Picking up more than a few of my favorite things

My first visit to Costco Wholesale in Hackensack after a brief vacation netted fresh wild sockeye salmon fillet, Tropicana Orange Juice, beefsteak tomatoes, bottles of mango nectar, Greek Yogurt, a seedless watermelon, Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, clothing for my teenage son and other items.

That night, I prepared the wild salmon with Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto that I had in the refrigerator, and served it with organic brown rice and prepared sweet-potato salad, all from Costco.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

It wasn't difficult to drop nearly $200 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack on Tuesday during my first visit after a brief vacation.

I spent $95 on clothing, and the rest on food:

Earthbound Farm Organic Sprinx Mix, 1 pound for $4.99; a large seedless watermelon, $5.49; Kirkland Signature Greek Yogurt, 2 32-ounce cups for $6.99; fresh, wild sockeye salmon fillet, up $2 in recent weeks to $11.99 a pound; 3 half-gallons of organic, low-fat milk for $10.19; and other items.

At checkout, a woman in front of me was so impressed with a 5-pound box of Sunset-brand hothouse Beefsteak Tomatoes ($6.39) she saw in my cart that -- without asking -- she actually picked up one to examine it.

An open-face omelet made with Kirkland Signature Egg Whites.

Campari Tomato, bottled Kirkland Signature Basil Pesto and sliced, reduce-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese dress up another egg-white omelet, served over brown rice.

More favorites

On Wednesday, in Englewood, I stopped at Balthazar Bakery on South Dean Street for 2 fresh baguettes, still $2 each.

Then, I drove the half-mile or so to Jerry's Gourmet & More, where I picked up 2  Meals To Go, cut to $5.99 after 4 p.m.

Normally, the restaurant-quality dinners are $7.99.

At home, I plated tender calamari tubes stuffed with shrimp and arugula, penne alla puntanesca, fresh artichoke salad and eggplant caponata, and re-heated them gently in the microwave.

I poured myself a glass of Italian red wine, and allowed myself a couple of pieces of crusty baguette.
 
My son enjoyed Jerry's Chicken Cordon Bleu, Spinach Lasagna and a Ham & Cheese Monte Cristo, but passed on the Brussels sprouts and baked cauliflower that came with the dinner. 

Balthazar's baguette has a living crust: It's crispier in dry weather.

A bowl of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix.

Kimchi and coffee

Also on Wednesday, I visited the Englewood building where Arirang Kimchi is made by hand, and learned the Oh family will be moving the operation to a Ridgefield shopping center in the next few weeks.

On Thursday, I dropped into the Target in Hackensack, where an employee said the store's small food court is being replaced by a Starbucks and a Pizza Hut.

They should be open by the last week in September, she said.

The licensed store would be the second Starbucks in Hackensack.

There is a company owned Starbucks on Essex Street, near the medical center, but the city still needs one close to the Bergen County Courthouse and law firms, and there are a couple of vacant storefronts that would do nicely within a block or two.

Salted codfish

On Monday, in Englewood, I picked up medium boneless salted codfish at the ShopRite for $6.99 a pound, compared to $8.99 a pound at Costco.

Jersey Blueberries were 2 pints for $4.

The tart-sweet blueberries are great with the sweet seedless watermelon I bought at Costco.

No need to thump the melon unless you plan to make music with it.

I look for the biggest, heaviest watermelon I can find; the exterior was a paler green than others, but it was perfectly sweet inside.

The blueberries also are wonderful in a breakfast "parfait" made with Greek Yogurt, Hemp Hearts, Black Chia Seed and Organic Blue Agave nectar -- all from Costco.

Parchment paper

To roast fish or chicken, I now use Kirkland Signature Parchment Paper to line the pan.

Meat or seafood doesn't stick to the paper so I don't have to use spray oil, as I did with aluminum foil, which is more expensive.

With chicken, I use two layers of paper to handle all of the juices, but one layer is enough to roast wild salmon or other fish.

I also use parchment paper to roast the sodium-free raw almonds I buy at Costco, and use the paper over or recycle it. 

I was never sure whether the aluminum foil was recyclable.
 

