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Toscanini for ‘fancy-schmancy’ Dinner in Ocho Rios!

by Chefs, Bakers and CaterersFoodpornRestaurant Reviews & Ratings

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Suga visited Toscanini in Tower Isle, St. Mary last week Saturday as part of her 30th Birthday festivities. Toscanini may not be obvious to find on the road at night, however it is at Harmony Hall. Toscanini is THE best, authentic Italian restaurant on the island. It has had famous visitors such as the Rolling Stones, Past American President Bill Clinton and more.

The staff is pleasant and the service is excellent and on point. How so? The wait staff is quite knowledgeable of the menu that is written in mostly Italian and are aware of possible substitutions that can be made based on what may or may not be available in the kitchen. They have the ability to make suitable suggestions and remain calm and courteous while doing so. They are quite attentive as well. A glass of water never goes empty.

Suga and her beau started with a tasty Marinated Marlin and flaming, hot Escargois a la Bourguignon. The Marinated Marlin was accompanied by a fresh garden salad. Toscanini sources most of their greens from their very own garden, get fresh fish from the fishermen on the beach across the road and fresh meats from the local butcher.

Rabbit Ragu and Coniglio Alla Lino (Rabbit with steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes) followed for the main course, which were delicious and so filling, they left no room for dessert. However, this was not Suga’s first visit so, the Chocolate Profiteroles is fully endorsed for dessert.

Owner and Chef, Pierluigi Ricci came out and greeted all guests and asked how we found the food. No complaints here, that’s for sure.

There is also a well stocked bar to order drinks from. Prices range from affordable to expensive, depending on whether you are ordering Chicken or Duck of course. Everything on the menu is good though and worth every dollar. Ambience is great, whether day or night with picturesque gardens and the sea nearby. Parking is adequate and if you want to ‘shampoo’ and hit the streets or go for a road trip for lunch or dinner, Toscanini is the place. However, always call before and make reservations or let them know you are on your way.

For your photo ops, do not hesitate to ask for Omar 😉

Ph: (876) 975-4785

Opening hours: 12:00pm – 2:00pm; 6:30pm – 10:00pm

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Rotaract Club of Kingston Painted All Classrooms at Four Square Basic School

by Charities

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Suga’s Throwback Thursday goes out to The Rotaract Club of Kingston’s repainting of Four Square Basic School by Cassia Park on Labour Day, May 25, 2015. The staff, parents and Principal of the school assisted the club members, ensuring that they were fed and hydrated throughout the day. Kudos also to the Eastwood Gardens Youth for Progress Youth Club for partnering with The Rotaract Club of Kingston by sending volunteers on the day. The Rotary Club of Kingston assisted on the day as well.

So many hands coming together to make a positive impact. The kids returned to their newly painted classrooms on the Wednesday of the week that followed in a fresh, brighter, cleaner environment to learn and focus in.

Facebook: Rotaract Club of Kingston

Website: http://www.rotaractkingston.org/

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Suga Enjoyed her Birthday Cake from Sweet Mischief!

by FoodpornRestaurant Reviews & Ratings

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Throwback Tuesday to this cake from Sweet Mischief! Givin’ Suga some suga 🙂 They are right, it is not just cake, it’s art! San Antonio Spurs Logo on point. Very tastefully done. The chocolate balls around the cake were divine. The cake? You know, most well decorated cakes are dry on the inside, but not this one. It had a nice, moist, rich chocolate flavour. Well done and surely Suga approved!

Sweet Mischief info:

Yvette: 876-442-1319; Allison: 876-363-4442; Natasha: 876-481-9904

[email protected]; facebook.com/sweetmischiefja; Instagram@sweetmischiefja; Twitter@sweetmischiefja

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Help Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) to move from Earth House to Earth Cottage

by Charities

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JET is scheduled to leave their current location on 11 Waterloo Road to 123 Constant Spring Road by the end of this June. Hon. Gordon Butch Stewart and the Sandals group have generously donated to the use of their Earth House location for the last 13 years and are thankful even though Butch may be finding other use for the property soon.

As JET will now be renting an office space, they will need donations to assist with this unbudgeted move.

