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Kingston Kitchen tomorrow!

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Hey Foodies, Kingston Kitchen returns to Hope Gardens tomorrow from 6pm to midnight. They claim it is their 5th anniversary. I am sure most of us remember the first staging about 3 years ago? Go figure.

Pre-sold tickets are now $800JMD. But do not think this is a cheap event. I believe the concept has been lost a little. Less sampling, more selling and successful sponsors who everybody knows about already, take up a lot of space. Maybe it is part of their deal with the organizers. If you have been to a few of the recent stagings, you would realise you need to travel with some cash, minimum $3000JMD excluding entry money, if you choose about 2 or 3 vendors wisely plus drinks. Otherwise carry more, especially if it is a family night or you are carrying a date. Some spots may have regular plates, lots will have cocktail plates, so be sure to walk around if you are concerned about value for money and head there early!

Who will be there?

● Fromage Gourmet Market

● Sheriff Gourmet BBQ Ribs

● NCR Sheep Ltd. – Fresh, Local Lamb 

● Chef Brian Lumley with Best Dressed Chicken Jamaica

● Tooksie Kay Catering

● Soupie

● Liqy Liqy – All Natural Popsicles

● Street Food Saturdays

● Tea Trea Creperie

● Fork in the Road Food Truck from Mandeville

  ….. and more!

Pre-sold tickets can be bought at Candy Craze (Manor Park), Chocolate Dreams Jamaica (Devon House), Cafe Blue (Sovereign) and Tea Tree Creperie (80 Lady Musgrave Rd.).

If you don’t get to try everything, take some cards for another time.

Have fun !

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Expensive Jamaican Cuisine at the Grog Shoppe

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Grog Shoppe Restaurant

Ph#: 876-906-7165; 876-908-4310

Address: Devon House, Hope Road. Kingston

Date of visit: 14/08/15

NB. Ratings fill 5 stars maximum

Parking: ★★★★★

Ambience: ★★★★☆

Decor: ★★★☆☆

Comfort: ★★★★☆

Service: ★★★★☆

Speed: ★★★★☆

Food quality: ★★★★☆

Serving amount: ★★★★★

Plating: ★★★☆☆

Value for $: ★★★☆☆

SuGa Endorsement: 3.5/5

Comments:

Good service: Waiter was polite, able to explain menu to a large group, attentive and service was quick.

Indoor and Outdoor dining.

Prices were high for Jamaican cuisine, especially for a regular Jamaican lunch. Some of the other dishes on the menu include Braised Oxtail ($2200JMD), Boneless Jerk Pork ($2000JMD) and Ackee and Salt Fish with Bammy ($1500JMD). Serving size was good though.

For their International cuisine menu, some items are high while some are comparable to other restaurants. They have Braised Lamb Shank for $4500JMD, Smoked Marlin Platter for $3000JMD. Pastas range from $1300-3000JMD.

They also have a menu for Kids and a Drink menu with a wide range of items to pick, choose and refuse.

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Schedule for the Track and Field World Championships in Beijing!

The Jamaican athletes have returned to Beijing! Are they ready?! Can they make the same impact as the last time they were there? We shall see.

Kemar Bailey-Cole is injured so count him out of the 100m and our 4*100m Men’s relay team has been weakened. The ladies’ 4*100m team is not as strong either. But when our athletes hit the track, we know they will do their best and make us proud.

The World Champs starts this Friday but the real action starts this Saturday when the Jamaicans show up on the track. See the schedule for Saturday and Sunday below. Note that the Men’s 100m final will be this Sunday morning! Will lightning strike? Jamaica has been experiencing sudden showers of rain.

Suga will post the day by day schedule to keep you in the loop so stay tuned.

This SATURDAY, AUG. 22 & SUNDAY, AUG. 23

*Jamaicans are expected to compete in the races highlighted in green

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Also, have you seen Shelly’s hair? Go Pocket Rocket!

