Jamaican food of Chinese descent

Continuing with yesterday's story on residents of Chinese descent in paradise, there is a very successful business family in Jamaica by the name of Hendrickson, who owns a major bread company National, and despite the name that sounds more Northern European than Chinese, they are of Chinese descent.

The family is known for having introduced to Jamaica a machine to slice bread, which made their small bakery grow into National, whose many products also include my favourite plantain chips. They then expanded into the hotel business, and now own numerous hotels and resorts in Jamaica and other islands, including Courtleigh that serves my favourite Jerk Chicken Linguine that I wrote about on October 21.

I was looking for a newspaper feature article on the history of the family that I read once, but instead, I encoutered an interesting interview with the head of the family published on the Gleaner in 2003 - Karl Hendrickson: A business titan speaks. His warning then about the risk of Jamaica becoming a country of buyers is spot-on in today's context.

In all those stories about the family that I read and heard about sporadically in different places, what left a lingering impression on me was this machine that sliced bread in a massive quantity. Every story about the family seems to begin with this machine, like a legend. Now every time I see the name National on a small package of plantain chips, the first thing that comes to my imagination is this legendary machine surrounded by people in awe. Beside the legend behind the name National, what I like about National plantain chips is that they are very light and crisp, they are cheap, and above all, they are put in small packages that help me not overeat them. Each small package is only 25JMD - that's only 32 US cents, and contains 120 calories.

Chinese food with a Jamaican twist

Residents of paradise seem to like Chinese food, and many Chinese restaurants and eateries are found in Kingston. Among them, Jade Garden is my most favourite, and probably the most expensive. It is on the top floor of the Sovereign shopping mall, and the dining hall is surrounded by large windows that provide a good view of mountains. Today, I had...

Steamed Black Bean Rib, from their daily Dim Sum menu. Very tasty.

Steamed tofu stuffed with shrimp. This is what I was craving for today. Delicate, warm, soft and light, it's my comfort food.

Baby pak choi sauteed with garlic. I always order this in a Chinese restaurant. I feel energized after eating this, just as Popeye would when he eats spinach. It is not on the menu at Jade Garden as often is the case with other Chinese restaurants elsewhere, but if you ask, they should be able to make it for you very easily as long as they have pak choi. Fortunately for me, pak choi is widely available in paradise, and you can find it in any market. Chinese people began settling in Jamaica long time ago in the mid-19th century when they came as indentured labourers, and probably they brought pak choi with them.

If you'd like to know a bit more about the history of Chinese people in Jamaica, read Out Of Many Cultures: The People Who Came - The Arrival Of The Chinese in the Pieces of the Past series of the Gleaner. The series is also published as a book, and it is available from Amazon.com here.

This sauce, which is soy sauce with chopped hot peppers in it, is always served in a Chinese restaurant around here. I have never seen it in a Chinese restaurant elsewhere, and I think it is very particular to Jamaica, though I am not certain since I have never been to China. It is very hot, and although I rarely use it, residents of paradise seem to put it on everything.

Delightful food with a great view does not come very cheap. The steamed tofu was 1300JMD (US$18.50), sauteed baby pak choi 1200JMD (US$17), and steamed black bean rib 400JMD ($5.50), all before taxes.

Heading East for sushi

I had a major craving for good sushi, and went to East. East Japanese Restaurant is found in the Courtyard, a fancy, high-end food court in the Market Place on Constant Spring Road. It is very popular, so popular that you need to reserve a table ahead if you want to make sure that you'd get to eat there.

East serves good, authentic sushi, though it doesn't carry raw shellfish, which was why I preferred the Japanese restaurant at Hilton before when it existed - basically, I only eat shellfish and toro when it comes to sushi. Today, I indulged myself in a sushi feast, with toro, salmon toro and uni, all of which were of good quality, though I couldn't capture it well in my photo above. I also had negi-toro, which I thought were in need of stronger negi flavour.

As is the case with every other sushi restaurant in the world, sushi at East is very expensive, and each little piece of sushi costs 300JMD. For the 6 pieces I had, I was charged 1800JMD (before tax), which is about US$25... Negi-toro was 430JMD (US$6).

