Tallawahs Sweep Home Games!

Photos: @digiceljamaica

Congrats to the Jamaica Tallawahs for winning 4/4 at home! Last night they beat the Barbados Tridents who opted to field first, by 36 runs.

Thank goodness Chris Gayle has a stronger team this time around, especially since he is injured. He was dismissed early again but Chadwick Walton was the one last night who stepped up and scored 97 with the support of Sangakkara and he won Man of the Match.

Photo: @cpl (Twitter)

The Tallawahs had an all around performance throughout the 4 games here. Well deserved victories.

It was a pleasure to see so many Jamaicans come out and support the Cricket, drinking or not drinking. Well done CPL. For those who actually follow the CPL, the Tallawahs leave home at the top of the table.

Photo: cplt20.com

There are more matches to be played in St. Lucia followed by Florida who does not have a team and then the Playoffs and Final will be played St. Kitts. The Final will be played on Sunday, August 7. Continue to support the Tallawahs by tuning in to TVJSN, Sportsmax, ESPN Caribbean or any other Sports Channel that may be showing the matches.

You can also follow CPLT20 (@CPL) on twitter to keep up and tweet your support.

The Tallawahs will play St. Lucia next on Saturday, July 30 in Lauderhill, Florida.

Go Tallawahs!

The Oak Wine Bar on Hillcrest!


Two Fridays ago, Suga and one of the girls went to the fairly new Oak Wine Bar and Cocktail Lounge owned by Lisa-Gaye and Kirk Chin who also own Fromage.

With Fromage just below and El Centro beside it, parking may not always be available inside.

We entered the new hot spot at about 9:30pm, were greeted nicely and felt relieved to instantly get a table for 2 inside. They not only had a wide range of Wines, but Cocktails as well. I liked that if you were just a party of two with different tastes in wine, there were enough options to choose from by the glass. I prefer Chardonnays and Rieslings. There were no Rieslings by the glass so I had a Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay and my gal pal had a glass of Rosé instead of her preferred Moscato. Wine by the glass was mostly $800JMD/glass.

After a few glasses, when the ‘munchies’ kick in, Oak has some delicious, affordable bites such as Firecracker Spring rolls, Crispy Chicken sliders, Calamari and more. We shared the Smoked Marlin Ceviche along with Pita Crisps and Lemon Aioli ($950JMD).

Their Charcuterie Board with cured meats, olives, Danish blue etc. looked delish though and I am looking forward to trying it next time.

Our waiter’s name who kept slipping us with each sip was awesome. He was courteous with quite a sense of appropriate humour. I believe his name was ‘Dimel’, if not we already told him we would just call him ‘D’. Loved his bow tie and their modernised yet effective way of taking orders and seeing which wines etc. were available on their tablet.

Cheers 🙂

Oak Wine Bar & Cocktail Lounge
Unit #5, 8 Hillcrest Avenue. 
Kingston 6, Jamaica

Email: [email protected]

OPENING HOURS:

Tuesdays – Thursdays: 4pm-12am

Fridays & Saturdays: 4pm-2am

TGIF! CPL T20 is Here!

Photo: @digiceljamaica

CPL T20 will be at Sabina Park starting today! The Guyana Amazon Warriors are on top but will the Jamaica Tallawahs who are just 1 spot away take over in Ja?
Schedule:

Tonight at 8pm: Jamaica Tallawahs vs Guyana Amazon Warriors

Saturday at 6pm: Tallawahs vs. St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots

Monday at 8pm: Tallawahs vs. Trinbago Knight Riders

Wednesday at 8pm: Tallawahs vs. Barbados Tridents

Medusas is now LEVEL 96, revamped with a new owner!

Medusas has reopened as LEVEL 96 Bar and Lounge on 96 Hope Road under the new ownership of Dexter Huxtable, who has the business he is well known for, Spokes Apparel downstairs.

Suga visited with friends for drinks last Saturday and the bar has certainly gotten a facelift with Jack Daniel’s branding.

They opened at 5:30pm on Saturday, which was too late for me but I was told they are definitely considering opening earlier on Saturdays.

Steak night continues on Fridays and they still have ‘All you Can Drink’ on Wednesdays. They also now have Seafood night on Tuesdays.

They have bar food available such as Stamp and Go, Wings, Wraps, Soup, Burgers, Jerk Chicken and Jerk Pork with sides of Bread, Fries or Wedges. They also have Pasta available. Prices seem reasonable, ranging from $200 to $2400JMD.

Their Drink menu had a range of Cocktails and Mixes. I tried their Mojito before I went on to my regular consumption of V/X and Pepsi. Their Mojito gets a thumbs up. Refreshing.

