Sweet Spice was a small little local restaurant with nothing fancy. Not usually the place to see any tourists. In fact, there were no others until right before we left. It was full of local Jamaicans, which is always a good sign when the locals are there.

Our meal started off with a fish tea, which may sound strange, but it was very good. It was basically a fish stock. Then I ordered the fish, conch and shrimp platter, and my wife got the lobster, conch and shrimp dish. Both of them were excellent. Neither of us had ever eaten conch before, and we were both very happy that we tried it. One of the great things about vacation is trying new things and new foods.

Some people on travel review sites have said that the service at Sweet Spice was poor if you weren’t a local, but sometimes you just have to expect that; you aren’t that important everywhere you go. Also, in the US, we have definite issues with speed, we want everything as soon as possible, and it is just not the same in other countries.

I definitely would recommend going to Sweet Spice for lunch or dinner, and don’t be afraid to eat something completely new and different than what you are used to.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach.

You can see the rest of our Vacation to Jamaica.

I still love Jamaican Blue, but this was something else. Now the Kona was the top of the line Diamond Private Reserve 100% Pure Kona from Aloha Island Coffee Company, and the Jamaican Blue Mountain that I have is probably the low line of coffee.

Great stuff, I highly recommend it. Smooth, creamy, nice and strong, but balanced.

Since Hawaii is a Beach Bums Paradise, I can talk about the Hawaiian Kona Coffee. However, I’d rather drink it than talk about it.

Here are some more posts about Coffee;

• Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is the Best in the World
• Stay at a Hawaiian Kona Coffee Plantation

On Monday, we did almost absolutely nothing. Sort of. We relaxed.

There are many vendors on the beach selling everything from fruit and beads to weed and mushrooms. So we bought some fruit which was great. There were some small bananas that were fantastic. The vendors have a tendency to be very persistent, and you have to be firm about saying no. If you are halfhearted or say maybe later, they will remember and come again.

We got into the ocean about three times today. It was beautiful. The water was perfect, the weather was perfect, everything was perfect. I’d say we probably spent at least 6 hours total in the ocean.

We went to Margaritaville for lunch, which has pretty good food, but not the best. I’ve said it before, you go to Maragaritaville for the atmosphere.

For dinner we figured we would try Norma’s at the Sea Splash resort. As we were walking down the beach, a guy stopped us and asked if we would like to have the best food on the beach at Norma’s. Since that was were we were going, I said sure, and he gave us a 10% off coupon to go there. At first I was a little wary, but This guy is making a living by getting people to go to Norma’s. After you eat, you sign his coupon and he makes a commission.

We had Jerk Chicken and Coconut chicken. I loved the jerk (of course) but the coconut chicken was unbelievable. It was unlike anything I’ve ever eaten with coconut here in the States. It was sweet without being overly sweet, it was juicy and… I can’t think of how else to describe it. It was excellent.

I would definitely recommend Norma’s.

So ended our first full day in Jamaica. Come back for the next post about our Jamaican Vacation.

It doesn’t help when I find a blog post from someone who is in Jamaica now. They have blogged two posts about Jamaican food. One is about jerk, and the other is about patty’s and coco bread.

It stinks when other people rub your face in the fact that they are on a beach somewhere in Jamaica, I can’t wait till it’s my turn to rub it in.

Soon…

1. The Baths – Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

Snorkeling, caves, grotto’s and beautiful sandy beaches are what you can expect at The Baths in BVI. The giant boulders have created a type of maze to walk through.

2. Flamenco Beach – Culebra Island, Puerto Rico

Tropical forests, beaches, nature, turtles. What more could you want from an exotic island. Much of Culebra Island is protected, for wildlife, plants, and historic monuments.

3. Flic en Flac – Mauritius

Flic en Flac is a small village on the West Coast of Mauritius. Of course, it has the required white sand beaches, and it also has a blue lagoon.

4. Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Before you start trying to sing some Barry Manilow, this isn’t the nightclub, but the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This is the opposite of a quiet village, and is one of the party capitals of the world.

