Rolling Blackouts are for Sissies

Cnn.com is carrying a story today about how parts of LA had to endure a rolling blackout for 30 minutes yesterday. I wish we had 30 minute blackouts. Power went out again last night... was out for about 2.5 hours. Ironically, it came back on just as we were going to bed. A couple of locals I've talked to said that WAPA (Water and Power Authority - the electricity generating/transmitting company on the island) was just as bad before this new generator, so perhaps there is no hope that it will improve. The only legit sounding excuse I have heard is that since we are not attached to a larger power grid, it is easy for things to go wrong. Oh well.

We have been experimenting with fried plantains. Plantains are similar to bananas except that they are generally slightly larger, and a bit less rounded (they tend to have “ribs” that run the length of the plantain that make corners). Anyway, you can buy them ripe (yellow-black colored) or not (green). When green, they are cooked much like a potato would be. When ripe, they are usually fried. We have been cooking the ripe ones. First try, we didn’t have vegetable oil, only butter, so it didn’t work so well (butter burns at too low of a temperature). Last night we tried again, with the vegetable oil, and they turned out better. As they cook, they develop a nice browned layer where the sugars in the plantain caramelize (this is not to imply that they are super sweet). Recipe follows:

Fried Plantains
1) Choose the plantain: Plantains for frying should not have any green… they should be yellow. Areas that are black or brown on the peel are okay. (Some people prefer to leave the plantain until it is completely black before cooking it).
2) Peel the plantain: Cut the ends off with a knife, then make a couple of slits in the peel (try not to cut into the fruit underneath) parallel to the long axis of the plantain. Use these slits to remove of the peel.
3) Cut the plantain however you like, making sure no piece is more than 1 cm or so thick. (We have been cutting them lengthwise, so each plantain yields 3-5 long and thin slices).
4) Heat up a frying pan with some oil. (Last night I put enough oil in that when the plantains were in the pan, the oil was about ½cm thick.)
5) Add plantains.
6) Cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Flip plantains (the undersides should be golden-brown). Rearrange so that the less cooked plantains are in the middle of the pan.
7) Repeat step 6 two to four more times until the plantains are evenly golden brown where they have contacted the pan.
8) Place paper towels on a plate, put plantains on plate, pat off oil with more paper towels.
9) Serve with either salt or powered sugar, depending on if you are going for a meal side dish or a dessert dish.

And for kicking back after a hard day cooking plantains:
A Nielsam Original drink recipe (Nameless as of now):
Makes ~20 oz frozen drink
Add to blender:
2 cups ice (preferably small pieces so the blender can really chop them up)
4 or 5 large frozen strawberries
1 cup pina colada mix (with no rum)
2 shots (3 oz) [Cruzan] pineapple rum (34 proof)
1 shot (1.5 oz) light or dark rum (80 proof)
Blend until smooth, serve immediately

For those of you who can’t get pineapple rum at home, there’s another reason to come visit (Customs allows 4 bottles of any kind of alcohol + 1 Cruzan (local) bottle duty free to returning US Citizens).