November catch-up...Thanksgiving and M'Dar

After St. Maarten, we are playing catch up for November. We had a few days of great weather when we returned, which made the blow of returning much softer.

Here’s a rundown:
We canned.
We unpacked.
We tried to find things while unpacking.
Matt mowed.
We united the cats all together. Yeah, Matt was more excited about this than anyone else.
We hung some pictures.
We canned.
We unpacked.
We had our first guest, Shantelle stayed 1 night with us.
We talked about St. Maarten.

But the big highlight includes hosting Thanksgiving. Our menu included a ham, a smoked turkey, homemade dressing (despite Matt telling me the Pilgrims would be disappointed that StoveTop wasn’t used), scalloped corn, green bean salad, mashed potatoes, salad with homemade croutons, and gravy. We ended the meal with pumpkin pie but I gotta admit, we did a damn good job. I can’t complain. Matt’s grandma even had two pieces of pie…they were her sized, which was ¼ of Matt’s portion. The night ended by Wendy and Trent stopping over for a tour, a talk, and a bit of wine. Mom and Dad also came and at the end of the day, Matt and I agreed, it was a dang good day.

The other highlight was my Christmas gift to my Grandma. We had agreed that in lieu of a gift under a tree, I would take her out to Gwen Sebastian’s Home for the Holidays concert. We made an official date of it include pre-game apps at Toasted Frog and post-game apps at Humpback Sally’s. Aside from the cold, it was a really nice night. Gwen did a beautiful job, she sang some of her own stuff, a few covers, but it was her Christmas stuff that I wanted to hear more of. When her mom came on stage and they harmonized to “O’Holy Night” it was really beautiful.

I got the Christmas cards out too. The holiday this year has me very hopeful and I’m looking forward to it. And Matt's grown a beard to torture me.

Best meals: Thanksgiving dinner, our pork belly dinner with side of cranberry chutney and grits, and pasta with peppered bacon, asparagus, and white wine.

Three days after we returned from St. Maarten
MJR: I wonder if my dad has figured out where to get Presidente yet?

St. Maarten: The Lows

So there were some highs…the turtles and Crave and the meals but there were some lows.

Low: Terrible sunburns that came at the end when we didn’t plan well for the snorkeling. It was the worst pealing that I’ve ever had in my life with some terrible pain. I tried so many things…aloe with special stuff and vinegar. 

Low: The million and two bug bites that I got that required some serious topical care. They swelled and hurt and itched like nothing I’d ever seen. And to make it worst, I never even saw myself get bite.

Low: Eating myself to hurting a few nights in a row. Okay, maybe this one is a high!

Low: The windy, windy Thursday that eliminated beach play and made us postpone the snorkel trip. 

Biggest Low ever: leaving the island

But then I saw this and realize that some of us hit a different low. I came out of my room to witness this. 

Yes, that is a garbage can. 

Yes, that is a snorkeling flipper. 

What I missed with the camera was the guilty looks when they realized that I busted them.

Michele: Uh....

Randy: Uh, we wanted to take the beer down to the beach.

ALR: I assumed that.

St. Maarten: Goodbye from the sky

So here’s the deal. 

I hate leaving.

Seriously, who wants to leave.

So off we went with our big bags. Grumpy. Irritated. And sunburnt.

We stopped at Zee Best Bakery right outside of the airport to get lunch before taking off. Michele had a cheese sandwich, Matt and Randy enjoyed Italian sandwiches, and I had a chicken salad wrap. There were a few desserts ordered but we didn’t enjoy them until we made it through round 1 of security/customs. Round 2 would be when we made it to USA.

Round 2 sucked. Huge lines, which I began to lose track of what we were in line for. One line was to take the worst picture ever on our reentry pass. Eww. Sadly I know now the government has two horribly discriminating pictures of Matt and I that I hope never show up again. Last year was so nice, we could breeze thru TSA’s checkpoint and love live. Not this year, we suffered thru with the other slummers. The only bright spot was the Chick-fil-a when we finally got thru to Atlanta.

We made it to Minneapolis at 11:00 and checked into our hotel room. Matt attempted to put aloe on me. I’m not sure if it was the long day travel, separation anxiety from the island, or sheer pain of the sunburn but the day ended in tears. 

Randy: Now I see why you allowed for a longer layover.

MJR: We never would have made it through customs and check points.

ALR: I hate lines.