5. Playa Tamarindo – Costa Rica

If you want to get away, go to Playa Tamarindo Costa Rica. The jungle looks like it comes right up to the beach. The sea turtles love it so much, they come back every year to make more sea turtles.

Come back for the next five exotic beaches on the list.

To start out with, they were at St. Kitt’s. Sugarcane was a huge crop there, until places like Brazil started to grow it in massive numbers, then St Kitt’s just couldn’t compete. Now, they have all these cane fields, but from the sound of it, most of the fields just sit there.

They ate some really good looking food. One thing was green bananas, boiled in the skin, then mashed with milk and I think she said sugar. Sounds good to me.

Alton also munched on some sugarcane, drink some bush tea made from lemongrass and soursop.

After they left St Kitt’s, they went to St Bart’s. Alton wasn’t extremely overjoyed at this, because, I believe, St Bart’s is a more upscale, and less authentic island than some other Caribbean nations.

Anyway, they went to St Bart’s and went to the original burger joint that was made famous in Jimmy Buffett’s song ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’. How was it? Alton said (without a lot of enthusiasm) “it’s good, but…[it's still just a burger].” Some of that was added by me. I know what he’s thinking. It may be a good burger, but when you are looking for authentic Caribbean cooking, that isn’t it.

They also got to try some spiny lobster fricassee. Now the only thing I know about fricassee is that the bad guy used to always try to do that to Bugs Bunny. It is basically, meat cut into pieces and stewed in gravy. Alton asked the chef if she would like to compete on Iron Chef America.

I sure wish I could do something like this. I love food, and I love the ocean, and I love the Caribbean, I’m just not a millionaire.

Swimming Holes lists over 1,000 places to go jump in a lake. It isn’t complete by any means, but they are always adding more, and you can send your favorite place to be listed if it isn’t already.

The friend who sent this also has just started his own blog, (again, not about the beach), but it is about travel. More specifically, traveling on a motorcycle. If you are a fan of Alton Brown’s Feasting on Asphalt, you’ll want to check his blog out.

ALSO, I just saw that Alton Brown is going to do another show based on Feasting on Asphalt, but it will be called Feasting on Waves. Here is the description from Food Network;

Alton Brown goes in search of America’s culinary roots and Caribbean flavors in Feasting on Waves. He starts his journey on St. Kitts (aka St. Christopher), named by and for Christopher Columbus on his second journey to the new world. Alton, like Christopher, is traveling North and West through the Leeward Islands and on to the British Virgin Islands. Alton maintains the spirit of Feasting on Asphalt and seeks out the most authentic and traditional foods of the regions and meets the people who created them. Restaurants are the most obvious targets but Feasting is about the unexpected, so Alton also ventures to find roadside stands, street vendors, farmer’s markets, farms, spice houses and homes of local cooks who make specialties of the region.

I can’t wait.

I haven’t been to Newport, RI in a long time. I had forgotten how much I loved it out there. My wife thought the same thing.

If you are sick and tired of beaches dominated by condos, mini golf courses, bars, clubs and everything else, you need to go to Rhode Island. I know that I just lost a lot of people by saying that, but it’s true. Newport has a lot of that, but not at the beach. The beaches are much more untouched than most other places I’ve been.

I’ve talked about Sachuest Beach (2nd Beach) before, but it can be repeated. It is in the middle of protected land. There is a wildlife and bird sanctuary nearby, and at the end of the beach, they have a section roped off for a nesting bird that is endangered.
This doesn’t mess with swimming at the beach at all, but adds to the feeling of getting away.

As for places to eat, there are a number of them. I don’t feel like I can do justice to the great places there, because there are so many. However, I will name my favorites.

Anthony’s Seafood is the main place that we go. My wife and I love Anthony’s. They have award winning stuffies, which are quahogs (clams) chopped up with herbs and spices, breading and chourico (a type of sausage) and baked in the quahog shell. These things are amazing. When my mom makes them at home, we have to divide them up before anyone sees them or the rest of my family (mostly my oldest brother) will eat them all.

