liamsaunt

Nephew is moving to Chicago for grad school this week, so I have been letting him pick the dinners in the lead up to his departure. Steak tacos (he grilled chicken for myself and my sister) Burgers another night. He grilled beef ones, and I made shawarma flavored veggie burgers for my sister and me, pictured here. The flavor was good but the texture needs some help. I'll keep working on it. Paneer and cauliflower curries And fish and chips

There were a few days that were very dusty. One day in particular was so dusty that you could see it rolling over the hilltops. We all had itchy eyes and sore throats from it, so spent most of that day indoors reading. That’s the nice thing about going back to the same place regularly…if you miss some days due to weather or whatever it is no big deal. The dust really does help with suppression of tropical weather too. There was a tropical wave coming that had potential to develop into a depression by the time it got to us, but the dust and winds broke it up before it arrived. It rained a bit most late nights which I think helped to clear the air as well.

Last installment. None of us were hungry when we woke up, so we spent the day at Cinnamon Bay swimming. Such a pretty beach Wd ended up going for a late lunch/early dinner at Skinny Legs. They basically serve burgers. Setting Drinks. A margarita and a painkiller. Cheeseburger in paradise? Some people think so. They offer veggie burgers too a slice of key lime pie to share. It was frozen and tart, just the way I like it. We then went to Hawksnest beach to eke out the rest of the sun from the day. There was a little sargassum on the beach but the water was clear. And that concludes this visit to St. John. See you on the dinner thread.

Wednesday afternoon we went over to the Lime Out floating taco bar for linner. It’s only reachable by boat. You could easily swim to it from shore, but they only serve people who arrive via boat because they have cocktails, and swimming plus cocktails is usually not a good idea. Years ago there was a boat like this at a different beach that only served drinks, no food, and you had to swim to it. They did have a few issues over there with over served people getting into trouble in the water. That boat was destroyed in the hurricanes and not rebuilt. Lime Out floating taco bar You sit on floating lily pads, and the servers come out in that floating platform to push your food and drinks to you. We went later in the afternoon so it was not busy. Earlier in the day it’s always jammed up here. A couple of the tacos we ordered. Korean tuna, and two rum pork rib Another Korean tuna, a grouper seveche, and a jerked tuna with pineapple radish salsa We ended the day with a swim at Maho beach. That guy with the cooler at the water line is collecting water samples for the National Park. They issue beach water quality reports regularly. Yesterday we headed out with no set plans around noon time. By some small miracle, there was a parking spot at Trunk Bay. We could not let the opportunity pass us by, so we ended up spending the day here. There were a lot of other people, but the end of the beach we like is never crowded. We called an audible and made a last minute reservation for dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro. It’s a three course prix fixe. I am still full today haha. Here’s the menu Drinks. I tried the coco loco mocktail (just ok). Sister had a limin’, husband had a martini, and nephew had a up in smoke First course. Sister and I had the ricotta Nephew was excited that he could have the calamari. I think the chef made him a double portion, because this was huge niece and husband chose the pork belly Second course. Nephew had the sausage gnocchi Niece had the spinach salad with goat cheese and popcorn snd the rest of us had the wild mushroom pappardelle i could have stopped here, but it was time for the third course. Three of us had the tuna niece chose the short rib and nephew had the filet and then niece and nephew wanted dessert! Niece had the apple crisp and nephew had the passionfruit bread puddong Today is our last full day, and I don’t know what we are doing for food, but probably not much after that huge meal!

Monday we had a pretty relaxing day. The weather was raining off and on, so we decided not to snorkel. We visited Hawksnest Bay This mongoose wanted to know if we had any snacks it could steal. They are clever little dudes and will get into your zipped beach bags looking for food. We did not have any, so it left disappointed Panorama of the beach We skipped eating out in favor of pool time at the villa. Nephew made watermelon margaritas for those who wanted one And then grilled sausages, peppers, onions, chicken thighs and garlic bread for dinner. We brought the meats from home. Yesterday we went back to Caneel Bay to do some snorkeling. This lobster was hiding French angelfish, adult phase French angelfish, intermediate phase grouper Stoplight parrotfish We went to town for dinner at Morgan’s Mango. Drinks We shared a couple of appetizers. Tuna tartare and snapper seveche Three of us had the catch of the day, which was corvina Niece opted for coconut crusted grouper Amd husband had a lobster. He had them take it out of the shell in the kitchen because of my nephew’s allergy. I think he missed gnawing on the shell a bit but didn’t say anything. We shared a massive piece of key lime pie for dessert It’s extremely hot today, so we are relaxing at the villa this morning before boating over to a floating taco bar for an early dinner later on.

