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Two weeks; 65 restaurants; The Antigua and Barbuda Restaurant Week returns

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Let me guess; you have found yourself caught up in a whirlwind of responsibilities and commitments.  Another day, another deadline. When was the last time you took a break? How do you even begin to take a break? There’s always something demanding your attention. You are making great money, but all it is for you is: work, work, work, work, work, work (a little Rihanna for you). You are going through what is titled, “Unplugged: The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma.”

Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe it’s time for a break? A chance to escape the routine and recharge your batteries?  If you are reading this and nodding along, then you’re in the right place, and if you’re open to exploring new destinations, we have something special in store for you. Something that will make choosing your next vacation destination an absolute breeze.

Picture yourself surrounded by breathtaking scenery, immersing yourself in new cultures, and creating memories that will last a lifetime. The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority will kick off May with the second annual Antigua and Barbuda Restaurant Week (ABRW). From Saturday, May 4th, 2024, through Sunday, May 19th, 2024, a total of 65 restaurants featuring diverse cuisines will offer prix fixe menus and special dining experiences to restaurant and food lovers. This year’s celebration also includes events with local and celebrity chefs as well as the “Eat Like A Local” campaign that encourages guests to support the country’s small, casual cookshops.

Back for a second year the “Eat Like A Local” experience highlights casual island cookshops from Antiguan and Barbudan restaurant owners and cooks. Throughout Restaurant Week, guests can explore these local eateries via an interactive map on the ABRW website. The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority encourages visitors to sample pepperpot and fungee, national dishes that are beloved on the island. Fungee is a cornmeal-based dish, variations of which are found throughout the Caribbean and believed to have been brought to the region by enslaved Africans; it is similar to fufu or foofoo, popular in many West Africa nations. Other local dishes to be enjoyed include goat water, ducana and saltfish.

Prix Fixe lunch and dinner menus will range from $25-$75USD, with more affordable “Eat Like A Local” options available around the island. “The event was designed to encourage locals and tourists to enjoy old favorites and also explore new restaurants and cuisines,” said Shermain Jeremy of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. “We look forward to celebrating great flavor with great value.”

This year, ABRW will feature a lineup of celebrity chef and beverage professionals exclusively of Caribbean heritage, including: Chef Angel Barreto, Chef Shorne Benjamin, Cookbook Author Althea Brown, Chef Kareem Roberts, Chef Digby Stridiron, and Sommelier Nadine Brown.

Coinciding with the run of ABRW is the Pepperpot Rum Shop, a 100-day pop-up destination created by The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Treehouse Beach Club, and British chef, television and radio broadcaster, and former singer Andi Oliver. The concept came from Oliver’s successful recipe book, “The Pepperpot Diaries: Stories From My Caribbean Table.” From May through August, the pop-up will host curated experiences featuring Caribbean: food, music, art, and film.

Special event experiences open to all throughout the two-week-long celebration include:

Sunday, May 5th, 2024: “The Food & Art Experience,” at Dow’s Hill Interpretation Centre

The historic site overlooking Nelson’s Dockyard will be transformed into a food and art village where guests can be the first to collect ABRW Food passports, sample fare from participating restaurants and local food brands, and explore art from local artists and makers.

Tuesday, May 7th, 2024: “Destination Food Forum: Nourishing the Future” at the John E. St. Luce Finance & Conference Centre

The Food Forum, presented by Grace Foods, is a one-day immersive event designed to gather: chefs, food enthusiasts, tourism experts, hospitality leaders, and sustainability advocates. Experts will lead insightful panel discussions on issues such as sustainability in food, supporting local producers, innovation, food trends and more.

Wednesday, May 8th, 2024: Caribbean night and bonfire on the beach at Wild Tamarind

Guests will: enjoy steelpan music, live entertainment, sundowner cocktails, passed appetizers, and a casual cookout prepared by two guest chefs: Shorne Benjamin of Fat Fowl, who’s based in Brooklyn, New York and originally from St. Lucia, and Chef Angel Barreto of Anju in Washington, DC, who is of Puerto Rican heritage.

