And the winner is.....

You aint nuttin but a teaser
A dirty dirty teaser

Teaser - Beckett


Oh wait y'all were waiting on me to post about Caribana right? Well sorry to tease you on Friday and have to disappoint you today but I didn't make it to the parade. Combination of Bum knee, wasn't feeling the vibe this year and slept in kind of late and wasn't motivated to leave home to go all the way down Lakeshore in the afternoon. Sounds like they had a great drama free parade though so respect due. Will have to ask my bredren what the costumes were like.

I did go to the Pan Alive show Friday night though. My boys Afropan came second in both the competition and bomb tune sections. Unlike last year I have no problems with the decision though. Pan Fantasy deserved to win. Thought the kids with Jesse Kethum should have placed higher than 5th though. As for Afro don't worry we is still the all time winninest steel band in the T-dot so no worries we coming back strong and after my hiatus this year I'll be back playing next year.

But yep sorry I didn't make the Caribana parade this year. I could have been down the Lakeshore overwhelming my sense of sight and sound listening to the sweet sounds of soca, pan and rhythm beat out on iron, and the sights of beautifully vibrant costumes and women but instead Jdid decided to overload his sense of taste by going to an event a little closer to home. Yep that's right folks Scarborough Ribfest in Thompson park.


After all when I was growing up in Barbados this big food expert lady Carmeta Fraser had this slogan "food comes first" so see me I aint one to forget what my elders teach me as a yout so I must follow their commands.

Who I really trying to fool though? I guess I reaching that age where I putting me belly first. Forget all dem gal in the teeny weeny costume man looking for something more satisfying like Ribs and I aint talking bout no bony woman. I mean ribs you can eat.

Let me tell you guys about Ribfest. Pork fa days then! I mean I aint know how many pigs were killed to satiate the masses but it had to be a good few hundred if not thousands.

Anyway the place was packed, the ribbers (the barbeque makers) were out in abundance and the ribees (the people there to eat ribs. I just mek that one up) was a plenty too.

Went over wid me partner and his wife and we decide we going judge best ribs for ourselves. We on a mission like Special Ed.

So first thing first which Ribbers we testing? Rule one, American ribbers only! Yea man I know that sound bad and unpatriotic but think about it, you want to eat ribs from men from North Bay Ontario that does only got half a month of summer or you want to eat ribs from fellas from Florida or Texas that duz be barbecuing outside even on Christmas morning in their shorts? As I see it practice makes perfect so anybody that come from a warm weather area should know more about barbeque than people that live in the cold.

So for once I will admit that Americans got we beat in something and I defer to their expertise in the barbeque area. It aint nuh disgrace to Canadians is just we weather don't permit a fella to be barbecuing 24-7 and developing that sort of expertise.

All right then!

So we narrow down the Championship contenders to a trio with long lines and nuff winning banners and trophies placed strategically in their setups. True they could have been fooling us but well we had to decide somehow.

In the end it came down to Florida, Kansas City and Alabama and after toying with the idea of trying the chicken or the brisket or the pulled pork we just decided to stick to the basics...Ribs.

So we split up and hit the long lines to get some ribs. Kansas City had the longest and slowest line. Hmmm that might be a sign right there that those guys have some good barbeque. Alabama took the ribs and "run it through the mud" meaning to add extra sauce and Florida well Florida was the faster of the three lines and claimed they use some special citrus business in their sauce so we would have to see how that taste.

In front of us ribbers busy turning ribs, spreading sauce and cutting up multiple racks of ribs for consumption. Quite a sight for any raving carnivore like myself. Um Um good!

So after about 15 minutes we had three plates of ribs (and nuff nuff napkins) spread out in front a we. Time for the judging. We going Taste, Appearance and Sauce.

Appearance first. The Alabama ribs looked nice and juicy with a thick honey brown glaze giving them some shine. This running in the mud thing gave them the edge. We give them first place for appearance, Kansas 2nd, Florida bringing up the rear.

Taste. The Florida ribs are surprisingly juicy, good flavor too. Alabama ups the game though. Yeaaaa Haa!! Those good ol boys sure know them some barbeque. Soft, succulent, mouth watering good! Unfortunately the Kansas city flavor disappoints compared to the other two. Such is life.

Sauce. Once again Alabama on top.

Time to test again just to make sure. So 20 minutes and three big styrofoam containers of ribs later a winner emerged.

And the winner is .......Alabama. So if you're going to ribfest today or tomorrow Jdid and company endorse the Alabama ribbers. Just ask them to run it through the mud for ya!

Ok now I'm done, Going to go back into my swine coma right now. Lawd ave mercy! Meat overload!

Is pure lettuce and water for the rest of the week.