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Tea Tree’s Crappy Service but Good Crêpes

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My fiancé and I visited Tea Tree’s fairly new location on Lady Musgrave Rd. for a lunch date last Saturday afternoon at about 4:00pm. The staff greeted us nicely and we chose to sit outside. Though inside was lovely with the AC, outside was cool as well, had comfortable seating and a quiet ambience with light, modern music. We were waiting for a little while and wondered why because we thought the waitress would walk with us and hand us the menu. She came out without the menu and when I told her I thought she was bringing it out she responded that she was going to clean the table first because it gets dusty out there sometimes. That could have been done simultaneously. I certainly do not need to rest the menu on the table to read it. On the other hand, if the table was not prepared, she should have asked us to wait a few minutes for her to ensure it was, seat us and then provide the menu. Perhaps more training is needed?

We were left with the menu for some time to make a decision. The waitress returned and took our orders, but to my disappointment there was no Guacamole for the White Corn chips and no Gluten-free OR Vegan Crêpes available. That should have been mentioned when we were given our menus. Luckily we were people with a flexible diet. So we ordered the Hummus and Pesto Pita Chips instead, the Chicken au Poulet Crêpe (Chicken breast, mushrooms, white wine dill sauce and mozzarella) and Beef Stroganoff Crêpe (mushrooms, onions, creamy stroganoff with beef tenderloin).

The appetizer arrived quickly with the boring waitress and it was alright. The Crêpes arrived in reasonable time afterwards and looked like huge servings. Huge servings they were because I was full when I was finished. Compared to my visit at the previous location, the Crêpes were now more filling and tastier. Service was better then though. The flavour of the creamy stroganoff and mushrooms was especially delightful, complementing the fork-tender beef quite well. As we were chatting and enjoying our Crêpes, we noticed that we were not given a Drink menu. We requested one and they did not have any mint leaves to make their popular Magic Mint lemonade. Really?! What did they have? Someone needs to do a proper inventory and have a chat with some local farmers if the crop isn’t meeting the demand. So I had a plain lemonade that was not as refreshing, but filled the void that water could not.

A different waiter came to us, a quite charming young man unlike the dull waitress before, asking if everything was ok and if we needed anything else. Was he for the night crowd? What a difference! I didn’t get his name but I know our experience would have been much better with him. Anyhow, we asked for the bill, then I decided before I left I would leave ‘Suga Lifestyle’ along with something I liked on the glass window. Space was limited but there was some high up. The waiter gave me the cup of markers, I took one and he brought the ladder. Being just 5ft 4″, I realized with the long stretch that if I wrote in common letters it would not be legible so just decided I was going to write ‘Suga Lifestyle’ in all caps and leave it at that. As I was doing so, I was shouted at across the room to keep it small. Based on the tone used, the fact that I wasn’t a 5 year old and knowing that they would soon run out of space anyway, I quickly finished writing in the one line I planned to and started to step down to hear the same nagging voice closer behind me, apparently one of the ladies in charge, saying just to put a signature etc., also asking what I wrote. I enlightened her that it was just Suga Lifestyle, I do reviews and walked out the door. Sadly I couldn’t leave right away because we needed to pay the bill. The silver lining so I wouldn’t leave completely annoyed? I got my Pop-Up Gourmet Discount and left with a full, satisfied tummy.

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Tea Tree Crêperie Sweets & Savouries

Location: 80 Lady Musgrave Rd. Unit #2. Kingston 10, Jamaica 

Ph.: 876-978-7333 

Email: [email protected]

Website (includes menu): www.teatreecreperie.com

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The Weekend in Sports – Michael Phelps is back, Tiger Woods’ record broken, Chelsea beaten 3-0 and more!

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What a weekend of Sports! Suga had no idea the weekend would be packed with so many Championships, drama and talent, but the Sports channels certainly delivered some unexpected treats and entertainment.

