A Heavenly Day Off in Saint Barts

We stopped the boat in Saint Barth's for a few days, anchoring Aisling with some difficulty in the bay, although we had a great view of all the uber-mega-super-yachts and sopme beautiful sailboats.


Shopping in the little town market was a dream. Such a world away from the other Caribbean markets. I picked up quail eggs, real baguettes, Camembert and aged goats cheeses, leeks, beets, pates and amazing olives, not to mention some very inexpensive good wines. On our day off, Captain Brett took us ashore on the tender and we did a little shopping and then tried to decide what to do for lunch. It's like a little French hippy paradise island, so deciding where to eat was difficult. There are tons of charming little cafes with the best looking croissants and baguette sandwiches in their windows.

After some agonizing, we decided we'd glam things up a bit (it was St. Barths after all!) so we took a taxi to the other side of the island (a 15 minute, winding and beautiful drive up one side of the central mountain and down the other) and went to the beautiful restaurant/lounge/club Nikki Beach. It's got sort of a sex, booze, music and beautiful people beach vibe to it, with plush white sofas, billowy curtains and a half naked wait staff. The view from our table was unbelievable, but we could over hear the next table bemoaning how awful their food was. We decided to play it safe with mojitos while we savored the view, and then we ambled up the road, still in search of our lunch.

We ended up at a charming Italian panini place that was perfect. The counter display of anchovies was the deal clencher for me. Caprese panino with extra anchovies for me; prosciutto, tomato and mozzarella for Mike, and a 7 dollar bottle of Santa Margharita to wash it down!

There was a French septuagenarian couple next to us, whom we overheard expressing their approval of my anchovy passion. We ended up having a very entertaining conversation with them. Some times it's so easy to forget we're working on a boat, instead of cruising the world at our leisure, getting brown and sun kissed, indulging every whim. We have REALLY learned how to enjoy the days off.



















After lunch, and totally tipsy, we took a walk on the beach. With no particular destination in mind, somehow we found ourselves walking in to an exquisite Relais and Chateau hotel, Eden Rock. Of course, once we saw their restaurant on the beach, we had to have a seat to look at the view, and then we realized we had to celebrate the view with some oysters and more white wine (NOT priced along the lines of the panini place, but totally worth it.) Yes, it's easy to forget we're not cruising the seas in our own yacht.... Maybe it's all the drinking....


After walking around for ages to digest the food and beverages, we took a hair raising taxi ride from a French girl to a Portuguese tasca for dinner. There was a soccer game on the TV, and when "Mama" found out we had lived in Portugal, there was a lot of mile-a-minute Portuguese from the patrons. I tried my best, and managed to do a decent job communicating. I know we made out happiness with the meal clear, because we polished our plates! The menu was chicken or beef, so we went for one of each, and had some of our old favorite Portuguese wine and beer. The picture doesn't really do the place justice, but in a funny way, does so perfectly.











With my haul from the market I fashioned up a Tuna Steak Niçoise entre for dinner the next night. Back to work!

Conchtastic!

Conchtastic!

We stopped off on the Turks and Caicos Island of Providenciales for a couple of days. The island is very flat, with little vegetation, and not exactly picturesque. However, in certain lighting it can be eerily beautiful. I recommend facing the ocean whenever possible, it is the most gorgeous color you can imagine. One night we had dinner at a cute, though not inexpensive restaurant called "Hole in the Wall" It was a far cry from it's namesake and we all enjoyed the local Bahamian food. I had BBQ ribs which were delicious and sitting on their beautifully lit deck was a pleasure. However, we didn't fair so well another night, with a horrible meal in a "Chinese" restaurant (also expensive, and no one ate a thing.) We had a day off though and rented a jeep to explore the island. We found a perfect little beach shack called Boogaloos, specializing in conch. Conch, a mollusk, is a Bahamian seafood staple and prepared in many ways all over the islands. You can find it fried ( also called "cracked"), in chowders, fritters, ceviche, curries and more. The fritters at this place were amazing, not like most and full of doughy starch. The curry was out of this world; perfectly spiced with lots of fresh veggies and pieces of conch. We watched as two men walked out to sea where the conch were kept, live, in an underwater farm. They would bring them back to the back of the shack and remove them from the shell right there. You have to hit the shell in exactly the right spot to remove the connective membrane, and then the conch is pulled right out. The conch meat is also very tough and must be tenderized, usually by hammering it with a meat pounder, or any heavy blunt object. I made conch fritters on the boat one afternoon for lunch, and in the process instilled some healthy fear in to the crew and guests with my hammering.

Conch Fritters:

1 lb conch
1 small yellow onion, cut in to small dice
1 jalepeño, seeded and cut in to small dice
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
2 eggs
1 c panko or fresh breadcrumbs
1 T flour
1 T Dijon
1/2 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 c beer
zest and juice of one lemon
3 dashes Worchestshire sauce
1 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper

Canola, vegetable, or peanut oil to fry

Pound conch with meat pounder or rolling pin until 1/4' thick. Put in food processor and pulse only until roughly chopped, or chop by hand. Mix conch meat with remaining ingredients in large bowl. Heat a wide pot with about two inches of oil in it to around 375 degrees Fahrenheit . Drop golf ball sized mounds of batter into oil and cook, 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Have plate ready, lined with paper towels, and place fritter on towels when done to absorb excess oil.
Serve with tartar sauce, cocktail sauce or aioli.

Summer means a Portuguese Sardinheira

Portugal and summertime means many things to me, but the most important, and delicious, is grilled sardines. It's the national food of Portugal and can be enjoyed anywhere -- from a street side grill to a 4 star restaurant. You might be thinking "Sardines? Uh, no thanks" but you probably have only experience an oily canned version, if you've ever had them at all. I've eaten more kinds of fish that I can remember, and I can honestly say that a freshly grilled sardine tops my list of favorite fish to eat. By a wide margin. They don't need lemon, sauce, herbs or anything except for sea salt and olive oil. They are perfect in their own right. I dream about them.






When friends gather together in the summer to grill sardines, it's called a Sardinheira. Other food you'll find at a sardinheira is grilled red and green peppers cut into strips and marinated in olive oil, potatoes (fried or boiled), sliced tomato and onion salad, delicious bread, Portuguese beer and vinho verde (a very young and slightly effervescent white wine -- literally "green wine.") We were lucky enough to go to a sardinheira at our friend Daniel's house, near Praia de Maças (Apple Beach.) Our friend Henrique (the head chef at the restaurant I worked) was there, as well as his wife Natalie, and cousins, Rita and Diego, and Diego's girlfriend Inez. Daniel was the sous chef at the restaurant, and had a serious love of grilled sardines. He could eat dozens at one sitting. I still use his particular technique for eating sardines. He would place a sardine on a piece of bread and let the juices soak into it, eating the sardine right off the bread. You eat all the meat around the bones, leaving just a head and guts behind. Then he would take the next sardine and put it on the same piece of bread, letting those juices soak in too. He would keep on doing this, all with the same piece of bread, until he was finished. Then, he would eat the piece of bread, which by that time had soaked up so much juice and flavor; he would eat it and make this face and noise that meant it was delicious beyond words. He was right.

Grilled Sardines

Ingredients:
Fresh sardines
Olive oil
Sea salt

Throw a generous amount of sea salt on the sardines, and a little olive oil. Grill over coals about 3-4 minutes per side until skin is crispy and golden. Serve with bread and grilled peppers.