ENJOY Haiti dans les Jeux Olympiques 2012

As an athlète, I enjoy watching the olympics. It's great to see the world coming together (sort of) for great competition. Although there's always that one person who ruins or tries to ruin it for everybody (like the guy who threw the bottle onto the track as Usain Bolt was about to defend his title); that's besides the point. The olympics fosters a sense of unity in people/within a country. For example, I came across this article that a few years back when Usain Bolt won his race, there were zero killings in Jamaica and basically every Jamaican was celebrating his victory.

 Well this blog isn't "A La Jamaïquainne" or "A La Olympienne" so let me bring it back "A l'Haitienne". I was very excited to find that Haiti would have five great athletes representing us this year. I was doing a little Haiti in the Olympics research. I came across what seems to be a blog and some very ignorant soul wrote the following under the title "The country's history in six words"..."Slave rebellion, poverty, natural disasters ... Wyclef!" Serieusement!? I'm going to give the person the benefit of the doubt that they were slightly trying to "be funny". Now I'm switching to Creole. Oui slave rebellion, et what about "Première nation noire qui avoir sa propre indépendance"? Genyen moun ki frekan oui. Mwen ta di anpil lot bagay, men there's no need. Parce que, all that one needs to do is go to google and type in "La Perle des Antilles" and see what country is attached to that title.

 Lastly, mwen ta renmen ankouraje tout Ayisyen (whatever percentage Haitian you may be, if you have the least bit of interest or love for Haiti), pou nou aprann histoire nou. Nou genyen anpil to be proud of. 1 last thing, ce Jeudi, soutenir ou regarder Samyr Laine (triple jumper) aux Jeux Olympiques 2012. M'ap kite nou avek bel ti chant sa...ENJOY!! (:

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Happenings

We've been on vacation!!!!!!!!!! Pardon our absence on some amazing stuff  pertaining to Haiti these last couple of weeks.
One of us was in Haiti and I think she has some pictures to post but don't quote me on that lol. As for me, I was on a Eastern Caribbean cruise. It was great but Haiti sounded so much better to me after I saw the Carnaval des fleurs happenings. It looked like such a great time! I will post some of my favorite pictures later.
The other huge thing that we've been excited about is TEAM HAITI in the Olympics. I can't tell you how proud we are that we had 5 great athletes representing us A l'Haitienne style this year. We're gonna have a post about them soon.
I  have a legume lalo recipe by request coming up as well as a pretty cool interview with the awesome model Belouka that I should've posted before but you know how vacations mess with our minds lol.
Anyways thanks for stopping by. Come back soon for the happenings. A bientot!

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A l'Haitienne Interior Decorating: Interieurs d'Haiti

A while ago, RuttyBee from Blurred Canvas had a post about this book called Interieurs d'Haiti by Marie Louise Fouchard and Roberto Stephenson.
I loved the pictures she showed on her blog and I thought about looking for the book but for some reason, this idea totally escaped me until i randomly decided to google some Haiti interior design stuff today and stumbled upon the book again. I was happy to find that the authors uploaded pretty much the whole book on the photographer's site. Oh. my. word. I love it!
I'm gonna post the link so you can take a look... right after i show you some of my favorite
*click on the pictures to see them better*

this room feels like home to me... seriously it looks like it was designed for me lol

Perfect relaxing place

So love this dining room!

check it out!

Phew that was a handful. Now I couldn't decide if I was going to figure out how functional my awesome bathroom really is (ie do I even have water?) or cook up a storm in my cozy kitchen so I decided to chill in my work of art library. See you guys later, thanks for checking out my future crib hahaha

Seriously though, the colors, details, character of those rooms are amazing to me and exactly how I would want to decorate my future place. Props to the photographers/ authors for capturing these great rooms.I think I'm gonna hunt down a physical copy of the book because I'm in love :)
check out more at http://www.robertostephenson.com/i/index.htm

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Grilled Pineapple Mojito with Barbancourt HAITIAN Rum

I came across this recipe and of course the "Barbancourt Haitian Rum" stood out to me. For those of you who can legally consume alcoholic beverages, I thought I would share the recipe with you. Mojitos are refreshing summer beverages. ENJOY (responsibly)!

 Grilled Pineapple Mojito

 2 oz. Barbancourt Haitian Rum
.75 oz. agave nectar
2 oz. pineapple juice
 grilled pineapple
 mint sprig

 In a tin, muddle four to five mint leaves and a bar spoon of agave soaked in grilled pineapple chunks. Add liquor, lime juice, pineapple juice, and agave nectar. Shake with two cubes of ice and strain into a tall glass. Add another bar spoon of grilled pineapple and two mint leaves and swizzle with pellet ice until frosty. Garnish with mint sprig and a piece of grilled pineapple.

 From JIMMY Bar at The James Hotel Source: .

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Kenep: Summer Stories Series

My fondest childhood memories in Haiti are lodged in the summer.
In the summer we had time for mischief, time to be creative, time to discover all kinds of things. Well at least that's how it was for my best friends and I.

Every summer was different in the amount of freedom we took, the things we discovered, and how scorching hot the weather was but one thing never changed.
Starting in July, when my mother would be doing her usual summer teaching and side hustle activities, she would leave a couple of dollars on the table for me and my best friend/cousin every morning. Without fail, we would be up bright and way earlier than kids should get up in the summer. We would grab the dollars and marched on to roam the outdoors market nearby for one thing; the sweetest kenep we could find. Later with satisfied smiles,  hands full, and sometimes a seller calling us out for sampling without buying, we would make it back to my front porch to sit there and enjoy our kenep while we  people watched.

To this day I can hear warnings from our neighbors "timoun nou manje trop kenep, yon pye kenep ap leve nan vant nou wi" We would giggle and shake our heads no, there is no such thing as too much kenep and no a tree cannot possibly grow inside our stomachs and if it did well, more kenep for us lol.

Now that i'm older and certainly not in Haiti every summer, I relish every chance I get to savor this fruit. It's amazing how I never tire of it and I'm forever telling people to try it. I'm a kenep pusher lol. I could eat it every day for the whole summer. I get ridiculously happy when someone brings me some as a gift. As a matter of fact, the bunch that my grandma brought me from Haiti last week inspired this story. 

If you're looking for it, it's usually called mamoncillo around here and sometimes you can find it in Publix stores in Florida and also different Caribbean stores everywhere else. Once I found some at a local health food store in Central Florida, so just keep your eyes open and enjoy if you find some good ones :)

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My Haitian Plate: Lalo Legume Fey

My mom made Lalo  legume (fey) I was so happy I took a picture haha. That's one of my favorite food ever.     This stuff takes forever to make ... I almost never have the patience to make it but as a proud Artibonitienne it's essential that one knows how to make this dish properly or so I've heard lol

Artibonitienne: mostly means from the region above

( BTW All 5 of the A l'Haitienne crew are from Saint-Marc and Gonaives)

. It's an Artibonite staple (White Rice, Beans, and Lalo).
This dish is hearty and filling. It naturally contains a good amount of iron and protein as much as it is tasty.
 If you are interested to learn more about this dish (the recipe and better pictures) comment so that I can work on it. Otherwise, enjoy!

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Featured: Kwase le 8

This is one of my favorite music videos. The song is called Kwase le 8 and the group is ZatRap.  I think they capture Haitian beauty very well. It's also a catchy song that fuses Troubadour style with rap kreyol. I love the song (and Zatrap)

All pictures are stills from the video. Watch the video to see these scenes :)

I think this girl is absolutely gorge.  I wanna be like this next time I go to Haiti lol

Here's the video

Zatrap kwaze le 8-

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