Please click on the link provided below, organized by Booster, and make your donation today no matter how big or small. Their goal is to raise $1000USD and they are currently at $525USD with 4 more days to go!

https://www.booster.com/jetismoving?utm_source=fb_share_desktop&utm_campaign=jetismoving&utm_medium=fb_share_on_donation_campaign

Curried goat with plain rice, boiled banana and raw vegetables

M10 in Barbican for Jamaican Lunch !

by Restaurant Reviews & RatingsWhat's Hot

Curried goat with plain rice, boiled banana and raw vegetables

Suga visited the Barbican location of M10 (across the road from Sovereign North) last Saturday at 1:15pm. Their delicious Roast fish was desired but was not on the menu for the day. I got Curried Chicken instead for $500JMD. My friends had Oxtail and Curried Goat. Nothing was over $900JMD to my recollection. All were tasty, however, since it is a lunch-only spot, they immediately wrote on styrofoam boxes when taking our orders instead of asking if we were dining. So we all had to eat out of boxes because it was too late for the change. I also asked for half boiled banana, half rice and got one finger of banana with loads of rice, as most restaurants tend to do during the week for lunch. Nevertheless, the setting was quite comfortable on a semi-open terrace. Since it is summer tho, they may want to invest in two fans. There was also sufficient parking around the back.

The place was buzzing with people and service time was reasonable, especially if you are used to the long wait at their Vineyard town location. So if ever in the need for quick, authentic Jamaican food, M10 Barbican is the spot!

Contact info.: 876.462.1415/930-2112 *(Vineyard town location numbers, as none seen listed for Barbican)

AfC Chairman, Col. Stacey Thompson (R) and Project Coordinator, Brandon McFarlane (L) pay a courtesy visit to Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mr. Robert Ready (C) after securing support from the Canadian DFATD earlier in April '15.

Abacus for Communities, Building Community Resilience Household by Household

by Charities
AfC Chairman, Col. Stacey Thompson (R) and Project Coordinator, Brandon McFarlane (L) pay a courtesy visit to Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mr. Robert Ready (C) after securing support from the Canadian DFATD earlier in April '15.
AfC Chairman, Col. Stacey Thompson (R) and Project Coordinator, Brandon McFarlane (L) pay a courtesy visit to Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica, Mr. Robert Ready (C) after securing support from the Canadian DFATD earlier in April ’15.

The aim of the Non-profit Organization, Abacus for Communities (AfC), is to work with communities in collaboration with national, regional and international governments and organizations to promote the development of safe, prosperous, stable and developing communities.

Their current focus is on helping to build the level of Preparedness of Communities to Disasters, however all aspects of Community Development is part of Abacus’s long-term vision.

AfC offers Services in Disaster Preparedness, Institutional Strengthening and Community Capacity Building as well as Disaster Response, all tailor-made for the particular country considering the specific needs of the target audience.The Services offered in the previously mentioned areas are listed below:

1. Disaster Preparedness

– Training workshops; Simulation exercises; Consultancies, Planning and Projects

2. Institutional Strengthening and Community Capacity Building

– Conferences and Training; Community Projects

3. Disaster Response

Coordination; Assessment; Response Projects

So how is Jamaica being assisted by AfC? AfC has secured support in the form of CA$81000 from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Development (DFATD) for the ‘Community Emergency Communications for Disaster and Climate Change Adaptation in Jamaica’ project.

This project called, ‘EARS’ (Emergency Affiliated Radio Service) will train and equip 360 persons in 10 of the most vulnerable communities throughout Jamaica with radio communication equipment for immediate response to disaster in order to minimize loss of life and damage to infrastructure and environment.

There are many non-profit organizations that exist, helping to develop communities but this particular non-profit organization has obviously thought outside the box. This is so, as if disaster strikes at any given time, all the work done to lift these communities often goes down the drain and rebuilding of infrastructure has to start from ground zero, not to mention repairing and redeveloping the mindset of the people in the community after such a disaster. As Jamaicans often say, ‘Prevention betta dan cure.’

Kudos to AfC for assisting communities from a totally different angle, recognizing the importance and necessity for preparedness and offering resources for such, making efforts to protect lives and infrastructure. Thus, developing our communities household by household and the quality of life of the people in it.

Like their Facebook page, ‘Abacus for Communities’ and see the link for the website for what Afc is doing in a country or community near you.

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Hungry Eyes by Natalia Welsh!

by FoodpornRestaurant Reviews & Ratings

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Last Tuesday I tried Vegetarian from another account I have been following on Instagram, Hungry Eyes. Hungry Eyes has been open since last November and has been featured on Smile Jamaica before, so has had a little exposure. I was told on the phone by owner and chef, Natalia Welsh that they are located in Papine and do deliveries between 12:30 and 1:30pm. I ordered a Salad bowl that came with a Sweet potato soup, costing $800JMD for 12:30pm delivery ($300JMD delivery charge). The other option for the day was Tomato Black Bean Curry and Potato Hash.

