Day by Day Trip Report with Pics - February 6 - 14, 2016

[CosmicMoose]

Vacation Day #2

A very quick walk down the street and we were there. Quality’s Sea Breeze Restaurant. Wow. What a cozy establishment. Little tables out front and no one sitting at them. We were the only ones there. Melo was not impressed. We thought for a moment about leaving, but I pressed on. “People on the board say this guy can cook, I think we should stay.” So we did. We looked over the menu, ordered a couple Red Stripes (decently cold) and we were ready to order. Melo got the Pan-fried Lionfish and I got the Snapper Escovietch. Pretty soon we hear chopping and mixing and frying in the background and soon enough our meals were delivered. Sorry no pictures of the food, but trust me when I say the guy knows how to decorate a plate. It was some of the best food presentation I have ever seen. I like presentation as much as the next guy but the real question is, “Can the guy cook?”
The answer is yes, hell yes, F@#$ yes, however you want to say it. Best. Fish. Ever. I fancy myself as a decent cook and a pretty good judge of a good meal and let me tell you, I was speechless (unless you count oohs and aahhs as speech). The fish was as flaky and as well prepared as any I had ever had. The mixture of vinegar, peppers and onions in the Escovietch sauce was sublime. Melo loved her Lionfish too and proclaimed how glad she was that we decided to stay. He was a little short of a full portion of Lionfish, so he added a little piece of snapper to hers too. The surprise meal of the trip by far. The place does not look like much on the outside and he doesn’t appear to be real busy, but trust me. Do not let that scare you off. The food is incredible. After the meal we took some time to talk to the chef and he was a great conversationalist, telling us how his mother taught him to cook from a young age. We also found out later in the trip that he is also a master with wood and we would stop in later at his shop on the west end and check out his handiwork there as well.

A mi fi tell yu!

~Moose

[Monty&Melo]

Vacation Day #3

Tuesday

If it’s Tuesday, it must mean 3 Dives for dinner. But a lot to do before we get to dinner.

Up and at em at the normal time and walk up to Sandals. Back to the room and grab Melo and across the street to Montana’s for Breakfast again. Assume position on beach in front of Rondel. Waves crashing up pretty good and water cold, so not a lot of swimming today.

After sitting on the beach for a while, we decide to take a beach walk in the other direction, toward Bourbon Beach, cut over to the road and walk up to Red Dragon. We left Rondel about 1pm and stopped first to visit our old friend Donovan at Woodstock. Woodstock is the new place on the beach, that they built where all the vendors were between Roots Bamboo and Rooms. Very nice place, we got to meet the owner, who is hoping to do big things with the place. Didn’t eat there, but from the looks of the food we will be eating there in the near future. After a beer with Donovan, it’s off to Sunnyside to see Maureen. Sunnyside is quickly ascending my list of favorite places in the world to have a beer. It hasn’t quite reached the legendary status that Red Dragon has in my mind, but it’s quite a place and the mix of characters that hang out there only enhances the experience. We drink one there and get one to go and head out down the beach to Bourbon.

Cut through Bourbon and reach the road. Stop briefly at the Cambio there and exchange a few Euros that I had left over from a trip to Germany last fall. Next beer stop is Drinks Plus Enterprise on the road. Grab two Red Stripes and a wedge of Tastee Cheese. Love that stuff. Cross road and utilize the sidewalk. Walk down into town and pretty soon reach Red Ground Road.

Wow, the traffic, they were working on road, actually the drainage so that when it rains the water doesn’t pool at the bottom of Red Ground Road. If you have ever been there during a downpour you will know that this is an improvement that was long overdue. The trucks and cars going up Red Ground Road was unbelievable and of course you had the motorcycles treating the cars and trucks like obstacles on a slalom course, zigging in and out as they tore off up the road. Dem guys crazy as they say!!!

About 2/3rds up the road sits Collette’s Bar. Another regular stop on the way to Red Dragon. (Its amazing that we are still thirsty by the time we get there, the walk ensures the need for more beer though, especially on a hot day). Nice cold beer, we talk with some tourists who are there and staying at White Sands (sorry, I’m the worlds worst when remembering names). Hang out for a while enjoying the comings and goings and the conversation. Head out for Red Dragon.

