Delicious, Fashion's Night Out (FNO) and Food Quiz Winners

FASHION's NIGHT OUT

Thanks to the Jamaica Observer, international Fashion's Night Out (FNO), returned to our shores and created a huge buzz across the island. Congrats to the team for the 'hurricane effect' that got the masses to hit the streets to take advantage of discounted fashions at numerous retail shops.

Many of my peers said #FNOJA was a great idea but just bad timing for Jamaicans given as one Facebook friend coined "BTS" (Back to School). Yes dear friends many pockets were weak but the eyes were rich with sight as 'window shopping' was the order of the evening. At least that was our observation at stores we visited. Despite the traffic, my team and I decided to venture to the first store on our list - Nylorac Beauty Bar. One may say make-up has no business with food but stay with us and you'll see the surprise connection.

En route to Nylorac, we stumbled upon breath-taking decor displayed in the common area by TaiFloraLuxe that created a great entrance and vibe to the fun-filled evening that lied ahead.

 

Once we got over the TaiFloraLuxe wow effect, whimsical bubbles greeted us at Nylorac's entrance which completed the FNO ambiance. 

Carolyn Yapp is Miss Jamaica Universe 2009 and owner of Nylorac (it's her name spelt backwards). She has a warm personality but it is her sense of humor that sealed the deal to make MyEliteGrocer (Meg), a loyal customer. Hope you will find these purse-worthy gum packages to be humorous as much as we did.

Soy candles and products made with various food-based scents like sweet, organic coconut oil, Mediterranean fig and pomegranate appealed to Meg's yummy-sensibilities. With a single whiff of Pacificia's Brazilian Mango Grapefruit solid perfume, Meg was mesmerized and immediately thought about the many occasions to wear it. Evening and or everyday wear rang popular. The compact perfume may be deemed pricey however when one considers the ease of travel (with no opportunity for spillage) coupled with its concentrated formula, shoppers will come to find that the cost is justifiable. 

When next stuck in traffic along Barbican Road, pop into Nylorac at Loshusan's Center they'll be sure to have your fix for a calming and relaxing evening alone or with that special someone. By the way testers are on display to help make the best choice.

 Well done on your unique & oustanding product selection, Carolyn. 

The Nylorac Beauty Bar is here to stay. Visit!

FNO came to a close for us at Flirt Boutique. There Meg munched on generous helpings of roasted red pepper hummus with whole wheat cracker and chicken pasta salad with almond and black olives. This was complemented by a glass of Merlot (I forgot to get the name :-() but it was 'delish'! Unsure if we were swayed by the red wine or not but our NCB KeycardBiz made an appearance in support of FNO... Really we simply had to 'land' a flirtatious little, black dress and tidbits (wink).

Hey we even spotted Jamaican mega-entertainer, Sean Paul, rocking his 'mohawk-do' at Flirt. He and his friends certainly made for great FNO vibe. Cheers to making #FNOJA even bigger and better in 2011!

FOOD QUIZ WINNERS

Literally 5-min after posting our food quiz, Dmitri Dawkins correctly answered with NONI and won 1-dz plantain tarts. Here he is receiving his prize.Congrats again Dmitri!

It was the bonus question that proved to be more challenging and as @sweetpersona stated after 3 unsuccessful attempts for the prized coconut macaroon cookies, "this is gonna give me a headache." Shortly after that pronouncement, Tricia, a new visitor to our blog made the right guess. THE ANSWER ladies and gentlemen was SEA ALMOND! Congrats Tricia, please contact us so arrangements can be made to deliver your gift.

Much thanks to everyone who participated in the last Food Quiz. Better luck next time.

MEDUSA'S

This secluded watering hole, recently hosted a bird fest. The bird is prepared in three ways - Honey garlic, escoveitched and deep fried bird. Yum, yum and yum, they are all delicious. Make no mistake the average Joe will not have the special 'bird' touch that Chef Lancelot is known for. Just like rice only special hands can wondrously 'swell' the 'bickle'. So each year, many local game fans especially the Driftwood Gun Club members, visit Medusa to enjoy the bird fare. The Jamaica Gleaner covered last Tuesday's event and in my humble view, did a great job. Click here to check it out or go one better and take friends along for the experience - every Tuesday before the Bird Season ends.

