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Posts tagged ‘Christmas in the Caribbean’

Dec 31

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No. 102: ‘Ti Punch

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‘Ti Punch, short for petit punch and best pronounced “tee paunch”, is the boisson préférée en Martinique. I’d never heard of it before this adventure. Superman, a bit more experienced, jumped right into the island vibe and enjoyed one on the Air Caraibes flight over.

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I had hoped to get to one of the rhum distilleries yesterday and learn about the process of making rhum from sugar cane, but oh la vache, our gas tank is still presque à sec, so we are only making short trips here and there, hoping we will have enough gas to make it to the airport.

Even though I’m not a hard alcohol enthusiast, I have come around to enjoying this punch over the last few weeks. It’s a simple and casual drink and it goes down smoothly.

‘Ti Punch is a combination of rhum, lime juice and cane sugar, all of which can be found freshly grown/made in this tiny island paradise. What I like about this easygoing drink is that en famille it is served déconstruit/deconstructed. Meaning, the rhum, limes and sirop de canne or sugar are put on the table and each person mixes their own drink to suit their tastes.

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As my dad used to say: “choose your poison”, or as I heard this week: chacun prepare sa propre mort (each prepares their own death).

Here is a simple recipe to get you started:

‘Ti Punch

2 fingers of Rhum Agricole

½-1 small Keylime, juiced

1-2 tsp cane sugar or cane syrup

Serve over ice and stir with a bois lélé (swizzle stick). Usually served as an aperitif—or, en Martinique, when the spirit moves you. Try spicing up the syrup with a bit of cinnamon or allspice to make it more festive.

Vocabulaire

An nou pran on lagout : Let’s have a glass of rum; créole

aperitif: before dinner drink

bois lélé: swizzle stick, créole

boisson préférée en Martinique: preferred drink in Martinique.

chacun prepare sa propre mort: each prepares their own death

en famille: with family (at a family get together)

oh la vache: holy cow

presque à sec: almost empty (as in the gas tank); literally, almost dry

rhum agricole: rum made from freshly-squeezed sugar cane juice and then distilled

sèk-sèk : a small glass of pure rum, créole.

Shrubb; rum made with marinated orange or tangerine rinds, served at Christmas

sirop de canne: cane syrup

un planteur: fruit juice and rum

Dec 31

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No. 100-101: The Colors and Creatures of Martinique

Our time in Martinique is drawing to a close and as the gas strike is still in full swing, I spent the afternoon wandering, watching and snapping photos, soaking up the vibrant colors, creatures and flavors of our temporary piece of the French Caribbean. Profitez!

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Vocabulaire

Profitez! Enjoy!

Dec 31

No. 99: Island Christmas

I know Christmas has come and gone, but I really loved it this year. This is my last year with a child living at home. Next year we will be empty nesting it, although I hope not for Christmas. Here are a few memories from our island Christmas with Kitcat and Button en Martinique.

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Dec 29

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No. 97-98: Flowers and Plants of Martinique

logo-villes-et-villages-fleurisMartinique is bursting with flowers and most of their cities are designated villes fleuries. I think they should go one step further and designate the whole of Martinique as a “flower and plant island”. The diversity of flower and plant life on this tiny island knocks my socks off. Take a look (and hold on to your socks).

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Vocabulaire:

villes fleuries:  literally flowered villages/cities; a designation given by the French government (since the 1950s) to cities and towns in France that foster not only beautiful flowers, but also improve the quality of city life and make newcomers feel welcome; the designation is based on a four flower rating system.

Dec 27

8 Comments

No. 95: Quirky French History

Yesterday I came across a bit of inspired French history on our way to Anse d’Arlet on the south western shore of Martinique.

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To access Anse d’Arlet, a sleepy fishing village, we had to pass by Rocher du Diamont. Diamond Rock is a volcanic island across from Diamond Beach. Lush and green and 600 feet high, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Nowadays it is a famous diving spot renowned for its colorful sea life and assortment of marine birds, but it has a bit of quirky history attached to it from the colonial days.

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Although Martinique was mostly held by the French colonialists, the British governed (or attempted to govern) the island for a few years here and there. In 1804, about a 100 English sailors landed on the rock and constructed a fort and armory. Once established, they proceeded to pester the French navy with surprise attacks and cannon fire as they attempted to cross the passage to deliver necessary supplies for the colonialists. These constant disruptions forced the French to abandon this passage. After 18 months (and no luck in retaking the fortified rock), the French decided to get creative.