Of course, by the time we walked and stopped for beers along with way it is now almost 230pm. You know what that means, the most dreaded three words ever, “Pork Finished Mon.” Damn. Oh well, we are sort of on a liquid diet anyway, so we sit and enjoy a few porkless beers. Just love the Red Dragon. Another place with an interesting mix of tourists and locals as well as Expats. We catch up on the runnings with Gardo at the bar, have a brief political conversation with Ragabones himself (we only listened, I know better than to express much of an opinion on the subject and we purposely left anything we owned that was green or orange at home in the US) and back down the hill to Rondel (we had our driver drive us back, don’t drink and walk, mon, its dangerous).

Since we are well on our way, we dispense with the normal happy hour at Canoe and go straight to 3 Dives. The internet is down there so no Rob, but we would see him later in the week. Stand in line to order chicken, it takes forever, I’m always amazed at how some folks think the world revolves around them. Its Jamaica dammit, Jerk Chicken, Lobster, Shrimp, etc. They don’t do a lot of special orders and don’t ask for substitutions, it only confuses them and disappoints you. After watching others trying to figure out what to order and then finally ordering, I finally get to the counter, order way too much chicken for just the two of us and grab a Red Stripe and a Rum Punch.

I don’t know what does it, but the Rum Punch at 3 Dives in my Kryptonite. It really messes me up. My tradition is to skip the walk the morning after 3 Dives because I can’t do it. It doesn’t taste that strong when you drink it, but that stuff must pack a punch because it usually does me in.

Pretty soon the chicken arrives and it is superb as usual. I put way too much Granny Sauce on it and I’m in a full sweat. More rum punch. Damn, maybe its not the punch maybe it’s the fact the Granny Sauce makes me drink so much of it.

In any case, we finish dinner, head back to Rondel, go down to the beach bar to have a few drinks and catch up the day’s runnings with Delroy and soon off to bed after another great day in Negril.

Melo in the comfy chairs out front of Woodstock


Wedge of Tasty Cheese from Drinks Plus ($55JA)


Start of the walk from Rondel to Red Dragon

[Monty&Melo]

Vacation Day #4

Worst day of the trip so far. You know why, because at noon today the trip will be half over already!!!! Bummer.

As is usually the case, I didn’t make it up early to walk the morning after consuming the Rum Punch at 3 Dives. Oh well, a leisurely morning around the room, across the street for Breakfast at Montana’s again. Hit the beach about 1030am. Sea is still pretty rough and water is still pretty cold. Pretty soon here comes Cortis, with her big fruit baskets. I need a Papaya; that always brings me back to life, along with some of those little bananas. I don’t even eat Bananas at home any more. They taste awful compared to the ones you can get in JA. We chat up Cortis for a few minutes, she seems in good spirits and is walking fine. She’s had awful luck with her feet lately and it is good to see her roaming around the beach. She is an integral part to the Negril beach experience as far as I am concerned.

Pretty soon here comes Norm the Patty-Mon and I get a Coco Bread and Melo gets some patties. I decide since I didn’t walk this morning I am going to take an afternoon beach walk. I go to the room to grab some cash for the beers I will need along the way.

Don’t get too far and stop at Tony’s Hut. Grace Ann is off this day, but Milton in there and the beers are frosty as usual. $300J. I sit for a while, get a second beer and head out up the beach. Next stop is Auntie’s Thrill Corner. I grab a beer and take a seat at their picnic table in the shade. Today is February 10th, which happens to be my Dad’s birthday. I have a tradition of calling my Dad on his birthday each year from Negril. He looks forward to it I think. He never answers the phone at home (he lets my mom do the dirty work) but on his birthday he always answers. We talk for a while, he’s relatively healthy, but is 71 years old and has a few ailments which slow him down, but on this day it sounds like he is doing good.

I leave Auntie’s and head up the beach, once I get past the All-Inclusives, I see a large crowd of Jamaicans on the beach at both Cosmos and at the Public Beach Park. Then it hits me, it’s Ash Wednesday, a public holiday in Jamaica, so families are enjoying a day at the beach together. It is fun to watch the kids play in the surf and the sand. Some of the kids are just laying in the sand, literally covered in it when they get up. I enjoy just watching them splash and play. Looks like they are having the time of their lives. I’m happy and peaceful watching them enjoy their island like us tourists do.

