Culebra Free Range Friday

As the music truck goes by in the wee hours, traditional Christmas music in steel pan form wafts in my windows, softly at first, then loudly and finally fading away, When I lived on St. Croix, I used to be able to hear a steel pan band a couple of times a week from my apartment on the hill, whether it was playing in town or over on Protestant Cay. A lot of memories come with sounds, and all of those are good ones.


It is hard to believe, in the stillness right now, how incredibly windy it was yesterday. It was a wind assault, even while the sky was blue and the sun was out, it seemed like a winter day and I was reminded of other places I've been where the wind never seems to stop. I'm glad I'm here, where every kind of weather, except for beautiful, doesn't last long.

Traveler Palm in bloom by the Arte Fango shop

One of my favorite of small places on Culebra

This beautiful wooden boat was hanging strong in some wicked winds

Oh, are we at the food part already? I saw this recipe this week and if I had access to some good Stilton cheese - there are bad stiltons, trust me, I know this; it's one of the few things where the price usually does have something to do with the quality of the product - I'd have made it in a second. Of course, if I had access to Stilton, I'd probably weigh too much to move around and do anything, so I guess it's a trade off of sorts.

When I think of shortbread, Walker's comes immediately to mind. Mainly because when my mother was still alive, that was one of her consistant Christmas presents to us (along with barley sugar lollipops, never mind that I was long grown before getting my last one from her). I can't describe a Walker's shortbread cookie really, because its crunchiness was soft, its sweeetness was almost not there and its pale, unadorned fatness can only be compared to a sugar cookie, but nothing like that at all. I think I could be given one in the dark and know exactly what it was without a thought. Ah, digressing down memory road, am I? English cheese, Scottish cookies... Ok, back to the recipe of the day.

This is a savory shortbread, using one of the ingredients I'm putting in my bread each week, so it is easy to mentally taste the combination of rosemary and Stilton together (I'm drooling here and it not attractive). The entire recipe and article is from Closet Cooking, one of the more interesting food blogs I read. He comes up with really different ideas, some I like, some I don't. But this one said, WOW! With such a very basic recipe , I'm not going to adapt it at all for the sake of form, just remember where it came from!


Stilton and Rosemary Shortbread

A buttery savoury shortbread with tangy stilton cheese, rosemary and a touch of pepper.

Servings: makes 18-36 cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup stilton, rooms temperature and crumbled
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse grain pepper
• 1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped

Directions

1. Cream the cheese and butter.
2. Mix in the flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients followed by the rosemary.
4. Shape the cookies as you like an place them on a parchment lined baking sheet with an inch of space between them.
5. Place the baking sheet in the fridge and chill for at least 30 minutes.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until they just start to turn a light golden brown, about 8-14 minutes, remove and let cool. (Note: The shortbread will still be rather soft when it is done but it with crisp up as it cools.)

If you have any Stilton leftover, get some good port. Get some walnuts. Sit down someplace really relaxing, best done with a very good friend or so, and imbibe. Think of me; I'll know. Really.

We have parrandas, in the Virgin Islands, they have tramps. This is a traditional song sung at many a front door, where treats of the season await the singers, especially a demi-john pour of Guavaberry liqueur.

Have a fling of a Friday! Do something at its finest.