Author Archives: Yamfoot

Do you use these words incorrectly?

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Saw this article and thankfully, I don’t use these words incorrectly…..I think! Check it out and score yourself.

Gym Stories: Spotted….my favourite female sprinter!

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Athletes train at the same gym I go to. Some I recognize. Some I don’t. Usain Bolt and Johan Blake are two who I have seen often enough. Imagine my delight when I spotted my current favourite female sprinter a few days ago!

It was Pilates class day and as usual, I try to do some cardio before, otherwise my muscles rebel. [Loudly] Got to the gym too late, on account of waking up too late. Did 3 minutes walking on the treadmill instead of 5, then headed for the elliptical. Apart from the elliptical being my favourite cardio machine, the one I use is positioned so that I can see when the Pilates teacher arrives so I can get in there and not miss too much of the beginning of the class.

The Qunicy Jones ‘Back on the Block’ song rotation was on my music player so was already in a great mood, especially when One Woman Man played. Unlike the lady on the stair stepper who was singing out loudly whatever she was listening to on her player, I refrained from doing likewise.

Ever so often I would turn my head to look at the door to see who was coming in through the entrance, which is about 15 m from the machine. Nearing the end of the 12 minute period [instead of 15], I glance to look and who should I see come into the cardio room??????  Continue reading →

Clove – a culinary star with versatility

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I love the smell of all spices and clove is one of my favourites. Though I don’t use it often, when I do, the aroma pleasantly tickles my olfactory receptor neurons. That means that it smells lovely! I put one or two buds in my herbal tea sometimes. Any more and it’s overbearing. I don’t eat ham anymore so I had to find some other way to enjoy Clove.

Here is an article I wrote for The Caribbean Current on this versatile culinary and medicinal star.

Budgeting

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There are different schools of thought on budgeting. Some argue that it is pointless to write down everything you spend and that you should strive to earn more money so you don’t have to give up lattes, if that makes you really happy.

Then there are others who feel it is absolutely necessary to know where you money is going. Here is an article which focusses on the latter. In this year of living frugally, I do have to take note of my expenses.

A few years ago, I used the budget template on the Financially Smart website. I was pleased to see that I didn’t have much debt, relative to the other side of the equation.

 

 

Experiments in the Kitchen

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This year, as I will have some more time on my hands, I am experimenting with new things. That includes spending more time in the Kitchen. Although I did not do Food & Nutrition in secondary school, I have been cooking since I was about 13 when my mother took me and said “this is how you cut up a chicken”. I don’t eat meat anymore, so I am experimenting with both raw foods and vegetarian and vegan dishes. I was so pleased to find this recipe on Twitter and even more pleased when I recognized I had ALL the ingredients in my fridge. Yes, even Chickpea Flour! Who da h*ll has Chickpea Flour in their fridge???? A non-meat eater like me of course!

First issue though was….does my oven work? A call to the former tenant (a friend) returned a voicemail. Went upstairs to the Landlord but what he told me did not work. Thank goodness for a toaster oven, which I had resisted buying but a friend insisted and she’s usually right. It saved the day. Once you get a feeling, you just gotta go with the feeling, else the feeling might not ever appear again!  Continue reading →

Nutmeg…..

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Grenada’s black gold

From my adopted island.

Look out for more of my articles on The Caribbean Current .

Save up to spend a few nights here

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The Caribbean is sometimes thought of as a place where excellence does not exist. Well certainly in the Hospitality industry, some hotels have a reputation of offering sloppy service and not delivering value for money.

Enter Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada, wholly owned by Sir Royston Hopkin, KCMG to debunk the myth that excellence is hard to come by in the Caribbean. Visit the Press page to read more about the owner and the many accolades the hotel has won. They recently refreshed the resort and I got a tour. Have a look at my pictures on Flickr. You might have already noticed them on the right side of these posts.

If you read the Trip Advisor reviews, you will see what visitors have had to say about their stay there. And the location just cannot be beat. On the quieter side of Grand Anse Beach, it offers rooms right on the beach. 1, 2, 3 steps and you’re in the warm azure Caribbean ocean.

So give yourself (and your soul) a treat. Save up. It’ll be well worth it. And fret not about the cost. Do you put a price on your happiness?

From the Yamfoot 2003 archives

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I started blogging in 2003. The Caribbean bloggers of old would remember. I blogged often, because, like now, I was only working intermittently. It was a great time in my writing life, especially since I resisted the blog for so long. I went for long periods without blogging, once I started to work steadily in 2006. The blog then had an accident and we’re trying to revive it.

In the meantime, I was reading a techy’s blog last night and the guy was giving tips to use when buying domain names and the first tip was about researching the history of that domain name. I didn’t read the rest of the article, instead, I headed straight to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine site, entered the dot com version of this blog (lost that domain name too and now some Brazilian person has it), selected 2003 and voila!  Continue reading →

Beach Scene

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Imagine I have been back in this island for about four weeks and today was the first time I have been to the beach! When I was in a proper job up to the end of last year, working six days per week, mi woulda bex if on the one day off, the weather was not sunny. I had thought that when my employment situation changed, I would have been at the beach several times per week.

In between the sounds of the gently lapping ocean, I psycho-analyzed it. Because now I can go to the beach any time, there is no rush to get there. When I only had one opportunity per week, it seemed scarce and so had to be grabbed.

Beach_12Mar2014 (1)As you can see, there were few people here at BBC Beach. Just the way I like it. There was a large group of foreigners in my usual spot. I didn’t see the beach chair renter guy so I just took up a lounge chair, along with a regular chair for my first-to-be-used beach bag [because me and bag cyan share chair]. I knew he would come along soon enough and I would pay him. He came. I did.

Beach_12Mar2014 (3)

My beach essentials are very simple. Two types of sunscreen (the quick tanning one for the body and the stronger one for the face), music, a hat, a snack and my journal. Sometimes I carry a magazine but invariably it does not get read because I am so at peace in my own thoughts while listening to a variety of music and taking in the scenery.  Continue reading →

My sweet teeth were nagging me today

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After a day spent working at home, I decided I needed some fresh air. I was feeling for something sweet (sugar……my drug of choice!) and since I don’t want to be tempted, I don’t buy anything like that. Well, most times I don’t. I have Dates, but didn’t feel for that. I had heard about a place in ‘town’ called Chelsea’s Cafe, which serves homemade Gelato.

Ah ha! I hatched a plan. Since I knew I was going to have extra calories, why not earn them?  Continue reading →