I continue my walk up to Dr. Love’s and I decide to turn around. The walk takes much longer in the afternoon with all of the beer stops and I’ve already been gone an hour and I still have to make my way back. I stop off at Cosmos for a Red Stripe refill and walk back down the beach. Stop at Auntie’s for another and then at Tony’s for just one more. I get back to Rondel to find Melo sitting at the bar peacefully reading her book.
We head back to the room and get ready for Happy Hour/Dinner. This would be our last chance to hit Canoe for the next couple of days as we have plans that will have us elsewhere at Happy Hour on Thursday and Friday so we head to Canoe. Our driver joins us as we are finalizing our plans for the Jamaican BBQ we are going to tomorrow. After a few Rum Punches and beers at Canoe, we head up to LTU for dinner.

We have a love/hate relationship with LTU. We love the setting and the food, we hate (maybe that is a strong word, maybe strongly dislike is better) the spotty service and long wait times for food. These things don’t stop us from going, but it kills the vibe slightly. Damn, I love that whole snapper that is usually on the specials menu though, have to come back here every trip. Sure enough, we picked a pretty busy night as there were probably 10-12 tables in use. Soon enough someone takes our drink order. Rum Punch and Red Stripe. The Red Stripe is pretty warm, barely drinkable, but it works.

Surprisingly the Pumpkin Soup (included with every entrée) shows up quickly. It’s yummy as usual. The rest of the meal takes for what seems like forever, we didn’t really time it and maybe because we were sitting near the kitchen and smelling it the whole time the amount of time seemed longer than it really was. Who knows, but when the food finally came it was great. The Snapper wasn’t quite Quality Sea Breeze quality, but good nonetheless. I stripped the meat off the bone until there was nothing left but the head. I consider myself an adventurous eater, but even I draw the line at eating the Fish Head.

After a while we get the bill and then head out. Another successful day of doing pretty much nothing and enjoying the hell out of it. There is a big adventure ahead of us tomorrow as we are going to a friend’s house just outside of Lucea for a cookout complete with Chicken, Goat, Mannish Water, White Rum, Box Milk, etc. We go to bed early and prepare ourselves for a full day tomorrow.

Nice Towel Decoration on our bed by the Rondel Housekeepers


All that is left is the Head Mon!!!!


241 Rum Punch at Canoe. I usually ask for them to be brought to the table one at a time, but it makes for a better picture when they are there together

[TAH]

Nice report, wish I were there now. You should at least try the cheeks of the fish, that is without a doubt the best tasting meat on the fish. Super sweet and flavorful. Now I really want some steam fish...

[billndonna]

Loving your report and pictures,makes our 2 month wait much easier,thanks for sharing!!

[CosmicMoose]

Nice report, wish I were there now. You should at least try the cheeks of the fish, that is without a doubt the best tasting meat on the fish. Super sweet and flavorful. Now I really want some steam fish...

Wait... Tah, are you Andrew Zimmern? You sound just like him.

~Moose

[TAH]

LOL, fish cheeks are pretty mild on the list of things I'm willing to eat, but that guy takes things to a whole new level of NOPE. But I'm 100% serious, it is something I fiend (sp?) for from time to time. So good.

[Markospoon]

You are a really good walker, my man.
Good report.

[cleome]

Where is Chineymon?

[Monty&Melo]

Vacation Day #5

Thursday

We are in for a real treat today. We are headed out of town and going to Lucea to a friend’s house for a good old fashioned Jamaican Cookout. We’ve done this a few times previously including the time in 2012 when our driver/friend showed up to pick us up with the Goat still alive in the back of the car. What a sight that was.

I’m still up early and get my walk in before the day’s festivities. I cut the walk a little short as we are getting picked up at 930am and we can’t miss breakfast at Montana’s. Walk and breakfast completed by 920am and we are ready to be picked up.

We head up the road towards Lucea. We stop off in Green Island at the Green Island Chineymon and load up on supplies. A case of Red Stripe (we had one case already iced down in our cooler), 2 bottles of White Rum, 2 boxes of boxed Cow Milk, 2 Best Dressed Chickens, 2 packages of Grace Cock Soup Mix, tons of other spices and some Guinness for our friend that is meeting us from Montego Bay. I was shocked at how inexpensive the spices were. I make a note to stop back at the store on the way to the airport in a few days to stock up for my spice cabinet at home.