The Jamaican people have little reason to cheer

At the Montego Bay airport, a man balancing a stack of Sunday newspapers on his head and other Jamaicans roared with approval as they watched live TV coverage of Jamaican speedster Usain Bolt reclaiming the 100-meter world championship in Russia.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor


"Welcome to the Third World" would be an appropriate message from the crew when your plane lands in Jamaica.

The small Caribbean island is poor, and many residents live in fear of gun violence.

The government is one of the most corrupt in the Western Hemisphere, and officials focus on lining their pockets, not improving the lives of citizens.

Jamaica celebrated 50 years of independence from Great Britain in 2012. This sign at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay doesn't explain exactly what the nation's "mission" is beyond attracting tourists.

The government holds a 20% interest in Jamaica Public Service Company Limited, the exclusive distributor of electricity on the island.

The utility charges customers far more per kilowatt hour than does Public Service Electric and Gas in New Jersey, and there are no lower rates available from companies using wind and water power, as there are here.

I pay about 7 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity to a company that uses renewable energy. 


It's a steal

Electricity is so expensive for the average Jamaican that many people resort to stealing it from neighbors.

I know of one family that requested electric service, then saw their monthly bill swell month after month until it reached about $900 (U.S.), because neighbors hooked wires into their line. 

Taxing solar

The Jamaican utility's Web site mentions nothing about solar power, and solar panels aren't made on the sun-splashed island. 

In fact, the government discourages the use of solar, imposing a heavy tax on imported panels. 

Gasoline is about $5 a gallon for regular, but apparently none of the taxes are used to fix the  roads, some of the worst in the world.

A bar on Canaan Mountain in western Jamaica.

In 2011, The Gleaner newspaper reported a poll found 60 percent of Jamaicans believed the island would be better off "today," if it had remained a colony of Britain.

What would the percentage be, if the opinion poll was repeated this year? Seventy-five percent?

The wealthy 1% that rule the island are especially mean-spirited, because they are exploiting people of their own color.  

At Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, I picked up a whole roasted fish to eat on the plane home for about 476 Jamaican dollars or around $4.75.

The big resorts and other elements of the island's struggling tourist industry are supported by low-wage workers.

I was shocked to learn a couple of years ago that a man I know who worked as a chef at the Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall, a 5,000-acre ocean-front luxury resort near Montego Bay, made less than $100 a week.

A system comprising 22 solar panels and 24 storage batteries at Zimbali Retreats on Canaan Mountain cost about U.S. $70,000 when it was installed 7 years ago, far more than an equivalent system in the United States.

Nearly every Jamaican has heard gun shots as they go about their lives -- going to work or school or marketing -- or knows a friend or relative who has been robbed, shot or killed.

The gun violence can be traced to a decades-old decision by the island's political parties to arm their supporters -- in a particularly savage voter-suppression program.

Jamaicans say the violence is fed today by the illegal importation of guns from the United States.

Running gun battles between the police and criminals are commonplace.

The wealthy who rule the island live behind high walls and gated compounds, and install security grilles on every window and door.

Many tourists trek to the Red Dragon Bar in Negril for its jerk pork, which is supposedly made in a drum pan -- roasted over wood in a oil drum that has been cut in half the long way and laid open on its side. The bar's interior is decorated with license plates sent in by fans from all over the U.S. and Canada, above.

My wife paid about $4 for this portion, but she wasn't impressed by the taste of the pork, which is rubbed in jerk spices before it is cooked. The drum pan wasn't visible, and the cooked pork was kept in a large covered pot under a lace tablecloth in another room.

At the Burger King in Negril, the driver of a green car and his family were so intent on eating there he parked in front of the wheelchair ramp.

Does any other Burger King have this view? I went in for coffee, but it is served only in the morning.

Jamaica is only a fifth the size of Cuba, its neighbor to the north, but the Jamaican government doesn't provide the free health care and education enjoyed on the Caribbean's biggest island.

And those high electric rates mean industry that establishes itself in Jamaica can't compete with established maufacturers in the United States.