Despite the popularity and the high pricing, the chef said the business was struggling. The price of raw fish went up by 30% in the last year because of the rise in the fuel cost that raised the cost for transporting fish. Then, due to the financial crisis in U.S., affluent Kingstonians are reducuing the frequency of their visits to this expensive restaurant. Here again, we spot a want, not a need, called sushi, though for me, sushi is nearly a need, and I really hope that East will survive this difficult time.

Where is the news...?

The Sunday Gleaner was in high demand this morning. I went to a pharmacy around noon to buy a copy to discover that they were sold out already. I went to a supermarket next door, and they were sold out there also. My curiosity was strongly stimulated, and I asked the salesperson what the news was this morning, but she didn't know. I had to find out, and I drove to another supermarket. Luckily, it had a few copies left, and I finally got to look at the front page headline. It said "Not Important," with huge photos of the faces of the two U.S. presidential candidates.

The news that helped sell the paper so well this morning was merely that a former prime minister of Jamaica said that neither of the two U.S. presidential candidates cared very much about Jamaica. My first reaction was, what is the news about this? It does not seem to me that the information makes any news; there is no story in it even. I mean, most of the countries of the world wouldn't be considered very important by the two candidates at the moment in any case, and to me, it's no news if Jamaica wouldn't be an exception. How is it that such a matter would make interesting news for so many Jamaican people to make the paper sold out? Or is the general assumption that Jamaica is considered more important than others by U.S.? I am puzzled...

By the way, to continue with yesterday's story on Jamaican people's love of fried food, on the lower right-hand corner of the photo, you can see an advertisement of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is by far the most thriving among the U.S. fastfood chains operating in Jamaica. In contrast, McDonald's didn't do well at all in Jamaica and withdrew in October 2005. To me, that was big news, that McDonald's, the global giant that seems to be able to grow everywhere, couldn't compete in Jamaica. But it didn't make any headline on Jamaican papers...!

Where pirates of the Caribbean used to hang out

If you happen to glance through this blog, you would probably wonder, but what about the sea? This blogger is writing from a Caribbean island, but we never hear about the sea. Is Kingston not on the sea?

That is a very good question. Before coming here, I thought I would be living in a town on the sea, and imagined myself going to the beach and sitting on a seafront terrace every day. It turns out that the seafront of Kingston, which is called Downtown, the old part of Kingston as opposed to New Kingston where I live and work, is heavily ridden by crime and violence. Beside the fact that foreigners are advised not to go there, the seafront has become like a ghost town with numerous deserted buildings and closed shops... It is such a pity because the area is so blessed in terms of its location. If it were not for crime and violence, Downtown would thrive as a commerce and tourism district with many restaurants and bars on the sea.

Still, there is no need to despair. Kingston has more to offer than the deteriorated Downtown area, and if you drive out a bit, you will find a restaurant on the sea that you dreamed of. My favourite such place is Morgan's Harbour (http://www.morgansharbour.com/).

Morgan's Harbour is a hotel, a restaurant and a marina in Port Royal. It is where you take a boat to Lime Cay, a sand reef island that offers my most favourite beach around Kingston. Morgan's Harbour is also where you can enjoy a pleasant and relaxing dinner on the sea, with the sounds of waves and a view of the mountains and twinkling lights of the city of Kingston. It is about a 30-minute-drive from Kingston, and I enjoy the drive. You drive straight ahead on a flat road surrounded by the sea, mountains and green bushes, and it has a calming, meditative effect.

Port Royal, where Morgan's Harbour is located, is on the tip of the Palisadoes, a long sand spit that comes out of Kingston. It is a historical town known for many things. It was the most important commercial port in the Caribbean as well as the main harbour for the pirates of the Caribbean in the 17th century, and it was the place where a big earthquake hit in 1692.If you'd like to get to know more about Port Royal, the following websites may be helpful:

- http://www.jnht.com/heritage_site.php?id=289 (by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust)
- http://www.hmsf.org/exhibits/port-royal/port-royal.htm (by the Historical Museum of Southern Florida)
- http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story001.html (From the Pieces of the Past series of the Gleaner)

Morgan's Harbour is named after Sir Henry Morgan, who supposedly was the model for the main character of Captain Blood, a popular novel published in 1922 about the adventures of Dr Peter Blood, a physician turned pirate. The text of the novel is available from the Project Gutenberg here as well as from Google Books here. The novel was also adapted into a film in 1935, which, amazingly, you can watch on YouTube here.