- Megaliciously yours

Springroll, Tweet-Up and Quiz

SPRINGROLL, Asian Fusion
There's a new restaurant on Knutsford Blvd, Kingston's hip strip, called Springroll. Formerly occupied by Wendy's and conveniently located beside, JN Money Shop, the restaurant is nicely decorated and armed with a sweet, secret weapon - the charming, Maitre D', Maple! "Yes, maple as in maple syrup" Gotta love that! :-)

One can now easily dine in a single spot for proverbial Asian food favorites - Chinese, Thai and Japanese. Interestingly while Springroll is an Asian appetizer, on entering the restaurant the golden brown, deep fat fried, wonton-wrapper filled with shredded vegetables and or pork was the furthest thing from my mind. First thought: Deals can and will be sealed here! 2nd - Thai food; 3rd - More Thai :-)

Fried Cane Bar Shrimp and Sweet Potato Tempura (sugarcane wrapped with shrimp and sweet potato) was ordered. As you can see, the presentation was excellent. The combination was interesting with generous amounts of shrimp. By the 2nd bite, I convinced myself that it was a good appetizer. Will order again but hope the type of sugarcane used (young and not local) will be amended.

It was time for the entree - Thai styled chicken with mango slices. Without question it was a 'hit'

Whenever in New Kingston or to awaken the Foodie within, think Springroll. In case you are wondering, they validate parking in the lot opposite the restaurant. This was great to hear and recommended its inclusion on marketing paraphernalia. Springroll is Asian fusion indeed! Visit soon.

TWEET-UP
The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel hosted another TweetUp (with hashtag #JPTweetUp2 and #JPTweetUp) . This time the event was held by Gardens at the Pegasus. Great! since attendees would see how diverse Kingston's premiere hotel is. Perhaps a wedding location for a Tweety couple or birthday celebration :-). Save for immense humidity, JPTweetUp2 was wonderful! Sumptuous fare and an open bar were offered including Jerked pork, Jerked chicken, Escoveitched fish, miniature Bammy and Festival (aka Hush Puppy), Callaloo quiche and my favorite find, Ackee in breadfruit 'boat.' Appetizers - hot wings and fresh fruit were featured along with a large Dessert station. Mini coconut gizzadas were nice gems and fondly remembered from the inaugural TweetUp.

TweetUp: Part 2 had a large turn out with over 300 people (tweeple) who RSVP'd online to the exclusive, social media event within 8-hrs!!! The power of Twitter was highlighted since on a whole, Jamaicans tend to shy away from RSVPing functions including a wedding let alone a Friday evening lyme! LOL. Another creative accomplishment was that  marketing tactic of hinting to persons to "hold on to their receipts issued from the hotel" - Maverick! It created a psychological effect and got the TweetUp buzz going at least 2-weeks before the event. Sales for the 24-Seven Cafe went through the roof since just about all RSVPs made multiple visits to the hotel for lunch, dinner or a drink prior to TweetUp for a chance to win a prize.

Calico Jack (@calicojack) returned as the event's exclusive Rum Punch sponsor. 'Rum punch-on-the-go' is delightful and readily available in nearby supermarkets. From memory many enjoyed Calico Jack but given the heat my guess is water ruled the evening. @ElvaJamaica was a good emcee and deejay, Collin Hines had 'tweeple' in a musical frenzy. Other sponsors got significant attention namely: NCB Wealth (led by the lovely Charmaine Wright @GoCharms), Jamaica National (YAY! Mike) and Palace Amusement (@PalaceMovies). Could a Twitter financial product be on the horizon, I wonder? 

Kudos to Prudence Simpson (@JamaicaPegasus) and the Jamaica Pegasus team for hosting another brilliant and well-organized event but I missed your Jamaican-styled Tweetini.

Photo credit: HiltonCancun.com

Although a tiny oversight, for my friends and I, it represented 'the' Jamaica Pegasus signature drink that helped to solidify our first TweetUp experience (get a glimpse here). I hastily suggest that the Food and Bev. Manager make it a permanent addition to the 24-Seven Cafe menu. Hey, wouldn't YOU be willing to put on 'combat boots' to be the mayor of Jamaica Pegasus (on four square) for a free or heavily discounted Tweetini? Also could Jamaica Pegasus be the first Jamaican hotel to offer a Twitter special (say 10% OFF rack rate; 20% OFF local rate)? Just think this would attract 'tweeple' worldwide, to initiate hotel bookings via Twitter. Am sure they would be in heaven if they were to be greeted with a Tweetini upon arrival. For patrons at the 24-Seven Cafe, if my hospitality experience proves right, once that magnetic blue drink is served, another will be ordered by someone else in the room. "Excuse me I would like to have one of those please" :-) Bet?

A lot of prizes were given away at TweetUp inclusive of a weekend for 2 at SecretsResorts in Mobay; Blackberry smart-phone directly sponsored by Canadian-based Research In Motion Ltd; private movie screening tickets from Palace Amusement and take this opportunity to congratulate all of the winners. Perhaps on the next occasion I will be as lucky as @Persephone101 and @SweetPersona. It is hoped a leading Jamaican-based telecommunications entity will read today's blog for surely with all that talk about 3G, 4G, IPTV and each having their own product launch, one would have thought Claro, Digicel or Lime would have had a presence. Sigh. I say they all need to take their heads out of the sand, and pay keen attention to the core users of social media networking. Join JamaicaPegasus who have stepped outside of traditional media, embraced social media and ARE reaping the benefits [$] of attracting the audience that every telephony entity should be clamoring for. Come on Corporate Jamaica be Tweety!!!

