Thu | Dec 26, 2024

PM to get stuffed with roast beef, sorrel

Published:Thursday | December 17, 2020 | 12:27 AM
Juliet Holness (left), member of parliament for St Andrew East Rural, and Pat Smith-Bravo, stores operation manager, Progressive Grocers of Jamaica Limited, hand Mia Jacobs a care package on Wednesday. Holness and Progressive Grocers presented packages to
Nicholas Nunes/Photographer
Juliet Holness (left), member of parliament for St Andrew East Rural, and Pat Smith-Bravo, stores operation manager, Progressive Grocers of Jamaica Limited, hand Mia Jacobs a care package on Wednesday. Holness and Progressive Grocers presented packages to Harbour View and Bull Bay students at St Benedict’s Primary School in Seven Miles.

There’s one woman who will have Prime Minister Andrew Holness eating out of her hands on Christmas Day.

Juliet Holness has promised to deliver on succulent slices of roast beef for Christmas dinner and has given the assurance that she has her husband’s vote of confidence.

And after dinner, the head of government could surrender the wheel to son Adam, who, having just turned 18, might take the first family out for a spin on the town to enjoy the Christmas breeze.

“He just started driving, so maybe Christmas Day, we could go out for a drive,” Mrs Holness told The Gleaner Wednesday on the sidelines of a charity initiative in Bull Bay, which she represents as part of the St Andrew East Rural constituency in the House of Representatives.

Like most Jamaicans, the Yuletide season won’t be quite the same for the Holnesses.

Coronavirus restrictions have forced Jamaicans to be more socially distant to guard against infection, particularly with fears of a New Year hike in cases after the holidays. And the PM will be duty-bound to stick by his own edict of a 15-person gathering ban.

It was a custom of the Holnesses to invite over family for the holidays, but Christmas dinner will be more intimate this year.

The prime minister, Mrs Holness said, “enjoys a very good roast beef”, and he has already put in his order for several helpings alongside gungo rice and peas.

But the masterpiece, she says, is her sorrel, which is “rich and strong” and comes highly recommended. She has already started the process and is willing to share a few tips with other homemakers.

“It has ginger, and a little, tiny bit of white rum is in there because it sort of peps up the flavour.

“I am one of those who put cloves and pimento in my sorrel, and they tell me that it is the best sorrel in the world,” said Mrs Holness.

Mrs Holness said that one positive that has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic is the opportunity for Jamaican families to bond. The doting mom said she is particularly glad to have Adam and Matthew, 16, all to herself. “They are becoming men,” Mrs Holness said.

She added: “This year is a time and opportunity for family to spend time together and talk a bit more and start putting plans in place for next year. We should always be positive about our outlook.”