Thursday, May 9th, 2024: Roti master class at Loose Cannon beach bar’s School of Cooking

Cookbook author Althea Brown, based in Aurora, Colorado and originally from Guyana, will host an intimate cooking class that covers the history of roti, how it came to the Caribbean, and differences in preparation throughout the region.

Thursday, May 9th, and Saturday, May 18th, 2024: Seven-course Antiguan tasting menu from Chef Kareem Roberts and Head Chef of Weatherills Hotel Omar Nicholas

Antiguan chefs Omar Nicholas and Kareem Roberts, who are visiting from Cambridge, United Kingdom, will use local bullfoot, tamarind, black pineapple, lionfish and more in a meal that reimagines national cuisine at the historic estate house-turned-hotel. The collaborative six-course tasting menu will be available on two nights, with optional cocktail pairings.

Friday, May 10th, 2024: Four-course collaboration dinner with wine pairings at Bar None

In collaboration with visiting chef Digby Stridiron, originally from St. Croix and currently chef at Latha in Phoenix, Arizona, Chef Thaddeus Sealy of Bar None will host dinner at the newly opened wine bar and restaurant, featuring four courses expertly paired with wines selected by and sommelier Nadine Brown.

Friday, May 10th, 2024: Six-course tasting menu experience at Cove Restaurant at Blue Waters Resort

Guests will enjoy a six-course tasting menu featuring dishes from visiting Chef Kareem Roberts alongside Blue Waters Chef de Cuisine Ronald Wilson and Pastry Chef Tameka Hamilton.

Saturday, May 11th: Multicourse Korean dinner with wine pairings presented by Carlisle Bay and Premiere Beverages.

This dining experience will feature dishes from Angel Barreto, acclaimed chef behind Anju, a Washington D.C. based restaurant renowned for its contemporary Korean cuisine. Angel, recognized as a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Award finalist and semifinalist, will curate a four-course Korean dinner at East, the premier restaurant of Carlisle Bay Antigua. Enhancing the experience further, D.C.-based Sommelier Nadine Brown will pair complementary wines with each course. As a special treat, Angel will also introduce a signature dish to East’s menu, available for guests to savor throughout the month of May.

Wednesday, May 15th, 2024: The Bay House Modern Caribbean Sunset Cocktail experience

This experience introduces and celebrates Bay House’s innovative approach to Caribbean cuisine and mixology, with a fusion of tradition and creativity. The early evening affair guarantees a selection of enticing new Modern Caribbean dishes curated by Chef Dominique James of Bay House, in collaboration with Chef Kareem Roberts. These dishes will be served tapas-style and expertly paired with refreshing Modern Caribbean cocktails.

Time to get off that hamster wheel and curate an experience for yourself that you will never forget; remember, it is all about experiences.

We, as humans are guaranteed certain things in life: stressors, taxes, bills and death are the first thoughts that pop to mind. It is not uncommon that many people find a hard time dealing with these daily life stressors, and at times will find themselves losing control over their lives. Simone Jennifer Smith’s great passion is using the gifts that have been given to her, to help educate her clients on how to live meaningful lives. The Hear to Help Team consists of powerfully motivated individuals, who like Simone, see that there is a need in this world; a need for real connection. As the founder and Director of Hear 2 Help, Simone leads a team that goes out into the community day to day, servicing families with their educational, legal and mental health needs.Her dedication shows in her Toronto Caribbean newspaper articles, and in her role as a host on the TCN TV Network.

Community News

Hidden Agendas – Bill C-293: The silent Bill being passed right under our noses

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Greetings everyone.