After the Chineymon, we head across the street to a little produce stand. Really wish I would have taken a picture of this place, a small wooden building on concrete blocks, with different types of produce squeezed into every available spot in the store. We bought Carrots, ChoCho, Yam, Scallion, Scotch Bonnets, Onion, and Garlic. All and all I think we spent about $500JA. Stuff was cheap and looked much better than anything you can buy in the Kroger back home. The carrots were gnarly looking, and not at all straight, but inside they were a beautiful orange and actually had a smell to them. Carrots at home smell like nothing.

Everything loaded in the car we head back out on the road to Lucea. Stop to buy a CashPot ticket (1030am drawing) and pick up another member of the Cookout party at the Supreme Venures just outside of Orange Bay. Soon enough we arrive in Lucea.

We unload the supplies as well as the already cut up Goat that was sitting in the back of the car. I had no idea he was back there, but at least he was dead this time!!! We start prepping the veggies for the various dishes and get the fires started. It took 4 separate fires for the entire meal. Two large wooden fires for the Curry Goat and Mannish Water, one in the barrel grill for the Jerk Chicken and one fire in the wheel grill for the Fried Chicken. The rice was cooked inside on a gas range.

They even let me help prep this time, so I got to chop some vegetables, including the ChoCho and the Yam, two ingredients that I have never worked with in the good ole USA. The Goat was chopped up and prepared with spices for the Curry Goat and the Goat head was split open, the brain scooped out (that was just fried up by itself for a snack before eating), and it was added to the pot with the entrails as the base for the soup. Then we added the spices, the Cock Soup mix and water and brought it to a boil over the fire.

Melo is not a big fan of Goat, so the chicken portion of the meal was more her style. Jerk and Fried. The Fried chicken was tossed in a spice mixture first then lightly breaded with flour and fried. Melo swears it’s the best Fried Chicken she’s ever had (and remember we are from Kentucky so we know a little about Fried Chicken) and the Jerk Chicken was moist and tender, almost falling off of the bone.

It ends up being about 230pm before the Curry and the Soup are ready, but we pass the time telling stories, drinking our various drinks (the Jamaicans were mixing he White Rum with the Box Milk, its an acquired taste for sure, I have tried it a few times, I gotta put ice in it to make it tolerable) and dodging the raindrops. We even had to put up a small tarp to keep us as dry as possible, but even that didn’t work 100%. It was a wet, dreary day, but we were having all kinds of fun hanging out with our Jamaican friends eating real Jamaican food.

Once the soup was ready it was served in cups and you drink it, like a drink, so no spoon or anything. If anything from the soup doesn’t agree with you on a textural basis, you just spit it out into your hand and throw it down for the dogs to eat. As I mentioned before I am a pretty adventurous eater but there are a few morsels in there that I just can’t get down. It’s the stuff that is like cartilage that I can’t deal with, as long as my teeth can get through it, it’s OK, but that tough stuff is hard to deal with.

We continue to eat and drink the day away, we have to make another beer run and pretty soon it is getting close to dark. Time to pack up and get everyone home. We start off by going into downtown Lucea to drop our Montego Bay friend off at the Lucea Bus Park. If you’ve never experienced the Lucea Bus Park let me tell you that it is not for the faint of heart. Guys yelling wanting us to get in this bus, that bus, drivers and associates grabbing at your stuff (assuming if they get your stuff you will follow it and get in their bus, I guess). Wow, we finally get our friend into a bus that looks halfway safe, say our goodbyes and off she goes.

Now its back to Rondel for drinks at the bar (no dinner needed, we are still way full from the afternoon meal) and a good nights sleep. Tomorrow is Friday already and I am wishing time didn’t go so fast on the island.

I’m attaching some pictues of the afternoon festivities, but I will warn you that some of them are pretty graphic as far as pieces and parts of the Goat go. If that kind of stuff wigs you out, I wouldn’t page down if I were you.

Some of the supplies needed for the cookout


The Goat (outside the sink) and the Chicken (thawing in the sink)


Yours Truly doing a little prep work. I got knife skills!!!!


Curry Goat Spiced up and ready for the pot


Goat Entrails and Head (buried in the pot so you can't see it) for the Soup


Curry Goat Cooking over the fire


Soup Cooking over the fire


Jerk Chicken Cooking - I love the technique of basting it with Red Stripe straight from the bottle


Tarp attached to trees to keep us dry during the frequent rain showers