Overall, it was great to see Prudence Simpson [@JamaicaPegasus], Karin Wilson-Edmonds [@YardEdge], Chris Mills [@ChrysalisCeo], Ingrid Riley [@SiliconCaribe] and Malikah Peart [@mallypea]. I finally met in person @GoCharms [Go NCB :-)] and Therese Chambers [@Reesy11] who are both beautiful ladies. Talking with Jamaican iron lady of media, Mrs. Marcia Forbes [@marciaforbes] and @forresterod from our @KingstonBeta meeting was also refreshing. By the way, stay tuned for Mrs. Forbes' book, Youths Online. TweetUp2 was used to aid her research. Hear that telecom giants?

Last but not least, a special 'shout out' to the After-TweetUp posse in the 24-Seven Cafe @Dmitridawkins, @Drmunroe, @Biancawelds, @Persephone101 who along with @GMPegasus, @CBPegasus and I jammed until the wee hours.

Bianca, Allison, Dmitri and I;             Photo: Daniel Munroe

FOOD QUIZ

For today's quiz, we ventured over to San San Beach in Port Antonio, Jamaica

QUIZ: Win freshly made Jamaican plantain tarts if YOU are the 1st to correctly name the item shown here: -

Hint: Ends with an 'i'

BONUS: Get FREE megalicious, coconut macaroon cookies if YOU can tell me the name of this item: -   

Hint: Found at San San Beach, Port Antonio

 The above quiz will close on Tues 7/Sept at 7p.m (EST). 

Winners will be posted at  myelitegrocer.blogspot.com on Wednesday, 8/Sept @ 8p.m (EST)  

May the best person win!

- Megaliciously yours


p.s Dear Readers: I had a super busy week and just got around to posting this blog. So sorry. Also, the special feature on Medusa's Bird Fest will instead be published on Wed. 8/Sept. MyEliteGrocer.com is officially seeking a sparkling, Assistant with a 'can-do' approach and will be working assiduously to have the post filled to ensure blogs are published in a timely manner. Thanks in advance for your patience as MEG works through this 'hiccup'.

And the winner is...

Last week we had a 'Name the Fruit' quiz. The prize was 1-dozen freshly baked, Jamaican plantain tarts. Today, we are happy to announce the winner ....

Mrs. Hinds-Smith, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Univ. of Technology

She correctly provided the name of the fruit...it's called a Mountain Cherry!

Yes, grown right here in Jamaica. Visit the fruit vendors at Loshusan's Barbican Centre or along South Avenue in Kingston and you will find these little gems. [Note: They will be out of season in the next 2weeks.] Mountain Cherries can be found in the hills of St. Mary. You will be amazed at the types of exotic fruit that are found in JA that often sit idle, unattended or people just do not know what they are. I could not help but to chuckle when a fruit vendor said to me "Miss, mi nuh know ah wah but yessideh mi see people ah buy it so mi decide fi pick and sell." The simple pleasure of food discovery and our colorful story-telling manner coupled with quick-thinking business spirit makes me fall in love with Jamaica over and over again.

Have you spotted a unique fruit in Jamaica recently? Tell us your story and send a picture (if possible) to info@myelitegrocer.com

As a little send-off treat for my friend Stephy who will be attending Tuft's School of Dental Medicine in Boston we settled on Tamarind Restaurant, a new spot offering Indian cuisine in Kingston. Although the food and the service were good it was a chance meeting with fellow Foodies - the ever charming JuicyChef, Jacqui Sinclair and Dale Pilgrim-Wade, HR professional and Blogger of Transition Sunshine, that made our day extra special. From our group chat, we quickly realized that we had a lot in common and will be meeting up again real soon! Upon Dale's suggestion, I attended a live cooking demonstration with Virginia Burke, author of EAT CARIBBEAN and WALKERSWOOD CARIBBEAN KITCHEN. The event was held at Bookland in New Kingston and from pictures below you will see why I was happy I attended. [Thanks Dale!!!]

One may think of Caribbean cooking with various unique and flavorful spices as intimidating but with Virginia, it was made easy. With her warm and personable style, everyone in the audience embraced Virginia's kitchen tales and cooking tips. I found myself reminiscing about my childhood adventures in the kitchen. My thoughts meandered around God-awful kiddie creations that were nevertheless eaten by my parents (bless their hearts & tummies). Fragrant smells of pimento, coconut oil and garlic 'calypso-danced' around Bookland and broke my mini 'day-dreaming' spell just in time to snap pictures and sample Virginia's fare.

