Haitian woodcarving saves my father's life!

Many people have written hubs about dulce de leche, also called doce de leite, caramel, manjarblanco or arequipe, but it is all the same thing, basically sugar and milk. I find that the easiest way to prepare it is just to boil a can of sweet condensed milk for about 1.5 hours. Most countries sell those cans, but unfortunately not where I am now living, so I must wait until I go to a country that sells them to get my supply.

The story I am going to tell you happened many years ago when I was living with my father in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Just like the rest of us in the family, my father also liked the sweet taste and smoothness of the manjarblanco and he liked when I prepared a pionono for him. I was getting ready to prepare one, so I put a can of condensed milk to boil in a pot with a lid on it, just like I had done many times before. But this time I did not wait until the water in the pan boiled to lower the temperature, but I left the kitchen and went to do something else, which was a big mistake!

Left by itself in the kitchen, the water in the pot boiled and boiled, until all the water was evaporated, so the can of condensed milk must have become very, very hot indeed! I have to mention here that my father was paralysed, so he had to use a wheel chair to get around. That day he could hear the top of the pan rattling on the stove, so he went to the kitchen to investigate.

But at the same moment he also heard one of our wooden ornaments banging against the wall on the balcony, so he went to have a look, as that was close by. I don’t know why that ornament would bang where it was hanging, as it was under cover and there was no cross current there. Just when my father was on the balcony having a look at the ornament, a big explosion shook the kitchen! The can of condensed milk, without a drop of water on the pot by now, had exploded, sending the now thick and dark condensed milk all over the stove, kitchen roof and sidewalls!

Although we could not find any explanation for the banging, I know it was that wooden ornament what saved my father from getting badly burned that day and from being pushed violently backwards on his wheel chair, with who knows what consequence! Since then I have always had a great respect for that Haitian wooden ornament, which was bought during my trip to Port au Prince some years before.

My father passed away twelve years ago in Santo Domingo and I am no longer live there, but I could still remember this incident when I first heard about the earthquake in neighbouring Haiti a few days ago. May God bless our neighbors and the people who are going to help them!