Day 10

St. Maarten: Turtles and Lobster

If Thursday was one of my least favorite…Friday was an exact opposite. The bad news…Matt wasn’t able to go diving because our snorkeling trip was cancelled on Thursday but the good news, we went snorkeling and it was amazing. We started the morning off on the French side, getting geared up. We headed out to Tintamarre Island to snorkel with the turtles. This was something that I had heard about last year and had wanted to do. This year I had my heart set on it.
The captain was this feisty chic who let us know that we may have trouble seeing them but we did not! I don’t think I was in the water for 5 minutes before seeing my first one. You get dumped into the water over their feeding fields. They sit below and snack and then will float to the top for air. It was amazing. I lost track of exactly how many we saw. At one point, I was watching one and he floated up and kept dancing in front of me. And they were different sizes and some in groups of 2 or 3. So glad we had went. (pictures coming) 

From there, we went on the north side of Tintamarre and snorkeled over the Natural Reserve. We saw some beautiful things including a Queen Conch, that our boat captain brought up for Matt and I to touch and look at, a octopus that Matt peeked in on and Caribbean lobsters hanging out. 

After this, we went to Pinel Island, which has a beautiful beach and had a little lunch. Ham and cheese sandwiches with apple slices and beverages. Was the perfect lunch, not too heavy yet still satisfying. I decided to stay in the water or on the boat while those three headed to the island to take in the iguanas, blyuck. Michele feed them bread that she’d gotten from a lady on the tour. 

After some rough water heading back, we headed back out to the beach. Matt and I tried to SUP board. This was much harder than we were expecting. You first kneel until you feel confident (or brave) and then you stand up and in our case you fall down and eat salt water. Matt and I both gave it a go. I got up a few times but after biffing it a few times and crawling back on the board, I was glad we only rented for an hour. I still think it would be a blast at our lake. 

While we tried that, Michele and Randy snorkeled a bit more and swam with the fishes. I had to laugh when I looked out at the water and watched the cruise ship float by larger than life and those two didn’t catch it because of the happenings in the water. Matt also snorkeled for sand dollars, which was something that we'd done the previous year. He didn't have to bad of luck, especially considering the hurricane the week before.

It was sad to watch the sun drip down to the horizon, signaling the end to the wonderful beaches and food that we’d enjoyed. I wasn’t ready to return to life in reality and the cold.

We dressed up the last night and headed to Skipjack’s, which was a great spot for us the year before. For apps we had tuna Carpaccio and peel shrimp. Michele had what I had previously had and loved…crab filled tilapia, Matt had the seared tuna steak, and Randy and I enjoyed the Caribbean grilled lobster. Matt and him picked it out of the corral. What an experience for the guys. You pick them out based on size, weigh them, decide if they are the ones and then they grab them by the tentacles and haul them off to be grilled and cracked in half. They are a completely different look from Maine "red" lobster and they don't have pinchers.

After dinner, Matt enjoyed a Cuban cigar on the patio and I started debating how we were going to pack up our room, while I watched the sunburn that I’d gotten from the day start to develop.

Michele: Are we the 4 hour tour or the six hour?
ALR: 4
Michele: Damn! Next time, we are doing the 6 hour! 
ALR: Next time?
Michele: Oh believe me, there’ll be a next time! And next time I’m going to swim with the dolphins too!

Day 8

St. Maarten: Waves, Wind, and Crave

If Wednesday was my favorite, Thursday was my least favorite but it really tried to redeem itself at the end. Here’s why. When the rain came down and the wind came up, this brought the waves to the island. Waves so bad that it cancelled our snorkeling trip, which in turn would require a rescheduling and also canceling Matt’s dive trip. The wind was bad and we didn’t want to fight it so we bummed around the room and resort and relaxed, even napped. What a bummer.  We split up a bit that day. We headed into Simpson Bay for a light lunch at Z’Best Bakery, I had the Caesar salad, Matt had a tunafish sandwich with fries. Matt and I also did a little investigating of possible resorts for our next trip. We haven’t exactly felt that Divi is “our spot” and we hadn’t been sure if the island is also it but then we ran across two options (the Atrium and the Royal Palm) that we want to try when we are ready to travel international again. The beach was beautiful, the resorts looked nice, and the locations were great. 

