Today my mom and I went on a mission to find Pickapeppa sauce. It has been weirdly hard to track down lately, both in SoCal and back in Texas. One of my mom’s neighbors suggested we try Dat Moi Market in Gardena, and thank goodness we did. They had Pickapeppa! Success!

Even better, the shelves were packed with all kinds of interesting Caribbean ingredients, and we spent a good while just looking around and discovering new things. Of course, we could not leave without grabbing a couple of beef patties too. Absolutely worth the stop.

Dat Moi’s website says it is “your source for African, Asian, Caribbean, Hispanic & Polynesian products,” and yep, that checks out. Highly recommend if you are looking for something a little harder to find.

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Our Christmas Eve dinner was a Jamaican feast prepared by my mom. It was out-of-this-world! The star of the show (for me at least) is the crab rundown. The rundown sauce is so good. I could eat the sauce over rice all day long!

In addition to the crab, we had callaloo, rice & peas, stew peas, curry goat, oxtail, jerk chicken and pork, ackee & saltfish, escovich fish, and fricassee chicken. Needless to say, we were all stuffed. 😆

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While browsing the freezer section of my local HEB supermarket, I was pleasantly surprised to find Jamaican patties! I’ve had these before, and while they’re not as good as the ones I’m used to, they’re a convenient and affordable option. The crust is actually pretty good, but the filling could use some improvement. Still, I’m happy to have a Jamaican patty option at my fingertips! 😀

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Many people are familiar with the original Pickapeppa flavor, but the hot pepper flavor is my favorite. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find these days, so when I saw it in my mom’s pantry, I had to have some. If anyone sees the hot pepper flavor, please buy some for me! Willing to drive hours for it.

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My mom prepared her annual Jamaican feast for us tonight. We had jerk pork and chicken, escovich fish, stew peas, plantain, oxtail, rice and peas, callaloo, and run-down crab. It was amazing! The crab tasted great, but the curry smell will stay on my fingers for days. It’s worth it, though!

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As usual, we enjoyed a huge Jamaican feast for our Christmas Eve dinner. My mom cooks up a storm for us, with jerk pork and chicken, stew peas, rice and peas, stew chicken, callaloo, plantain, shrimp rundown, oxtail, curry goat, and patties. It was awesome! The only problem is that the food doesn’t photograph well since the colors are mostly all muted. But the taste was off-the-charts.

Thanks, Mom!

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My mom made a Jamaican feast for us this evening, and the star of the menu (for me, at least) was an amazing Escovitch Snapper. It was pan-fried whole, and then covered with a yummy, vinegary sauce. So delicious! Of course we had some other Jamaican staples, such as Jerk pork, stew peas, and plantain, but the fish was what I will remember most.

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I decided to make some bully beef to take advantage of the abundance of delicious baguettes that Mariko baked. Bully beef is the name used in Jamaica for corned beef (canned) sandwiches, and we used to eat them when we were growing up since my Mom was born and raised in Jamaica.

There are a number of ingredients you can add to the corned beef, but I usually just mix it with mayo, then add some Pickapeppa. You can add onion, tomato, Scotch Bonnet, ketchup, etc. Just do a google search and you can find some good ideas! But for me, just the simple mayo and Pickapeppa was good for a spread to go on the baguette.

Why not pick up a can of corned beef from the market and try for yourself? It might just become one of your favorites.

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One of our holiday traditions that we all look forward to is my mom’s huge Jamaican food feast. We usually have it as a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner, but this year we delayed it a bit since my brother’s family joined us after. But of course the food was awesome! Here’s a list of some of the items on the menu:

• Jerk Pork
• Jerk Chicken
• Oxtail
• Crab run-down
• Plantain
• Rice and Peas
• Stew Peas
• Fricassee Chicken
• Callaloo
• Patties
• Scotch Bonnet Peppers

Yes, we were stuffed! I’m certainly “bulking up” on the calories this vacation.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

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Today was our travel day from Austin to Miami, where we’ll spend the night before we begin our Caribbean cruise.

Our flight wasn’t too early, and the airport wasn’t crowded at all so the whole flight was stress-free.

Our plane was small, with just four seats per aisle, but it was very comfortable with lots of legroom so the flight seemed to go by in no time, and before we knew it, we were in the Miami humidity!

We were the first of our immediate family to arrive so we got dibs on the amazing feast that was waiting at my cousin’s house (where we would be staying).

Patties, curry goat, fricassee chicken, stew peas, plantain, etc. It was awesome! Everything was from Jamaica Kitchen, the BEST Jamaican food in Miami. My cousin is the owner/operator of Jamaica Kitchen, but even it wasn’t a family-owned restaurant, I’d still rave about it. It’s so delicious!

Later that evening, the rest of my immediate family arrived and we continued the feast. What a wonderful day reuniting with family. Can’t wait for the rest of the trip!

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