Things I Love About My home: The Smell of the Ocean

Not visible on a global map, St. Lucia is approximately 617 km² and surrounded by the Caribbean Sea on the west coast and the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast. While this does not seem like the ideal situation during the hurricane season, it makes for scores of great "cool out" spots in the form of sandy beaches.

St. Lucian Pitons facing the Caribbean Sea

Most of our transport system was constructed on the coasts and gives breathtaking sights and as much as I love the sights (and I very much do), its the briny smell that gets me every time.

Personally, its very hard to describe the smell of the ocean but I'll give it my best shot. Its like that first breath of fresh air on a sunny morning with a little salt and tangy mixed in. Its crisp and sharp, better than morning coffee and combines with the smell of fresh fruit and the fisherman's first catch of the day to form a scent I would love to bottle. On a rainy day the scent becomes heavier, saltier, just more.

The smell always transports me to some place magical and for the two hour long drive from the north to the south, I simply sit back and float away on a dream of infinite possibilities. Besides the alternative is way worst, trying to find a comfortable positions for the increasing numbness in my butt.

In the background is Pigeon Island, a national landmark.

Beach sunset. Que Bonita!

Things I Love About My Home: The Fruits

This is the St. Lucian flag. For information on the flag click here.

By my home I mean my place of birth, St. Lucia.There's no place like home and mine is "Simply Beautiful". I know this is said alot but there is no other place in the world I'd rather be that here. The surf, the sun, the people, they all make this little slice of paradise the gem that it is and I want to share that with you guys.

Therefore, I have started this series to share my home with you. Today we start with fruits.The examples below are only a few produced by our rich, volcanic soil.

Images provided by Google.

Enjoy!

The Fruits

Refreshing Coconuts. In the green state, the water is a great drink on a hot day and the "jelly", a wonderful snack. The older version of the fruit, seen below, has a delicious milk which is used to make coconut oil and tasty meals. The grated inner fruit is used in deserts like eg. cakes.

Juicy Mangoes. Ripe or green, these are delicious. Green, they make great juice beverage. I love to sprinkle a little salt on the half ripe product.

Succulent Golden Apples. These make the most delicious jams and juices. I love to eat the raw fruit as well.

Above is what we call plums. There are two versions to this, the red and yellow. They make great jams and are delicious eaten raw.

This is Soursop. The white flesh can be used to make ice-creams and yummy juices.

These are called ackees. Ah, I love, love, love these. I have no idea if you can make a juice out of these but they are perfect the way they are.

Banana. The green fruit is used to make salads, in soups and "one pots". Ripe, it can be eaten raw but can be used to make cakes, shakes, pudding, etc.

Breadfruit. The raw product does not taste very good but boiled, fried or roasted, this is great.

Star Fruit. I don't like the raw version of this fruit very much but the juice is wonderful.

Paw Paw. Very nutritious, all you have to do is scoop the seeds out of the center to enjoy the tangy, sweet flavor of this fruit.

Guavas. These make great juices, jams and jellies.

Passion Fruit. Eating this in its raw form can be tedious with all the tiny seeds but the juice is great.

These are sugar apples. They have a sweet, milky taste.

Wax Apple. They have a nice light sweet flavor and are great in vinaigrette salads.

Cocoa. The seeds are used to make chocolate.