! It doesn't look it, but these are really popular all over the island. This is a quick hot cheap meal. The lines are short here, but it's because we were so late that they were almost sold out. He only needs to come out for a couple hours - he's sold out by 9:30am. The bar he's selling in front of benefits from selling juices and sodas to his customers. Nice partnership!

Again from the East Indian heritage - curried chick peas (channa) eaten with slightly savoury fried dough (barra). The channa goes between two barra, and is therefore known as "Doubles". I myself am known to ask for Triples - three barra!

This is what it looks like removed from the parchment paper it is given to you in. Trust me, it tastes better than it looks. It's really hard to photograph food! There are all kinds of chutneys and sauces that you can put in it - mango, tamarind and pomme cythere being the most common. Yum

Well this tour was really done from an introspective place, and I usually go about it very differently. But I hope you still enjoyed the trip.

See you next week! Now go visit Unknown Mami. She hosts this wonderful virtual tour every Sunday, and she has contributors from all around the world. Don't miss out. :-)