It is always fascinating, isn’t it? How some things dominate the news, get talked about endlessly on our social media feeds, debated over dinner tables, and dissected in countless articles and op-eds, but what about the things that do not make headlines? What about the decisions that happen quietly, in the background, while we are busy discussing everything else?

This edition, I want to shed light on something that has been happening right under our noses. A bill, being crafted, debated, and—unless we take action—soon to be passed by the Canadian government, without most of us even knowing it exists. By the time it hits the public radar, it might just be too late.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking, “What bill? I haven’t heard about any major legislation.” That is exactly the point. While we are kept busy with all the newsworthy controversies, this bill is being shaped in the shadows.

Why hasn’t this bill gotten the same attention? Why isn’t it making headlines? Is it not important enough, or is there something else at play? What this bill will do is undermine Canadian sovereignty by shifting power to unelected, non-Canadian organizations like the WHO and WEF.

You see, it is always the quiet ones, the bills that fly under the radar, that often carry the biggest consequences. The laws that: reshuffle power dynamics, alter rights, or change the very fabric of our society without any of us having a say. By the time we are aware, the decisions have been made, the ink has dried, and we’re left wondering, “How did this happen?”

So today, as I share the details of this bill, I want you to think critically. Ask yourselves why it has not been brought to our attention sooner. Why has it been kept quiet? Most importantly, what can we do as a community to ensure that we are no longer kept in the dark?

It is a move that willfully hands over control of your food, your privacy, and your rights to globalist agendas. You have likely heard of the hard work Citizengo is doing around the world to stop the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Treaty.  A treaty that would have countries sign away their national sovereignty and become servantent states under unelected globalist rule, whenever and however the next “pandemic” is called. If this goes through we will see the World Health Organization’s “One Health Initiative” rolled out in Canada. This has dire consequences and will essentially usher in a technocratic surveillance state under the guise of safety and preparedness.

What if I told you that Canada, thanks to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and Jagmeet Singh’s New Democratic Party, have already hatched a plan to surrender our national sovereignty to their authoritarian globalist friends. Let me introduce you to Bill C-293, the Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness Act, introduced by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. Currently, the bill is awaiting its 2nd Reading in The Senate, under the very noses of every-single Canadian, and this is news for some of our readers right now.

I only just learned about this Pandemic Treaty Bill myself when the team at CitizenGo reached out to me. Shortly thereafter, LifeSiteNews released their article, and I was truly shocked by what I read. “Included in Bill C-293 are provisions to ‘regulate commercial activities that can contribute to pandemic risk, including industrial animal agriculture,’ produce ‘alternative proteins,’ and ‘enable contact tracing of persons.”

In other words, if Bill C-293 passes, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Health Organization (WHO), The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and other unelected globalist international bodies will have unprecedented control over Canada’s sovereignty.

If this bill is allowed to ascend into Canadian law, the federal government would have to listen to these globalist agencies “guidelines” in regulating our agriculture industry all under the guise of something called “pandemic prevention.”

Guess what else falls under this vague label? Promoting alternative proteins like insects while phasing out traditional meat production. Even more alarming, the bill allows for contact tracing, raising serious privacy concerns and enabling government overreach. How many more digital applications are you going to have to pay for, like ArriveCAN, if you decide to travel abroad, or even throughout Canada?

Here’s how Canadian sovereignty will be lost:

  • Global Regulation of Industrial Agriculture will target meat production and give international bodies influence over what Canadians can produce and consume.
  • Promoting Alternative Proteins through the pushing of lab-grown meats and insect farms designed to devastate local farmers and meat producers.
  • Implementing Contact Tracing to intrude upon every aspect of your life. Without privacy, digital IDs and contact tracing tools grant significant power to the government to control individuals’ behaviour, including where you can go through the usage of mandatory lockdowns and “social distancing” style policies.
  • Ceding Control to Global Institutions were Canada’s pandemic response and industries would be 100% subjected to international oversight, ending our national autonomy as a democratic nation that values individuals’ Human Rights and Freedoms.

