liamsaunt

Warmer than at home 😀. It was 83 yesterday. The water is too cold for me to swim in, but I fully admit to being a wimp. I rarely get into the water in the winter, no matter the location. There were many other, hardier people swimming in the ocean yesterday. A “cold” front is moving in for the next day or so which is supposed to bring brisk winds and dangerous boating conditions. We moved over to the house yesterday. The road was actually in fairly good island condition until the very end. The directions we were given were terrible, so we ended up on a scenic tour of the area. There seems to be lots of new construction, as well as many properties for sale. Interesting. The house is in the Chalk Sound area, which is a more remote part of the island. The sound itself is protected National Park. You can swim or kayak in it, but there’s no motorized boating allowed. View from the house. The pool is supposedly heated, so I might try and go swimming later. Results doubtful 😂 There’s a private access to the water below the house, with kayaks to use. We will not be kayaking. I always end up going in circles. The kitchen Welcome basket from our on island host, filled with the junkiest junk food ever. If my niece and nephew were here they would be thrilled! I have found that junk food, especially chips, is actually one of the most expensive things to buy on an island, so it’s a nice gesture. I am saving my junk food ration for conch fritters though. As an aside, we went grocery shopping before coming to the house, and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and cost of the food. It was more than at home, but not even close to the grocery prices we pay on St. John. They had a wide variety of organic food, lots of fruits and vegetables in good condition, and a large bakery selection. I did not check out the meat or frozen sections, but overall it was a very good experience. By the time we were all settled at the house it was getting dark, so we went to the closest restaurant to the house for dinner, Las Brisas. I did not take pictures of the restaurant because it was dark, but we will probably go back for lunch at some point. It’s an open air waterfront restaurant, with a pool that guests can swim in if they want to. I think there are tables on the beach that are open at lunch, but it was too dark to tell. We had a dining companion The menu is massive. We shared some conch fritters. They were really good, jammed with conch. The fish of the day was snapper or grouper. I saw the snapper going out to other tables and it looked really good, but I wanted shrimp since I cannot eat them at home. Blackened shrimp with peas and rice and vegetables Husband had a grilled lobster with peas and rice and salad No dessert.

My husband and I decided to check out Turks and Caicos. We rented a house for a week starting today, but ended up flying in a day early because of a storm building up right in the flight path. We scrambled, switched our flight, and used points to book a night at the Ritz Carlton on Grace Bay for last night. The view from our room The beach itself reminds me a little bit of Miami. There are a lot of resorts right on the beach. It’s not really my scene, but we are staying in a house in a quieter area for the rest of the trip. Here are a couple of view from the beach We were really tired on arrival, so just went to the sushi restaurant at the resort for dinner. Menu I had a mocktail made with earl grey tea and pineapple, and my husband had a spicy pineapple margarita We shared an order of potstickers The hamachi turadito and the gunkan. The hamachi was good but the lobster one was kind of bland. Then we shared the spicy tuna roll and the South Caicos conch roll. Conch fritters on sushi was a new one hahaha, but we had to try it. I think I would have preferred just getting some conch fritters. We are checking out of here in a bit, going grocery shopping and then heading to the house. I think I saw the road to the area where we are staying from the plane, and it basically looks like a sand path. Should be interesting! I am glad we rented a Jeep.

Coconut, ginger, rice, turmeric soup with greens (in this case, baby spinach)

Spiced roasted carrots and cauliflower on whipped tahini with pistachio-herb topping for crunch

Roasted sweet potato and pinto bean tacos

Sausage, peppers and onions rigatoni made with some spicy Italian veggie sausage I picked up on sale from Whole Foods. Husband liked it, my sister and I disliked the texture. It was worth a try.

A winterized version of Charlie Bird’s farro salad with the radishes, tomatoes, and mint omitted and roasted beets and spicy maple glazed delicata squash added. I also used much less oil than the recipe called for because my farro was still very moist after cooking and didn’t need much dressing. https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/charlie-birds-farro-salad

Tuesday, fish curry Wednesday, the usual miso salmon ramen bowl

Hot honey and mustard chicken with sweet potato purée and roasted broccoli

Crab cake with caper aioli, an arugula fennel apple and pistachio salad, and roasted asparagus

Seared scallops on pistachio risotto with roasted shiitake mushrooms and spinach puree.

Haddock braised in spicy tomato sauce with olives, capers and spinach. I boiled some tiny potatoes alongside and tossed them in at the end, but we ended up thinking they were superfluous. I don’t think many of them got eaten. Pasta would have been a better choice, but we are overwhelmed with all kind of potatoes right now.

Some recent dinners. Penne with pesto and grape tomatoes Chicken tinga tacos Glazed salmon and roasted broccoli with rice

Yes, breadcrumbs on top. I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe from New York Times Cooking. I like it because the eggplant is baked plain rather than breaded and fried. You can taste the eggplant more that way.

Thanks for the report! So interesting to see that part of the world. I feel like we always go to the same places…