By Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor 
Richard Whitfield, managing director for Half Moon Hotel; Ellen Asmodeo vice-president publisher for Travel & Leisure Magazine; Verona Carter, regional director of public relations for The Ritz-Carlton Resorts of the Caribbean & Mexico and Michele Rollins, owner of The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, Jamaica, enjoy a moment during the recent visit of the popular travel magazine's vice-president. - Contributed
DEARS, FOR some people, life is a gift, a party even, just waiting to be enjoyed; each encounter, experience, an act of triumph to be celebrated and be thankful for. And so, each day and night is celebrated with the gusto and appreciation as a gift of the gods, to be fully enjoyed, regardless of whatever the particular circumstance that obtains!
For others, life is nothing but an unending chore of frustration, unpleasant encounters, an obstacle course even, to be endured in the hope of a better life, to be found, beyond the grave. And so they live this life as if in purgatory - constantly bitching and bemoaning their perceived misfortunes and or 'bad luck', never stopping to smell the roses; enjoy the sunset; toast friends, and or even just celebrate the gift of being!
For this lot, life is confined to the commemoration of special birthdays, anniversaries, events etc., the idea of a party to celebrate friendships, life and the privilege of being, its vagaries and bounties, totally infradig, to the point of blasphemy. So, life and its energy are spent in the hope of things to come, and sadly, not what is!
FLAVOUR OF THE EARTH
Mercifully, there are those, who throw a party; a dinner; a get-together; a do just because, and luvs, they are the flavour of the earth! The fabulous, who understand that the essence of this here existence is to enjoy it, and share your fortune along the way, instead of hording your blessings for an outwardly chaste life, in the hope of a celestial future!
And so, those who throw a party! drinks! dinner! or any
do, just because are the
enlightened ones, to be toasted and celebrated.
Dears, numbered among the enlightened ones, is New York resident Winston Cole, Dickie, to family and friends, the celebrated master chef and raconteur, who served the Jamaican tourism industry in many a capacity before relocating New York's fashionable west side a number of years ago.
Well, the offspring of the noted St. Andrew Cole family, Dickie Cole, has made it his religious duty to pop into Jamaica, in between assignments and or on holidays ever since he
relocated to the Big Apple, over a decade or so ago! And with many a close friends still resident here, as is his sibling, Peter Cole of Stony Hill, those visits have been with the regularity and frequency that kept the cockles of the hearts quite warm indeed!
STILL BEAUTIFUL
Fresh on the heels of his Christmas visit, Dickie Cole, is here on the rock for a week or so, of rest and relaxation. Well my dears, with all the nightmarish news that besets us all daily whether it be the absolute tragedy of the Asian Tsunami and its continuing toll; the wretched news of continuing violence from international trouble spots that violate the sanctity of homes via the tubes each day; or whether it be our own home grown brutality packaged and paraded injudiciously, life is still quite beautiful!
To remind his friends of the beauty and joy that envelops us each day, last Saturday evening/night, Dickie Cole threw one of his famous "just because" dinner parties at the oh-so-fabulously-charming and elegantly imposing Stony Hill home of his sibling, the retiring Peter Cole.
Sweet-things, it was just what the social doctor had ordered an olde worlde dinner-do of faultless equanimity and incomparable style! Make that, haute-style and then some!!!
A MAGICAL MIX
Dears, nestled way up in the upscale foothills of upper St. Andrew, the home of Peter Cole is a dream and then some! We are talking a magical mix of the ultra-mod and the traditional here overlaid with a conservative elegance that is as appealing as it is beguiling, done up as it is in free-flowing fashion with an all fab, and therapeutically so, gurgling water feature that meanders in and out of unexpected nooks and crannies that adds that sense of fab drama that is all part and parcel of the now feng shui awareness!
Sweethearts, we are talking a dream house here, in an urban setting with all the rural trappings breadfruit, 'pear tree' and all, overlooking the majestically glowing city of Kingston and its feeder communities, stretching all the way from Portmore all the way over into Old Harbour. The magical night lights of the sprawling metropolis adds to the allure of a city literally at the feet of those in attendance.
Children, dinner, was a celestial fare and then some! A rhapsody of fabulousness that evoked a sense of vivacious perspicacity in even the most jaded of taste buds in the assemblage of social and culinary luminaries present!
A FEAST
The feast began with toasted pita -rounds, topped with crab, capers and jalapeño peppers, rounded with an olive/lemon flavoured dressing; followed by Mozzarella globes, marinated with basil and done up with Olive oil and Mediterranean sun-dried tomatoes.
And then there was: roasted suckling pig; faultless grilled salmon, with a chipolata flavour; pan-roasted orange chicken; Mexican bread and ensalada la tropicana; and murderously wicked cheese cake, truffles provoked the voice box in spontaneous choruses of appreciative celebration and it all made for a dee-vine social and culinary interruption.
Aam-a-a-telling yuh, dovecakes, it was precious!
And then there was the
company a renaissance crowd if ever there was one, and
included such illustrious personas as: Peter Cole and his young son Zarek Pierre; Tony Ferari and companion Judy Afflalo; Maxine Walters; Dr. Trevor and Mrs. Shirley Golding; the head-turningly regal Betty Delfosse-Ingleton of Velisa's restaurant; Maj. Phillip and Mrs. Pam Campbell; Lloyd Brown; Pam McGlasshan; Alex and Joyce Dixon of NY who motored over from their Ocho Rios Villa, for the do; Virginia Burke, whose latest culinary tome is all set to hit international bookstores soon, her sibling I-Nancy Burke. Also out; Mrs. Fay Rattary; Alfred 'Franno' Francis and his Empress Diane Ellis, who celebrated her birthday the week before; Eddie Robinson, visiting from Skeries, in Ireland; Sonja Griffiths; impresario Sharon Burke; Noel Garcia; Jennifer Mooreland; Audrey Chin-Oldfield, her son Wickham Smith and his lovely wife, TV personality Maia Chung; Sandra Campbell; Mr. and Mrs. David Burke; Sofia Turner; plus a number of others, but what a faultless night!
