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