Saturday was a pretty mellow day. We just spent the day swimming at Francis beach, and then went back to the villa to grill burgers and veggie burgers that I brought from home. I remembered to take a picture of the beach this time. Sunday was another fairly lazy day. My husband lost his snorkel mask on our boat day (the strap snapped when he jumped off the boat. The water was 60’ deep so there was no swimming after it) and we have not gone in to town to replace it yet, so we have just been swimming. Sundays in the summer are the worst day to get parking at the beach because that’s the day many locals have off from work, and the water is actually warm enough that they will swim in it. We ended up driving all the way to the east end to a rocky but calm beach called Haulover. Even here, at the farthest point of the island, there were about 15 other people on the beach. This is one of those spots you would typically have to yourself. After swimming my nephew lobbied very hard for an early dinner at Johnny Lime, which is barbecue. The setting The menu Drinks. Husband’s lita mezcalita, a special passionfruit gin fizz that my sister chose, and my nephew’s danger. Niece and I just had water. Husband got brisket with mac and cheese and a salad with local greens I had a blackened catfish sandwich with slaw and yucca fries. I am not sure when they switched from mahi to catfish on the menu, or why, but it ended up being very tasty. nephew had brisket with rice and beans and yuca fries Niece had a pulled pork sandwich that I did not get a picture of, and sister was sulky because she didn’t want anything on the menu. She didn’t end up ordering anything but a side of the chickpea fritters. After linner we went to Trunk Bay for a late swim And then back to the villa to shower. I had a visitor in my outdoor shower though, so my husband and I ended up going for a pool swim instead and called it getting cleaned up 😂

Yesterday we were all wiped from the boat day, so we spent the day at the villa relaxing. I processed my underwater photos so thought I would share a few. There were a lot of jellies in the water. We all wear long sleeved rash guards and long swim pants when snorkeling in case of stuff like this. I would rather deal with lots of big jellies like the ones we saw than the invisible and incredibly painful sea lice stings. I am fairly certain that all of these jellyfish were moon jellies, which only have a mild sting, but others in my party are adamant that there were multiple types around. Anyway, here are some jellyfish. Their bodies ranged in size from just a few inches to over dinner plate. The tentacles stretched for a few feet. blue tang Black durgeon. We only see these in the BVIs Spanish hogfish One of many caves that you could swim inside at Norman Island. It was creepy and dark in there, though we saw some fish that were not present elsewhere. I think you would have needed a dive light to fully explore it. We did not come prepared for that. We went to La Tapa for dinner Drinks i got a cauliflower bisque to start. After I tasted it I realized I ordered this last time I was here too 😂 Everyone else shared a few orders of tuna tartare, but the photo came out blurry. Husband and I had tuna with polenta cake and mango sauce, the usual sister had hers with wild rice and coconut sauce Niece and nephew had ribeyes with a Greek salad on top and a three potato mash We shared a flan for dessert Except for my niece, who got a bread pudding with saffron ice cream and raspberry sauce No dinner reservations for the next few nights.