A newspaper article estimates the cost as 44 cents per kilowatt hour in Jamaica, compared to 11 cents an hour in the U.S.

The island imports nearly everything, driving up the cost, and there are no Costcos or other discount stores to be found anywhere.

Many businesses are owned by Asian Indian and Chinese merchants.

On our last night at Zimbali Retreats, we went "jammin" in Negril, where we saw a reggae singer deliver credible versions of Bob Marley songs, above, and another group of African drummers and dancers (Seastar Inn, $5 admission).

 

In Jamaica, nature's splendor is everywhere

Banana flowers are among the exotic plants we saw during a visit to Canaan Mountain on the island of Jamaica.

Opening wide.

All set for Mardi Gras.

Better red than staid.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

There were beautiful plants and trees everywhere we looked during our vacation at Zimbali Retreats on Canaan Mountain in western Jamaica.

The lush, green mountain is home to subsistence farmers who are blessed with a cool-running river and an abundance of fruit and nut trees.

A shallow part of the Canaan River not far from a deeper and wider section ideal for cooling off under a canopy of leaves and bamboo.

In the pink.

An avocado or pear tree on the farm at Zimbali Retreats.

A papaya tree.

A misty afternoon.

Rustic cottages, vegetarian meals made with mostly organic ingredients, such as the one below, and lots of peace and quiet are among the draws at Zimbali Retreats.

A sun-splashed corner table.

Natural wood is incorporated into the main villa at Zimbali Retreats, above and below, as well as into the guest cottages.

A flaming beauty.

A wind chime at Zimbali Retreats.

The path to a farm building on the mountain passes under a ginip tree. Ginip, an edible fruit, is sold in bunches on the street in Negril, the white-sand beach resort that is about 12 miles from Zimbali Retreats.

See the previous post:

A slice of heaven on a lush mountain in Jamaica

A slice of heaven on a lush mountain in Jamaica

A goat herder on Canaan Mountain in Jamaica, where he lives among other subsistence farmers. Our stay at the nearby Zimbali Retreats showed us a side of the Caribbean island few tourists ever see.

One evening, Obrian Herron, the chef at Zimbali Retreats, prepared a deliciously thick soup, using coconut milk that he made himself and filling it with unusually tender whelk, a marine mollusk; banana, yam and other ingredients.

 

Another evening, Obrian served us butter-fish fillet with rice and peas; eggplant and other vegetables. His fruit-based sauces and salad dressings made every meal special. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Zimbali Retreats -- a cluster of rustic cottages on lush, green Canaan Mountian in western Jamaica -- redefines the meaning of getting away from it all.

The complex is not only off the beaten path, it relies almost completely on solar power, storage batteries, rain water and a natural spring.

We enjoyed three meals a day prepared by Chef Obrian Herron, using ingredients from a 7-and-a-half-acre organic farm the owners started several years before they began accepting guests.

What did we do? 

We ate, rested, ate some more and rested some more. I read "East of the Sun," a novel set in the 1920s in England and India that I found in our room.

Life is a beach

You can be as active or inactive as you want. 

There are spa services available at extra cost, including massages, facials and nail treatments. 

Or you could go on one of several day trips, including a jaunt to the white-sand beach Negril is famous for -- about 12 miles away.


Nature's soundtrack

And you can commune with nature, listening during the day to the sounds of birds, crickets and goats swell at night to a discordant symphony of noisy tree frogs and other critters. 

We watched powerful thunderstorms from the safety of a covered veranda in the main villa.

My morning routine was making coffee in our cottage and drinking it on the porch.

I watched in fascination as -- only a few feet away -- iridescent green hummingbirds took nectar from flowers while their wings beat furiously to hold them suspended in the air.

A tasty vegetarian meal of, from upper left, lentils, lentil flat bread, salad with mango vinaigrette and green plantains.

A breakfast of ackee and salt fish, the Jamaican national dish, included roasted breadfruit, rear, boiled green banana, avocado and sweet plantains.

Fresh fruit started off breakfast. Sweet bananas had green and red skins, and the latter was the sweetest such fruit I have ever tasted. A soft Jamaican apple was unlike any I've eaten before.

