Proud of birth date!
Published:Sunday | January 1, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
He doesn't claim to be Jesus. And he doesn't behave as if he is the Messiah either. But Dimitris Kosvogiannis is proud to share his birthday with the man who Christians worldwide worship as their Lord and Saviour.
The Greek-born, naturalised Jamaican, who manages the country's largest all-inclusive resort, the Grand Palladium, Hanover, selected a few of his very close friends and colleagues to celebrate his special day on Christmas Day last week Sunday.
In an intimate setting, with surf and turf (lobster and steak) at their fingertips, some 40 persons easily fitted into the confines of the resort's Xamayca creole restaurant, sampling a delicacy that the tastebuds must acquire before accepting: foie gras.
Foie gras, French for fat duck or goose liver, was the highlight for the Europeans present, while the Jamaicans who gave up Christmas dinner with their families to be with a man they have come to love, delved into the rice salad, assorted petits fours, salmon, jerked chicken, sautéed mushrooms, vichy carrots, asparagus, and mashed and roasted sweet potatoes.
This was a feast of feasts and Kosvogiannis used the opportunity to say thanks to his team of managers. "You have shown me the true value of family," he stated.
He added: "This is a very special night for me. During the course of the year, we came through a lot of challenges as a team and have become a family. Without you, my team, I could not have survived," he told his colleagues.
For his friends, who gave up being with family members to spend this special night with their friend, it was easy for people like Jennifer McDonald, and Garth and Maylin Ramsay.
"It is unusual for me to be out of Kingston on Christmas Day. Had it not been for this wonderful person, I wouldn't be here," said McDonald.