liamsaunt

Yesterday was another beautiful beach day. We spent the day walking at Race Point Beach, but I did not take any pictures. We went in to town for dinner and on a whim decided to check out the Governor Bradford. This used to be a divey bar, but someone bought it and spiffed it up and changed the menu a year or two ago. I took some pictures of the rehabbed interior (most people were eating out on the large patio, but my sister wanted to sit inside) New menu Drinks for my husband and sister Husband's second drink was a beer. They had a very good beer list, with things like Trillium on tap. That brewery is only a couple of miles from our house, so he went for a Bissel Brothers IPA on tap. We visited that brewery when we brought my niece up to Maine for college tours. I have not had beer in years but remember how much I liked that one. Appetizers were hake katzu (too heavy on the breading, but very crunchy) Oyster bao buns. I really liked the pickles in these, but the buns could have been softer Niece wanted the spicy pork dan dan noodles. She enjoyed it. I chose the tuna bolognese. I prefer the version at Blackfish in Truro (and the version I make at home) but it was acceptable. My husband and sister both chose the tuna frites. They both really enjoyed this. I snuck a fry and they were nice and crispy. Overall we thought it was pretty good, but not sure we will come back, since there are so many other choices in town. We did hear a couple of tables complaining about the new menu. We never ate here before the rehab so I'm not sure what it used to be like. We always thought it was more for drinks and live entertainment (which they still have) than food. Dessert was ice cream from Lewis Brothers. I chose peppermint stick and husband had coffee heath. It was too windy to go to the beach for sunset, so we watched it from the house

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day. We decided to go to Herring Cove Beach. This is one of the National Seashore beaches. The entry fees seemed more expensive this year--it's $25 for a car, but also $15 for you to walk in or ride a bike in. I thought the walk/bike fee seemed pretty high. I thought it was around $3 to walk/bike in just a year or two ago. Honestly based on where I see the bikes lines up, I think all the walkers and bikers just go on to the beach in another spot to avoid paying at the guard shack. We have an America the Beautiful pass, so don't have to pay at the gate anyway. It's a bargain if you are here for more than a couple of days, or if you plan to visit almost any other National Park during the year. I loved this new art installation at the restroom/snack shack building. The shark is made entirely from trash found on the beaches--mostly fishing gear with some other stuff sprinkled in. Dead lobster on the beach. Poor dude. There were actually people in the (freezing) water yesterday! Not us. We went to town and did some shopping. Here's my haul from one of the bookstores in town. There are three notebooks in the set: carrots, strawberries, and lettuce. I forgot my usual journal and should be able to just slot one of these into it when I get home. The dune shack book is for my Cape Cod book collection. Dinner was at Pepe's on the Wharf, one of my husband's favorites. Cocktails for husband and sister Niece wanted burrata with grilled vegetables for an appetizer. She ate all of the broccolini, but hates asparagus so gave it all to me. It was tasty. We also ordered some oysters Rockefeller. These ones were lighter than some others I have had covered with gloopy cheese. I had the halibut for dinner. It was huge. Husband ate some of it because it was so big. Husband ordered the pesto linguini with shrimp. He said it was very good. My sister had the catch of the day (swordfish) with roasted potatoes and arugula salad And my niece had the steak frites We split a piece of their famous coconut cake for dessert. The frosting was really good. Then back to the beach for sunset. I could not decide which I liked better, so you get two.

The weather is going to be really nice this weekend, so we made a last minute decision to come out to Provincetown for the Memorial Day holiday. The house we have stayed at before was available, so that was nice. My niece, husband and I came out in the late afternoon and my sister joined us a bit later. We arrived to discover that the chandelier over the dining room table had fallen from the ceiling and shattered all over the table and dining area. I am just glad that it happened when no one was at the house! There were large, thick shards of glass everywhere. Someone could have been seriously injured. My niece found a shop vac in the garage and cleaned most of it up. Here's the light on the table post clean up attempt. That bag is filled with large pieces of glass. The property manger came out later and finished cleaning up and moved the light out of the way. The electricians were here this morning, but it's going to be a bit of a job to fix it, so we agreed that they would come back and deal with it after we check out Tuesday. We took it as a sign that we are meant to eat out for this entire visit. 😉 Pond view from the house. There are lots of birds around to watch. We could hear a great horned owl hooting while we watched the sunset. My niece opted to have takeout sushi and stay at the house to play D+D with her friends while my sister, husband and I went out to a late dinner at Mac's Fish House. Oysters Fried calamari with cherry peppers Sister and husband had cocktails We were all quite cold so decided to choose the hottest sounding entrees on the menu. I went with roasted swordfish with mashed potatoes and roasted broccolini Sister went for truffled lobster bucatini. We were surprised that there was cheese on it, but both she and my husband said the dish was delicious Husband had roasted halibut with lobster mashed potatoes