The freshly made juices served with most meals, including pineapple, above, were heavily spiked with ginger.

  

Cooling off

Just before breakfast on Sunday, GG, the farmer at Zimbali Retreats, led me and my wife on a 10-minute walk down a rocky dirt road to a spot where I could take a dip in the cool Canaan River, under a thick canopy of leaves and bamboo.

We encountered a farmer who lives nearby and was out cutting fresh sugar cane for a morning energy boost.

Fruit rots on trees

GG spoke of the abundance of fruit and nuts grown in the lush setting, including breadfruit, mango, avocado, which is called "pear" in Jamaica; cashews, almonds and lychee.

In fact, he said, there is so much blooming on the mountain that farmers and their families can't possibly eat it all and lots of it goes to waste.

Coffee on the porch of our cottage, only a few feet away from a tree whose flowers are called shrimp, below.

Hummingbirds find this flowering shrimp simply irresistible.

A young hummingbird in an unusual pose -- resting on a branch. When in motion, you can hear the thrumming of the hummingbird's wings, but it's a blur when flying.

 

A hammock is placed strategically at each corner of the main villa's breezy covered veranda, which guests have the run of. 

Zimbali Retreats' main villa as seen from the farm.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday brought intense thunderstorms, all of them starting at 3 in the afternoon. On Sunday, the sun rose through a cloudy sky.

A welcoming home

Since we hung around Zimbali Retreats most of the time, we got to hear the owners, Mark and Alecia, bantering with their staff and their children in the colorful hybrid language Jamaicans call "patois."

Mark apologized for workmen sawing and hammering wood to add a sixth guest room on the other end of the property from our cottage, explaining the off-season is the only time he can expand.

You'll find most of the creature comforts at Zimbali Retreats, but no air-conditioning. 

Near silent ceiling fans do a good job of keeping guests cool in the hot, humid weather, especially on the breezy veranda. Nights are cool, and even fans aren't needed.

One of the revelations at Zimbali Retreats was fresh collaloo, above left and below, a spinach-like green that is chopped, canned in brine and sent to the United States.

Collaloo with sweet and green plantains, avocado and scrambled eggs.

Ackee, the Jamaican fruit, is said to be poisonous until it opens, and then requires labor-intensive cleaning of the black seeds and other non-edible waste.

Chef Obrian at the stove in the kitchen-dining room. He is a skilled vegetarian cook, but will prepare seafood or chicken for guests who want them. No pork is served. Many of the nearby farmers are Rastafarian and eat only fruit, vegetables and fish.

Going organic

The mostly organic food was a big draw for us, and eating fresh collaloo and ackee -- not the canned stuff we have in the U.S. -- were revelations.

We were served wonderful homemade juices, heavily spiked with ginger, including mango, pineapple, sour sop and beet.

I also liked the strong, muddy black coffee from a French press.

After my swim on Sunday, I asked GG if there was any coconut water around, and he went to hack open two of the fruit for us.

The owners, Mark and Alecia; GG, Chef Obrian, Miss D and other members of the staff made us feel completely at home.

Coconut water straight from the source, above and below.

Chef Obrian estimates that 75% of the ingredients he uses come from the farm at Zimbali Retreats.

GG fashioned a spoon so we could eat the "jelly" from inside the coconut.

 

A farmer of Jamaican and Chinese descent enjoying a snack of fresh sugar cane, above and below.

   

Zimbali Retreats, Canaan Mountain, Little London District, Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica; 1-876-485-2789. 

Web site: Healing mind and body

We learned about Zimbali Retreats from Amazon Local, purchasing a voucher for 4 nights, including meals, for $799 for 2 people.  A 16.5% tax is additional.

Transfers from the airport in Montego Bay were $99 each way, and are well worth it considering Jamaica has some of the worst roads -- and worst drivers -- in the Western Hemisphere, including a long, rocky dirt track that runs through a sugar-cane estate leading up to Zimbali Retreats.

Jamaicans also drive on the left. Enough said.

If you go, don't forget to pack insect repellant. 

Coming soon:

In Jamaica, nature's splendor

 is everywhere