Trips are only as good as the food that is involved

In this post I am going to take you on a trip down memory lane to my first trip to Jamaica. This was the beginning of my love of all different foods and where trying new foods began.  This was the trip of a lifetime!  Not because of the destination or because of the opportunity I got at such a young age, but because of the adventure that most people miss out on.  It moved me from appreciating my midwest food to enjoying the savory varieties that the rest of the world has to offer.  Learning the importance of eating the way the perfected dishes of locals and enjoying the freshest fruits areas have to offer.  I enjoyed conversations specifically about the spices and smells of the dishes in front of me.

Growing up in a very rural part of Michigan, we had vegetable gardens and a lot of fresh fruit from U-Pick berry patches and orchards.  My mom canned all our spaghetti sauce, salsa and strawberry jam.  She also made fresh bread and cookies every week.  It was great and I was lucky to have such quality homemade food.  I felt like other kids were really missing out on the good foods I got to enjoy on a regular basis.  As I look back now, I did have it pretty darn good, but I can see that what I thought were great, awesome experiences were just a drop in the bucket compared to what lay in store for me!  There is so much fun in variety. 

This is where it all began.

A few years ago, when I was in high school, (ok, ok so it’s been a lot more years than I care to admit), I went on a mission trip with my church youth group to Jamaica.  When you think of this beautiful island, a lot of people think of Bob Marley, steel drums, very friendly people and gorgeous beaches.  My experience was one that introduced me not only to a new culture, but new spices, new dishes and a new way of cooking and preparing foods.  This was the moment my taste buds grew and expanded into wanting to try new and exciting flavors.  

THE TRIP

When we landed in Jamaica we drove over to “our side” of the island. Our group leaders stopped at a restaurant, (it was like Jamaica’s version of McDonald’s) so we could try a pasty.  I will be honest, I had never had a pasty before.  Since I grew up in Michigan, I probably should have had one by this point in life, but maybe that is more of an Upper Peninsula thing.  Between the Jamaican curry in the flaky crust and the Scotch Bonnet used in the meat, it was SO GOOD!  It was a delicious smoky flavor and just enough spice to wake up my taste buds!  

We stayed in a little hotel named the Waterloo Inn.  Our group had rooms on the 2nd story, the rooms were facing out with a balcony wrapping around the hotel. The balcony overlooked the courtyard, pool & part of the town.  It was quite lovely.  At first thought this did not seem like this was a 5 star hotel.  Although I soon saw how their fantastic service and pride in their work proved otherwise.  Dinner was served in courses, which I had never experienced before.  I fell in love with the idea of focusing on one dish and set of flavors at a time, enjoying every bite and waiting for the next wonderful course to appear.

The staff made sure they served every guest with class and proper etiquette. The table was set every night with cloth napkins and full tableware, not just a fork and knife rolled into the napkin.  After every course, plates were cleared away and the next course was served.  Dessert was always offered as well as coffee or tea.  I always opted for tea as coffee was served black and I had not acquired the taste for coffee of any flavor just yet. I felt so special eating the dishes they worked so hard preparing.  In this moment food became more than something to woof down and run to the next event.  It became something to savor and enjoy.  Eating became the event of the evening, something I have always enjoyed since.  This has paved the way for family dinners with a proper table setting and has created nights of appetizers and desserts on a normal weekday night.  This experience changed the way food is prepared and presented in my home.  I am so grateful this led to my family eating dinner together and not rushing to the next event, but sitting, talking and laughing a lot.  

The first course was a soup similar to our chicken soup but was called cock soup.  I must admit that I was so sheltered from foods outside the midwest ,that at first I thought it was temperature hot.  After only 2 or 3 spoonfuls, I realized that it was spicy hot. I had never eaten anything with spices throughout the entire dish.  I had only experienced people putting hot sauce or peppers on the dish.  This became so exciting to me.  Every bite was spicy and full flavored.  It took the week to get used to this and not take a drink with every bite, but I knew that full flavor of spices was going to stay in my life and it wasn’t long after I got back to the states that I missed that soup.  The soup was served every night at dinner and I truly looked forward to it.  