At the restaurant of Morgan's Harbour, Grilled Snapper is my most favourite on their menu, but it is available only for dinner. Today, I passed by for an afternoon snack, thus there was no grilled snapper available. Instead, I had fish fingers with tartar sauce. It was very good. 485JMD which is a bit less than US$7 (before tax and service charge).

By the way, Jamaican people love fried food, eg. fried chicken, fried fish, fried shrimp... there are very Jamaican fried food items called "bammy" and "festival". Basically, the former is fried cassava and the latter is fried cornmeal.
See http://www.jamaicatravelandculture.com/food_and_drink/bammy.htm for a recipe and picture for bammy, and http://www.jamaicans.com/cooking/appetizers/testcook.shtml for festival.

Another BTW, according to reporters, chicken nuggets were the source of power for Usain Bolt, the sprinter! See the following articles:

• Usain Bolt's Secret to Being the Fastest Man: Chicken Nuggets (from the People magazine)
• Chicken nuggets and yam fuel Bolt's sprint double bid (from ABC News)
• Olympic 100m hero Usain Bolt powered by chicken nuggets and yams (from Mirror.co.uk News)

I am thinking, it's simply that he likes fried food as other Jamaican people do. Probably, bammy would have done the same.

Mountains around Kingston

What would be the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "the Caribbean"? I am sure many of you would think of a long white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise blue water. Yes, that is true. The Caribbean will not disappoint your imagination, and there is an endless number of incredibly and astonishingly beautiful beaches across the various islands of the Caribbean. In Kingston, however, what always take my breath away are the mountains that surround the city. On the one side of the city is the sea, and on the other side is the mountain range of which the Blue Mountain is a part.

The colours and movements of the sky, clouds and mountains change throughout the day, and they are never the same and all the time so engaging. Everytime you look up, from your car, from your office, or from your bedroom, they sing to you together in a powerful and dynamic voice of colours, lights and shades. If it were not for all the crime and violence, Kingston is so exceptionally blessed, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and the sea.

The photo shows a mountain view from the balcony of my apartment at 6pm today. Another thing about living in the tropics is that it gets dark around the same time all year round: here, always around 6pm.

Will Blue Mountain coffee survive the global financial crisis?

I had no idea, when I wrote the blog on October 9, 2008, that Blue Mountain coffee was facing a major challenge for survival. First, International Herald Tribune published an AP report a few days ago that the two largest Blue Mountain coffee bean buyers stopped buying the beans because of the combination of bad times, i.e. the economy and hurricanes: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/18/business/CB-Jamaica-Blue-Mountain-Coffee.php. Then today, the Jamaica Observer, one of the two national dailies in paradise (the other is the Gleaner), reported that two major Blue Mountain coffee companies were being "divested": http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20081022T010000-0500_141617_OBS_COFFEE_SALE.asp.

I read the Observer article. What was striking to me was that the Jamaican government wants to privatize them, which implies that they are government-owned at the moment...! I had no idea, but Blue Mountain coffee has been government-owned in Jamaica, like water and electricity (by the way, now, Marubeni, a Japanese trading company, owns the electricity of Jamaica...). This indicates how important coffee beans have been for paradise.

The fundamental issue, however, that the Observer missed was that, whether privately or government owned, Blue Mountain coffee is facing a serious difficulty. It's "a want, not a need" when it comes to good coffee, I suppose, and so people around the world just choose to live without Blue Mountain coffee. I hope, I really hope, some affluent individuals out there would come and save the good old, wonderful, so dark and flavourful Blue Mountain coffee at this hard and difficult moment of the world...