Reidy’s Restaurant in Portsmouth is a great place to go. It is a much more small, diner type of place. Almost no tourists go there as it’s not in Newport. They have good food at good prices. Nothing special, just good food. And they only take cash. No checks, no cards.

Of course, I need to mention the stuffed french toast at KC’s Cafe. This hole in the wall diner makes stuffed french toast that will make you beg for more. It’s not the same thing as whatever restaurant is trying to do that now, IHOP or whatever. This is made with Portuguese sweet bread, which makes all the difference. Then the filling is much better too, it’s not sickly sweet.

As for things to do, as I said before, our goal was to eat seafood and lay on the beach. That’s what we did. So we didn’t do too much else. However, if you are looking for something to do, let me know in the comments. I’ll be happy to answer your questions.

I was never more disappointed in food that I was there. I got a meal that had a Maine lobster tail, scallops, and shrimp. Nothing tasted any different than the other. Everything had probably been taken out of the freezer, then smothered in some kind of butter sauce. There wasn’t even butter for me to dip my lobster in. Plus when I asked for malt vinegar for my fries, the waitress looked at me like I was stupid.

So, since our experience at Red Lobster was less than satisfactory, we decided to go get some real seafood. At the last minute, we called around, and got a cabin at a camp in Portsmouth Rhode Island.

So I’m here in Rhode Island, getting ready to head over to Newport, and the beach, and anything else I feel like doing for the next week.

Since this is a blog about the beach, I’ll keep you updated on places to eat, and things to do in Newport, Rhode Island.

Last night, we were going for dinner, and everywhere in Newport was packed. Even the small places that no tourists are supposed to know about (I’m not a tourist as I practically grew up here). So we went to Portsmouth and stopped at a little diner called Reidy’s. My wife wasn’t sure because it didn’t really fit in with everything else around, but they make some good food. By the way, they take cash only. It’s just that small,  family, hometown place, not meant for tourists. Which usually means the food is better.

Anyway, off to the beach.

Find some places to stay in Newport Rhode Island in my other blog post.

When I buy my ethnic ingredients, I try to stay away from grocery stores. They just don’t seem to always have authentic food. I like the Walkerswood brand of Jamaican spices and sauces. However, they have been very low on supplies lately, and I’m not sure why, maybe because of the hurricane last year. But I do still buy their brand, but from Red Pepper Mall. (Update – I haven’t had good luck with Red Pepper Mall, I never received the dried jerk I ordered, and was told it was back ordered. I still never got it and finally they said they would send something else, but it never came. So I would NOT recommend buying from Red Pepper Mall.)

Anyway, I ordered some Coconut Rundown Sauce, and went to find a recipe for it. I found one on the Walkerswood website (The site has since gone away). I wasn’t sure what to expect, it’s coconut milk with spices and other seasonings. When it came I tried a bit by itself, it tasted very spicy and oniony (is that a word?). But when I used it with the chicken, the spices were toned down, and it was great. Great isn’t even the word for it. I loved it. So here is the recipe that I used straight from the Walkerswood website. Oh, and it was very easy too.

Chicken Rundown with Wine

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1tbsp Oil
2tbsp White wine
180ml Walkerswood Coconut Rundown Sauce
2tbsp Fresh Cream
2Tbsp Fresh Cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

For Marinade
2 cloves Garlic, pressed
leaves from a big sprig of thyme
1 onion, finely chopped
1tsp Grated fresh ginger root (optional)

Directions

Wash and dry chicken and cut into cubes. Marinate the chicken for at least 1hour in the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper onion and ginger, if using.
Heat oil in a skillet. Remove the chicken and reserve the seasonings. Saute chicken pieces until brown. Add reserved seasonings and cook for 1 minute. De-glaze pan with wine, add coconut rundown sauce and cream, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Add the cilantro at the end.

Cooking Instructions

Cooking time 15minutes

Serving Suggestions

Very good with callaloo rice

I think you should definitely try it. It was really good.

If you have any Caribbean or Jamaican recipes, share them with us in the comments. I’m sure the readers of this blog would appreciate it a lot. I would too, I’m always looking for new and different foods to try.