Best Jamaican Foods

Days 1537 - 1543
Sunday, June 3 - Saturday, June 9, 2012  



Day 1537 ( Shopping at Uniqlo )
Sunday, June 3, 2012


Today I went to a famous clothing store in Japan known as Uniqlo to re-stock my wardrobe. Bought a couple working pants, jeans, working shirts and t-shirts. This is one of my biggest shopping sprees while living in Japan, because shopping here is too expensive. I even got this One Piece T-Shirt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 1538 ( Best Jamaican Foods )
Monday, June 4, 2012

Two of the teachers didn't have a clue that they had English today. I often wonder how and when this is communicated to the teachers??? How can they not know? I went to work and a teacher saw me, said good morning then said to another teacher "Hey, we have English today!!" and the other teacher was like "Ohh Really!!!"...... (shake my head).

Any way, I played one of my favourite games with the grade 3 and 4 children today. A game where 4 kids should draw or give their best drawing impression of what they see on the picture card.While the other students try to guess what it is they are attempting to draw. It was fun.

=======================

I blogged about a bunch of stuff concerning Japan. I'm going to start my Jamaica segment as of this blog. Starting with the best Jamaican foods. Other Jamaicans can say whatever they want, but these are definitely the best. I will list them randomly because I don't know how to rank them, except for my all time favourite, which you will know later. So without any further ado, here are the best Jamaican foods.


Patty/Cheese Patty

This tasty delight has a crust on the outside and has ground beef on the inside. Sometimes cheese is added to the beef and it becomes a cheese patty. My personal favourite is from a Jamaican food chain known as Juici Patties. There is also chicken patties, vegetable patties, lobster patties and whatnot, but the cheese patties are the best.

-----------------------

Stewed peas

This is read peas/beans and water mixed with some spices like pimento (all spice), scallion (green onion) and some other stuff. It eventually becomes really thick then added to rice and dumplings and sometimes pig's tail and beef. Its normally a little salty but really good.



------------------------

Banana Fritters 

I honestly don't know how wide spread this is in Jamaica, because I don't hear too many Jamaicans talking about it. However, my mom bakes it for me every now and again and it is really good. Its of course banana plus flour, maybe egg, sugar and yeah some other stuff. My mom usually add rum as well.

------------------------

Ox-tail 

This is exactly what it sounds like, but tastes even better.

------------------------


Banana / Plantain / Peanut porridge

As a child, I hated porridge. That was until I tasted the above 3. All great tasting, and a good way to start the morning.

------------------------

Curried goat

Many Jamaicans like this dish and for good reason. Its Great!! I learn to appreciate this more since I came to Japan, as the curry here is verrry different. Japanese in general also avoid goat meat because they think it stinks. Except in Hokkaido where one of the famous foods there is known as jingisukan, which is actually mutton.

------------------------

Manish water / Goat head soup

The very name goat head soup, does sound a bit gross, but I assure you that if you should ever have this soup, you will forget all about that name. That's if it is made properly. Unfortunately, I chiefly get to eat this in the country side of Jamaica and usually at a funeral. This is normally prepared in a gigantic pot because people ALWAYS!!! want more.

------------------------

Curried/Barbecue/Jerk Lobster from Likkle Ochie 

There is a restaurant by the beach in a parish called St. Elizabeth known as likkle (little) Ochie. I have only been there once with a couple of my friends from university. We had barbecued, curried and Jerk lobster and they were all AMAZING!!!!! ... I would go back there now to eat this again.

------------------------

Fried fish and Bammy or Festival

Many Japanese ask me if we eat fish in Jamaica....... Heck yes we do, its an island!! We just don't eat it raw.

Anyway, this is bammy, made from a plant known as cassava.

------------------------

Jerk chicken / Jerk Pork

Jerk chicken is my single favourite food in all the world. Jerk pork is a close second. Some persons in Jamaica avoid pork because of religious reasons. It must be noted though that anywhere there is a barbecue held in Jamaica, the pork is the first meat that is finished, even though many claim not to eat it. Where did the pork go?

All this blogging about Jamaican food is really taking its toll on me, so I will just stop right here. But these are the best foods in Jamaica though, don't worry about what others might say, just trust me.   : )

I noticed these 2 websites kept popping up while doing this blog, so you can go check them out.



http://www.jamaican-recipes.com/


http://www.jamaicans.com/cooking/soup/manish.shtml


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day 1539 (  )
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Had a full day of classes today, then a meeting afterwards with the soon to be English supporters. Most of them I knew from last year but there were about 2 new faces. One of the persons from last year is a 71 year old guy that doesn't really help me out in my classes at all. I wonder why they use him again. There is also another lady that look like she is in her late 60s who also doesn't help me out. Why are they here?

-------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day 1540 ( I can see Venus! )
Wednesday, June 6, 2012


Today, Venus passed between the earth and the sun. I was eating lunch when the teacher and students brought it to my attention. However again!!! the place was cloudy so at me school, all we could see were clouds. We could glimpse the sun, but no Venus.

----------------------------

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day 1541 ( )
Thursday, June 7, 2012

My first class was cancelled. Again because some teachers didn't realize they had English class today. This time it was at another school. Eventually, 2 classes had to come together. This means about 65 students. But they were well behaved so no problem.

---------------------------------

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day 1542 ( Welcome/Good Bye Party #2 / Heading to Kyoto )
Friday, June 8, 2012


Today was a busy day. Went to bed late Thursday night going into Friday morning at about 1:45 am. Then had to wake up at 7:30 am. Had 6 classes from 8:40am - 3:00 pm. Rushed back to my apartment to pack for Kyoto and get ready for the welcome/goodbye party. So by 5 pm, had to rush out with my luggage and then head to a French restaurant for my main school's welcome/ goodbye party. Last year this was at the Yokohama Intercontinental hotel, where a strand of hair was found in my expensive plate of food. Last year it cost 10,000 yen. This year, they subtracted only 1000 yen from the cost.


Anyway, 4 teachers left and were re-placed. One of the teachers was the one who introduced me to football here in Yokohama. He relocated to the Osaka area and said that his school now is really hard to deal with. So hard that he dropped football all together. Actually all teachers who left, gave a short speech and all of them complained about the new school that they were placed at now.


The food at this French restaurant was really good though I must admit. After the party, I was stuffed, but the other teachers wanted to stop at another restaurant. So a couple of us went to another restaurant, chatted for about an hour or so then I had to go catch my bus to Kyoto at 11:20 pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day 1543 ( Men In Black III )
Saturday, June 9, 2012

Slept on the bus while going to Kyoto. Got to my friend's house where I slept some more. We then went to watch Men in Black III. I thought it was going to flop but it was a pretty decent film. Good story and plot, great acting and overall a good watch. I give it a 8/10. The avengers that I also want to watch badly, won't be in Japanese theaters until July or August!!! Why??? But Spider man is also being advertised quite a bit here, and that will be out this month. That too I must see.


After the movies, I went with my friend to a Jamaican restaurant in Kyoto. This restaurant has been around since 1986.... The food is great and the restaurant has a nice vibe. That generally area of Kyoto has nice feel.