Granny and I enjoyed spending quality time together. Often she would just talk to me for hours while sitting in her rocking chair. Or there were the times when she gladly took me along on her expeditions. Like Batman and Robin, the two of us always had adventurous capers.

On this particular summer afternoon Granny wanted to go in search of a good place of worship. She asked me to accompany her, because she was not very familiar with the neighborhood. We mapped out a few places, and after getting lost, we were able to find a church that Granny wanted to become a member of. It was a task that took us several hours, however we managed to accomplish it. As Jamaicans would say, "The day was dun by the time we finished." Therefore, both Granny and I had worked up quite an appetite.

Gran was not a promoter of fast food. She didn't mind if we ate processed food, but she always stuck to her old fashioned jamaican delicacies. Granny was not a voracious eater; however she had her favorite foods, like plantains, cho-cho, callaloo, and green bananas. So after a very exhausting day, it came time for us to have a snack. Since it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us. We decided to look for somewhere to have a meal. Under normal circumstances one could just go to any fast food restaurant and call it a day. But not with my Granny.

She wanted a good "sit-down" meal and it had to be Caribbean food. Most people can relate to how frustrating it can be, driving and looking for a particular place. Especially, a Caribbean Restaurant on Long Island. We drove around for quite a while until Granny pointed out a sign to me. She said, "Look Ms. Mags! I think we have found a nice little Jamaican Restaurant."

I replied, "How do you know it's a Jamaican Restaurant Granny?"

"I know man, you don't see that the sign says, Tun Tavern?"

"Granny a restaurant name Tun Tavern? How come I have never heard of it before?"

"Stick with me and I'll show you the happening places. You know in Jamaica, some people will say, " tun ya so" you know they are telling you to turn here. So that must be the idea behind the name of the restaurant."

"Granny, you have it all figured out, eh?"

"Come, let us go in and enjoy ourselves a nice meal."

We drove into the parking lot and parked. At this point I could not decipher the cuisine of the restaurant. All I knew, was that it had a very lovely green and gold sign. So, I thought we had certainly got lucky. Upon entering, we were greeted by a lady with a very distinct accent. She was a fair lady with red hair, and I just couldn't make out if her accent was Jamaican or not. Granny waltzed over to her and asked for a table for two, and ordered two lemonades. As far as I was concerned, it didn't dawn on me to ask if it was a Jamaican Restaurant. I always trusted Granny's judgment when it came to these things. It wasn't until the waitress brought the menu, that I started to realize that there weren't any "Jamaican foods" on it. However, there were a few items that could have been substituted for Jamaican meals. Granny only wanted a salad and vegetable soup, and I was able to order corn beef and cabbage.

I saw a peculiar look on Granny's face after she tasted her soup. She said, "Ms. Mags? This soup doesn't taste like my soup at home, where are the dumplings and yam?"

"Granny? The corn beef taste good, but it looks a little different from our corned beef, You know the one we call "bullie beef"?

I tried to appease her by saying, "Granny, remember this is a fancy restaurant, so they are probably serving you a modified version of our old-fashioned soup. And they have probably made the corned beef a bit more stocious."

Then the waitress appeared to ask if everything was alright. Granny tapped her slightly and said, "Sweetheart, I have one question to ask you?"

The waitress replied, "Sure."

Granny continued, "What part of Jamaica are you from?"

"Jamaica? Do you mean Jamaica, Queens?"

Granny began explaining, "No, Jamaica, West Indies. What parrish are you from?"

"Sorry, but I have never been to Jamaica."

Granny smiled, "You mean, you work in a Jamaican Restaurant and you have never been to Jamaica?"

The waitress replied, "Sorry again, but this is not a Jamaican restaurant, we serve mostly Irish Cuisine."

Granny and I both looked at each other rather perplexed. Then I interjected, "Your accent almost sounds jamaican, where are you from?"

The lady laughed, "I'm Irish, my accent, it's brogue. That's our dialect."

Granny and I replied, "We thought this was a Jamaican Restaurant."

Granny began to explain to her the reason why she had mistaken the name of the restaurant to mean something Jamaican. We all laughed. The waitress told her fellow workers and they came over to our table to hear Granny's tall tales of Jamaica. As it turned out, the owner had been to Jamaica several times, so he was able to swap stories with my Granny.

We sat and continued to eat our meal, both of us having more of an appreciation for our food choices. Granny kept saying, "Mags, the soup don't taste bad at all. I just miss my yam and dasheen. Otherwise, I would order it again. What a way her accent sound like she's from Jamaica?"

"Yeah, Granny, I know. She could have fooled me. Especially, since we are out of many one people. I kinda thought I detected some Jamaican there."

The waitress returned and brought us the bill. Both Granny and I were astonished by the prices. Not only was it a fine Irish Restaurant, but it was an expensive restaurant. You know the ones that the celebrities go to, and the paprazzi stake out?

Granny turned to our waitress and said, "Is this in Jamaican money? Are you sure you're not a Jamaican restaurant?"

"No mam, we're not."

Granny commented, "I'm just joking with you darling, thanks for your gracious service. The food was good. Anyway, I'm going to bring you some of our food and you'll see why we are so "gone" over it."

The waitress smiled, "Alright then, I will look forward to it."

Granny and I settled our bill and left.

I must say, that it was a very interesting dining experience. Granny was able to become best buddies with everyone, while I was relieved that we didn't have to wash dishes.

I jokingly said to Granny, "Well, it's a good thing we were dressed up. At least if the paparazzi did take our pictures we wouldn't look like two washer women on a weary Monday morning."

Granny laughed, "Ms. Mags, you remember all those Jamaican sayings, eh?"

"With you Granny, how could I forget, now kiss me I just ate Irish Food!"

Granny laughed.