Service was good, expected for a reopening. Patrons were scarce in the early evening but more came out later in the night.

Suga always looks forward to a new bar for casual drinking, especially an old favourite and will return.

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Café El Centro, cosy spot to eat all day long

About 2 Saturdays ago, Suga faced the famous question from her other half, ‘Where should we go for lunch?’. After the usual pondering for a few minutes, I mentioned that House of Loaves was having a New York ‘Halal’ Cart-Style day at Active Home Centre. His response when he looked at the ad showing that their food ranged from $800-$1500JMD was, ‘No sah. 15 bills for food from a truck that sells in New York for $7.99US and we can still sit down and have something nice somewhere else for that price or less?!’ He suggested Café El Centro above Fromage on Hillcrest avenue where friends have been going and enjoying their food, so I agreed to go.

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Smoked Pork Chops enjoyed by a Suga Bear yesterday at Café El Centro      Photo credit: Tennyson Arnold

We arrived at about 3:30pm and we were greeted pleasantly and seated. I instantly felt cosy in the quiet, quaint atmosphere with vintage décor. I loved the use of wooden palettes for the ceiling, hanging lanterns, decorated wooden signs on the walls and wine glasses hanging from the palettes in part of the ceiling above a wine and pastry cooler. All of this was complemented by a calming colour scheme of browns, beiges and a pastel green.

There were a few diners and one of them was enjoying Pancakes and Eggs beside us because they serve American-style Breakfast all day!

My husband and I were discussing items on the menu which they seemed to have revised again including items for dinner as well. The menu had quite a range of items including Paninis, Sandwiches and Wraps, Pastas, Soup, Snapper Fillet and Shrimp dishes, Pork Chops and more. The prices quoted were tax inclusive as well.

The diner beside us overheard us trying to decide and since I mentioned that I felt for a Wrap, she said that their Chicken Roti Wrap was really good. So my husband ordered the Lamb Burger with fries, which you can get with a wheat bun ($1200JMD) and I ordered the Curried Chicken Roti Wrap with veggies on the side ($950JMD).

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Our food arrived quickly and the manager, Tina Newman who took our order was very attentive. She was Professional but friendly at the same time. She gave my husband the option of having Mint jelly on the side, which she brought and I also ordered their homemade Lemonade ($300JMD) that was refreshing.

The Curried Chicken Roti Wrap was very tasty and did not kill me with pepper, it had just the right amount of spice that I enjoyed. I liked that the veggies were fresh as well.

The Lamb was tender and flavourful for the the Lamb Burger, the bun was fresh and it was appreciated that the meat filled the bun perfectly. Not many places get the meat and bun proportion right.

Even though we were sitting and chatting after our meal, our table was cleared quickly. The Chef came out and asked for our feedback, which was positive.

Tina came back over to our table and told us about their Steak night that they started on Fridays. Since Medusas is now closed, the same Chef Robin Rickhi does Steak night and I know his Steaks are succulent and he has a special marinated seasoning.

We were told they face the demand for Steak on other days so she said you can call in your order early if you wish to do so and the Chef there will whip it up for you, whether you are ordering steak or not.

The newlyweds had a delightful experience and we will return.

Café El Centro 

Location: 8 Hillcrest Avenue

Ph: 876-927-8415

Opening hours: 9am -10pm

Email: [email protected]

 

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Rotaractors help to give Jamaica a facelift on Labour Day

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Rotaract Club members of Savanna-la-Mar paint the Savanna-la-Mar hospital on Labour Day last Monday

Some Jamaicans kept the the tradition of going to work on Labour Day by helping to give Jamaica a facelift, painting and doing repairs to Public buildings, roads, their offices, homes and more.

Kudos to all who could have used it as a rest day but decided to take on the manual labour.

Out of the many great Projects that Suga saw happening on that day, Suga would like to highlight the Repainting of parts of the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital by the Rotaract Club of Savanna-la-Mar and the Repainting of a Pedestrian crossing that was a joint project between the Rotaract Clubs of St. Andrew, Liguanea Plains, St. Thomas and New Kingston.

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Members of the Rotaract Clubs of St. Andrew, Liguanea Plains, St. Thomas and New Kingston repaint a Pedestrian crossing on Labour Day last Monday

Sometimes Jamaicans may see Pedestrian crossings and still choose to cross the road at another point and put themselves in danger.

Hopefully the brighter Pedestrian crossings as a result of the work done on Labour Day will remind Jamaicans that they should cross there.

Remember to do your part to help Build a Better Jamaica.

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Suga Enjoyed AgroFest!

