Rosemary Parkinson, Contributor

Dinner is served. - photos by Rosemary Parkinson

Coined by famous British designer/decorator Rachel Ashwell in the early 1980s, Shabby Chic described her line of home decor products. Colours of pastel, feminine laces, satin and ruffles, vintage linens - all covered with rose designs. Add furniture and accent pieces that carry a time-worn look with the use of antiquing, distressing and crackled paint and you have not 'lousy' or 'shabby' but pure chic that people with discerning tastes search out, that extra je ne sais quoi for their abodes.

Why start a food column with an explanation about Shabby Chic? Well, it's a story beginning eight months ago when I met Peter Knibb at a dinner in Montego Bay. Quiet, unassuming, almost shy, but with an air of that gentility that seems to be disappearing fast, I thought he was on holiday from California. But life is full of surprises. At yet another dinner recently, we met again. I discovered Peter is a retired returning national.

Having left Montego Bay (his birth town) in the '70s for Haiti and opening an import/export patty company before moving on to California to become a car dealer and an antique show promoter, Peter founded the most important outdoor flea market to this day in Santa Monica, where clients such as Gary Bruckenheim Productions and actress Julia Roberts shopped.

"Age has brought me home," he told me. "I just felt the need for Jamaica. With too much time on my hands I have begun delving into creative stuff." Creative stuff like what, asked I. "Why don't you come for dinner next week and you shall see."

FEEDING THE MIND

Walking into Peter Knibb's store/workshop/home fed my mind before my palate. Lord have mercy! Stunning furniture (at great prices!) that transported me to childhood days at estate houses in Trinidad, everything complemented by huge paintings. I sensed immediately that colour is what really brought Peter home. Bright yellows, oranges, blues, greens, the deep red tones of the Jamaican earth mesmerised me right through his showroom and into the 'living-working quarters' where it all begins.

Fine wine being a good beginning to an evening meal, I took a bottle of 14-year-old Italian Chianti along. Once poured, Peter began to cook. "Rosemary, let me assure you that the food served here tonight is all an invention. I love to cook. But whatever I do carries no recipes. Please don't ask what I did after the fact 'cause I never remember. Truth is, sometimes it works and if it doesn't, well, I just say come back, for tomorrow might be better." I wonder if Peter Knibb even realised how prophetic his words were.

APPLE DON'T FALL FAR FROM TREE

The Jamaican-Thai style chicken was the first in line for preparation. Smothered in seasonings of basil, onion chips, ginger, garlic, soya sauce, salt and pepper to taste with several dashes of Lasco Crushed Scotch Bonnet Sauce? "Yes!" says Peter, "it's the best and I have had the time to taste many." The chicken was placed into a hot pot with a touch of olive oil. Once browned, the heat down to low, this was covered and left to cook in its own juices.

Next came something of a shock. Rice and Cappelini - a fine angel hair Italian pasta and rice. Not thrilled at the sound of that combination, I quickly took a gulp of wine - it would warm me to the thought and then, another, just to make me adventurous! As the Cappelini boiled, the rice doused with olive oil and butter was placed on the fire in a separate pot. Peter opened an Argentinean Malbec Red, the Chianti having been demolished mostly by moi. Hmmm. Good body, a strong bite, yet smooth - and yes! I am talking wine here folks, so don't get lost in naughty thoughts!

You know the saying that apple don't fall far from tree? I learned Peter's two Montego-Bay-born-raised-in-California-sons, Jason and Sean, are making creative waves in their own right. Jason, apprenticed with Wolfgang Puck, worked at Robert Redford's Sundance Village in Utah before joining NINE-TEN - a highly-acclaimed restaurant known for its earth-to-table approach to cuisine. A guest chef at James Beard House, The Food Network's 'Cooking Live with Sara Moulton', featured on Bobby Flay's 'Food Nation-Best of Utah', Jason was recently in Skywritings - Air Jamaica's in-flight magazine. Sean now, having discovered at the age of five a love for gardening - his grandmother being the award - winning florist Marion Cohen - turned to furniture design in his teens. After formal training at Otis Parsons School of Arts, an apprenticeship with renowned furniture designer and potter Carl Gilberg started Sean designing garden furniture that led right back to landscape. After stints with Miami-based designer Harry Nelson, he opened his own landscape design and contracting business that has grown to immense proportions. California is all the better for these two.

THE COOKING CONTINUES

The rice and al dente spaghetti cooked; large shrimp were smothered in, yep, that same Lasco pepper sauce, powdered garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. A wok, with a touch of olive oil within, sizzled as the shrimp were added drizzled with paprika and ginger. Just before being thoroughly cooked, the heat was turned off. Now Peter turned to the spaghetti, chopping same into pieces the size of the rice.

To a hot skillet, again with olive oil, finely diced onions, scallion and tarragon leaves were added and shortly thereafter the rice and pasta. The chicken now, just about ready, had a tablespoon of brown sugar stirred into it. "This helps the chicken to counteract the fiery hot pepper of the shrimp," said the 'chef.' With a taste and pinch of this added here and there, voila! Our meal was complete, ready to serve.

Chicken that was simply tender, deliciously eastern in taste, shrimp juicy, plump, fiery hot, that strange but divine combination of rice and pasta - all were served, buffet style, on a bright orange sideboard with natural wood top and eaten on a white table surrounded by larders and gorgeous paintings. Peter's shop, actually, is filled with amazing Christmas furniture and art gifts with prices to suit every pocket.

Our bottle of wine finished, a Peter special followed - Italy's Medaglia D'Or blended with simple Jamaican Country Traders Limited coffee for the best espresso ever. "It's the cheapest Jamaican coffee. Tasted all the other expensive ones, but this is truly the best."

This joy of conversation, good wine, exquisite food, fine surroundings with a man whose interest, knowledge, total peaceful and laid-back demeanour was so refreshing brought me to one conclusion - heaven is possible, if only for an hour or four.

Rosemary Parkinson's new love? Rice and angel-hair pasta smothered in herbs. Oh! Yes! Peter Knibb California Country Montego Bay Phone: (876) 448-0112.