Spice cleans her ackees. - Ian Allen/Photographer

ON THE STAGE, she is a lyrical steam engine. However, in the kitchen she is Grace Hamilton, the mother and family woman.

THE STAR intruded into Spice's kitchen last Friday, and she cooked up a spicy Jamaican meal comprising ackee and salt fish and roast breadfruit.

Under the meticulous microscope of THE STAR, she carefully washed her vegetables and cleaned her ackee while giving pointers. "You have to make sure you wash the ackee and clean it properly. The thing in the middle of the ackee, you have to make sure it's completely out," she said.

Spice loves ackee and fried chicken back, but she couldn't get any chicken back and had to settle for salt fish. "A me a di best chef in the house," she teased her boyfriend as she turned her breadfruit on the fire.

According to Spice, while she loves ackee, she is very careful about who she buys it from. "Ackee is poisonous, so you have to be careful who you buy it from. Nuff people force the ackee to open and sell it to people like that, so a nuh anybody mi buy it from," she said.

After over an hour of waiting and being tormented by the sweet aroma of Spice's food, it was time for sampling, and she served the crew a huge plate of ackee and roast breadfruit complemented by fried plantain, along with a cool cup of lemonade.

THE STAR wasn't sure what to expect of the deejay's cooking, but after sampling the food, we were sure that Spice's name somewhat reflects her cooking skills.

"And remember the cool glass of lemonade. A meal cannot be completed without a glass of lemonade," she concluded.

Spice shows her finished meal. - Ian Allen photo