Sweet, sweet sugar cane
Published:Sunday | February 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
His majesty, King of Morocco, Muhammed IV, declared Round Hill Hotel and Villas, Hanover, a Kaspah, giving his blessings on the recreation of an old town in a Moroccan city as the setting for their annual Sugar Cane Ball.
The king, who couldn't make it personally of sent his subjects, Custos of Hanover, Dr David Stair, Spanish Ambassador Jesús Silva, Mexican Ambassador, Leonora Rueda and a host of Jamaicans boasting North African ancestry.
On Saturday, February 13, organisers of the event, Hanover Charities, outdid themselves, taking in record attendance and looking poised to surpass the US$196,000 they raised in 2009.
With creative juices flowing freely, the men donned the fez, pulled over their foreheads, while many of the Jamaican women wore kaftans. Jamaicans Mark and Candace Hart, fashionista Nicole Miller, Michelle Obama's interior decorator, Michael Smith, Lady Annabelle Portsmouth from England, the Pittmans and Tryall homeowners, Lennox and Violet Lewis, and James and Manuela Goren were just a few of the celebrities who turned out dressed for the occasion.
It was also an evening that saw Ann and Stephen Ueker planning their secret nuptials for the next morning, while partying with unsuspecting guests.
Food aficionado Bill Moore and his team served Moroccan herbs, vegetables with fresh oranges and spices from North Africa, lemon-infused shrimp, lamb kebabs, chicken tagine, cous-cous with dates and plum raisins, but at all times Josef Forstmayr reminded the moneyed crowd, "It's not about the food, it's about the money for Hanover Charities."
And that's exactly what it was - more money to provide reading and computer skills, a soup kitchen for the hungry, supply basic commodities to the disabled and elderly and fund health clinics across the parish.
Need we say more? Kudos to Joanne Robertson and her team that designed the Berber tent, known as the place nomads of Morocco lay their heads. And you should have seen the little Berber boy holding his three goats.