The photo shows the packages of Blue Mountain coffee beans sold at the Sovereign supermarket in Liguanea. On the top shelf are found Jablum packages made by Mavis Bank (http://www.mavisbankcoffee.com/mavis_about.php), and the bottom shelf has packages from the Wallenford (http://www.wallenford.com/), both of which are being considered for "divestment" at the moment.

Jerk Chicken

I am sure most of you would say "jerk chicken" when asked if you know any Jamaican food. Indeed, jerk is a method of cooking that is original to Jamaica, and you can jerk just about everything. Other than chicken, you can jerk pork, beef, fish, tofu, vegetable... anything. Basically, jerk sauce is rubbed on the food and then, the food gets barbecued.
Recipes for jerk chicken are easily available on the Internet, for example...

• http://www.wejamaicans.com/2008/07/22/jamaican-foods/ (at WeJamaicans.com)
• http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/poultry/jerkchk.htm (at Diana's Kitchen)
• http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/popular-ingredients/chicken/jerk-chicken-recipe_p_1.html (at Chennel4.com)

You can also watch a video on how to make jerk chicken on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZJ7Z9snOaM made by Jamaica Travel and Culture.com.

I had Jerk Chicken Linguine served at the Courtleigh Hotel (http://www.courtleigh.com/) today. This is my most favorite pasta dish in Kingston. It is made with jerk chicken and mushrooms in creamy sauce. Delicious. 780JMD (about US$11) before tax and service charges. The Courtleigh is a nice cozy hotel, with the only drawback being its swimming pool that is too small, but apart from staying at the hotel, eating there is also a pleasant experience, as the food is not only good but reasonably priced.

Women who want to remain free

Today is a holiday in paradise, in observation of the National Heroes' Day. The name of the holiday uses the male gender form "hero" although chronologically, the first in the list of the national heroes of Jamaica is a woman: Nanny of the Maroons, who is inscribed on the 500JMD bill. She was a leader of the Maroons - a community of runaway slaves - in the 18th century (photo courtesy to the Jamaica Information Service; for a list of Jamaican national heroes, click here http://www.jis.gov.jm/special_sections/Heroes/Heroes.htm), and she is known to have effectively fought against the British to keep the freedom and independence of the Maroon community.

If you would like to know more about Nanny of the Maroons, see, for example, the following sites:

• http://www.moeyc.gov.jm/heroes/nanny.htm of the Ministry of Education of Jamaica;
• http://www.yale.edu/glc/nanny.htm of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale Univeristy, USA;
• http://www.jamaicans.com/articles/primearticles/queennanny.shtml of Jamaicans.com
  

As school was off today, the children nextdoor were playing in the swimming pool. I often see the boy bothering his sister, and today also, my camera caught him making attempts to bother her, while she kept getting away from him to remain in her own world.

A want, not a need

I had a haircut at Diva Salon and Spa, which is on the top floor of the Sovereign shopping mall in Liguanea. It offers all sorts of services to treat one's body. It is a hair salon, it offers various kinds of massage, it does manicure and pedicure, it does facial, etc.

I used to get my haircut there before, but when I called to make an appointment this time, the receptionist was not the same person. I became nervous. Maybe the hairdresser is not there anymore.

When one moves to a new place, finding a right hairdresser is as major a challenge as finding a right apartment. I felt nervous to imagine the prospect that I was going to face a new hairdresser, and the possibility that I would have to start hunting for a right hairdresser. To my great relief, I saw the same hairdresser come out when I arrived there, and I was filled with joy. She is very good, she knows my hair, and I really like the way she carries herself: she is laid back and at the same time very professional.

The management seems to have changed in the meantime, however. It was managed by Chinese women before, and according to my hairdresser, they went back to Hong Kong. I told her that I noticed that many shops had closed down or had management changes while I was away. It must be the economy: it's a bad time. She agreed and said customers at the salon were definitely decreasing. People don't pay for what the salon sells anymore, she said, because it's "just a want, not a need."

Her articulation in simple brief words struck me, and so I took a photo of the nail polish shelf of the salon, to represent a "want."

Shampoo and cut together cost 2700JMD (about US$40).

