starting off in style

It's exciting to see an idea come to life.

And Saturday night, after months of careful planning, preparation, bagel baking and guest list altering, it all came together.

The grand opening of our business filled our new apartment with people we love, food, music, and exotic martinis.

To be honest, I felt overwhelmed. There were so many people I wanted to speak to, and at the same time I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly at all times. In the end, I did my best to do both, all in some very high heels.

I feel good starting a business supported by so much love, started out of passion and creativity.

The last group of girls left our place around three in the morning. I was already in bed. First thing the next morning we started preparing more food for our next adventure: a tasting at my boyfriend's aunt's church that afternoon.

So we turned the grill back on, packed up our plates and sauces, and got back into the same groove as the night before.

At the church we explained our concept, invited people to our first dinner party- A Taste of Jamaica- and fed many hungry church goers. One young man went wide-eyed and crazy over our food. I overheard him several times "Oh my god! The mango, the mango really brings out the flavours in this one!" His other young friends rolled their eyes, and seemed a little less impressed with out combination of flavours.

My beau's joyful Jamaican aunt passed out flyers, blessed us all and wished us the best. The pastor had us hold hands and blessed us again. I'm not religious, but I took the blessings as a great sign of love and support, and felt reassured once more that we are starting off on the right foot.

Leaving the church under the summer sun, we laughed, "We can't go wrong now," I said, "we've got everyones support on this one."