Vol. 10, No. 11 | Aggressive Dill and Other Notes
Hey ya’ll!
I don’t have to explain to all of you how much Jamaica means to me. I know you know. So, I also don’t have to explain that it’s been an emotionally taxing few weeks. I’m glad to say that my family and friends are all ok. I’ve been grateful that I’ve also been at home in Atlanta for the past two weeks (rare for me), so I’ve had time to process. Other than yoga class, I haven’t left the house much. However, don’t fear, I have a lot of random thoughts I’ve been hoarding for exactly a moment like this.
Here are a few things I’ve thought about over the past year or two. This will absolutely not be cohesive in any way. And I definitely can’t guarantee it’s useful.
Here goes:
I love the liberal use of dill. If something has dill on a menu, I’ll order it 9 out of 10 ten times. If I was a food writer, I’d spend a lot of time talking about dill. It also makes me think of this reggae classic (skip it if you’re not used to the aggressiveness of soundclash culture).
I was in New Orleans scouting for locations for Tales of the Cocktail when this girl broke down into theeeeee most dramatic tears while on an elevator. Come to find out, she was upset that TikTok was shut down…I had to ride down five stops with this nonsense.
On this same trip to New Orleans, I forgot my wallet at home in Atlanta and I was surprised that I survived. I was able to get on my flight, get to my hotel, check into my hotel, eat at restaurants and make it back home. Needless to say, if I’d left my phone at home, I would have been screwed.
I’ve been telling people that we live in SEATS (Southeast Atlanta). People in Atlanta are downright annoyed by it and people from Atlanta are even more pissed. However, if SWATS is a thing, why isn’t SEATS?!
“I don’t know how to be older yet, I just know that I don’t care as much about the things I used to like and I can’t figure out what new things to like.” When I originally wrote that I was really feeling stuck, since then I’ve gotten into a bunch of things - concerts, gardening (at my home in SEATS), farmer’s markets, yoga, and of course, I still travel.
See, this was my very next note: I went to the farmer’s market on Sunday and I realized that in my 20s I used to think in my 40s, I’d live in some Italian village where I could walk to the market daily and cook whatever I picked up. It wasn’t the hilly streets I envisioned, but I did find joy in the Grant Park market.
If I lived in Italy, I think it would be Sicily. I went last year and drove all over the island and absolutely loved everything about it. Except, I was in a bathroom when the light randomly went off after about 3 seconds. Deep panic set in. Is there anything worse than an automatic light?! I had to wave my arms frantically in a pitch-dark room. I honestly can’t even remember if they even came back on.
I just read a note about a good pineapple that made me think about a really good mango that I had the other day. I can’t remember where this was though. Maybe Miami? Anyway, I don’t get a good mango often enough, but when I do, all the joys of my childhood come rushing back.
I was trying to make sure that I didn’t already mention any of these random bits, so I searched for dill in my newsletter portal. The first thing that popped up was the newsletter where I explained that sometimes I had to go to the strip club to get change when I was running a bar. It doesn’t mention dill ANYWHERE…but it gave me a chuckle.
Hope you’re all doing well!
Shannon
P.S. - A few people have asked me if Holy Sip Jamaica is still happening and yes, definitely. It might feel like having a good time while people are rebuilding their lives, but now more than ever, the tourism dollars will be important. Tourism is the backbone of the economy. If you can’t make it down for Holy Sip Jamaica, consider visiting Jamaica at some point in the next 12 months. If you’d like to donate to help the recovery efforts, here are the two places that I’ve donated: Support Jamaica (the official government site, don’t be fooled by the fake ones), Half Moon Employee Fund (You guys know this is my favorite hotel. The hotel was fine, the employees can’t work right now.)