Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011:

Happy Birthday to my lil' sis Tonya! I think she is 69 today and finally eligible for her social security - but I can't be sure! (sorry sis…couldn’t resist!)   =)

Gerald wanted to get a barracuda today and grill it for dinner.  He saw a local selling fish a couple days ago and made arrangements to pick one up today at noon. This morning, when Kevin (the maintenance guy) came to install the new dusk to dawn light that hangs off our deck (that was smoking the other day), he overheard Gerald talking about it and told him that he should not eat the barracuda here because they are sometimes poisonous.  Gerald was really disappointed, but we didn’t think we should take the chance. 

We had eaten barracuda in Belize (it was so good) and there was not a problem in that area, but up here in the VI, they have had a couple instances of the fish poisoning.   The illness (or disease) is called ciguatera and it is caused by microalgae that grow on the coral, which produces a toxin in the fish when they eat the algae.  The little coral fish eat the microalgae, then the bigger fish eat them, and then we eat the big fish we get sick.  It doesn’t affect the fish…just us.  And no amount of cooking or processing will kill or get rid of it.  While it will generally make you sick, similar to food poisoning, it can sometimes be deadly.  AND, if it doesn’t kill you…it can reoccur months or even a year later. !!!  So apparently if someone offers you a king fish from the south shore…they don’t like you!

I did some research and apparently we are right on the line of where this bad stuff has sometimes been found.  They have no idea why it grows in some places in the Caribbean and not in others when the conditions are all about the same. But it is the most frequently reported marine toxin disease in the world. So it’s not wise to take the chance.  There is a test kit that you can get so that if you do catch one, you can do a test to see if it has the toxin.  We decided to get some frozen tilapia at the store instead! =)

Today will be a pool day for sure! John Gerald and Evonne head down to the pool and I finished my blog and uploading the pictures.  I also made the pasta salad for dinner. 

The boys have set a goal to finish the coconut rum they bought at the distillery by Friday so we won’t have to worry about transporting it to St. Martin.  They made a good dent in it today. They are drinking it … on the rocks. (it’s my fault…I started the whole thing)  Gerald had so much he got the giggles and even liked the tilapia we fixed for dinner. (and it wasn’t even deep fried like David makes!)   We think when he is sober, he won’t like it.  After John and Evonne leave, I’m going to make it again.  I’m betting he won’t like it…without the benefit of a few glasses of rum…on the rocks that is.

Tomorrow the boys are going to play golf…which means Evonne and I will be shopping again! YESSSS!!!!