My younger brother was a handsome wide faced boy with a pug nose. Kind and playful. He loved to play cowboys and Indians. He was smart and he made friends quickly, wherever we moved.
Mr. Harris (daddy), was a thin man of very light complexion. he had a narrow face with almost Chinese-like dark eyes. His black hair was so tightly curled that it appeared to be straight at a glance or from a certain distance. He always seemed to be insecure or nervous. Daddy was a well paid executive accountant, who did the work of five people, but he was a poor provider. I discovered that Fridays were his time to buy rounds of drinks for the entire bar, when Yvonne once sent me to a local bar to fetch him one Friday evening. Details in the upcoming book.
We never had food on Fridays.
Orien, who could not go for long without food would ritually vomit on Friday nights. Right after his first bite of buttered bread and a gulp of sweet milk.
Before this book is completed I'll find out why we moved so often. Might be the same reason we never had food on Fridays. I never liked to eat, so scarcity of food was never a problem for me.
What would we usually have for breakfast?
We would have peppermint tea with bread and butter. Or scrambled eggs with fried dumplings. On rare occasions we would have short link Vienna type sausages from a can. Weekend delight!Whenever, my sister served us Cerasse tea I felt like it was a punishment, because it was so bitter (she picked it).
We picked these teas off the fence that separated our yard from the business, next door. The ripened fruit of the Cerasse tea was delicious, though (see pic. of the green fruit above). I never got a good look at the fence underneath the thick foliage of teas and what-not.
What we had for lunch on the average day, was cold Lime-aide with dry crackers, buttered.
Sometimes we would have a Bulla-cake(large cookie) instead, which was nice.
Some days we'd have a steaming hot bowl of porridge, either cornmeal or green-banana, I like that, these porridge were made with coconut milk. So delicious! I disliked oatmeal, because it had those specks of different dark things, that I couldn't identify. Disgusting. It seemed like I sat at the table for hours trying to brave that porridge.
Dinner?
One of my favorite dinners is codfish and Ackee (tree grown vegetable), over white rice. If it were a weekend breakfast, codfish & Ackee would be served with fried dumplings, and tea. Yes weekends were special! A weekend dinner would be browned and stewed chicken, served with rice and peas(red kidney beans). Yum, seasoned rice, was a nice dinner, too! Like fried rice. Recipes in upcoming book.
Anyway, My oldest brother Tony, was a looker with clear blue eyes! He had all the girls eating out of his hands. So much so that one of them left his first born in my hands when I was only turning 8. That story in detail, later. Stafford, was the family brains! I can only remember him studying all the time. You will learn why later.
Scientists have identified several active proteins in the cerasse bush are potentially cheaper alternative treatments for HIV/AIDS.
All over Jamaica, the cerasse bush (Momordica charantia) grows wild, unaided by human device. Though it produces bright, yellow flowers and an orange-coloured fruit, it is often viewed as no more than a nuisance, creeping through the garden. Tea brewed from the leaves is popular among rural folk but considered too bitter by most Jamaicans.
Ackee is a poisonous vegetable if it were to be picked before full maturity, when it opens up while still on the tree.
Please leave a comment before visiting the Link on cerrase tea, below. Thanks.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://alumniroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bitter-melon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://alumniroundup.com/%3Fp%3D2538&usg=__pa3Hx_PO2DJyI5VfpZDhYIkHRlQ=&h=333&w=500&sz=84&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=VR9d7kCIfMc1vM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJamaican%2Bteas%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den
Where did Orien and I fit in?
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