Swimming – U.S. Nationals in San Antonio

Michael Phelps (30 years old), the most decorated Olympian is not only back but back in Olympic form with 1 year to RIO! Phelps was out of the picture for a while, especially with his 6-month suspension for a DUI that ended 4 months ago. However, he was still not allowed to enter the World Championships in Russia. Instead he was confined to swimming in a more minor, but still important and respected National meet in San Antonio, USA.

Looks like they should have sent him to Kazan, Russia though, because Phelps’ times were faster than the Gold-winning times there. USA also had a poor performance only winning 2 individual gold medals! Phelps’ 3 individual events were the 100m Fly, 200m Fly and 200m IM. He had a late entry in the 200m Breast stroke perhaps just for practice, since he is worst at that one. He finished 5th in that race. But for his 3 main performances? He was body lengths ahead, racing against the clock and not the field. His 200m Fly time was faster than his Gold winning performance at the London Olympics and his 100m FLY and 200m IM times were just tenths of a second off. Spectacular performance. Can the legend on the track, Usain Bolt show he is back and ready for RIO too at the World Championships in Beijing this August 23?!

Golf – PGA Championship

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Jason Day finished the PGA Championship at 20 under with a par on the 18th hole, breaking Tiger Woods’ major championship record set of -19 at the 2000 Open Championship. After 7 top 5s including 3 second place finishes previously at majors and 10 top 10s since 2010, he finally came through and won his first major championship in style. Congrats Jason!

Netball- World Cup 2015

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Surprise Surprise, the Aussie Diamonds won the Netball World Cup in Australia. The Aussies have dominated for decades with their only threat, if any, being from New Zealand. The Sunshine girls from Jamaica played well, finishing 4th overall. They fell to the Aussies in the semi-finals 56-67 and then lost to England in the usual fight for Bronze, 44-66.

Tennis – Rogers Cup, Montreal

Serena Williams was upset by Belinda Bencic (mentored by former rival of Serena, Martina Hingis) in the semi-finals of the Rogers cup in 3 sets. Serena said she felt that she played like an amateur. Did she play like an amateur or did Bencic finally get an opportunity to beat her strategically? Bencic went on to win the cup in the finals by default versus Simona Halep, who retired down 0-3 in the 3rd set due to injury/heat.

For the men, Andy Murray (no. 2) beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win his 3rd Rogers Cup and eight-match losing streak versus world no. 1, Djoko. It was not easy though. After Djoko steam rolled him to even sets, Murray took an extended bathroom break before the 3rd and came out to serve first then quickly broke Djokovic to go up 2-0. At 3-1, Djokovic failed many times to break Murray’s serve and Murray finally went up to 4-1 after Deuce #10, a point that lasted over 15 minutes! I think that decided the match. Djokovic still showed some effort but Murray did not give up after losing 4 Championship points. He finally converted the 5th and won. Satisfying for Murray but frustrating for Djoko, whose streaks had to finally come to an end – 30 straight wins at Masters events, 24 straight wins in Masters deciding sets, 12 straight wins in Masters finals and of course, 8 straight wins versus Andy Murray.

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Gymnastics – USA Nationals

All Suga can say is that the men looked pathetic as usual. They were described as sloppy, making it hard for the selection committee to choose the best from the worst with competitors failing in what should be their strongest events individually. There were numerous falls off the bars, outrunning the runway after the vault and even unsure dismounts, one of which had to be repeated. Embarrassing.

Thank goodness for the ladies. Look out for Simone Biles, the women’s all-round Gymnastics Champ.

Barclay’s Premier League, BPL

Manchester City, runner up of BPL 2015, surely made their agenda known yesterday with a convincing 3-0 win over Defending Champs, Chelsea. After Terry’s failed attempt to defend the start of a play ending with Sergio Aguero’s first goal (31′), Terry was taken off for the entire 2nd half of the match. Kompany took advantage of a corner kick to head in the 2nd goal (79′) that went in off of the post and then Chelsea’s defense totally fell apart, resulting in Man City’s 3rd goal (85′) by Fernandinho. Mourinho placed players such as Fabregas and more in positions they should not have been, resulting in crucial coaching errors and they also played without their goal keeper who was sent off in the previous match, however Suga thinks Man City would have still come out on top regardless. After a draw with Swansea and a horrible loss to Man City for the opening of BPL, Chelsea has some work to do.

