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This past weekend, President Obama visited Trinidad for the Summit of the Americas.  Protection being a priority, Grenada has offered use of its airport to house several F-15 jets.  As the airport is close to the SGU campus, students living nearby or on campus have continuously been exposed to the loud roar of F-15 engines and afterburners, even in the middle of the night.

Still, it is not often that you will see such planes in Grenada.  I took time off one day to photograph the planes as they took off from the airport.

Term 4 is no joke.

This is what I'm doing at the moment.

Several weeks ago, over 300 union workers at St. George's University began a strike and began to protest after salary negotiations failed. One of the leading factors to this breakdown in negotiations was due to a pamphlet that was circulated around campus, with caricatures of the University management. Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) did not apologize for the pamphlet, talks broke down, and workers (albeit only a few) took to the streets Monday morning (September 15, 2008).

SGU security guards hold their signs

The strike ended the next day as talks continued and the employees went back to work.

Despite the fact that I rarely went out for Chinese food in Berkeley, I soon discovered that the Chinese food crave is not so easy to get rid of. When I saw a few fliers around on campus advertising an “authentic” Chinese restaurant named Yuanxiang, I had my doubts, but decided to check it out in favor of the local fastfood Chinese place called “Chopstix” (a place to avoid just from the name itself). As soon as I turned the corner on the Best Western Hotel in Grand Anse, I felt like a tornado had come and swept a place up from China and landed it into Grenada.

Walking inside, I saw that all the workers were Chinese. This is always a good sign. Upon conversing, I realized furthermore that only the son understood English; the rest spoke Mandarin. While I unfortunately do not really understand Mandarin, conversations went easily using the son as a translator, and we were able to talk with them.

We ordered a wide range of foods, and lo and behold, just like good Chinese food, the food came out from the kitchen very quickly. We ordered the Pepper Beef, the Braised Chicken, the Dumplings, a Fish plate, some Sweet and Sour Pork, the Spicy Chicken (see right), some Stir Fried Vegetables (see right), and an order of Rice. The spicy chicken surprised me with the amount of peppers used in the dish, and I avoided them as much as possible. However, the chicken there was tasty. I was most impressed with the simple stir fried vegetables dish. It was definitely not local products and I soon learned that they grew their own vegetables behind the restaurant.

Upon leaving after a few hours of relaxing, I was most satisfied with the friendliness of the restaurant, the environment, and the quality of the food. I highly recommend this as the place to go for Chinese food in Grenada.

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One of the biggest concerns I had in coming to Grenada was the inability to eat sushi. Luckily, in Grand Anse, there is a place called Carib Sushi where local fish is served, including others like maguro (tuna) and sake (salmon).

Taking a look at their menu, my suspicions that the selection would be limited was correct, as well as the fact that more maki is served than nigiri or sashimi. Certain things caught my eye, especially the idea of lobster sushi. I had it once back home in Oakland, California, and the raw lobster sushi we had was amazing. I hoped it would be the same here.

Upon entering the restaurant, the smell of sushi rice and soy sauce was thick in the air, and a poster of an assortment of sushi was on display behind the sushi bar. However, almost none of the displayed sushi was actually available at the bar. The day I went, the selection of fish was limited to tuna, salmon, and three types of local fish: lobster, rainbow runner, and amberjack.

Being the sushi lover that I am, I decided to go for a taste of local fish and skipped out on the standardized maki rolls that can be found in most Japanese restaurants. I ordered an order each of the three local fish and it seemed like the waitress was confused by my request, as if I didn’t understand that each order came with 6 pieces of nigiri sushi. Finally, I confirmed my order and my friend ordered her food. (I will only be reviewing the food I ordered, and I did NOT order any maki or sushi rolls.)

The amberjack came first. It was quite unimpressive and reminded me of the mediocre tuna nigiri back home. The next plate was the rainbow runner. The display of the sushi was much better than that of the amberjack, but again, the taste fell short. (To those critics who may bash me for not realizing that I am in the Caribbean, I say to you that I can only critique food to my own liking, but that I do take such matters into consideration.) Finally, the lobster came. To my dismay, it was not raw (although I suppose that is for the better in terms of safety). Surprisingly, it was not overly dry, and it had good lobster flavor for being a hunk of lobster meat.

Overall, what can be said about sushi in Grenada is simply this: mediocre. However, given the circumstances, this place is still a blessing to me. Despite the lack of flavor that I am used to back at home, it was still able to remove the sushi craving that I had (in a good way, not in a bad way) for the past few weeks. For those who must have sushi, this is a good place to go in Grenada. For those who can only eat the best sushi, be prepared to be disappointed.

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Overall: (in comparison to US sushi, but being Grenada, this is good enough.)

Grand Anse is quite a beautiful place. I finally got some minor time to take some pictures. Here’s one.

We went out for a night at The Coconut Beach, French Criole Restaurant. We were just one of two tables sitting there at the Grand Anse restaurant. It isn’t easy to find at night, but we managed.

I ordered a Carib Draft Beer, and to be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference from the bottled beer (water is water). The service was good; the waiter wasn’t too pushy, was helpful and patient when it came down to ordering our food and brought our food promptly. When our group went out to visit the beach after ordering, he let us know that our food was being brought over in a polite manner. The view at night wasn’t great, but we could tell that it would be beautiful at sunset or in the daytime.

I ordered a Lambi special due to it being a local delicacy, and because most of the other things on the menu I have had or could possibly have back in the United States (steak, lobster, spaghetti). When it came out, I was pleased with the aroma and just content with the aesthetics of the plate. In addition, the meal came with a side order of scalloped potatoes. However, upon eating the food, I was not overly pleased; the lambi wasn’t very tasty, but the texture of the conch shellfish was great. It is very possible that the lambi itself isn’t an overly flavorful food. The potatoes were decent, but not great.

The lobster, on the other hand, was delectable. Despite the fact that I lack an affinity for spicy foods, the spicy lobster concoction was great.

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Overall: - It could have been a 5, but my lambi wasn’t that good. Perhaps on my next trip there, the ratings will change.