Having heard that the British soldiers were becoming distraught from their long confinement on the rock and that the limited access to fresh water was contributing to their restlessness, they hatched a plan. They sent a small sailboat loaded with rum to the island. (Some accounts have them simply floating barrels of rum across the channel.) However the rum reached the soldiers, between the combination of thirst and stir craziness, the Brits were soon completely sloshed.

The French retook the outpost in a matter of days.

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Now that’s some pretty clever military strategy, n’est-ce pas?

Vocabulaire

n’est-ce pas? isn’t it?

Rocher du Diamont: Diamond Rock

 

Dec 23

No. 90: Mwen ka palé Kréyol

Le Vauclin, Martinique

Le Vauclin, Martinique

Mwen ka palé Kréyol.

Je parle Créole.

I speak Creole.

Not that I need another language knocking around in my old brain, but here are some simple words and phrases in Créole I hope to learn by week’s end. I’ll give it the old college try.

bonjou: bonjour, good morning/hello

mésyé zé dam bonjou: Mesdames et messieurs, bonjour, ladies and gentleman hello/good day.

bonswa : bonsoir, good evening

mèsi: merci, thank you

mwen ka rimèsié’w anlo: je te remercie beaucoup, thank you very much

souplè: s’il vous plait, please

Mi plisi! Avec plaisir! With pleasure!

ni pwoblem: pas de problème, no problem

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tanzantan: de temps en temps, from time to time

An pa tini pwen lajan. Je n’ai pas d’argent. I have no money.

 

Sa ou fé ? Comment ça va? How are you?

Sa ka maché, è wou? Ça va bien, et toi? Fine, and you?

 

Ka ki là? Qui est la? Who is there?

Ka sa yé? Qu’est-ce que c’est? What’s that?

Ki laj a ou? et Ki laj ou ka fè? : Quel âge avez-vous? Quel âge-a tu? How old are you?

 

Annou ay!  On y va! Let’s go!

Resté la, an ka vin!  Restez là, je viens! Stay there, I’m coming!

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bagail la chô: il fait très chaud, it’s very hot!

et enfin….

ti-bo: un bisou, a kiss

Mwen aimé ou doudou: Je t’aime mon cher. I love you dear.

 Créole-Martiniquais

And another bonus…Kréyol verb conjugation. Hmm…looks a mite bit easier. Maybe we should move to Martinique and take up Kréyol instead.

  

French                                                        Kréyol

je chante                                               mwen ka chanté

tu chantes                                             ou ka chanté

il ou elle chante                                     i ka chanté

nous chantons                                      nou ka chantè

vous chantez                                        zot ka chanté

ils ou elles chantent                              yo ka chanté

Dec 22

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No. 89: French People who want to be Tutoyer-ed

In addition to enjoying the luxury of hanging out with the slow speaking Martiniquais and the confidence boost they provide to my own speaking ability, I also love the fact that the people on this island want to be tutoyer-ed.

Yes. In case you don’t know, the French actually have a verb for calling someone by the familiar form of “you” (tu)—tutoyer versus the formal form of “you” (vous)—vouvoyer. So you can actually ask someone if they would like to be “tu”-ed or “vous”-ed.

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I always err on the side of caution and choose to “vous” everyone until I am told otherwise, or notice that they have begun “tu”-ing me. It’s my default position. The way I see it, it’s better to be formal than risk starting off on the wrong side of the rue with the French.

IMG_9212As English speakers, this phenomenon of “tu-ing” and “vous-ing” does not exist in our language, and sometimes I find it too elitist for my taste. I’m guessing my difficulty with the French way of sorting out who is a friend/family versus who is an acquaintance, is the same difficulty but in reverse for the French when they travel to Anglo countries. They must find it quite startling when we greet them for the first time as if we are chums and ask them gamely how they are, when, in fact, they really don’t want to share that information with a stranger.

But the Martiniquais are different. From the minute we met the family we are renting our house from here, it has been “tu”, “tu”,“tu”. When I asked our hosts about it, they simple said, “Mais bien sûr, nous sommes amis, comme de la famille!”

What a delightful change. In my American mindset it makes me feel at ease and makes me feel a greater sense of equality, and all and all just makes me feel good.

Vocabulaire:

Mais bien sûr, nous sommes amis, comme de la famille! But of course, we are friends, like a family. 

rue: street

tu: you, informal

tutoyer: to use “tu” when speaking to someone

vous: you, formal and plural

vouvoyer: to use “vous” when speaking to someone

 

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