Today's Gleaner reports on the impact of the current financial crisis in U.S. on the lives of Jamaican people, i.e. remittances sent from Jamaican people in U.S. to their families in Jamaica are beginning to go down. http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081019/lead/lead2.html

An avocado that is a pear

Avocadoes are called "pears" in paradise. They also look slightly differnt from those avocadoes that I was familiar with elsewhere - the outer skin of a "pear" has a lighter green colour and is much more smooth than that of the avocado that I knew - thus initially, I did not think that they were avocadoes (though I did not think that they were pears that I knew either). But once you open one, you will see that it is in fact an avocado.

Avocadoes are in season right now in paradise. I purchased one that felt perfectly ripe (53JMD, about US$.75, at the Loshusan supermarket in Barbican), put it on a toasted multi-grain bun with cream cheese, sprinkled on top a bit of lime and a pinch of fleur de sel brought from France, and there we go, my breakfast this morning.

Sushi to go for lunch

When I came back to paradise this time, I was devastated to discover that the Japanese restaurant at the Hilton had been closed down. I used to go there every so often to have sushi and sashimi a la carte to console my soul. It had good toro when it had it, so good that it made me smile big when I put it in my mouth. It always had raw shrimps and scallops that were fresh, sweet and tender. Sometimes, it had uni, which was oh so divine. So two days after I arrived here, I went skipping to the Hilton full of excitement, but what I found there was a dark empty space. I was in disbelief first, and then, totally devastated...

Soon, however, I found out that there was no need to despair. The owner had instead opened a take-out/eat-in sushi shop, next to the bakery inside the Loshusan supermarket in Barbican. It's called Katana Express. Though limited in variety (no uni, no toro, no shrimp, no scallop...oh well...), it serves sushi pieces and rolls that make a great lunch. It also offers lunch boxes that you can take to your office. I had a Philly Roll today, which had salmon, cream cheese and scallion in it. The salmon was tender and very good. 620JMD (before tax), which is about US$9.

Thank God It's Friday tomorrow...!

Here's Friday's Sundae that I had at TGIF today. Yes, there is a TGI Friday in paradise, too! It's Thursday today still, but the place was busy. Like people elsewhere, people in paradise are so sick of being at work during the week that they can't wait the weekend. Indeed, this TGIF is located on Hope Road... :)

The chocolate and caramel sauce was just so divine and eeeeeevil. 475JMD (before tax - 16%!!), which is nearly US$7.

It was very heavenly to enjoy this formidable thing at that moment, but I had to face the consequence later on. I went to a yoga class and... I could feel the damage it did to my body. It made me heavier, for sure. The sundae was very big, which made it so great at that moment, but...

Oh yes, not only TGIF, but there are also yoga studios in paradise. People in paradise are as stressed as people elsewhere are, it seems, and there are two studios in my neighborhood. One behind the U.S. Embassy and another near the Canadian Embassy. Today, I went to Afya (http://www.afyajamaica.com/), which is on Bamboo Avenue behind the U.S. Embassy. The room is semi-open air and faces a lush green garden, which gives it a serene, out-of-the-(nasty real) world feeling. A drawback is that the studio does not have a changing room, thus people coming from work have to change to yoga attire in a bathroom, but that does not seem to deter the stressed residents of paradise from coming to the studio. The class was full today, with ten residents of paradise, the majority of whom were women. 800JMD (about US$11)/class.

School uniforms

Every student wears a uniform in paradise, whether in a primay school or a secondary school, and every school has a different uniform. Girls' uniforms come in a rich variety especially. I am showing here in the photos three different uniforms for girls.

Every August, parents face a challenge of preparing proper uniforms for their children for the new school year. With the hot and humid climate here, a child needs at least 3 sets of the uniform so that they can be washed every day, and the costs on parents to get them ready are not cheap. Besides, they don't look very comfortable for a child in this climate. I once asked several teachers and principals why it was that everyone was supposed to wear a uniform and if anybody ever thought about running a school without having one. According to them, uniforms are very important, even indispensable, because they cultivate among students a sense of identification with their school. I wonder how important it is for a student to develop such a sense of identity, but I never hear any complaint about uniforms either, so I suppose everyone likes having them.

