The most important thing in life is to stop saying "I wish" and start saying "I will". Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities.

~ David Copperfield ~

Recipe to enjoy: Bake and Saltfish

The first time I had Bake and Saltfish was at the El Dorado Inn where I stayed during my first ten days in Guyana. The bake had been freshly made that morning and the fish was just perfect - served with a glass of cherry juice and fresh fruit, it was a great way to start the day! I have had it again since then, but probably one of the most memorable times was sharing it with my family during Boxing Day brunch at Mrs Boodie's! I haven't tried this receipe, but it looks pretty easy and the ingredients look right. Mom?

Saltfish, once a staple in the West Indian diet, is salted, dried codfish, imported from Canada (traditionally Newfoundland), historically as standard food for slaves. My understanding is that Newfoundland Screech (aka Jamaican rum) was acquired through this kind of transaction. A conversation with the Minister of Health assured me that those the saltfish is not necessarily cod anymore or from Canada - Canadian cod makes the best saltfish!!

You can eat the two separately or put the saltfish in the bake like a sandwich. Enjoy for breakfast or brunch - or anytime of day!!



Fried bake (serves 8)

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1½ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
about 2 cups water
1 cup oil for deep frying

Instructions

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Knead for about ten minutes then let rest for half an hour or more

Cut in pieces and roll each piece five to six inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick. Fry in hot oil, turn once, and fry until brown. Drain on kitchen paper.


Saltfish (serves six)

Ingredients:
½ pound saltfish
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ pound tomatoes, chopped
a few drops of lime juice
½ cup sliced onion
about 1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons chopped chive
1 teaspoon thyme
½ teaspoon chopped hot pepper
pieces of avocado (optional)
coriander/cilantro/chadon beni (pronounced “shadow benny”) to taste (optional)

Instructions

Break fish in pieces and boil for ten to 15 minutes. Drain. This is to remove the salt: skip this step and you mash up (screw up) the whole dish. Remove skin and bones from fish and break into pieces.

Fry fish in hot oil for about four to five minutes. Add tomatoes, lime juice, onion, garlic, chive, thyme, hot pepper, and optional ingredients; cook for ten minutes.

Serve warm with bake or white rice. To eat the saltfish with the bake, open the bake as you would pita bread, fill it with saltfish, and enjoy.


Alternative method:

Don’t fry the fish, since it is cooked when it is boiled. Do not cook the vegetables with the cod-fish. The result looks similar to bruschetta, for lack of a better description. It can be served chilled with bake.

My Little Corner of the Chest Clinic

I have moved from my spacious Newmarket and Main office with a large corner desk and a view of palm trees and a garbage dump to a little computer desk in the corner of the boardroom at the Chest Clinic! Thankfully the room is air conditioned and after a bit, I found someone to help me get the internet connection working. I have a cupboard that I can lock and I moved some boxes around so the corner is a little less claustrophobic surrounded by electronic and condom boxes...

I took a bit of a break for awhile, but I have been back at work for over two weeks. It was a little disheartening to find that the use of the system definitely relaxed while I wasn't here supervising. Also nobody was entirely honest about their use of the system - forgetting that I would notice the gaps of information in the computer and the effect that one person not using the system has on the whole process! Even if I weren't so involved with every chart that goes through my hands, with a click of a button and my handy dandy administrative report, I can see that they too took a bit of a holiday!

All joking aside, it was a bit frustrating discovering that yet again two steps forward means one and a half steps backward. On the plus side, a HIS specialist came to visit and he thought they were using the system (well they probably were that day) which inspired his recommendation to keep working on the system and push forward faster with the rollout to the rest of the country. The lack of usage and some small details inspired me to write a letter that prompted a little action and a lot of laughs - with such confessions as "I have a confession to make. I am only one person. I am not magic. I can only be in one place at a time. I can only see so much clinic activity in my time here. More than ever, I need your continued help and support to make this system work for you. It's not for me, it's for you and the patients you see" and instructions like "take the pen away from the doctor" (reaction - we can't do that! my response - pretend you're me and if they say anything, send them to me).

I am continuing to work on modules for the system - currently the focus is TB. Because of my time at the Chest Clinic and the fact that they are essentially in full time, they are using TB as an example that the system can work (I am so proud of my people!). They want to make sure that the system can produce the required reports for tuberculosis and that the data from the system is of the quality required. It's a bit of a task with some inconsistent use of the system and the amount of back data that needs to be entered, but I'll keep working away at the planning document and hopefully keep encouraging system use and maybe someone else will take charge of the back entry of quality data and we will prove that the system can work. Still. Again. :)