The Way We Were - Palimentary Conduct

Long ago when you hear the word Stateman or Statemanship it evoke images of respect, dignaty, honesty, intigraty and the list goes with all "itys" you can find. But it is a crying shame what we have passing for Statesmanship. Every day on the News and via all forms of media your hear of some bad behaviour accurring in  Paliment; leaving the public to wonder what is really going on in this country.

Why and what did we hired these people to do. Argue over personal induendo one might imply about them openly. Why have our Paliment now become a personal battle field of words. Do they not realise people are watching them and amongst these people are the children who are our future. Do they not remmber why they took this job, was it not to serve others not themselves? Can they not remember to put country before self. We are becomming something that is boarding on dangerous grounds. The Pandora's box which exist in the middle of thier faces has been opened and it is getting harder to close it, we as a people need to get involve and help  those politician to shut those boxes which have been opened without regards for who is listening must be shut.

This is so sad look what we have reached to

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long ago this was not the case. The way politician were a dignified profession, every child aspired towards leading this country into new eras. We knew why we went to school because thhe politician told us  us and showed by example. When the late Dr Eric Williams said the future of the country lie in the bookbags of our children we knew what he ment. When we voted, after the eletions there was nothing to see or hear about paliment because the matter concerning the nation was not a performances for all to see. No a day its' a big stage an the politicians are the actors. Valentino the calysian must be feeling like a prophet for singing "Life is a stage" and certainly the politicians of the day are the actors. And people them boys emoting bad.

 

 

Remember when statemen were statemen. let have a look back.

 



The Late great Dr Eric Williams the first Prime Mister of Trinidad and Tobago

 

 

 

Sir Elis Clark a true stateman

 

 



The We Were was like All of We were one Family

 

PARAMIN VILLAGE

 (one of Trinidad oldest village where life have not change much though the year)

Every day when you pick up a news paper or listen to the news you have to ask yourself, has the world gone mad? How could people be so mean to each other, where has all the love gone. All you hear is about gruesome murders,  corrupt official, immorality, legalism, terrorism even faith base institution is worrying to one soul.

 

One has to asks oneself where did we go wrong, yes it had murders and such long ago. But of late it has just gotten worse. It leaves one longing for what we call the good old days, when the world was kinder and love was real. People cared for each other, helped one another and what I had I shared with my neighbors. There was trust in the village. One could leave your house open and go out shopping and if you leave clothes on the line and rain fall your neighbor pick them up fold them and put them in the house for you. Nearly everybody slept with their windows open no one feared for their life. Children could go by any neighbor and eat, in fact it was considered rude or out of  place to cook eat and turn down your pot. The custom was you must cook something extra for if a stranger past.

 

 

 A coconut estate in Trinidad

 

PORT OF SPAIN

 

The whole community took care of the children and all had one mind  or thinking. Even if you and the neighbor were not on speaking terms. No child was allowed to disrespect an elder , and if a transgression  was done by any child it was dealt with severely and openly by the one to whom the transgression was against; overseer over the watchful eye of your parents.

 

This kind of community comradeship made for a better society and by extension a better nation. It is said that if a people don't know their past, then they can't embrace their future. I am saying remember your past so that we can use it principles to better our future. Let us try and bring back some of the old time ways.

The Way We Lived- Cost of Living

Bills, bills, bills everyday when I was growing up the average family did not have all these bills to pay as per what we have now, the most bills a family had was food, Cable radio ( Radio  fusion) and light bill. Well today you might call be nostalgic, but let me tell how it was, when life was pretty and oh so happy.

 Your food bill was catered to your position in society or to the location where you lived. If you live in the city then you had to buy more than those living in the country. Food bills were basic you brought sugar, salt, flour and rice which add up to a whopping $2 a week. The family main form of entertainment was the radio (no TV, yeah I mean it no TV) family sat around the radio and listened to the radio. This bill was at a cost of $1 to $2 a month and light bill was the same. Those were the day my friend I wished it never ended.

 

 

But these days are long gone and now it is a whole different ball games. The amount of bills you have to pay could break you back. Added to the old list which have increased immensely: came the TV cable bill, internet, water rate, cellphone bill, bank fee, school fee and the list goes on. Can you name a few? No wonder every one is so stressed. There is a real life any more , all people really do is live to pay bills. Go to school to get an education to teach you how to make more money so you can have more. The average bill payment is faded away while all that left is his bills to pay.

 

 



The food we cooked

We used a lot of methods to cook depending on what we were preparing. In my last blog I spoke a bit about how we cooked and what we cook on. The dirt oven was used to bake cake, sweet bread, breads, roasted meat. Everything has delicious smoky taste.
  
We had dishes like Boi, cassava coo coo, curried pawpaw, fizzle fowl, roast breadfruit and smoke herring Johnny bake, float and roast salt fish or corn fish and  Tom-tom to name a few. These name would surprise you too because most of them have no relation to their name for example.

The fizzle fowl is real curry chatine, the Johnny bake is a bake that has been layer with lard while the Boi is made from half fresh corn grated to form a dumpling. And Tom-tom is a mixture of provision such as plantain, dasheen etc. pounded in a mortar. So to night I will share with you how to make one of these dishes.
Boi
 5 Fresh whole corn shaved directly from the kernel
1 cup flour for binding
salt and sugar to taste.

METHOD
Put the shave corn and place in food processor and blend
add the flour and combine. Place in tumbling boiling water until cooked
 take out and enjoy with curry fish etc.

The Way We cooked

Life long ago was simple yet hard compared to now a days where you are in and out the the kitchen, some times in less than an hour, but the meals had this down home taste that still brings nostalgia. How we prepared meals was time consuming and hard work, but it brought a sense of togetherness.  All the members of family were working together to get the job done. This gave us the time we needed to spend as family.

      There were many ways to cook meals.  Such as dirt oven for baking and roasting, dirt pit where you could roast a whole young suckling pig in a hole in the ground. Then there was fire on top and fire below for making roasted bake. The fire aside and coal pot was the main form of cooking everyday meals

.DIRT OVEN

Dirt oven can be made from a number natural material from around the yard and all gives that down home smoky flavor.

Cooking in a dirt oven give a flavor to food that is out of this world. there are many benefits to this type of food preparation. All the flavor is kept and tasted,very little seasoning required for the taste to be potent, tender