The Salad bowl was advertised as having a smoky BBQ 3-Bean salad, Garlic kale, Potato salad, Couscous and Corn salsa. A fusion of Jamaican and Mexican style lunch! Wow, who would not want to order that? However, being a meat lover with a high metabolism, I still took precaution when ordering and was assured it would be filling, more so with the soup.

Delivery was early, packaging was air-tight and quite presentable. Upon opening, I was instantly impressed by the presentation, mainly the use of colour. Especially since it is hard to make food look good in a lunch box.

The Corn salsa was spicy and to a lesser extent, so was the BBQ 3-Bean salsa that had a sauce with a lovely flavour. The Potato Salad and Couscous were tasty neutralizers to quell all that spiciness. A sweet vinaigrette was also provided.

Greens like Kale and Arugula have a naturally, slight peppery taste so one has to be careful with combinations chosen for them in salads. My only complaint was about the Garlic kale. The taste of Garlic on it was too strong for me and lingered in my mouth allllll day, after brushing my teeth, chewing gum, you name it. No bueno. That didn’t matter much though, because all other flavours as described were on point and the lunch was able to carry me through the rest of the day. It was filling as promised. The soup?! The soup was small but sufficient. It had a thick consistency similar to a cornmeal porridge and it was delicious. All natural, fresh, healthy goodness to tighten your pants. So even if you are not a vegetarian, Suga fully endorses Hungry Eyes!

I was so impressed, I had to have a little talk with Natalia and got to learn more about her and Hungry Eyes. Quite a smart and eloquent young lady who has been a Vegetarian since 2007.

The name, ‘Hungry eyes’ came naturally to her as a result of being guided by colour when choosing ingredients of nutritional value, also as a way of displaying her creativity and artistic side. Thus arriving at the conclusion that eyes see and in turn get hungry, ‘eyes see eat too’ -> Hungry eyes!

Natalia did not study in the field of the Culinary Arts in school. She has a BA in International Relations and Spain from ?Mount Holyoke College. She in fact spent half a year in Spain. It was the experience of tasting cuisines from Spain and other countries in Europe that ignited her interest in the Culinary industry. As she travelled across different countries, she developed a desire and passion to recreate the variety of flavours tasted.

Natalia is also about to embark on a Nutrition Course soon. Where and for how long? In order to?The course runs for 3 months here in Kingston through the Jamaica Island Nutrition Network. She is pursuing the course because she believes that what and how we eat affect our well-being and in turn eating healthy daily helps us to maintain good health. She also says it will keep us connected to earth by knowing where and how our food is grown and what types of food our body naturally favours depending on the country we are in. She will soon be equipped and confident in guiding others toward a life of health and longevity through food!

So what’s in store for Hungry Eyes? Natalia is committed to being patient with the evolution of what has begun, but would love to grow a sustainable business in Human and Capital potential, including its environmental impact. So one goal is to have a Catering Institute where young people, especially in under-served communities, can gain exposure to skills and knowledge they can use primarily to improve their well-being. Natalia feels being able to share what she is learning about food and about operating a business on a broader scale, is her investment in helping to break a cycle of poverty. She also wants Hungry Eyes to participate in food/culture/music festivals to bring a Caribbean fusion of flavours to people who are curious but haven’t been able to travel to or around the region.

It was refreshing to talk to Natalia and you could hear how passionate she is about what she does. Hungry Eyes caters for events as well. They deliver lunch on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, encouraging pre-orders.

Follow their Instagram page, Hungry Eyes ‘EYESEATTOO’ and check their website, eyeseattoo.wordpress.com. Persons can sign up to get weekly menus from [email protected]. Order the night before or by 9am on the morning of. They have many other items on their menu to tease your eyes with hunger.

Tel. No.: 876.325.8509

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FLOW Cable Tv is moving backward instead of forward!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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What are we paying to see at the moment? Hardly anything. This situation has been brewing in the open since local television decided to buy the rights for The Voice to see our local artist, Tessanne Chin’s season. Coverage was choppy and delayed. Then went the USA series, Suits followed by Empire. What was alarming was that in the case of the new hot series, Empire, they expected viewers to wait an entire WEEK to see the 2-hour season 1 finale. Unacceptable. The only reason they did not try the same thing with Scandal, is because they are so far behind in the season they are currently showing. The same thing has also been happening with football fans for years, not being able to see some games live or getting crappy commentary. This pushes persons to watch shows or sports online and defeats the whole purpose of local television showing desired content and thus boosting its viewership. Also remember that the west channels such as ABC west etc. with a later feed (3 hours after) are no longer available from FLOW. So if we do not make it home in time, we cannot watch the show later in the night.