Wednesday was pretty relaxing. We went to Francis beach for swimming. We did not snorkel and I did not take any pictures. We were feeling lazy so headed back to the house to swim in the pool while nephew made dinner. We saw a little rainbow (by the time I grabbed my phone it had mostly faded) Nephew grilled some flatbreads. Tomato, bacon (cooked and brought from home, because cooking in the oven indoors here is generally not a good idea), and one with the leftover steak from the other night. We found a big package of basil from the farm on island so covered the flatbreads with it and called it our salad. They looked funky but tasted good. Yesterday was our boat day. I did not take too many above water pictures, and haven’t processed the underwater ones yet, so not many photos to share. My niece and nephew really wanted to visit the British Virgin Islands, and my husband and I have not gone over since 2008, I think. We rented a larger power boat to get us over there quickly. I don’t prefer this kind of trip because you lose time clearing customs. Our boat is the second one in this picture. It was a very smooth ride, and the crew was great. Morning fruit tray on the boat We went to a couple of snorkel spots and then to Norman Island for lunch. There is literally nothing on this island but the beach restaurant. Here it is from the boat dock. A summer camp from a neighboring island was there for swimming lessons and lunch. That’s the big group of little kids you can see in the water with their instructors. Menu We were done snorkeling so the imbibers ordered margaritas We had to get the conch fritters Nephew ordered the mahi seveche. He let me taste and it was really good Niece wanted mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders. She never eats like this at home haha sister and I had fish tacos made with mahi husband got the mahi sandwich and nephew got the chicken roti. He said it was delicious. I should have taken a picture once he cut into it. After lunch nephew really wanted to go to Jost Van Dyke, which is where many of the famous beach bars in the BVI are located. Niece grumbled a bit but perked up when I pointed out they would have smoothies. The captain warned my husband and I that it looked really different since the last time we had been over, as all of the structures here were completely leveled in the hurricanes. There were more bars, and more people, but it was not too different, really. Nephew got his painkiller drink from Soggy Dollar, and niece and I went for a beach walk and found her a smoothie. There are little bars up and down the entire beach. One of them had a huge sign advertising that they sold “magic mushrooms.” I did not know that was legal in the BVI haha. We got home and the power was out on St John, so dinner was cancelled. We just scrounged some bread out of the dark refrigerator and called it a night. Luckily power came back around 9pm, just in time for going to sleep with the AC on.

Yes it is definitely sad. The hurricanes destroyed most of it, and some is growing back, but as I am sure you know, it is a long, slow process, and some places have seen more growth than others. The overly warm ocean water is not helping matters. Yesterday we finally had a chance to revisit Caneel Bay beach for the first time since the hurricanes in 2017. The National Park has fenced off the ruins and created a path to the beach using the old paved walkways of the resort. The destruction was still shocking to see up close after all these years. This was one of the restaurants, housed in the sugar mill on the old plantation grounds The boiling tower chimney cracked in the storms but is still standing And here are the remnants of some of the resort rooms The entrance to the one reopened public beach (five of the seven beaches on the resort property are still inaccessible due to dangerous conditions) The beach is still beautiful, peaceful and calm. We once stayed in a room on that point you can see. All traces of it are gone now. The last time we were on this beach, that big sea grape you can see was about four feet tall Here are a couple of snorkeling photos. Lobster hiding Feather duster worm and coral Mid phase French angelfish Stoplight parrotfish Grouper eating an octopus Beautiful flamboyant tree that we saw on our walk out Dinner was at STJ Speakeasy. Menu Drinks. I think we have two margaritas and a cucumber wasabi cocktail of some sort. There were no mocktails which was a little disappointing. I remember having something nice here last year. We shared three starters. A wahoo seveche with plantain A special of hogfish crudo and the tuna rose from the menu All were fantastic. We could not decide which we liked best.The sun set as we finished our appetizers This is really boring, but all five of us got the same thing for dinner, the catch of the day (grouper). It had a fantastic green curry sauce, which is hidden behind the fish in this photo. We shared two desserts, a chocolate cremeux with nougat and a flambéed pineapple with ice cream This was a fantastic meal, and will be hard to beat.

We spent the day at Cinnamon Bay. I did not take any pictures of the beach for some reason, but here’s one from a prior visit. I did take some snorkeling photos. Almost all of the coral is still dead, but there were some fish around. Jacks blue tang squirrelfish Nurse shark and one of my favorites to see, a big permit Dinner was at Longboard. Menu Drinks. The two on the left are mocktails Chips and dips because we were starving wahoo seveche Mahi mahi sliders Pork sliders Fish tacos made with wahoo Carnita tacos A Tidal Rose cocktail for my husband. I think it was tequila, rose, and pampelmousse. It looked cool but was disliked we were too full for any dessert. We caught the tail end of the sunset And then headed back to the villa. The house you can see lit up on the beach was hosting a somewhat raucous wedding, so we listened to their DJ until his mixes got so bad we fled inside. It was the mashup of Bon Jovi Living on a Prayer with the Black Eyes Peas I Got a Feeling that was the final straw 😂

