Bryant Backyard Border Bouncing – Jamaica

This is an installment of Bryant Backyard Border Bouncing (BBBB). For more information, please see the bottom of the About page.

The third installment of BBBB covered a country much closer to the United States than Korea and Brazil (the first two installments) – Jamaica! Again, we weren’t able to spend as much time on this one as we would like, but we had a good time learning about the island nation in the Caribbean.

We didn’t dig-in to facts on Jamaica as much as we have previously, but did explore a few aspects by way of the cuisine and what Jamaica is well known for in popular culture. We started out by visiting Jamaica Jerk on the northwest side of the city, just a mile or so away from the office that Matt used to work out of. It was a fairly frequent lunch destination from the time it opened.

As often happens, we ordered a variety of food, which the girls mostly picked at, and Matt ended up eating the majority of. One day they’ll get more into it, I’m sure! Matt’s favorite is oxtail. The meat is so flavorful, and so tender and juicy that it falls right off the bone. And of course the country and restaurant are both known for Jerk Chicken, so we got a nice sized order of that also. Both came with rice and beans, cabbage, and plantains (another of Matt’s favorites). The restaurant also had several beverages from Jamaica, so we picked up a can of coconut water, and bottles of pineapple and grapefruit soda. Dad loved the coconut water, and the girls went to town on the soda. As always, the owners were extremely friendly and hospitable. One of the best restaurants in town, if you ask me. We were the only ones eating in, but there was a constant stream of to-go orders headed out the door.

That evening, we hung out around the house listening to reggae. Of course, there was plenty of Bob Marley in the mix, but we also dug a bit deeper and found some good playlists and tunes on Spotify. We capped the night off by watching a blast from Laura and Matt’s past – Cool Runnings! We also read a general book about the Caribbean that we picked up from the library.

Later in the week, Matt cooked up a recipe found online, Jamaican Run Down Fish Stew. It had a good flavor, but like many meals cooked in the household, would have been a bit more true to style and flavorful had the hot peppers called for in the recipe not been omitted. Either way, the coconut milk paired well with the flavor of the fish, with fresh tomatoes and lime juice adding good flavor. Homemade dumplings were also cooked up to serve the stew over, which added some good substance.