1 Denmark
9 Canada
18 United States
23 France
31 Spain
73 Italy
97 Greece
118 Dominican Republic
167 Haiti
121 Egypt
138 Syria
176 Somalia

70% of all antibiotics used in the US is for livestock use.
99% of all beef cattle in feedlots are given steroidal hormone implants for faster growth
poultry and swine are fed similiar drugs
So this means that when you eat meat, chicken or pork, and drink milk, you are consuming unsafe drugs that weren’t prescribed to you.

– Dr. Michael Wayne http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/the-meat-you-eat-steroid-use-in-livestock/

We have been involved with workers at all levels and sometimes, in tune with our original mandate, we have employed over 20 workers at one time.  It has been a real challenge, sometimes rewarding, often frustrating, sometimes scary and in the end we can rest assured we have helped so many families achieve better health, nutrition and overall improved lifestyles during the process.  Over time we plan to introduce you to some pretty wonderful and special people.  For now we start with a more recent full time employee named Scrat.  

As cute as Scrat is, I have to say I have a strong ingrained dislike for cats.  Sort of unexplainable, but lets say it most likely has something to do with a lifelong impression based back with childhood and allergies.

On a trip to our trusted local vet I mentioned to Enrique I was concerned about a rodent problem relating to some negligent neighbours.  I expressed concerns surrounding a recent purchase of poison to eliminate the beasts.  I had been left with few options and this raised some eyebrows from this vet as well, the same one that just happened to have a litter of kittens ready for new families.  The ensuing conversation and debate is long over but the result stays with us now.  I am still not a cat person but Scrat has earned a place in my heart for hard work and the ability to be born with tremendous and unexpected skill levels.  I will never be a close friend as I am more sure than ever that cats have no empathy or compassion for other living things, but as a worker however she excels.  If you forget she enjoys killing my wonderful geckos and has weapons where fingers could be, she intrigues me as to how she goes about her business.  If you go to an unccupied residence and open the door along with all the dresser drawers and kitchen cupboard doors, she will thoroughly explore each and every crevice and dark hole and  hidden spaces for anything that might not be wanted by others.  She is instinctively systematic and amn amazing hunter and that impresses me. Marvellously she roots out small critters and best of all just the scent of her being around has elmininated all evidence of all rodents.

Previously you could find evidence of nightly visits from unwanted visitors as they pooped their way along the deck.  It is obvious there are no longer any nocturnal visits.  Scrat has fulfilled her requirements for keep beyond our original expectations and she is now a valued and hard working member of Patio Zemi projecto.

Now if I could just get her to stop searching for and killing my beautiful geckos

We also discovered they call the rats here coco rats as they love to sleep in coconut trees.  As a result we have cut back a lot of branches coming close to upper level balconies.  They no longer can use them as a bridge to visit us without an invitation.  We miss those lovely branches.  Life is just so full of necessary compromises.

I started to write about my experiences with Dominican cooking, but realized I was really writing about cooking in the Dominican, which is all together different.  I love cutting out the recipes you find on boxes and packages.  I always cut them out but for some reason seldom use them.  I found a recipe written in a spanish variety of english on a bag of Dominican flour.  I do not see many wheat fields here so I assume they import the ingredients and package it, although the company is based in Santo Domingo and deals in breads, cakes, candy, chocolate, cocoa, flour, honey and sugar.  Now the way I see it, if you have a company that specializes in pancakes surely you would have the ultimate pancake recipe on the side panel, or if you produce chocolate chips I would thiink the posted chocolate chip recipe must be the absolute best in the world.  Imagine if all you did was sell chocolate chips and you put an awful chocolate chip cookie recipe out there.  Plus I figure there might even be a bonus that the recipe has been tested over time and almost impossible to make errors.  A fools proof perfect recipe is what I would put on my gingerbread house factory packages.  So this has to be the best flour cake recipe in the world on my dominican bag of flour.

The first challenge was to convert the ingredient list to volumes as the flout and sugar were listed in pounds and I did not have a scale.  I tried to cheat and buy a one pound bag of sugar, as I did not have a scale, but all they had were two pound bags.  One does not like to overstock ingredients like flour and sugar around here as it is the most favorite delicacy of the Dominican red ant and they come running, on all six legs and thirty joints, running out of the jungle once they smell it, even a teensie tiny morsel.

So flour and sugar have different densities so different weights per cup and different sugars and different flours have different densities so it is not a brush off question.  My favorite recipe experts of all times, ATK, say that we are silly to use volumes as the consistency needed for great baking comes from weight and using a scale.  Well I have no scale today and have come up with some alternative ways.  Nice to know the Spanish are already using the preferred method.

This recipe is so simple.  The problem is you have to have a strong stomach to make yourself quite miserable.  Miserable that is if you know about healthy eating.  This si not about healthy eating.  It is about rich egg yolks, far too much sugar and carbs and just things that are plainly not good for you.  As you stir and assemble the list it is not like a great stew or stock where the incredible smells make you want to orgasm.  This is about gooey heart unfriendly doughy sticky messy ………… you get the picture.

Well maybe not so simple after all: 

Ancel Blanquita Coconut cake
1lb Blanquita flour (3.6 cups)
¾ ib butter
5 eggs
4 egg yolks
1lb sugar (2 cups plus 2 TB)
2 TB baking powder
1 TB lemon zest (1TB orange concentrate)
1 TB vanilla
1 17 oz can Ancel grated coconut in heavy syrup

Cream butter and sugar, then incorporate the eggs two at a time.
Sift flour and baking powder over top of lemon zest
Add to the batter and mix in the milk and vanilla at the same time

Use a 10” greased bake tray in preheated oven at 350F (225C my gas oven)
Cook on middle shelf for 30 min or until clean with toothpick
Cool for 40 min
Spread top with ancel grated coconut right out of the can
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh so good

Actually it is the topping that started all this unhealthyness in the first place.  I was planning to make something from the almighty coconut that abounds on my property where I reside.  Oddly it is hard to find shredded coconut here so I decided to make my own.  The research required a bit of time as I had never done this before,  In the meantime I noticed a can of this Ancel grated coconut on a shelf in a local grocery store.  I have learned from experience that you grab something as soon as you see it as it might never be inventoried again once shelf supplies run out.  The ingredient list included sugar as number one on the list and also included corn syrup.  It is a not a good read and not recommended.  On lugging it home I looked it up on line and discovered some locals spread the goo all over top of cakes as icing and since I had already found the perfect Dominican cake recipe I had to, just had to try it.  You only live once and some of us not as long.