We are back on St. John. We arrived Saturday evening. Everyone was tired, so we just went into town for some light snacks at the island brew pub, mostly so my nephew and husband could pick up some crowlers of beer for the house. I thought I took a picture of the beer menu, but I guess not. Here’s the food options. Niece chose chicken wings The rest of us shared a hummus plate and a salad with some mahi mahi on it We stopped by St. John Scoops so niece could get her favorite chai tea latte ice cream We got in an evening dip in the pool before crashing We had the house provisioned by a grocery delivery company before arriving. That’s because when you try and go shopping on the weekends, everything is sold out. We stopped by yesterday to pick up some water and ice, and attempt to get some salad stuff (no luck on that front until the second store). Empty grocery! The only vegetables were onions, potatoes, red cabbage, and winter squash. I did snag the last loaf of raisin bread, and they had ice, so it was ok. We just spent the day reading at the villa. Too tired to beach it. Nephew made the drinkers watermelon margaritas (we brought a cooler from home with some stuff, including fresh squeezed and pre measured juices for cocktails and mocktails) He grilled some bread (got a bit charred) that I topped with garlic scape butter I made at home, and a couple of ribeyes (also brought from home), supplemented with pasta and a “salad” made from the only vegetables I could find at the second market we stopped at-a cucumber and some peppers. evening views Breakfast under the palapa with our trusty scavenger companions We were blocked in this morning by the pool and landscaping maintenance guys, but it’s finally time to go to the beach!

More clean out the fridge. Stir fry with zucchini, summer squash, chicken and shiitake mushrooms. My CSA dropped 8 pounds of zucchini on my doorstep yesterday. I put as much as I could fit into this dish and then blanched and froze the rest. Hopefully I will be able to cook it down into some kind of flavorful puree when we come back.

I'm in clean out the fridge mode before vacation. Last night we had a NY Times recipe for Berbere brown sugar chicken. Berbere brown sugar chicken I added all of the remaining CSA carrots I had languishing in my fridge to the dish. All the carrots except one were a deep purple, which ended up changing the color of the dish. It looks more like a beef stew than a chicken dish. My nephew thought the brown sugar (which I halved) and the orange juice made it too sweet. My niece thought the Berbere spice blend (Penzey's) was too spicy! I cannot win haha. The rest of us liked it. Served with spiced rice and some flatbread I made to use up the last of an open container of yogurt.

My sister brought some halibut home from the farmer's market next to her office yesterday, so we had mustard coated and roasted halibut with lemon caper butter, mashed potatoes, roasted broccolini and some peas from the freezer to bulk out the broccolini.

It's striped bass season, and the tomatoes are starting to come in so.. Pasta with uncooked tomato sauce and basil Roasted striped bass with Mario Batali's Sicilian lifeguard sauce (made with fresh tomatoes). The recipe is originally meant to be served with calamari, but it's basically impossible to find calamari here, even in the fish markets.

We are not going to the Cape for the 4th this year in the first time in forever. I miss it already. I bet the business will be really slammed this weekend. The weather is great after so many rainy weekends. I was talking to the guy who cleans my house on Wednesday and he said that Provincetown is completely sold out for lodging--the only thing he could get was a bare site for camping! Luckily he enjoys camping. That would be my husband's nightmare.

Grilled satay chicken with peanut sauce. Jasmine rice and cucumber-mint-peanut salad to go with it. I think coconut rice would have been even better but I got lazy.

Friday, roasted striped bass with amtriciana sauce over kalamata orzo Saturday, miso salmon bowls with bok choy

I've been cooking and taking pictures, but have not been posting. So, apologies for the dinner photo dump! A clean out the fridge dinner of stir fried chicken, peppers, garlic scapes, and bok choy with lots of scallions and cilantro There was an old bag of pretty stale potato chips in the pantry, so I crushed them up, coated chicken with them, and served it over a big salad. My CSA gave me about three pounds of spinach, so I made it into a pasta sauce to use a bunch of it up in one meal. Another clean out the fridge dinner of roasted peppers, broccolini and cherry tomatoes with feta over garlicky orzo We had fajitas another night. No pictures of those, but I used the leftovers to make big salads on the day it was 101 degrees here. Steak salad for husband, niece and nephew and chicken salad for my sister and me. Last night I tried a NY Times Cooking recipe for grilled honey-lemon-tahini chicken thighs, served with rice pilaf, flatbread, and yet another salad. I thought I had finally made a good dent in the salad greens from my CSA, but they dropped off a box this morning with seven more heads of lettuce in it...