Randy and Michele headed into Phillipsburg for a change of scenery. They had also taken a walk up to the Fort Amsterdam. We met up at the end of the night and enjoyed the view and some of the fresh island pineapple that we purchased at the market the day before. We watched the cruise ship pull out and headed in for another amazing round of good food. We gave Michele and Randy a few options from what we had gathered in reviews. After seeing the menu of one, we decided we wanted something more unique and went to Crave, Taste Haven - the cuisine could be described as Mediterranean or Persian, depending on the reviews that we saw. Quiet little place right on the main road but the food was anything but. We started off with a chef’s trio of hummus, eggplant dip, and meatballs with pomegranate and pistachio. The hummus was the smoothest hummus I’ve had in my life. From there I enjoyed the gazpacho – so fresh. The main course broke into two options for us, Matt and I had kebabs, beef and fish, and Michele and Randy had chicken breast braised in two different ways, apricot and plums, and walnut and pomegranate. Michele was brilliant to add yogurt with sautéed spinach to the table and combined with the salad on the table it was amazing. The meal was so light and fresh. I enjoyed a frozen mint lemonade and it was like heaven in a cup. I have one major complaint with this meal, why didn’t we order more yogurt! What an experience, we didn’t bargain for that when we came in the door but was so glad that we changed locations. 

ALR: We would like to buy these cups. They are very unique.
Crave owner: I’m sorry, they are not for sale, I brought them in from Puerto Rico and already a few have disappeared. 
ALR: I understand.
Crave owner: You may be able to find them at, what you call it, Bass Pro Shop?

Day 7

St. Maarten: Macaroons & Monsoons

Wednesday may have been my favorite. It was a beautiful culmination of food, shopping, more food, rain, and walking. Before going to bed on Tuesday, we told Randy and Michele, don’t have breakfast the next morning and I was glad Michele kept them both on track. 

We drove right over to the French side and immediately had breakfast at Sarafina’s. This was a meal that Matt and I enjoyed tremendously last year. I had the same thing with a salmon crepe. Matt and Randy had Nutella crepes with a ham and cheese croissant and Michele had raspberry crepes. I enjoyed a caramel macchiato and Randy and Michele had cappuccinos. The taste of the food and the quality of service could both be explained as “French.”

From there we headed out to the market, which sets up on Wednesday. They have things from prints, paintings, seasonings, fish, trinkets, and more. While it’s fun to get the occasional touristy item it’s also a time for Matt and I to bulk up on our spices. We got fish seasoning, magic dust, steak seasoning, Colombo seasoning, basil, oregano, and cumin. We also picked a few other random items but it is interesting to wander thru and pick out items. For the most part the weather accommodated us but the sun did come out and bake a bit. We ended up stopping for drinks right outside of the market. I enjoyed a wonderful smoothie with sprinkles on top, Matt a margarita, and Presidentes for  Randy and Michele.

Lunch we headed back to Sarafina’s to pick out items to take back and enjoy. Randy was heartbroken when the sandwich that he’d been eyeing during breakfast was gone but settled for a ham sandwich on focaccia, I had a salami sandwich on a baguette, Michele had a cheese sandwich and Matt had tuna fish. We also sampled a toasted ham and cheese sandwich that appeared to be inside out. We enjoyed it cold but can’t imagine how good it would be warm. For dessert, Michele had a pineapple tart, Matt ordered a black forest cake, and I ordered macaroons in lemon, vanilla, coffee, mango, and strawberry. I’ve waited for a whole year to savor these again. I will admit I hogged the lemon one and wouldn’t even share it.  

Later that night we headed out into Simpson Bay for a stroll. We stopped for drinks at Toppers, which we had heard great reviews on. We also walked by Tenacious D’s roadside café and smelled the Cornish game hens. Michele and Randy also picked their site for their restaurant, “Randy’s American Pizza Place”. We showed Randy and Michele how to eat oysters at Skipjack’s and then on our way to Pineapple Pete’s, we got caught in a rain…and not a light drizzle that we’d seen or got caught in before but a soaker that left us wading thru puddles and running in attempt to get under some coverage. Even when we did, we managed to grab a table that dripped on Matt and I! Was a good thing the food was amazing! We started off with chicken sate  which was skewered chicken in an Indonesian peanut sauce and Michele had the seafood linguine, Randy had the fish and chips, Matt had surf and turf, lobster thermadore and lamb shank, and I enjoyed crab and spinach crusted salmon. I ate to the point that I wanted to gag…so uncomfortable.

MJR: So how we would come to live here.
Taxi driver: First you get all your paperwork in order. Once that's complete than you can come and you get one year and after a year you can apply but you have to learn a little Dutch or a little French, depending on the side because to stay here they ask you questions and you need to respond in the language. You do this three times and then you can live here forever.
MJR to the back of the cab: You're going to haftah learn Dutch, Mom.
ALR: Or French, either way, I don't see a problem with this plan.
Michele: Lee wouldn't complain about being cold.
MJR to the driver: How much is rent?

