Monty & Melo's "5 Months Mon Goat Can Eat" Trip Report - Oct 2012

[Monty&Melo]

The whole meal cooked pretty quickly, the reason such a young goat is used is that the meat is very tender to begin with so it cooks quickly and doesn’t have as much “barnyard” flavor as they say. We even had some time to fry some chicken for the girls on the coolest grill I have ever seen:

The chicken well spiced and ready




Chicken frying….



That is just a wheel with hot coals in it and a trivet on top. The pan sets atop the trivet and gets very hot. I am making myself one of these next weekend, along with a jerk chicken barrel, I will post pics when I am done….

Finally it was time to eat….the party was held around a great little outdoor kitchen, complete with seats, a sink, many grills and nice tile work….



Everything was delicious…..even the Mannish Water!!!



Doesn’t it look like I am enjoying it!!!



I will be the first to admit that the Mannish Water was interesting....the broth was great and the veges in the soup were very good too. The goat parts however....let's just say it is an acquired taste. I could see me eating it again, but I don't think I am going to order it for dinner every night of my next trip. I'm glad I tried it though, check another thing off the list as they say....

Now the party is in full force……



Time for the Noni Juice…..I hear its good for the Bamboo!!! Melo looks less than impressed



We had a great time at the BBQ, it was truly a real Jamaican experience and we were welcomed by our hosts. During our conversations, we discussed tourism, Americans that travel to Jamaica and how most of them never see the real Jamaica, interact with real Jamaicans or even get out of the compound enough to give Jamaica a chance. It was fun getting Jamaican perspectives on things like that, it lets you know that a lot of Jamaicans are interested in what goes on, not only because tourism is good for their pocketbook (I think everyone at the party was employed in the tourism industry in one way or the other from hotel employees to taxi and bus drivers), but because they want people to come to their country and leave impressed with what they see. You can be impressed by the beauty of a big all-inclusive hotel but in order to be truly impressed, you need to peel away a few layers, get to know some people and see how they live and how the country is really put together. Sure there are some rough edges, but hanging out in the yard that day really reinforced with me the true beauty of Jamaica and its people and culture. OK…enough philosophy….I am not that good at this stuff anyway.

He headed back to the beach as it was nearing Sunset and we had taken up enough of these folks’ time. We were able to snap a couple of sunset pics to cap another great day in Jamaica





Tomorrow is our last full day in Jamaica before heading home