A couple of meals from the last week or so, all picked by my nephew. Chipotle style (I guess?) rice bowls Another day he grilled some peri peri style chicken, and I made a big salad and some crisp roasted potatoes with a creamy cilantro dipping sauce that everyone really liked Ina Garten's recipe for spaghetti and spicy turkey meatballs

Coconut curry cod with sweet peppers and rice

It’s a decent substitute, and has some of the flavors of regular gin. It has a different mouthfeel, as do basically all non alcoholic spirits. This is the thing I notice most about non alcoholic mocktails. At home, my mocktail of choice is light tonic water mixed with preserved lemon pulp and a pinch of salt and sugar over ice with olives. I do have a small collection of n/a spirits, but have not really experimented with them to date.

I have HB steins from when my husband went with colleagues about five years ago. They are clear glass with the HB logo on them. They are huge and I have tried to get rid of them a few times but they are always rescued from the donation bin and put back, even though no one ever drinks out of them. A couple of recent dinners. Miso salmon noodle bowl with peppers and spinach Grilled tuna with soy-ginger butter sauce, broccoli, and rice

It’s readily available where we live. It’s even in the grocery store! Our house is only a 15 minute drive from the Trillium brewery (#3 in the country), so we always have lots of good options to choose from. Too bad I cannot drink it any more 😑 One drawback is that it is very tall. I do think things would get lost in there for me because of that. I have two full sized fridges at my house and that setup works better for me. Last night we visited Pisces. Here is the menu Drinks. Spicy margarita for my nephew, a n/a gin and tonic for me, and a weird flavored martini that my husband disliked (this has been a theme for this trip) We shared a starter special of flash sautéed calamari with olives, tomatoes, and arugula Husband and nephew both had a special of spaghetti with poached oysters in a bacon Parmesan cream sauce with spinach I had the cornmeal crusted cod dish. Nephew had a dessert of espresso affogato and we all shared a slice of lemon cake with blueberry sauce And that’s it for this visit. A few pictures from our beach walk this morning on aptly named Cockle Cove. The sand is covered with the cockles that give the beach its name Until next time

It said devils on the menu. I know that’s not the usual filling haha. I have been there, but not for years. It’s pretty rare that we go out for breakfast. We all typically eat just toast, fruit, and/or yogurt in the morning. It was on the daily specials drink menu, which I did not look at, so not sure, sorry. Not disagreeing, but you could say that about a lot of weird alcohol mixers, right? Do we really need all those flavored rums floating out there in the world? Cucumber or chili pepper infused vodka? Or more traditionally, even a worm in a bottle of mezcal? Probably not, but maybe a marketing tool. I know there is still a bottle of rum in my liquor cabinet that my husband and I bought on our honeymoon. We did not buy it for the excellent flavor, we bought it because it was in a bottle shaped like a policeman and we thought it was cool looking at the time. It’s never actually been opened. It’s a Thermidor. Here’s the inside. Nothing in the freezer but ice cream and ice cubes. I brought the ice cube trays from home in case the house did not have any. I did not realize that there was this huge ice maker! And the fridge. Nothing in there either except some yogurt, fruit, my nephew’s loaf of bread, and stuff to make coffee. There’s also beer and wine for my husband and nephew (most of which will get hauled back home), and spindrift seltzer and Diet Coke for me (just the right amount for the time we have left here, because I am a planner like that). So after saying we never go out to breakfast, we went out to breakfast in town yesterday, at the Captain’s Table. Nephew had pancakes And husband and I both got a bowl with scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado, tomatoes, cheddar and home fries The day was pretty foggy and windy, so no scenic pictures. Nephew wanted sushi for dinner, so we went to Bluefins in town. Nephew had a whiskey sour (I think?), and husband had a sake martini We were restricted as to what we could order by my nephew’s shellfish allergy, but they did a great job being careful about the order and customizing stuff as needed. It took a little longer, but he was really happy with everything he got to try. Left to right, there’s a spicy scallop roll, a bluefin roll, a mixed salmon, yellowtail and tuna roll, some crazy thing with spicy tuna and tobiko (he thought this was too sweet), and a toro roll. He also wanted to order the Oreo sushi roll for dessert This basically tasted like a mint Girl Scout cookie. One slice was enough though! One thing I have discovered about staying in this house is that the lighthouse next door plays trumpet music each day at 8am and 8pm through a loudspeaker. It always starts with the calvary charge, which was a bit jarring this morning!