Simple, Tasty Bully Beef (Corned Beef)
Last weekend, I had such a craving for bully beef and rice that I decided to make it for dinner. As I was chopping up the onions, scallions and tomato, I began thinking. Why is it called bully beef? Why is it red? How did it get to Jamaica? And why do we love it so much? Bully beef is how we English speakers say beouf bouilli, which is French for boiled beef. It's the brisket cut that is cooked…
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Discover Dalaman
There's plenty to love about Dalaman holidays. From the climate to the culture, from those glorious long, sandy beaches to its cheerful holiday resorts and well-equipped hotels, it's certainly worth taking a bite out of this Turkish delight. [caption id="attachment_13312" align="aligncenter" width="645"] Marmaris[/caption] Based on the aptly-named Turquoise Coast, Dalaman is a cracking holiday destination with a wide range of fantastic resorts on offer. If you're after a lively stay with pubs and clubs at every turn, Marmaris could be…
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Travel Memories: Sometimes, it’s the Characters You Meet
Most times, travel is about a destination. But what about the people and other characters we meet along the way? Sometimes, it's all about them. Sometimes, they help us make lasting travel memories. I had several ideas and a few half-written posts that I could have used for this week's photo Thursday but I kept going back to this photo of a Rastaman I took on the beach in Negril. Then I found other photos of people I'd taken and…
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Gizzada (Coconut Pastry)
I was out shopping with a friend a few weeks ago, when she stopped at a Jamaican restaurant in her neighborhood (more about that later) to pick up patties. A little take-away place, it had the standard Jamaican fare on the menu - rice and peas, curried chicken, brown stewed fish, etc. I wasn't very hungry but the pastries caught my attention, well one in particular: the gizzada, an open tart with a grated, spiced and sweetened coconut filling. [caption…
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On the Warren County Winery Train to Villa Milagro Vineyard
I was researching vineyards in the northeast online a few weeks ago and discovered the Warren County Winery Train, a steam locomotive that takes wine lovers to a vineyard in New Jersey. I was excited. I’d taken diesel trains in Jamaica but a steam train was an entirely different thing. Just the mention of a steam train immediately transported me back to a time long before I was born. I could hear the sound of the steam as it escaped…
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Crocodile Eggs Make Stamina Punch in Jamaica
Recently, an article in the local paper, the Daily Gleaner, caught my attention. According to the piece, men in the eastern parish of St. Thomas are drinking a stamina punch that’s made from crocodile eggs. Several things went through my mind as I read the headline: why crocodile eggs, how do they harvest them, how did the craze start, and how long has it been going on? I shook my head as I dug further into the article. Men, especially…
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Rundown or Dip and Fall Back
Cooking is as much about skill as it is about passion. Either of these on their own can produce a satisfactory dish; bring them together and you have a delicious meal. My first attempt at making Rundown, or Rundung in our Jamaican dialect, was for a dinner party I gave. I approached the making of this mildly complicated dish armed only with an inflated sense of confidence. I’m sure I thought to myself, how difficult can it be to? While…
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Jimmy Cliff, Rivers Crossed Tour
Musical acts that open for big name performers, to use a Rodney Dangerfield phrase, 'don't get no respect.' That’s mainly because the audience is so anxious for the headliner to take the stage that they mostly ignore the opening act. I wasn't paying much attention to the opening act when [simpleazon-link asin="B00864489G" locale="us"]Rebirth[/simpleazon-link]’s Rivers Crossed Tour stopped at Howard Theater in the Nation's Capital a few weekends ago. And even after local reggae music radio host and show MC, Tony…
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Pig Roast at G’s BBQ
I’d been hearing about pig roasts for months following my return to Jamaica in 2011 and wanted to go to one. I even went to a fund-raising event because I heard that they would have a pig roast. As luck would have it though, the year I went, the organization did not do the roast. I was disappointed. The practice of roasting a whole pig, usually a young pig between two and six weeks old, or suckling, has been around…
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Naked Buskers in Times Square
Times Square is the heaviest populated tourist area in the world. It draws approximately 39 million visitors annually. Most come to gawk at the giant billboards and the neon and LED-lighted ads, but a lot more come to take their photos with one of the naked buskers who roam the area. Times Square near rush hour on last Friday was a slow-moving sea of people who clogged the sidewalk making locals rushing to catch buses and subways do detours into…
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