The Spice of Life: Allspice

This is a favorite Jamaican seasoning that also goes by the pimento. Allspice adds a zest to any meat dish – it is the secret ingredient in jerk (chicken, pork, etc.). It looks kind of like a black pepper seed in whole form, but the flavor is closer to cloves. I use this spice on EVERTHING. It’s what gives my food the, as hubby puts it “well seasoned”, flavor.

Since allspice is native to Jamaica it’s super cheap there so I always stock up when we visit – I actually stock up on all my spices there, they are ridiculously cheap there for some reason.

Forced Diversity?

A few events have brought this issue into my life recently. The first one is the drama with my local school board eliminating the county diversity policy and the second was a recent trip to a local branch of the world’s biggest store to buy a doll for the baby. The only doll of color in the whole store was a Dora that was way more then I was looking to spend. I was told by a manager that the demographics of my area didn’t qualify that store for an adequate number of dolls of color.

In regards to the store – I have decided to vote with my feet and take my money else where. The school situation is very complex and I won’t get into it here, but this all got me thinking – is it going to far to force diversity? I seek out people from other cultures to find mutual interest, is that necessary? Should I just ‘let’ diversity happen or actively initiate it? I grew up in a university town and went to school with kids from all over the world, all we knew was that people were from everywhere and no matter the race or religion we could play together.  It was a great experience that I would like Baby to enjoy, but this area isn’t like where I grew up.  If I don’t initiate the connection it may never happen…

The Big Chop!

I did it! After 6 months of growing my hair out I finally cut off all the relaxed hair. Planning for this for months really helped keep me from freaking out as I looked down at all of my hair on the salon floor.

There was a lot of it. I caught a couple of the other women looking shocked as the stylist clipped away, but it was a good experience. My stylist was natural herself and knew exactly how I wanted my hair. She also gave me some great tips for how to best define my curls and moisturize my hair. That is the name of the game now – no more ‘the straighter the better’ now it’s ‘the more defined and moisturized the better.’

My Hair :)

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