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed AgroFest last Saturday. There was no rain on the day and the night before got rain so the grounds of Jamaica College were not dusty or too muddy either. It was more organized this year and had a lot more local vendors and organizations participating. It is hard to highlight booths as everyone showed great effort in their presentations and what they had to offer. However, some still managed to stand out above the rest.

The Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) had plants, honey and more.

A booth had a Tissue Culture display for Irish potatoes and Ginger.

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Gavin Hill had the greatest variety of animals. He had a cursing Parrot, Turkey, Rabbits, Hamsters and Birds.

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Gavin Hill’s booth

Other farmers from Kingston & St. Andrew had Goats, Sheep and Rabbits as well.

It was thus fitting to have NutraMix and Hi-Pro there, suppliers of animal feed.

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R: Suga with a Prize-winning Ram Goat

Jamaica 4-H Clubs, who were celebrating their 75th anniversary had Fruits, Eggs and Vegetables for sale.

The College of Agriculture, Science and Education had an Aquaculture display, Jellies, Chutney, Sauces, Vegetables, you name it.

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AG Chem Plant Ltd. had Pesticides and Fertilizers suitable for farming and other needs.

The Jamaica Dairy Development Board is back in full swing. They have been training 200 farmers the art and science of dairy cattle husbandry to make an increase in dairy production and make it sustainable by increasing the dairy cattle population.

They ensure Herd recording, Herd management decisions and genetic evaluations.

They have been supporting the improvememt of institutions such as CASE and Ebony Park HEART Acadamy and others.

T. Geddes Grant Distributors Ltd. had their booth showing that they are suppliers of total Agricultural requirements to farmers and gardeners. They supply Herbicides, Feed, Farming tools and more.

The Food Storage and Prevention of Infestation Division as well as the National Irrigation Commission Ltd. had lovely 3-D models.

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PhotoGrid_1463525392248The WUSC Caribbean’s PROPEL (Promotion of Regional Opportunities for Produce through Enterprises and Linkages) were represented. Their Canadian Project ensures safe, effective and efficient movement of produce from the farm to high value markets such as hotels, restaurants etc. Crops supported in this project include Greenhouse vegetables, Onions, Ginger, Irish Potato, Sweet Yams and Sweet Potatoes.

The Cottage Farmers won Best Display Booth but Suga didn’t find them t o be that impressive. They are usually low in the standings so kudos to them for making a big improvement this year.

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Jack’s Hill Community did not compete this year but the Burgesses, well known in the community had an AgroFest 20th Booth displaying Programmes of the Past, lots of pictures with vivid AgroFest memories, Liqueurs, Wines, Mrs B’s Honey, Jelly, Bammy, Rabbits and more.

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I must also mention the unique fruits they had that persons did not have to buy but could come by and sample such as Black Sapote, Jaboticaba, Pink Grapefruit, Suriname and Caribbean Cherry and Clementine. Who knew Cherries could be spicy? Naseberries and Ripe Banana were also there. Other booths had fruits as well including Melons, Pineapples, Otaheite Apples and more.

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Mrs. Veronica Burgess of Jack’s Hill Community receiving her well deserved plaque of recognition and appreciation from Custos of Kingston, Steadman Fuller

Mr. Paul and Mrs. Veronica Burgess were recognised with plaques showing appreciation for 20 years of Support and Committed Partnership to the staging of AgroFest.

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Jewellery, Pots, Clutch purses and Art booths were present as well. Certainly not a part of agriculture but definitely a part of Brand Jamaica, as the products were all locally made.

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Top L-R: Claud Hoilett speaking with patron and Suga Bear, Kimberly Nesbeth. His pots depict the theme, ‘The Art of Clay is What You Can Imagine’

The winner of the Farm Queen Competition was announced too late, a bit after 7pm when it was quite dark surrounding the stage. AgroFest was advertised to be from 8am to 8pm. So they need to work on the lighting next year or finish all entertainmrnt within a certain time, because all the booths were pulled down by that time as well.

With that aside it was a lovely day. I enjoyed fresh coconut water, Jamaican food from Martin’s Jerk and Catering and my Guava slush. I also saw that the kids enjoyed the rides, bounce-a-bout, animals, clowns and balloons.

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Christian Dawes-Fearon enjoying his balloon and painted face mask

Most importantly, I thoroughly enjoyed the Performance of the Breadfruit dance. How could you have AgroFest and not ‘do di dance’?!

Happy AgroFest 20th!

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L-R: Exec. Director of RADA, Lenworth Fulton, President of JAS, Senator Norman Grant, Mrs Veronica Burgess of Jack’s Hill Community, Custos of Kingston, Steadman Fuller and National Farm Queen 2015-2016, Peta-Gaye Stewart of St. Mary