Festivals and Things!

TGI#fff!!
Wow! Can you believe it- it’s Friday and I come throwing food.
Something for the kids Dumplins /festival.
In keeping with my festive culture we have a food item called festival- are you surprised? Of course not!


This is simple and can be made with kids , great with fish and we Jamaicans love it with ackee and saltfish , escoveith fish or jerk chicken.
What you need:
Flour , baking powder , salt and sugar
Options : vanilla, cinnamon, butter, milk
I have been fortunate to teach a group of advanced elementary aged English learners who I teach various things including cooking. Since last month’s theme study was world festivals I taught them how to make - you guessed it!

1. Add your basic dry ingredients
2. Add your favorites from the options
3. Mix together - kneed into a dough
4. Break pieces of the dough - make round (called dumplings) or rectangular (called festivals)
5. Lightly flatten
6. Add sufficient oil to frying pan to cover up to half way up the festival
7. Fry thoroughly on a low heat
8. Bob’s your uncle! ready to eat in 10-15 minutes
9. Variations : you’ll notice my students added food coloring - this was a first , we also wrapped the sausage in the dough before frying.
10. Where I’m from in Jamaica there was a person Who used to add cooked ackee and salt fish to the dough then deep fry it( ackee corn)
11. Some people added cooked and spiced corned beef
12. For parties I do thinner and smaller versions and serve hot with vanilla ice cream 🍨 can’t beat that.
13. For my other shares - December is Nomikai time in Japan.
14. Nomikai or Nominication is a party where coworkers or classmates get together to drink and communicate
    To be honest when I came to this country over a decade ago I was shocked at how much they drank. Then I had my culture shock - there is no direct communication about problems unless there is alcohol involved. So I have come to accept that Nomikais or drinking parties are a necessary way of life for this high stress society.
    I was invited by some of my adult students to one this week and we dined on Chinese cuisine. There is a fairly large Chinese community in my native Jamaica so I really loved the chicken. It was a familiar taste to the Chinese food we had at home. There were other lovely things - some of which I couldn’t partake of but they were beautiful to look at.
    1st up some pork and chicken - the pork I skipped - the chicken was cold but ok.
    Chicken never fails - my favorite for the night.
    Chilli shrimp came to the party but I didn’t dance with them.
    Beef and stir fried vegetables lifted the mood a notch higher.
    Couldn’t leave out the tofu- they wouldnt be pleased but I had to call on white rice to help me stomach them.
    
    Pasta and veggies came in for a bit of spice but took it well.
    A party without friends can be a lonely affair so these guys hit it off - whiskey and cola but shot glass would not be left out.
    I did try this Chinese liquor served warm in shot glasses with sugar= dangerous! It is an acquired taste and smell but is obviously potent in the punch that it packs . Most people there who partook were instantly flush red in the face except me obviously 😂. It was a great night out - how about you? Do you have anything similar where you are from (food or practice that is) ?
    Thanks for stopping by- this has been another# indeliblevibration! Peace and love !