More cakes...!

Continuing with cakes, look at those pretty enticing creatures... They can be found at the coffee shop in the entrance hall of the Hilton on Knutsford Boulevard. Their blueberry cheesecake is my favorite.

Sunday brunch

I went to Terra Nova for brunch. Terra Nova is a nice hotel on Waterloo Road (http://www.terranovajamaica.com/index2.php). It has a very pleasant terrace restaurant area where I sometimes go for lunch or breakfast. Their Sunday brunch is famous for its large buffet menu, but this was my first time trying it out. I never went there before because their Sunday brunch is set up not at the terrace but inside a plain rectangular banquet hall under a tent roof, which makes it less interesting for me.

The buffet offers a really large selection. The photo shows a part of the dessert section; I mean, it shows only A PART, I'd say, nearly half of the entire dessert section. In addition to the various cakes shown, they also offer different kinds of mousse and fresh fruits, which my camera could not possibly capture in this picture. And this is only the dessert section. The appetizer section is about twice the size of the dessert section, and the warm food section is twice the size of the appetizer section. I tried a little bit of nearly two-thirds of the items lined up in the appetizer and warm food sections, and concluded that the "suckling pig" was VERY good, so tender and tasty that I would come back just for that, though I was quite sure that I would not like to try again "cowfoot and beans."

The Sunday brunch buffet costs 2263JMD per person, which is about US$30.

News in paradise:
Re: the observation I've been making on local food and imported food, today's Gleaner reports on a discussion that Jamaica should encourage local farming more.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081012/lead/lead3.html

UWI-Mona

Had a minor business to take care of at the University of the West Indies - Mona. The University of the West Indies - acronym UWI - has three campuses, in Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad, and the campus in Jamaica is called Mona.

The Mona campus is beautiful. I used to go there once a week, though this was the first time that I went to the campus since I returned to Kingston this time. The buildings are run down, but the campus is built on an old plantation estate, and it is a great space surrounded by mountains and the sky. There are even horses hanging out. But it also needs updated books and academic journals! Please everyone donate recent books and journals to the Main Library http://www.mona.uwi.edu/library/main_library.html ...

My business this time was at a building in the Chemistry Department. It had many big old trees, but above all, it had several functioning public telephones. I have never seen such a thing in other parts of paradise, and besides, it's so last century and charming!

Following a voice in the maze of Jamaican bureaucracy

I had to get my passport back. I submitted it to get a visa some weeks ago, things happened along the way, eg. the forms I submitted with it were lost somewhere, and though I was supposed to get it back last Wednesday, it still had not come back. However, I desperately needed to get it today. At noon, I was told to call the government office at 2 o'clock. At 2 o'clock, I called, and something was not working, so I was to call back again before 4pm. I called at 3:45pm, and the first thing she said to me was "I have bad news." "What's the bad news?" "She locked your passport in a cupboard, and we can't find her." And the office was closing in 15 minutes. She said they'd bring it to the airport tomorrow. I said, I must get it back today. "I will go to the office right now. Where is it?" 25 Constant Spring Road, she said, you have to go from Waterloo Road and turn around; it's after Courts (a furniture store).

So began my journey in the maze of Jamaican bureaucracy. Jamaican bureaucracy is notorious for being impossible. Impossible in that first, every person at every step of the way says "no" first regardless, in such a way that is hyper-authoritative that I always call "rude." Second, you go around different persons for days and weeks and months without any result. Third, they don't tell you everything that you need to do to get something done: you submit this paper and that paper, and later, they still tell you that you need to submit another paper. Etc. etc. As I hopped on my car and drove to the passport office, I prepared myself for the impossibility that was going to come ahead. I told myself, "It's going to be difficult, but don't get angry. Endure, and you'll get it."

With her direction, it was easy to find the passport office, but all the gates and doors were closed/locked. I got off my car to ask where to go, and the security simply said I could not park there. I asked again where I was supposed to park, but she did not say a word.

