Real Jerk

I made jerk chicken tacos/nachos for dinner (because I thought I had three taco shells, but I only had two) and they were superb! I tried a new jerk sauce I found at the SuperValu in the International section. A little dab will do ya! This is hot stuff! Just the way I like it.

Every time I eat anything jerked I think about the Real Jerk Restaurant in Toronto. When I was working in the tele-personal/phone sex industry (pre-internet dating) one year for my birthday a couple of my co-workers took me to this restaurant for a celebratory lunch. It sticks out because it was a 4-hour 6-drink type of lunch that the bosses paid for (I loved those guys!) and one of the gifts I got was a plant that supposedly could not be killed, which died within a couple of weeks. Anyway, I can't believe it's still there! On Queen Street! That's pretty crazy, because this was many a year ago now. This was back in the day when I didn't do spicy (ask S about the Taco Bell mild salsa debacle sometime) and I didn't know anything about other culture's food. I remember going to the restaurant and not having a clue what to order. I ordered some chicken, skewered if I recall, with the mildest of the mild jerk. It was hot, but I ate it, and didn't totally hate it. I remember thinking I wanted to go back there and try other things sometime, but I never did. I believe I moved back to NB within 7-8 months. Shortly after Christmas sometime. Or maybe not. It's all a blur, can't remember how long I worked at that place. I know it was the longest job I kept before working for myself. It was a good place to work. I hear it still is.

Anyway, I kind of forgot about jerk after that. I mean it's not a big thing on any NB menu I frequent, so it kinda slipped out of sight, out of mind, while my tastes grew increasingly toward the very hot and very spicy (which totally happened AFTER I quit smoking and could really taste food for the first time.) I may or may not have run into the jerk once or twice since then but then me and S returned to the city of the crime for the Bon Jovi concert and on our hotel's menu discovered jerk chicken nachos. Can you say yummy?! While in Toronto we also visited the Market where I purchased a big-assed bottle of jerk sauce, the hot stuff, no mild for me, which I pretty much devoured on a daily basis upon returning to Sackville until the jar was empty. I couldn't find any more in the stores in Sackville. Not in their International sections, not in the health food store, not anywhere . . . no more jerk :-( Grocery shopping in Sackville was difficult because of their limited selections, but no more! I'm discovering all kinds of goodies here. The regular access to hot peppers alone is enough to keep me happy but the jerk is pretty darn awesome.

And so easy. Take one chicken breast, cut it up into strips with your meat scissors, rub a tsp of sauce all over and refrigerate for at least an hour. Chop some tomatoes, onions, and black olives up. Stir-fry the chicken for five minutes or until it's not pink. Top nachos with jerk chicken and chopped veggies. Grate a bit of cheese on top if you like. And voila! There you have a very tasty dinner on its own or served with a side salad. It's really good. Go mild if you don't do spicy well, but try it!

Mood: nostalgic, but not teary-eyed, tho perhaps a little drunk (2 glasses)
Drinking: just water at the moment
Listening To: me, sneezing
Hair: beyond redemption again