Wednesday 16 September 2009

...so here is another treasure from Antigua, my Calabash. I found it washed up on a deserted beach at five in the morning as the sun rose and before my little charges awoke ( I was a nanny then ) I've had it for twenty years and I love it.

A Rastafarian woman living down the road from us used to pick calabash from the trees, halve them while still soft, scrape out the flesh, carve patterns on the side and sell them to tourists. She made pots & bags out of them but she also used them in her home. They were lovely and I brought some home as gifts but I do love mine just natural and beautiful.

It sometimes seems a lifetime ago that my husband & I lived and worked in Antigua. It is a very special place for us. Of course it's changed so much in the years but it'll always be our place. We never had a honeymoon after we were married but it didn't matter - we'll always have Antigua.


4 comments:

  1. Please can you tell us more about calabash. Is it a vegetable? How do you cook it? What does it tase like? So many questions. I've been to the Caribbean many times, but never to Antigua. Lucky you - to have all those wonderful memories

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  2. I'm afraid I don't know !!! I don't think it's edible - I certainly never saw evidence that you could eat it. Goat yes, Calibash ? It grows on trees like a giant seed pod... it may be like a gourd but I don't know about them. Sorry to be so useless !

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  3. How lovely! It sounds a wonderful time in your life, making happy memories :) xx

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  4. Oh well - just have to sit and look at it! lol :o)

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