The Betty Black Blog

The recent article in all the media regarding Bolt adopting a cheetah cub, that is paying for its upkeep, has made me think on something that has bothered me for a great many years. Hope Zoo.
I first visited Hope Zoo the very week it opened. I could not have been more than five or six [...]

The weather’s getting cooler, pear (avocado) is in season; what better time to make a huge pot of Stew Peas. It’s just my husband and I now, but I still make this quantity, divide it in three and freeze two portions.
Now here’s the thing: Stew Peas is not made with peas of any kind but [...]

Man (and Woman) has been making mixed drinks from Ancient times but in the 1920s, during the U. S. Prohibition, cocktails became the thing! Anyway, who cares about the history, here are the recipes. Don’t forget the Appleton!
No self respecting Jamaican blogger would start with anything but Planter’s Punch. The traditional formula goes like this:

Does anyone remember Leandro? As well as the major historic events, there are so many little things that make Jamaica unique. We have so many cartoonists now, there’s Clovis and others, that we forget that once upon a time there was only one!

We all watched in utter amazement last February when our very own Dogsled Team, driven by the smiling Newton Marshall, took part in the Yukon Quest, a thousand mile journey in -30ºF temperatures between Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse in the Yukon. To the World’s amazement (but not ours) our team came in at 13th place. [...]

Over the centuries, Jamaica has attracted many an adventurous soul from far away. Some come to stay; some stay a while then continue on their journey. There’s been Henry Morgan and Horatio Nelson; there’s been Errol Flynn and Ian Fleming and many more not quite so famous. Nor have all these interesting visitors been from [...]

Curry Goat is probably one of the most popular Jamaican dishes and, in some quarters, is a must for parties and special events. This dish, like so many others, exemplifies the melding of different cultures into what is entirely Jamaican. In 1845 the first indentured labourers arrived from India.

Happy Heroes’ Day!

On Monday 19th October Jamaica celebrates National Heroes’ Day. Our seven National Heroes all contributed towards making Jamaica free. The eighteenth and nineteenth century ones freed us from the curse of slavery and the twentieth century ones spear-headed the Labour Movement and Jamaica’s Independence.
There are many, many other people who have contributed greatly [...]

So here we are in the twenty-first century building our twenty-first century houses. We’ve come a long way…but have we?
Look at the houses in Cherry Gardens or Mona or Portmore. Concrete blocks sitting on the ground. Locked up from the rain or the heat or the wind. Air conditioners blasting in the Cherry Gardens [...]

There is disagreement among scientists as to whether the Coconut Palm, Cocos nucifera, originated in South Asia or the West Indies. Dry coconuts are very buoyant and can float for miles across the ocean, wash up on a beach somewhere and grow into a coconut palm.

For those people who know only canned coconut cream and [...]