Wednesday, a wedge of brie with salad and some baguette. Some of the brie got saved for another day. Last night I made mutter paneer, cauliflower-cashew curry, rice and naan

Cedar planked salmon with spicy roasted red pepper rouille, more local asparagus, and a giant crispy potato cake cut into wedges This morning I used a piece of the leftover salmon to make this salad for my Dad, which I brought over for him to enjoy for dinner this evening.

My fish share dropped off the dreaded Acadian redfish yesterday. It's been a long time since they've given it to us, so I won't complain too much. I ground it up and made it into Thai flavored fish cakes that we ate in lettuce wraps with some rice and cucumber salad.

They sell those rolls here. Yesterday I had to pop into a grocery store I do not normally visit and they had a small section of their products. I did not look closely because I was quickly shopping from a list. Saturday I made pan roasted pork chops with spinach and shiitake mushroom risotto. Sister and I skipped the pork, while my niece and husband were thrilled with the large chunks of meat haha Sunday the meaty trend continued with grilled ribeye steaks topped with more mushrooms, plus local asparagus and mac and cheese. Once again sister and I skipped the meat and niece and husband were thrilled. The rest of this week's planned menu is fish or vegetarian.

Yes, one was much larger than the other, and had some odd red markings on part of it that looked like broken capillaries or something (I cut that part off). It also had what looked like the entire skin of the neck attached (it was very long!), which I have never seen before. I just cut that part off too. I didn't think much of it at the time because I have never had problems with Bell and Evans chicken before. I just figured the meat was too large and got caught in machinery or something. I will be more careful going forward. Last night was more enjoyable. Everything but the bagel coated tuna on garlicky noodles with a mix of roasted broccoli and broccolini. The noodles were those packaged tingly chili wavy Momofuku noodles. However, I tasted the included seasoning oil pack and didn't like it, so I tossed it out and made my own sauce.

Thai red curry with squash and chicken. I used two chicken breast halves that I sliced up. One was tender as usual, one was incredibly tough. Of course, you never knew what you were going to get until you put it in your mouth! It was Bell and Evans chicken, and they were larger than I was used to from this brand. I wonder if we finally experienced the dreaded wooden chicken? My niece and I both punted on eating the chicken after one bite of the tough stuff, but my sister and husband kept up a hunting expedition for the tender pieces. Anyway, the squash, rice, and sauce was good!

Carbonara flatbread (niece is home from college for the summer) Margherita flatbread for the rest of us

Doenjang salmon from Eric Kim at the New York Times (I added some sriracha to the marinade since some comments said it needed heat), with some broccoli I roasted on the same sheet pan to soak up the extra marinade, and rice. doenjang salmon rice bowl