First up was escoveitched chicken salad.

Typically Jamaicans make escoveitched fish so this was a welcomed twist. The star of this dish is the sauce that is comprised of vinegar, slivers of carrots, onion rings, whole pimento seeds and sometimes shredded 'cho-cho'.

Pumpkin fritters with love apple sauce soon followed.

Pumpkin for breakfast? Well let me tell you prior to this cooking demo I would not have thought but as it turned out it is one of the most delicious tasting fritter I have ever tried. So a fritter isn't exactly the most good looking thing but consider it a canvas of sorts with which you and your family can make fun shapes adding tomatoes and such for eye-popping color. If love does not shine through then you will certainly be captivated by the aroma of coconut oil when blended with the batter! Once the fritter has turned golden brown let it sit for a bit before adding the love apple sauce.

Both creations were megalicious! I can hardly wait to try recipes at my next social with friends. Purchasing EAT CARIBBEAN is simply a must!

Visit us next week for a review on the newest addition to the New Kingston strip - Springroll, an Asian Fusion restaurant and in celebration of Bird season in Jamaica we will be 'hopping' over to Medusa for Medusa Tuesdays at 96 Hope Rd in Liguanea for exciting bird fare.

- Yours megaliciously

Loving You...Appleton Rum

For centuries, J. Wray & Nephew has produced the world famous, Appleton Rum, and has walked away with coveted medals and awards for its hand-blended 'gold'.

So you can imagine Meg's excitement when the opportunity presented itself to join family friends on the Appleton Estate Rum Tour in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica! You'll see from our video clip below some of the 'awesomeness' found.

Yup, we had a ball! And so will YOU!...Ask for Hugh, a warm and happy Appleton Tour Guide. In fact, we found ALL team members to be very hospitable. So book your ticket and come to Jamaica, man :-)

Here's a bit of new Green info - Appleton has been known to recycle byproducts such as bagasse ('trash' after extracting the juice from sugarcane) along with having their own electricity supply. In 2010, Appleton will be taking one step further to transitioning from a mechanical&manual operation to 'Green Cane Harvesting'! This eco-friendly technique does away with burning the sugar cane fields prior to harvesting that will help to preserve the environment and reduce the company's carbon footprint. Plus, the distillery plant will be enhanced since plants and external doors are often covered in 'black soot' left behind from the burning of sugarcane fields nearby. Appleton Estate and its parent, J. Wray and Nephew, are to be commended and we are sure Jamaica's ECCO Magazine will be pleased.

Overall MEG recommends the Appleton Estate tour as an incentive for staff at companies - locally or abroad, as a family 'staycation', excursion with friends, high-school & university chemistry students or just because. And hey if non-alcohol fans think a trip to the makers of premium liquor would be unappealing, think again...There is much history to learn, demonstrations to see and one would feel satisfied especially for Caribbean 'connectedness'. Besides, you will see beautiful resident peacocks and even a red-headed pheasant.

For an enhanced experience, pre-book for the Appleton tour lunch package and if you are so lucky participate in the Appleton Academy where you can have the chance to meet the Master Blender, Mrs. Joy Spence, under whose guidance you will learn to make your blend of rum! How do you like 'em apples? :-)) For scouts or production people, the Appleton Estate is the perfect location for a movie or commercial. Just don't forget to send a megalicious finder's fee :-))

Also, did you know MEG does customized Ciggiez 'N' Rum packages? Share with us your price point, delivery location and we'll help to make an indelible impression for your client, supplier or special occasion. Place your order at myelitegrocer.com, e-mail info@myelitegrocer.com or give us a call. Guess what? Rum from J. Wray & Nephew especially Appleton Rum Cream, Appleton V/X and 21-year old Appleton are the most requested rum products! Having sampled their newest liqueur called Rumona, we can hardly wait for it to hit the international market as we feel Rumona will be equally popular.

Quick tip: Miniature Appleton Special or Rum Cream liqueur bottles are great for wedding giveaways and guests will fall in love with Jamaican Rum Punch during a cocktail hour.

On another note, we apologize for the absence of last week's blog. Unfortunately we had technical issues and will soon be transferring to Word Press. We'll keep you posted. As a make-up offering, comment below or on today's video blog (on youtube) and have a chance of winning 1-dozen freshly baked authentic Jamaican plantain tarts!

What's required? Simply be the first to correctly name the fruit shown below.

Megalicious hint: It's tastes similar to 'coolie' plum but has 4-seeds :-)

The offer noted above expires at 4p.m, Aug 20th (EST) and is limited to Kingston delivery locations. The winner will be made known on our twitter page at 8p.m (EST) Friday, Aug 20th.