I love legumes and turn to them whenever I feel like taking a break from meat. Mostly, I make stewed peas, which is red kidney beans that’s cooked with spices and coconut milk. Traditionally you make stewed peas with meat – pig’s tail, corned beef or pork, or chicken. But a few years ago, perhaps as a result of the popularity of the Rastafari’s ital way of cooking, which excludes...

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...

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. 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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...