Sunday, chicken shawarma Last night, fish tacos

Hahaha! The hotel was purchased a few years ago, and the new owners have been trying to modernize things a little bit, including changing the hotel from adults only to an all ages property. The formal restaurant, Tamarisk, closed in 2018, I think. Based on what I saw, it still generally caters to an older crowd. There was only one couple that was younger than us in the dining room. Most gentlemen (including my husband) were wearing jackets, but I observed no ascots 🤣 It was definitely the most creative drinks menu I have seen in Bermuda. I really enjoyed my mocktail. I don't usually bother ordering one because they are often too sweet, but this one was not sweet at all. We are home now, so here is the food from our last day. It was a gorgeous day so we just spent it on the beach reading We just went to the beachside restaurant for lunch. Husband's cocktail And, of course, tacos That night, we wanted to go back to what has been one of our favorite restaurants, Sea Breeze at the old Elbow Beach hotel. We got a table on the rail overlooking the old Mickey's Beach Bistro, destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago and sorely missed. We were surprised to see that the menu had completely changed. Instead of seafood dishes and pastas, they now only offered sushi and pizza! If we had known, we would have gone somewhere else. 100% our fault for not checking the restaurant website before reserving a table. Restaurant view We ordered fried calamari from the small bites menu while deciding what to do. We decided to split three rolls. Everything was fine, not great. We also shared a mushroom pizza, just to try it. We skipped dessert, too full. That wraps it up until next time! We are planning to come back when it is warmer so we can swim, but it was still a very nice time of year to visit Bermuda.

Yesterday was another unsettled weather day. The ocean calmed down and all the sargassum and man o' wars went away, but as you can see from this picture there was rain around. Once the skies opened up we took shelter at Coconuts for lunch. Wahoo sandwich jerk chicken tacos It cleared up a little in the afternoon, so we headed back to the beach. I ran into my heron friend again on the way down Sunny skies! Those beachgoers were soaking up the sun. Meanwhile, I was buried under towels under that umbrella you see in the corner. That evening, the Reefs was hosting a beach barbecue. We attended this when we visited back in September, and nobody loved it, so instead we travelled over to Cambridge Beaches Resort for dinner at the Sunken Harbor Club. Apparently, it's an outpost of a New York restaurant. Their menu featured lots of local fish so it sounded appealing to us. Funky cocktail bar Outdoor tables (this becomes relevant later). We opted to sit indoors by the window because it was quite windy. Bread. I took a picture of it because we both thought two of the rolls looked like potatoes Drinks. Mine is a mocktail made with pineapple. Husband's was the little one on the right. It was called the continental navy. Some menu pictures for @rotuts We decided to try the shark hash and the callaloo pasta to start. Shark hash It reminded us of salt cod. Callaloo pasta This was excellent. Neither of us had tasted ackee before and we loved it. The pasta was quite spicy too. We agreed that it was one of the best things we had eaten this visit. Entree options Husband selected the turbot It was perfectly cooked. The parsnip puree was intensely rich, and that's a lemon, white wine and butter sauce on top. I chose a special of pistachio crusted mahi mahi with ackee stuffed tortellini and vegetables. I really enjoyed this! By this point, we were both stuffed, but wanted to share a dessert. The table behind us got the flamed chocolate dome, and it was huge, so we opted for the half moon sapphire Overall, it was a really nice meal. It was disrupted a little when a random fellow female diner came up to our table mid meal to start complaining about a fellow guest, who was at an outside table discreetly breast-feeding her child under her shirt. She just walked up to our table and started complaining! When she finally exclaimed "in my 30 years of coming here, I have never seen such a thing!" I just looked at her and said "there's a first time for everything." I mean, really. Who cares? Mind your own business, random lady, and get away from my table! 🤣 We finished dinner just in time to catch the end of the sunset, dropping in to the water. Cambridge Beaches is one of the best places on Bermuda to see a sunset. And a view of the beach barbecue, still in force when we returned to our room.