Day 6

St. Maarten: French Find

Tuesday, we started off in the water after a light breakfast of pastries and coffees. Now Matt and I's favorite thing about our resort is the access to the bay and the ability to done on snorkeling gear and head off into the ocean. We knew we wanted to do an excursion and swim with the turtles, but we also wanted to get Randy and Michele comfortable with the water. 

So we rented gear and got them suited up. I know Michele had some anxiety about getting in and swimming out but within no time she had jetted off! The water was perfect for starting with ankle waves and we explored the edge. I saw some fish, a few sand dollars, a beach chair that I'm sure the hurricane drug out, and a sting ray. 

After drying out, we headed into Phillipsburg for lunch and shopping. We did a bit of wandering before we settled on a waterfront location. We had a bucket of beers and the rib pork pieces at the Honky Tonk Bar, which we'd read great reviews on. We ended up settling on the Firehouse because of their special. Unfortunately there were only two crabbacks so Randy and Matt had those and Michele and I had stewed oxtail. I know Michele actually wanted curried goat, but our server never got the message. We meandered thru the shops a bit.

We heard of St. Martin Lolo's which we had heard two different definitions, 1) it's the name of the grill that the food is cooked on 2) it's local frequented by locals and is low cost. However they get their name, they may be a brilliant idea. We had to travel on the opposite side of the island from the resort, but it was worth it. The spot where quite a few are is at Grand Case. We arrived as the sun was setting and the water was gorgeous. 

We had a few options but heard The Sky's the Limit is one of the best and since Talk of the Town was closed until the season opened, we hedged our bets. Randy and Matt ordered the Chicken and Ribs special, Michele ordered the conch, and I ordered the whole snapper, which came bones, head, and all. We did start with Johnny cakes but this meal was amazing. Not only was the main course phenomenal but it's was the experience that added. Their was live music and the artist knew all my favorites. The plates came filled with sides, a salad, coleslaw, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, rice, vegetables....we were not prepared for the amount of food we were getting. This could easily be called one of Matt's favorites and it was exactly what we'd been searching for the previous year. We watched the ribs chopped right behind us and prepare the food. So good. I ate so much I know I hurt that night!

Walking to our rooms at the resort
Michele (to Randy while looking up their hill): Wannah race?

Day 5

St. Maarten: Island Shrimp

After a resort breakfast, Monday started off with our tour of the island. We had done this last year and thought it was good to get our bearings. We saw different sections than last year but the drive was still beneficial. 

A drive by of the resort. You can also see the Dutch fort.

 We took this picture almost a year ago. The Dutch power plant is behind us as is Simpson Bay.

 The French/Dutch crossover. It's nice to be International.

 Hurricane Gonzalez hit the week prior to us comping and we saw trees and other impacts like this boat. 

 We spent a brief time in Marigot at the market. 

Orient Beach looked a bit different this time...the hurricane left its mark. There wasn't the crowds that we had seen last year.

The view was still beautiful.

I still enjoyed the Guaveberry Colada. It was not a Remynse favorite so I had to pull the rest of the weight for the Presidente loyalists.

This is the oldest building on the island, a Roman Catholic Church, which has also doubled as a hurricane shelter. These pieces of history always amaze me. They've stood the test of time and elements for years and continue to hold value in communities.

The goats of the island.

French water. I wanted to walk the water hear, which would barely come up to my hips. It looked beautiful. 

We took a little downtime at Divi and ran across one of the feral cats that had spent the night with us previously on the balcony. While he wasn't friendly and cuddly, he was curious enough to stay close to watch us.

Michele, Randy, and I went down to the water before heading into Phillipsburg for some light shopping. We almost waited too long as the streets were rolling up. We ended at the Greenhouse, which became Randy's favorite meal of the week. The Greenhouse, known for it's two-for-ones, started off with drinks. We also had appetizers, escargot, calamari, and of course, bang-bang shrimp, which is still my favorite at the restaurant. Michele had crab stuffed swordfish, Randy had golden fried shrimp, Matt had jerk style mahi mahi and I had cajun cognac shrimp. We finished the meal with the key lime pie and a very happy Randy who wanted to take home bread in his pocket.

Michele: The cruise ship took off early today.
ALR: Really?
Randy: Yeah, I went to show Kevin and it was gone.
MJR: (Points over at cruise ship) hmmm, you think another one came in then?
Michele: What!!! It was gone!

Day 4