Prajje Jean Baptiste

Meet Prajje:
Awesome fashion designer of Haitian descent . Founder and owner of emerging fashion powerhouse Prajje 1983



He's recently shown his latest collection at Arise Magazine Fashion week
I absolutely adore the whole collection. Especially a certain little yellow dress that I would love to own (sigh)
Quick Stats: Born in Haiti. Graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a Fashion Design degree in 2009
Website: www.prajje1983.com
 
Check out some of his collection

Pics from Arise- Day 3

Pics from Facebook- Spring/Summer 2012

As an Haitian girl who loves fashion and stylish people, I am very proud of Prajje and his bright future. I can't wait to see more of his creativity as he evolves and maybe one day wear one his designs :)
I also look forward to seeing more designers of Haitian descent follow in his footsteps. Antouka, kenbe la Prajje!

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Marjorie Judith Vincent

In my search to find and celebrate beautiful Haitian women whose stories need to be retold,  I stumbled upon a Kreyalicious story about Marjorie Judith Vincent .

She was the fourth woman of African ancestry to win the Miss America Pageant and the first Haitian American winner. 

With a classic beauty, Duke law school education, and a flawless execution of a Chopin piece. She captured the crown in 1991

What I find interesting with her story? Well apparently, she abandoned her law degree pursuit at Duke when she was almost done ( 4 credits short) for a journalism career but, years later in 2008 she went back to school to finish in law. I would love to see her now and perhaps learn more about her personal story.

She is a Vre Fanm Kreyol (Real Creole Beauty)

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Macaroni au gratin recipe+ pics

It only took 3 months but here it is! lol

There are many other ways to make good macaroni but this is my mom's favorite way of making it and the only way I know how. It's with a bechamel sauce. Enjoy!

Some ingredients

2 boxes of rigatoni pasta

2 onions

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 package of ham/turkey/ whatever

2 packages of grated cheese. I used mozarella and a mix of Italian 4 cheeses. (btw my mom always say the best cheese to use is called "tete de boeuf" so if you can find that, use that!

1/4 cup flour

cilantro

3 cans of evaporated milk

2 Tbsp butter

Step 1: Boil pasta al dente. I always let the water boil with 2 garlic cloves before i put the pasta

Take out pasta and add a little butter. Put aside

 Step 2: Preheat oven to 350 degrees
 In different pot, sautee chopped onions in a small amount of butter

 Step 3: Add flour gradually and stir with a wooden spoon at the same time
Step 4: Add canned milk, cilantro, slices of green and red pepper, and 2 maggi cubes (you can ommit the maggi but it really gives it flavor) and optional scotch bonnet pepper

Step5: Stir mixture on medium heat until it starts thickening up ~ 10 minutes

Step 6: Set bechamel aside and add the rest of the chopped onions, along with the peppers and ham to the pasta

Step 7: Add cheeses and stir

 Step 8: Now add the bechamel sauce to the pasta.

Step 9:  Stir with wooden spoon and taste for flavor :) Add extra cheese if needed

Step 10:  Grease pan with butter and put the macaroni in oven. Bake until golden ~ about an hour

Check periodically... it might take longer

and Voila!

Always turns out good for me.  I ate mine with oven baked wings and pikilz with some good passion fruit juice. Ahhh happiness

my plate

yum!

P.S someone please let me know if these instructions are clear enough. I'll clarify if needed. Thanks!

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Kremas (Cremas)- Recipe and pics included

My brother and his wife came to visit today and she took the last drop of my Kremas. So I had no choice but to make this post today or it wouldn't happen until God knows when ...

I love Kremas. Pure and simple, but every time I look for recipes online (because my mom does not deal with measurements) I can never find a recipe how my mom does it. So, I'm putting the simplest form of mine out there. This is (mostly) how my mom taught me and she makes the best kremas you'll ever taste :)

For those who do not know Kremas is like the official wedding drink of Haitians... People fight for it, hide it, and share it (hehe). It's that goodness that you get on special occasions, during happy times, and oh did I mention that it's mostly sugar and a dash of alcohol? Yeah so that's your under 21 warning lol

Ingredients
meat of 2 coconuts- grated
1/2 gallon of milk
2 cans of condensed milk
2 cans of evaporated milk
4 cups of sugar (see note)
2 Tbsp vanilla
~ nutmeg
~ cinnamon
zest of  a lime (optional)
Real Haitian liquor or 153 proof  if you cant find it

Instructions
Step 1. Boil the 1/2 gallon of milk  along with cinnamon sticks for 15-20 minutes- Let cool completely

Step 2. grate coconut or I suppose you can buy it like that?

Step 3.Put milk in a large bowl and add grated coconut

Strain mixture into another bowl

Step 4. Add sugar- lots of it

Step 5. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and lime zest
Stir the mixture with wooden spoon (my mom swears that the wooden spoon is important) and let mixture sit for a little bit I usually leave it overnight so the sugar can "fonn" which i guess means mostly dissolved

Step 6. Strain mixture one last time

Step 7. Add evaporated milk and then condensed milk

Step 8. Add vanilla and lastly add your liquor and I supposed you can leave it out if you dont drink alcohol but that would defeat the purpose for me lol.

and Voila!
Real Haitian Kremas

This made enough for

 So reduce to half if you dont want as much

Note:  I ended up puttling more sugar than I measured because my mom thought it wasn't "pwes" enough meaning it wasn't thick enough and the sugar is mostly what adds the thickness

So that's it! Hope you enjoy

P.S. I know I promised the recipe for Macaroni and Cheese. It's coming really soon, I just need to get pictures and we'll be set...For real this time :)

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