The Senate was set to resume its business on September 17th, 2024, but here is the reality: this is not an accident. Certain policies are designed to be kept quiet, tucked away, and only brought to light when there is no turning back. Whether it is the complexity of the bill, or the deliberate silence around it, it is clear—the less we know, the less we can protest.

It is not just this one bill. It is a pattern. While we are being distracted by the flashy stories, we miss the subtler, yet often more impactful, moves happening right beneath the surface. What is the strategy behind this? Silence. Secrecy. Control. Before we know it, we are living with the consequences of decisions we never had a chance to discuss, let alone oppose.

Now, I am not here to incite fear. I’m here to inspire awareness, because we still have a say. We still have time. We must start paying attention to these quieter moves by our government. We need to ask the hard questions, demand transparency, and hold those in power accountable for the decisions they make in the shadows.

If we don’t, we’ll continue to wake up to laws that we had no idea were even in the works. We’ll continue to have: rights, freedoms, and choices taken away without our consent. And that, my friends, is a dangerous place to be.

Democracy doesn’t just live in the loud, public moments—it thrives when we shine a light on the quiet ones too.

REFERENCES:

https://www.onehealthcommission.org/en/why_one_health/what_is_one_health/

https://www.citizengo.org/en-ca

https://www.parl.ca/documentviewer/en/44-1/bill/C-293/third-reading

https://em.citizengo.org/OTA3LU9EWS0wNTEAAAGVic6AghmKYA6VL35jcL7JwEYFvRucjLnneADAZGHY-8NrORLPoh1N5xgY_bNvOwh7xoMLCzs=

Bill C-293 (International Pandemic Treaty) Revisited: Concerns Raised Over Food Supply

 

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The drug manufacturer and pusher man: Off with their heads

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BY STEVEN KASZAB

Victims of the opioid epidemic have been shouting aloud to the: authorities, addiction/mental health emergency providers, and local governments for help. Asking, pleading, and when action does not happen quick enough protesting the apparent inaction of those who are supposed to be protecting society. There will always be excuses as to why those who manufacture and sell these drugs are not in prison right now. Their legal rights, the police’s inability to soundly find proof necessary to have them arrested, the federal government cannot stop the importation of these illegal drugs illegally, nor the domestic manufacturing of this poison. Aboriginal Rights, personal and privacy rights, international domains, lack of response from India and China’s Security Apparatus in stopping those in their country.

It comes down to the question, if you are addicted to drugs, are you of sound mind and body? Can you think for yourself, or must a public judicator force the addict into rehabilitative care? Often war does not have rules, and the war on drugs has been one sided for a very long time. Those nations that allow illicit drugs to be made in their territory, or transported from should feel the effects of powerful embargos. Let the Foreign Affairs Office do something useful by placing: Mexico, China, Columbia, Burma, and others on an embargo list not allowing them to ship or sell their products to Canada.

Long ago sanitariums were set aside, considered politically incorrect. Now, these same institutions of medical rehabilitation are necessary to hold involuntarily addicts for a three-to-six-month period, where their healthcare, mental health, and addiction therapy can be carried out. Inviting the church organizations to assist with their historical experience can be an asset.

Our society must take the war seriously, or hundreds of thousands of our citizens will perish. Take no prisoners, as those who manufacture and sell this poison know exactly: what they are doing, who they are harming, and what the end game truly will be.

For all those who have not seen someone dying of addiction, being poisoned long term, or it was their very first try…wake up. Decide whose side you are on, the victims and their families, the society you live in that is possibly the best that can exist, or you’re on the side of evil, people who make a living by poisoning and killing others.

Choose, and choose well.