My phone rang then, and it was the lady from the government office. I told her I arrived at the passport office. She asked if anyone was there. I said, there were only securities. She wanted to talk to one of them, and so I handed out my phone to a woman security sitting there. "Excuse me ma'am, someone from the Ministry would like to speak to you." She glared at me and said, "I ain't talking to nobody." All right. I turned to a security man at another gate. "Excuse me sir, someone from the Ministry would like to speak to you." Thank god he took the phone, and told the woman security to let me in.

I went in, parked my car, went to the nearest door, which was locked. I banged. A male voice said, "the office is closed." I looked around to find where the voice was coming from, but couldn't see anybody. "I would like to pick up my passport." "You have to go that way." But which way? I still could not see the man. Then, suddenly, the door in front of me opened, and a skinny man was standing there, pointing to my left.

My phone rang again. I reported to her that they let me in but I had only managed to park my car thus far. She said "Good. They are cooperating." Right, right, that's one way to look at it. I went around to find another door. The door was open this time, but a woman in uniform was sitting at a desk, with a big book opened in front of her. She looked up and said, "it's closed." I consulted my phone, "there is a security woman, and she says it's closed." She said, "Tell her you need to see Mrs Jane Doe." I asked, "Mrs who? Jane Doe?" and just with that, the security woman moved her chin to let me pass through.

I went up a narrow stairway. There was a glass door, which was locked. I could see some people in uniform inside. I moved my mouth to say, "I would like to pick up my passport." A man moved his mouth that seemed to say "CLOSED." At that moment, I saw a young woman holding a passport that looked like mine. I jumped and banged at the door, saying "that's mine, that's mine!" She looked at me, and asked through the door, "What is your name?" "Paris Kingston." She said, "Oh it's you," and opened the door. The lady on the other side of the phone asked, "You got it?" I said, yes!

Jamaican bureaucracy is indeed impossible. It's so impossible to the extent that it's beyond caricature. But it's more like Matrix than Brazil, actually. You need the voice, the key to all these clues and codes that open the door and let you in.

A daily dose of Blue Mountain coffee

Went back home in the morning to pick up a straw hat, and decided to drop by Cannonball Cafe in Barbican for early lunch. The Cannonball seems to be doing well and now has three locations in Kingston: New Kingston, Barbican and Manor Park. I frequent the shop in New Kingston as it is closer to my workplace, but I prefer the one in Barbican. It feels less stressful for some reason. Perhaps it's the absence of a TV. Perhaps it's the clientele, who are more like bored housewives, though they actually look rather more stressed than the Digicel (a cell phone company) guys who hang out in the New Kingston shop.

The manager told me that they had grilled local chicken breast, so I asked for a Club Sandwich with that (450JMD), plus coffee (270JMD) of course. I go there for coffee.

Being the country that produces the internationally branded Blue Mountain Coffee, Jamaica never disappoints me when it comes to coffee, as long as it does not come from powder. The paradox is that, although Jamaica is world famous for coffee, there aren't many places in Kingston that casually serve coffee, like cafes or coffee stands. Besides, Jamaican people don't seem to drink much coffee, and the horror is that many seem to prefer Nestle Milo. Milo is by far much cheaper than Jamaican coffee - as I noted earlier, imported food is often cheaper than local food in Jamaica - thus one can understand that Milo is more affordabe for daily consumption. Still, as a coffee drinker, I wish people appreciated coffee more so that there would be more cafes in town...

News in paradise:

Roving with Lalah: Slices of Everyday Jamaican Life, which is my favorite series on the Jamaica Gleaner, will be published as a book.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081005/arts/arts4.html

Robert Lalah, a young reporter of the Gleaner, has been going around paradise, giving spotlights to various residents of paradise, taking their pictures and telling their stories.

Eg. See a recent article: Miss Alice and Jermain in the Chapelton square, from 25 September 2008, http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080925/news/news1.html. If you are interested in knowing Jamaica, this book is worth buying and reading.