We enjoyed food that Jamaicans ate quite often but were brand new or served in a way we’d never had before.  There was...

One of the girls in our youth group loved cheese cake!  We had the same waiter every night and it didn’t take him long to know that she would always choose the fresh cheesecake for dessert!  

Since goat is becoming more popular in America, I think it would be a good time to elaborate on the curry goat.  What is great about this dish is that you can use any cut of meat from the goat.  The first time I ever experienced it, it was made with neck meat.  It was very salty but with such a rich flavor because the bones are left in to simmer, the marrow cooks down with the meat and adds more flavor as well as being marinated for 24 hours.  The easiest way to eat this and still get all the meat was to eat everything, bones and all!   Or you could utilize the little side plate that most of the tourists use to place the bones on.  This meal was quite the delicacy because in Jamaica, as well as the States, goat is more expensive than other meats.  

Growing up bluegill was the fish we had the most.  I liked it and loved my tartar sauce that went along with it!  Imagine my worry when the night we had red snapper, or Escovitch, and there was no tartar sauce in sight!  Soaked in vinegar, Jamaican allspice and scotch bonnet peppers, this red snapper was where I learned that not all fish needed tartar sauce.  The sweet, tangy goodness of vinegar, followed by the spice of the scotch bonnet peppers is all that is needed to give this fish dish the distinct flavor.  No tartar sauce neccessary!

I had limeade for the first time too.  Made with fresh limes, I would choose limeade over lemonade any day now as an adult.  We even tried guineps.  Guineps are a great traveling food in the fact that they have a skin on them similar to a lime, only thinner so it is easy to peel and easy to eat.  The texture of the fruit inside reminded me of the inside of a grape.  Our group leaders showed us how to eat the guinep by peeling part of the skin away and then sucking the jelly-like pulp out of the skin.  They had a sweet and tangy taste which one boy in our youth group enjoyed just a little too much.  (Side note; if you have too many guineps, you most likely will end up with a case of the Jamaican Jollies cured only with time or Kaopectate :{).   This was a fun food for most of us to try. 

And now, the rest of the story... 

There is one food from this trip though that I remember most vividly. I was helping the pastor of the church where we were holding Vacation Bible School for the local kids, cutting up fruit for snack time.  He asked if I had ever tried each of the different fruits before.  At first I started to think he was a little disappointed when I said yes to each fruit until there was one fruit in particular he asked me to try.  I had told him yes, I had eaten it before.  He smiled and said that I had never tasted it like this before and handed me a piece.  OH MY GOODNESS!  This man was right!  He laughed when I tried it and exclaimed that I would never be able to eat pineapple back home ever again!  It was so sweet and so juicy!  It almost fell apart in my mouth. 

Sometimes when I buy pineapple now, I will let it sit on the counter for a few days before I cut into it.  I think it does taste a little sweeter and juicier than if I cut into it right away.  And I’m pretty sure I even tell the story every time about the first time I had pineapple in Jamaica!

It's multi-functional too!

Over the years, pineapples have become very popular

• in jewelry,
• prints on clothes,
• in our home decor 
• even on the covers of journals and planners. 
• You can find pineapples to decorate any room of your house and in any style you could ever want!  

Pineapples have actually been an important part of home decor in America since colonial times.  They are a symbol of hospitality and friendship. When I first moved out of my parents house and was setting up a home of my own, I imagined that I would have friends over and dinner parties.  I wanted to entertain and have a home where people gathered.  I envisioned that when I had kids of my own,  our house would be the place that their friends would come over and hang out.  Christmas, New Years, and Halloween parties, even fall bonfires and winter sledding parties would become regular traditions.  What is more fun for a symbol of friendship and welcome than a bright, golden colored pineapple?!   When fully ripe, its fragrance is so sweet and pleasant.  What better way to show your hospitality like a queen, than with a pineapple with its sturdy green crown!  The next get-together you are invited to and not quite sure what you should take as a hostess gift or dish to pass, think about a fresh pineapple!