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Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity 4th Annual Canada Leadership Summit and Nations Building Award

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BY PAUL JUNOR

There will be much to look forward to at the 4th Annual Canada Leadership Summit and Nations Building Award which will be held on Friday, October 4th, and Saturday, October 5th, 2024, at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel. The event will be hosted by the Canadian Congress on Inclusive Diversity and Workplace Equity and along with several partners such as: International School of Greatness (ISG), Diversity Institute located at TMU and other strategic partners who have been integral.

The CIDWE is described as the premier global event that gathers leaders from diverse backgrounds, all united by a shared dedication to transformational leadership and tackling today’s most urgent issues through networking, advocacy, and steadfast commitment. An integral mission of the summit is the goal of inspiring participants to rise above: personal, professional, and corporate challenges, and their aim is to ignite the spirit of leadership in everyone and transform those in positions of authority into nation builders.

On Friday, October 4th, 2024, there will be an evening of networking. It is intended to inspire critical dialogue and action on a global scale through strategic learning and networking opportunities.

On Saturday, October 5th, 2024, there will be a Business Breakfast Forum followed by the Leadership and Diversity workshops. There will be a Business Branding and Profitable Growth Workshop. Participants will learn about the Seven Laws of Exponential Growth and how to leverage the Psychology of Sales and Marketing to build generational wealth and achieve global impact.

These series of workshops will focus on: Transformational Leadership, Strategic Management, Social Justice, and Community Development. Some of the speakers include Dr. Wendy Cukier, Dr. Ardavan Eizadirad, Dr. Upiomoh Osholene, Dr. Mary Grogan, Alethia O’Hara Stephenson, and others.

The Nation Builders Award will be given to thirteen inspirational and motivational individuals who have distinguished themselves in a variety of fields such as: government, academia, business, and community service. A nation builder is understood in very specific terms as  someone who actively contributes to the development and strengthening of their country. In addition, nation builders take responsibility for their country’s future, working to create: systems, policies, and cultural practices that lead to long-term success and prosperity. They are visionaries who understand that the strength of a nation depends on the collective efforts of its people, and they work to: inspire, lead and empower others to participate in this important work.

In an email, Nosakhare Alex Ihama mentioned, “Our dedicated committee meticulously selected the 2024 nominees, ensuring that the awardees exemplify outstanding leadership and community service across our nation. With about 100: speakers, panelists, entertainers, sponsors, and strategic partners involved; we are proud to be recognized as a leading platform for national transformation. We congratulate the distinguished 2024 award recipients and eagerly anticipate learning from their insights while celebrating their collective achievements in making Canada truly North and Free.”

Participants will be able to network with the speakers and Nation Builder Award winners. They will have an opportunity to engage with thought leaders and policymakers and be part of meaningful conversations that will shape our collective future.

The titles of the awards and the names of the thirteen recipients are:

  • Nation Builders Lifetime Leadership Award: Senator Wando Thomas
  • Nation Builders Award for Excellence in Black Community Development: Dr. Winston LaRose
  • Nation Builders Legacy Award: Honorable Dr. Jean Augustine
  • Nation Builders Award for Inclusive Government & Policies: Greg Fergus
  • Nation Builders Award in Education & Academia: Dr. Gervan Fearon
  • Social Justice Icon Award: Honourable Michaelle Jean
  • Nation Business Award for Business Excellence: Harriet Thornhill
  • Nation Builders Rising Star Award for Social Justice: Nicholas Marcus Thompson
  • Nation Builders Global Humanitarian Award: Kamala Jean Gopie
  • Nation Builders Award for Inclusive & Equitable Sports: Rowan Barrett
  • Nation Builders Award for National Unity & Harmony: Senator Murray Sinclair
  • Nation Builders Award for Media, Arts & Entertainment: Patricia Babia
  • Nation Builders Award for Law and Justice: Hon. Justice Donald McLeod
  • Nation Builders Award for Youth Empowerment: Diana Alli D’Souza

There is much to expect from the upcoming Leadership Summit and Nation Builders Award. No doubt, there will be many moments of: empowerment, inspiration, motivation, and engagement.

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