Glitches in paradise:

Later in the afternoon, I went to a "cafe" in the New Kingston Shopping Mall that does not serve coffee, to get a sandwich to go for an evening snack in the office. I ordered a whole wheat bread sandwich, and waited, waited, waited... and after 20 minutes of waiting, I was told that there was no whole wheat bread. There is a lot of waiting in this part of paradise. One of my colleagues who is from another country in the Caribbean Sea calls it "suffering," as in "I suffered today" to mean "I waited."

The Remains of a Birthday

Went to the Grog Shoppe in Devon House for lunch. It's a restaurant converted from a stable of a colonial mansion. I like the big tree in the outside seating area that gives a very nice shade. I used to frequent the Internet cafe in Devon House for breakfast, but when I came back to Kingston this time, I was devastated to discover that it had been closed down... The Grog Shoppe is there, though, as always, offering lunch buffet every day and brunch buffet on Sundays. Supposedly, someone had her or his 50th birthday last Saturday, and there were still all these "50" signs hanging from the big tree, though it's already Tuesday today...

I had "Smoked Pork Chop" with mashed potato and steamed vegetable (carrots and green beans). I must say, they could have done something more edible without the sweet and sour red sauce.

Though the set-up of the restaurant is nice and pleasant, it is never very busy as far as I have seen. When I went there today, three tables were filled, with two persons at each table, while at least five people were there for service apart from the people who would have been in the kitchen. I always wonder how this place makes money, and perhaps it doesn't...

Glitches in paradise:

No water tonight again. One of the seven wonders of paradise is that we have no water when it rains. We are in the rainy season, and it rains every day, therefore we have limited access to water every day. One day I would like the National Water Commission to explain this paradox to me, though for residents of paradise, it seems to be taken for granted. My landlord simply says, "You know, we had a storm, so..."

Attending a function

Young residents of paradise

Attended a function to witness my friend couple renew their vows. Their friends and family gathered at Shirley Retreat Hotel on Maven Avenue, an inconspicuous hotel on a small street off Hope Road that many Jamaican people don't even know. The hotel has a banquet hall that can hold 120 persons, and the function was held there. We sat around tables, and there were prayers, speeches, and singing as usual, plus All-Jamaican dinner of rice and peas, curry goat, BBQ chicken and potato salad. There were many children, and some of their parents looked so young that I wondered if they were in fact their brothers or sisters. Contrary to what I always hear and read about, which is that many of Jamaican parents don't know how to parent, the young parents at the function looked to give loving care and attention to their children. It made me wonder if parents were to be blamed so much for the present situation of social crisis.

News in paradise:
Related to the issues of children and parenting, Jamaica has lately seen consecutive incidents where children were victims of violent attacks, and the issue has been making the headlines of national dailies this week. For example, click here for the front page of today's Jamaican Gleaner.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081005/lead/lead1.html

Glitches in paradise:
It was raining all day, which is not like Jamaica where normally, it rains cats and dogs but briefly, often in the afternoon and not all day long. Wondered if this had anything to do with climate change.

Watching ice cream scooped in a Jamaican way

Went to i Scream in Devon House on Hope Road. It is a local business that produces and sells ice cream, and people queue up to get ice cream there. My vague memory tells me that perhaps I had ice cream there when I came to Kingston for the first time in May 2005. If I went there then, I had not been there ever since, and especially after one of my colleagues told me that their kids got sick after eating their ice cream, I never preferred to go there. At the request of another colleague, however, I was to get the flavour Devon Stout for a potluck party tonight.
The queue was not long when I went in today. When you go in, first, you choose the size, and then you pay. I chose the largest size they had, which was a quart container, which cost 800JMD. I thouht it was rather pricy, for Edy's ice cream would cost 678JMD for 1.75 qt. This is another instance where you are reminded that locally produced food is often more expensive than imported food in Jamaica.
When I paid, I got a ticket with number 18. I advanced to the right, at which point my number was called. I was asked which flavour, and said Devon Stout. The ice cream scooper mounted a LOT of ice cream in the quart container, more than twice the height of the container. As I wondered, "What is she doing? That is not going to fit in that container," she began pushing down the ice cream with a spoon, and eventually managed to fit all the ice cream in the container. Wow. I had never seen ice cream "scooped" like that.
The flavour Devon Stout was indeed rich and tasty.