24 January 2012

                                                            Anguilla

The first time I ever had grilled lobster was when my family and I took a trip back to my dad’s home town in Anguilla. Anguilla is a small island in the eastern Caribbean and it is next to Puerto Rico. Going back to the island was so nice that I did not realize how much I missed it until I went back and that ocean breeze hit me on my face. On our first day back, my dad took us to a restaurant called Veya. That restaurant is a memory I will never forget. We first went when I was twelve years old and it was the first time I had ever eaten at a five star restaurant. The restaurant was located about twenty minutes away from the valley close to the beach. In addition, to make the dinner more memorable you could go out to the beach after dinner and enjoy the ocean. Since I did not get lobster for dinner all that much in the United States I realize how much I missed it when I was in Anguilla. The Caribbean and United States seafood are very different from one another.  Naturally because of that; seafood was the first thing on my list when I got back. The restaurant served my lobster with diced vegetables and the lobster was marinated in a house sauce before being grilled. On the side, I had corn on the cob and french fries and that was delicious. After dinner, my family and I went to the beach for some fun. My sister and my dad went to play in the water, while my mom and I spent most of our time on the beach collecting sea shells. That visit was the last time I ever went to Anguilla, which is why I think the memory is still so fresh to me. The home sickness I feel keeps my precious memories close to me.    

Two days ago my sister just randomly came out of her room and told me hey sis can you make chicken parmesan for dinner please and; of course she elongated that please!!!!!! Just so she could get what she wanted. Loving to cook of course I gave in. That left me with the task of finding all the ingredients for this dinner that she apparently was craving.           

              As a result, I headed to the local Wal-Mart where you can find just about anything these days. When I reached there I bought roughly five pounds of chicken because I was not just cooking for my sister, but the rest of my family. In addition, I purchased tomato sauce which sometimes I make myself instead of buying a name brand sauce, for example Prego. I made this decision because I was in a good mood I decided to make my own sauce that day. I headed over to the produce section of Wal-Mart to pick up some: tomato, bell peppers, jalapeños, and onions. After getting the vegetables, I headed to the dairy department to get some cheese. Of course, I had to pick up some parmesan cheese otherwise it is just not parmesan chicken though where most people would use the mozzarella cheese with the parmesan I differ in that I use pepper jack cheese instead. Having gotten most of the ingredients all that was left were the: bread crumbs, eggs, vegetable oil, and my favorite angel haired pasta. The rest of the ingredients I happened to have at home already the eggs, oil, and bread crumbs all came from Kroger; on the other hand, the pasta was bought from BJ’s.

                Finally getting home with all the ingredients, I made dinner for everyone with a lot of help from my little sister. It is always a lot of fun when everyone gets to sit down and just hang out. Looking back at all the ingredients I use in creating this meal I realized that my family and I really like a lot of spicy foods. However, to be honest it is me who likes spicy food the most compared to the rest of my family.