Looking forward to another weekend of high quality competition and variety of sports some time soon! Suga hopes you enjoyed as well.

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Just 1 more day to get your Groceries delivered FREE by Pantrypan!

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If you don’t remember Suga’s post about the Online Grocery Delivery service, pantrypan, click on the link below:

https://sugalifestyle.com/2015/07/31/free-24-hr-delivery-for-all-suga-lifestyle-followers-online-shopping-for-groceries-with-pantrypan/

The sign up process:

● Go to Pantrypan’s homepage at http://www.pantrypan.com

● Click on the “Shop Now” button and you will be redirected to the Sign Up/Registration Page.

● From there, all new users will be required to Create an account.

● Fill out the registration form and click the “Register” Button

● Choose your preferred delivery location; i.e Home or Office.

● If you choose the HOME delivery option, you will be redirected to their Product catalogue page where you CAN START SHOPPING IMMEDIATELY! 

OR

● If you choose the OFFICE delivery option, then they will get in touch to assist you in joining one of their existing groups or help you to create a new one.

Have a great weekend!

Image taken from www.muscleandfitness.com

Green Tea has a High Caffeine Content but is Healthier than Coffee!

Image taken from www.muscleandfitness.com
Image taken from www.muscleandfitness.com

Green tea has less caffeine than black tea, ~25mg caffeine per 8 ounce cup. However, length of brewing time affects caffeine content, the longer the brew the higher the caffeine. Lipton has listed a figure of 45mg caffeine for their 100% green tea claiming its from 1 to 2.5 minutes of brewing. Try it!

If you are having coffee or tea, avoid creamer and sugar, use splenda and skimmed/almond milk instead. However, Green tea is the healthier option. Perhaps the most healthy hot beverage out there. It is filled with antioxidants and nutrients that have powerful effects on the body such as improved brain function, weight loss as it boosts metabolism and burns fat, a lower risk of cancer and many other great benefits.

COST: $800JMD + $300JMD delivery charge

Throwback Tuesday to Suga’s Lunch from Hungry Eyes!

COST: $800JMD + $300JMD delivery charge
COST: $800JMD + $300JMD delivery charge

Lunch last Wednesday, August 5th was great to prep for the holiday. The menu that caught my eyes included Tumeric Vegetable soup and a Salad bowl with Callaloo cous cous, Seasoned plantain, Rosemary 5-spice Garbanzo beans, Carrot spaghetti, Pumpkin seed mix and SOBA noodles.

My order was on time as usual. Packaging and Presentation certainly appealed to my eyes.Then the food? The use of herbs, greens and spices were on point.

The Garbanzo beans were herby with a bit of sweet. So the raisins were a nice touch.  The Plantain was delicious! I wanted more. Now, cous cous is extremely hard to flavour. The trick is to add a little lime or lemon juice amongst other things. The Callaloo could have been a good mix for it, however it was kind of bland and didn’t add much to it. But there were so many other exciting things in the salad bowl to mix it with if that failed. For instance, Carrot spaghetti?! What is that? It was not actual spaghetti, the carrot was peeled to look like spaghetti. Very creative. It was tasty and sweet. The SOBA noodles added some soft fibre and there was still more. Kale and corn completed the bowl.

Well done Hungry Eyes!

Deliver Lunch: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays

Ph.: 876-325-8509

Instagram: Hungry Eyes ‘EYESEATTOO’

Website: [email protected]

Persons can sign up to get weekly menus from [email protected]. Order the night before or by 9am on the morning of.