CookingDiva

The Scorpion Queen, or how to make my chef pants fly in a hurry:

Yesterday I decided I wanted to get my own fresh plantains from the tree and grabbed my girlie machete and wearing my fashionable pink-perfect sandals went down the hill to get the green beauties. I had already carefully planned a delicious weekend menu with at least 4 different dishes, including one dessert made with green plantains. Oh my! Nature is always so kind to me, giving me the best of fruits and vegetables to cook with. It was love at first sight. Then, with some help from one of the gardeners, I made it home.

I was in such a hurry to start cooking that I forgot to wash off the "plantain head." After 20 minutes cooking in the kitchen I start feeling small bites inside my pants, but not giving it much importance (because I was busy cooking), the bites were mistakingly ignored. But, they would not stop. Suddenly I rolled up my jeans and what a surprise! There was a miniature scorpion devouring my leg, yikes! The first thought that crossed my mind was---Holy smokes, if this is the baby, the mother is in the area too! Just picture this scene in your head: I start screaming, running all over the place and trying to take my jeans off at the same time.

The people in the house at the time didn't  move a hair, they didn't have a clue of what was going on. Well, amazingly I think I made it to the bedroom to find out I had killed the scorpion, and that it was not a baby after all. I think that the pain and the actual bite were overwhelmingly diminished by a panic attack. My doctor suggested to put ice on the bite and to take a rum shot, or maybe he asked me to put the rum on the bite and eat the ice. Who knows what he said. Obviously I was not in the mood for rum, so I had a glass or two of red wine from Argentina...the one I was saving for dinner. I am happy to report that I survived!

Event: Farmer's Markets Worldwide Parade!

Co-hosting: Chef Elena, El Amor por La Cocina (en Español)

So, the bottom line of this story is that it is not really necessary to feed yourself to the ferocious beasts inhabitants of the rain forest in order to get fresh bananas, plantains, mangos, papayas, and all the delicious fruits and vegetables you love.

Just go to the fruit market, farmer's market, mercado, street market, or what ever you love to call those places with a colorful bounty of edible goodness to feed our bodies and the soul too. Do not forget to take lots of photos during your next visit, or dig out the ones stored in your computer that you took during 2005 too. Blog about it. We are dying to learn about the farmer's markets in your area, in your country. What can you get there, (Can you get an occasional free scorpion?) how much do the goodies cost? Just make us hungry

Then, send us the following information, and we will love to include your post in the International Gallery of Farmer's Markets.

1. The link to your post, including one or more photos of farmer's markets.
2. Your post should include a link back to this post or to the CookingDiva (http://www.panamagourmet.blogs.com) and specifying that it is your contribution to the Farmer's Markets Worldwide Parade
3. The photos should have been taken between January 1st 2005, and June 1st 2006.
4. You are free to submit as many entries as you want, following the same guidelines of course.
5. By June 10, 2006 we should have International Gallery of Farmer's Markets beautifuly set up for the world to see!

Elena, from El Amor por la Cocina, will be co-hosting this event in Spanish.

If you have any suggestions or questions let us know.

Abrazos,

Melissa

Visit Tasty Recipes - Chef Melissa's recipe and post index.

Tags: cfood blog event, food blogs, cookingdiva, cooking, panama, farmer's market parade, food & drink, food, chef melissa

Ladies and gentlemen, foodies and bloggers from all over the world, we have finally  computed the scores and made notes of the comments we received from the judges that kindly donated their precious time and joined us for the celebration of the DMBLGIT #14.

If you have not had a chance to admire the roundup of beautiful photos, you are invited to visit the virtual expo room.

Just ONE point separated the overall winner and the second place WINNERS, and two points separated the first place and the third place winner. No doubt the quality of the participating photos is fantastic, and the creativity of some of the entries is just outstanding. I wish I could take photos like that, and I know many of you feel the same way.

The beauty of this event and other similar ones that promote the high standards and quality of the food blog production of posts, is that they are indeed an incentive for us to learn about photography, improve our writing abilities and spread the knowledge of the niches our little blogs cover.

Once again, we thank Ilva and Georgia for their time and appreciation of good food and beautiful photography. AND, my big hug of gratefulness goes also to Andrew, and Ronald for the creation and organization of this monthly event. Thank you for letting me be your March host.

Much love, good cooking & eating thoughts for all of you!

Chef M

Tags: food blog event, food blogs, cookingdiva, dmblgit, photography, does my blog look good in this, food & drink, food, meme

Finally...Here we have this marvelous roundup. Each of the photographs portrayed here are worth their number of pixels in GOLD! But, wait a second, we've to tell you about the judges this month.

We really feel honored because they have accepted our humble invitation to be part of this unique,  and beautifully edible fiesta. I had to bake them cookies and cook for them for a week straight, in order for them to take over the judging duties. No complaints so far

This is our team of judges, please take a moment to visit their blogs and learn about what they do. The reason why we feel so honored for their time, love for food and a life devoted to blogging (well, ...almost!)

Meet Georgia Popplewell. She is a journalist, editor and media producer based in Trinidad and Tobago, and host/producer of Caribbean Free Radio and Caribbean Free Video, the Caribbean's first podcast and videocast, respectively. She also contributes to the Global Voices, Caribbean Beat Blog and The Pan Collective.

Kelly Cline is a consummated food blogger, she also happens to be a professional photographer, the mastermind behind KCline Photography. Her "Make Me Cook" blog is a tribute to all things edible and beautiful photography. From the bottom of my heart I blame her minute after minute for the few extra pounds I have on me. Her blog is so delicious that makes people always hungry. Please be careful

Oh Ilva! do not pretend you do not know why you are here judging this delicious event. Come on, you are always so modest!!! Aren't you aware  of the deliciousness, lively colors and perfection contained in every of your photos??? Please my friend, it is about time you accept that you were born to capture life in a memory stick! Take a look at her beautiful photography: Lucullian Delights

Now that you have met the judges, take a look at the photos and come back by Monday, April 2nd to get the results of this nifty, tasty & good looking event

Do not forget to leave in the comments section your thoughts and your favorites. I am glad that I am not one of the judges,...because this is going to be a tough one. A very difficult decision to make: selecting only ONE, ...a truly complex duty. Let's see how they do.

I'll keep you posted!

Many hugs,

Chef M

Tags: food blog event, food blogs, cookingdiva, dmblgit, photography, does my blog look good in this, food & drink, food, meme