Now here comes Digicel Sportsmax acquiring the rights to show the NBA. Which group of so called ‘Sports fans’ sat around a table and made the decision to show SOME of the NBA playoffs this year? Who gave them the right to choose what games we can see, or how do they choose what games should be shown?! How can that be logical in any way, shape or form? If they could not afford to show ALL of the games, then they should not show any at all. Simple! And how could the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica approve this madness? Where is the balance of interest for us, the consumers? How could a contract be signed for only Digicel Sportsmax to show the NBA 2015 Playoffs even though they stated they are only showing 18 NBA Playoff games, the Conference finals and the Finals? 18 games are not even 5% of the games before the Conference finals, not even knowing which series will go to a Game 7. So any other channel that we are currently paying for, and that is showing the game is blocked?

Now it seems Digicel Sportsmax opened a can of worms because they have stated on Facebook that, ‘the blocking of channels showing the NBA has been done because the cable operator does not have the rights to that channel for broadcast in the Caribbean.’ Also that, ‘it has nothing to do with Sportsmax.’ Of course it does, because if it was not for Sportsmax putting this contract forward to the NBA and drawing attention to us, (although we should run things legally but who cares) the NBA would not have looked into our cable providers, i.e. FLOW and realise they have not been showing NBA on channels like NBA TV and ABC legally in the first place; hence blocking them now. Then FLOW has its customer service agents lying to the public saying that channels such as TNT US are blocked because only Digicel Sportsmax has the legal right to show the NBA games. Fortunately for us, the NBA authorized that ESPN and SPACE (Who knows what or where is SPACE) cannot be blocked in this region. However, unfortunately for us, not all NBA Playoff games will be shown on ESPN but on many other channels that are blocked such as TNT US, NBA TV etc.

Also, how many years is this stupid contract for? We have gone from All Access to almost zero access. Where are the answers? Where is the communication from FLOW and how are they going to fix this moving forward? Will they only make an effort if they see a dip in subscribers or are we to accept that they are not going to fix this, purchase NBA League Pass and stream to our big screens or set up an American cable system such as DSS? All this contraption, instead of simply turning on the television?! There goes supporting Brand Jamaica because I know for sure many persons will not be supporting this inconsiderate act.

By the way, not showing the games was just scratching the surface. I will not even begin to go into the quality of feed and commentary. Isn’t this counter intuitive to growing the sport as well?!

So where do we go from here? How many more shows and programmes will be taken? And WHEN will our bills or charges be reduced by FLOW? Robbery. That is what this is. Robbery of our money, joy, bar time and sanity in our living rooms.

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Can’t Bother to go get those Pre-sold Tickets or Make a Call? Purchase them at Yardticket.com!

by What's Hot

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Yardticket.com was launched in December 2011. It is an effective way to purchase Event tickets in Jamaica. Persons can also get exclusive Giveaways and Early Bird specials from some of Yard Ticket’s event partners.

Events span a range of categories such as Corporate Events, Parties, Premium All Inclusives, Festivals and Theatre. So everyone can benefit according to their preference in recreational or networking activities.

Tickets are on sale now for Father Ho Lung’s KING DAVID. Look out for Rebel Salute Early Bird tickets soon. Tickets for Zen Tropicale in the summer and Nirvana in Christmas, Absinthe, Twisted Spiritz, Beach Bums and more are usually available on Yardticket.com. Yardticket.com is currently negotiating the sale of tickets for other Theatre productions, Sporting events and Parties. So look forward to even more options in the near future!

Yardticket.com pleases both the buyer and the seller, as the website is not only a medium to sell tickets, but to advertise as well. Each promoter gains immediate access to funds thus aiding in successful planning and execution of their event. The cost of printing tickets will be significantly reduced and of course, their funds will be more secure as a result of reducing the back and forth of ticket agents or ambassadors with funds.

So with all these advantages, is the website secure? Is there a chance that credit cards will be compromised? Do not worry. In their 3 years of operation, there has been no detection of hacking or fraud to date. Yard Ticket uses the NCB Credit Card platform, keeping account information safe and all transactions take place in 128-bit encryption supported by Geo Trust and Credit Card protection by 3-D secure. Say what? It will take hackers quite a bit of time to get by 128 encryptions and it should be detected at some point along the way. Therefore Yard Ticket ensures you are completely protected from abuse and it is just as safe as shopping on Amazon or Ebay.

So forget about wasting time and gas in traffic to buy pre-sold tickets or inconveniencing yourself by leaving the house earlier in a grand rush to catch the gate where available tickets are not guaranteed. ‘Search. Click. Buy’ with Yardticket.com!

Yard Ticket Contact Information: [email protected] 

You can also follow ‘Yard Ticket’ on Twitter or like their Facebook page.