Marley and Ninja: Having Their Cake And Drinking It Too! Trip Report - April 2012

[marley9808]

Day 6: April 26, 2012

I awoke this morning with only one thing on my mind....yep, that’s right.....French Toast from Xtabi! lol
As you may have heard me mention only a few hundred times, the French Toast at Xtabi is the best dang French Toast in the whole world (IMO) and I usually eat it as much as possible while in Negril. Now that we had our scooters I knew that this moring I would finally be having my favorite breakfast in the whole world and I couldn’t for the life of me believe it was already Day 6 and I had yet to have it. So with that I woke Ninja up and simply said “Xtabi!” I think I skipped out of the room and nearly jogged towards the front to get on the scooter. I didn’t even stop at the normal breakfast table to greet Sweetness or have my first cup of heavenly coffee. I later found out that Sweetness had been at the table and had even seen me sprint by and she had yelled out a greeting, one that I didn’t hear of course, because I was a woman on a mission. A French Toast mission. Sorry Sweetness, this morning I had a breakfast date with a different kind of sweetness



Now I have tried all sorts of French Toast in Negril (and even all over the world). I have had cheesecake stuffed french toast, I have had fancy california french toast with unique ingredients lol, I have had banana french toast and warm pineapple french toast (Catcha), all kinds of heavenly dishes, but nothing has ever come close to comparing to what appears to just be plain old French toast at Xtabi (I swear they put crack in it or something!) Yum!

After we greeted Omar, enjoyed our breakfast view, coffee and heavenly french toast at Xtabi we decided it was time to head into town and get our shopping out of the way. We headed to Times Square and purchased our obligatory coffee, rum cakes and cigars. The good thing about coming to Jamaica so often is that you don’t really have much by way of souvenirs to purchase anymore, so we were pretty much in and out of Times Square. Made a quick stop at the ATM there and then back out to our scooters.

Now that we were down on the beach road, I figured we should try to find some of our beach friends. At this point I knew of Daisy and Markus (and now Guirigay and SweetiePie had joined them at their current residency on the beach) Spottycatz, and also The Booger, Pooper, Jizzy combo. So we decided to pay the Booper/Jizzys a visit since they had just moved in the previous day and we hadn’t seen them since they left Catcha. So we headed on over to Country Country. The guard was nice enough to let us in so they could ring their room and announce us as guests. Of course it was the middle of the day so no, they were not in their room and I explained to her that I was sure they were down on the beach so she let us go check and sure enough there they were. So we chilled for a bit on the beach chatting and catching up on the previous night’s events.
You know how they always say if you sit on the beach long enough, eventually everything you need comes to you. Well I would say that is pretty true.....and if you are lucky, sometimes it even comes to you while swimming in the ocean.

First it was patties! Yum



Then, later, it was even friends! Look who shows up



Eventually a group of just Booger, Pooper, Jon, Tizzy, Marley and Ninja, grew to also include Daisy, Markus, Guirigay, Sweetie Pie, Spottycatz and Indy Bob and Cindy and all we had to do was sit there and wait for them to come to us

After that it was Red Stripes





And then someone’s prayers were answered and the beer waitress even made special deliveries into the ocean....now THAT’S service!



We were all having such a good time that I didn’t even notice the REALLY dark clouds rolling in. I was laughing and drinking and then the thought came to me.....We are on scooters! So I turned to Ninja and said “ummmmm looking at the sky we better get on our scooters and get back up to Catcha before that is no longer an option” He agreed and so we quickly said our goodbyes and made plans to meet back up in a few hours at Canoe for the Thursday night webcast.

We gulped down our drinks, hurried out to the front, got on our scooters and headed back up the cliffs to Catcha. It started raining soon after we arrived so we went and chilled on our porch for a bit until it was time to get ready and head out to Canoe.

It was still raining a little when we decided to head to Canoe so we called a cab to take us down. On our way out of Catcha we saw Sweetness walking on the side of the road so we told our driver to stop and pick her up and even though it looked as if she were heading back to Catcha, we convinced her to join us at the party at Canoe, which she did with very little arm pulling.

When we arrived the party was well underway and all the usual suspects were there. Soon the birthday boy (Jon) and posse arrived by water taxi, moments later Spottycatz and IndyBob and Cindy arrived, then Daisy and Markus, and so on. Greeney and his steel drum band were playing sweet sounds and everyone was enjoying themselves. I decided I needed to order a drink to match my shirt (as a nod to Patty S.) so I ordered the Blue Canoe



And it was gooooooooood!

Next thing you know the waitress brings out a “Special” cake for Jon and the steel drums play Happy Birthday while everyone sings. I remember watching him “blow out the candle” and the smile on his face was priceless. I later remember saying to him “This is pretty much the worst birthday you’ve ever had, right?” hahahahahaha





After we all sang happy birthday, Mr Spottycatz joined Rasta Stan and the steel drum band and sang Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”



That is still one of my favorite Mr Spottycatz moments. I can look at that photo and instantly be transported back to that night in that spot watching him sing and dance while everyone else joined in. This was a fun night for sure!

After that I joined Rob for a few moments to read what all was going on in the chat and Markus and I gave everyone at home a quick view of our signature poses (“The Cinderella” and “Blue Steal”)

[Eden]

Marley,
Is that french toast really only one order?! Omg, it looks sooo good,and French toast is my fave breakfast, were you able to finish all that goodness on that plate?!
The lanterns are such a nice idea! Love how you matched the drink to your shirt! Ha!

[QUOTE=marley9808;58248][U][B]

[marley9808]

[QUOTE=Eden;58256]Marley,
Is that french toast really only one order?! Omg, it looks sooo good,and French toast is my fave breakfast, were you able to finish all that goodness on that plate?!
The lanterns are such a nice idea! Love how you matched the drink to your shirt! Ha!

[U][B]

Yes that is one order!!! French Toast is my favorite too, have always loved it and since the first time I had it at Xtabi (2007) I have NEVER had another that has come close to it. I just don't know what it is that makes it so good, but it is the best! You will have to give it a try and let me know if you agree.....and oh yes I finished that whole plate.....thats almost the only time I can finish a meal in Jamaica but I NEVER let that go to waste. I was sad that I only had it ONCE on this past trip....that is unusual for me, I will have to make up for it in December lol