Carl. Part 2 and Raw Coconut Macaroons

The following morning, I woke up another dream about Carl and woke up smiling. I grabbed my computer and went onto Facebook. There were only two Carl Shar’s and while none of the photos initially looked anything like the 6 year old Carl I knew…one of them made me take a closer look. It was a picture of a man with no hair on his head, glasses and a rather strong build. Could that be him? I asked myself. Could that be the curly-mained, tan coloured boy, whom I once loved?

Then, I saw his eyes through the thick glasses he had on, and knew that I had found him. My heart skipped a few beats and I heard myself breathing heavily. I’ll send him a message!

What would I say. How the heck would I even begin?

I typed, and deleted and typed and deleted countless times before I decided to just send whatever I had written. It took me an hour to write two sentences.

Hi Carl! Paula here…remember me, your friend from Mona Prep school in Jamaica-30 years ago.You just came to mind and I wanted to find out how you were doing. Paula

I pressed the send button, and a wave of embarrassment ran down my spine. Just as I was about to close the computer, a message came in.

Carl had sent me a message!

Whenever I make anything with coconut, I am taken right back into the Island of Jamaica-the place where my father was born, and the island I call home, irrespective of where I may be living.

As a child, I used to love eating Jamaican treats such as grater cake or coconut drops, which is basically shredded coconut boiled in sugar water, infused with a bit of ginger and let to dry. I found some coconut flakes in my pantry yesterday and decided to create a version with maple syrup and proves to be an equally addictive alternative.