EOC Week 8: The Adventure

Its Christmas Eve and I’m laying in my hotel room, in Jamaica, feeling sorry for myself.  I finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. I was startled by the sound of children laughing and music playing in the distance. I couldn’t fall back to sleep so I pulled myself out of bed, got dressed, and wandered outside to investigate where a the sound of fun was coming from.  After roaming the city of Kingston for a while I discovered where all the commotion was coming from. The whole downtown was transformed into the Christmas Market. The Christmas Market is a celebration of Christmas with local vendors selling toys for children, crafts, gifts, and food. There is also street dancing and music. I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and joined the party! I met a local man named Barrington who was running a vendor booth selling Scotch Bonnets, Jamaica’s hottest peppers. Barrington could tell right away I wasn’t a local and he wanted everyone else to notice too. He proposed a bet. The bet was for me to eat one whole Scotch Bonnet! If I could eat the whole pepper without becoming sick he would invite me to his home with his family and friends for Christmas dinner. If I couldn’t finish the pepper or become sick right away I would have to buy Barrington’s Red Strips for the rest of the night. I was very nervous, I’ve heard about these Scotch Bonnets before and I know they’ve been known as the hottest peppers in the world! I also have to a strict budget to follow and I knew if I had to buy Barrington’s beers for the rest of the night, I would go broke, and really fast. He is drinking those Red Stripes like they’re water. I also really don’t want to spend Christmas by myself, I’ve been longing for some companionship during the holiday season. I grabbed the first pepper on the table and stuffed the whole thing into my mouth. I started to feel the hottest sensation that I’ve ever felt before through my whole body. I wanted to scream! I played it cool, after a couple minutes the sensation became worse. I grabbed Barrington’s beer and chugged the rest of it. The Red Stripe actually made me feel a lot better and it actually went very well along with the pepper. Barrington was so amazed that I actually won the bet. He gave me a hug and told me “Welcome to my family”.

I arrived about Barrington’s family’s house the next day around dinnertime. Barrington’s wife brought out some appetizers and of course, Red Stripe. My favorite appetizer was a salted cracker seasoned with jerk spices with a dot of a Scotch Bonnet in the center. After eating that cracker and chasing it with a Red Stripe I felt like I accomplished a full Jamaican experience. I wanted to share this adventure with the world, and the best way to do this was to package this cracker and sell to the whole world. It is highly recommended that you drink with a Red Stripe, but if that is not available any beer will do the trick.