Bermuda usually gets sargassum when it's stormy offshore. After all, it is in the Sargasso sea. I have been watching this year's massive bloom further south with some anxiety. We are booked to go back to St. John this summer and our house is on the water on a south facing shore, which is the most typical landing spot. I've been down there for sargassum blooms before, and you are right, it smells quite strongly as it decomposes. The problem is, once it starts landing in huge heaps, it's difficult to dispose of it. You cannot deal with it offshore because the sargassum is a nesting ground for all kinds of marine life--turtles, seahorses, fish etc. Once it's onshore you cannot use it for food or fertilizer because the sargassum contains microplastics from floating around in the open ocean. You cannot keep burying it because you run out of room. Burning it would be an environmental disaster. I'm not sure what the long term solution is. It rained for most of the morning, so we mostly stayed in our unit reading. Eventually, we ventured out to Coconuts for lunch for something to do. We knew we were going to a multi course dinner later, so decided to just have some fish tacos. They came with some fries and salad to share. The sun was trying to come out as we walked back to our room. I spied this beautiful bird of paradise growing near our fire pit. and then was able to get fairly close to this yellow crown night heron for a picture We managed a quick walk before it was time to get ready for dinner at Huckleberry. The seating is on the covered porch and in the garden of the Rosedon Hotel in down town Hamilton, the business capital of Bermuda. I am not sure if it is usually like this, but on the night we visited, the interior of the restaurant was converted to large group seating to accommodate a convention that was apparently in town. Here's the porch, where we were seated. The menu is prix fixe. You can choose between two courses, three courses, or an enhanced three course meal which includes higher end ingredients plus bread service and a sorbet. I took a picture of the menu: If I had the option I would have mixed items from both sides, but you had to choose. We went with the three course. Bread service Husband's first course was the scallop. He said the purees were under seasoned but it was nice. I chose the beetroot textures. This was really delicious, probably my favorite thing of the night. I forgot to take a picture of the amuse bouche (tuna tartar--needed salt) and the sorbet (lemon, very good) For second course, I chose the morel and asparagus pasta. The flavors were delicious and it was pretty, but I just think foam looks weird. Husband chose the waygu striploin. He said the meat was slightly over salted (he could not win with the salt last night!) but it was fine when eaten with everything else. For our third course, husband chose the huckleberry dessert, and I chose the red velvet lava. I should have just gotten some gelato. I was pretty full at this point and only ate a few bites of the cake itself. The raspberry paper thing actually worked well with the cake to add some texture and acidity to the richness of the lava cake. Husband didn't care for his dessert at first, but it grew on him while he ate it. Lava cake: Huckleberry: So, overall assessment is that it was a lovely setting and we are glad we tried it, but we probably won't go back anytime soon. It seems to be doing very well with both locals and tourists, and it's good to have a special occasion type option on the island.

The wind has picked up here, which has been bringing in some sargassum, and also Portuguese man o' wars. This is the time of year when they wash ashore in Bermuda. It makes my decision to not go in the water seem very smart! It's still pretty though. The hotel staff is constantly raking the beach and burying the sargassum and man o wars. We just spent the day on the beach reading books. No pictures of breakfast because we just ate yogurt (boring!). We shared a plate of shrimp tacos the beach for lunch. I took a picture but they are buried under a pile of french fries. Pretty flowers Dinner was at Aurora. We went here back in September and enjoyed it, so decided a repeat visit was in order. The seveche of the day was made with local red hind and prickly pear, so of course we had to get it! The kitchen kindly split and plated it for us. Here's my portion, a perfect amount to start. For entrees, my husband got the same shrimp and lobster linguini he enjoyed back in the fall. (that's a Maine lobster on there, Bermuda lobster is out of season). He pronounced it delicious. I opted for a warm nicoise salad made with local tuna. The fish was topped with a soft poached egg which made a nicely runny sauce for the potatoes. This was really delicious. For dessert, we shared a dark chocolate soufflé. It was very, very rich. We only managed a few bites each. We finished the salted caramel ice cream on the side though! The sunset was nice from our table The weather is supposed to be pretty mixed today, so I'm not sure that we will get up to much during the day other than lazing about. Tonight we are trying a new-to-us restaurant called Huckleberry. It's got a farm to table type concept. I am hoping it doesn't rain so we can eat out in the garden.

Happy Anniversary! Your seafood dinner looked delicious.

I was wondering that too as I was reading the menu! I decided to order it anyway thinking that it would be flavorless so what harm could it do? My best guess is that it was supposed to introduce some creaminess to the sauce on the dish without adding dairy. Sorry that happened to you! We have been here for a hurricane before (it was a long time ago, and I'm not sure why we did not cancel. I guess it is possible we did not know it was coming). We were surprised by how quickly they were able to clean up from it, but the ocean was a mess for the rest of the trip, with lots of plastic debris washing up. I own a wetsuit but did not bring it! I thought it would be too cold even with my wetsuit. I am such a wimp. I used up all my cold water credits when I used to go scuba diving off Gloucester, I think. I have not seen conch anywhere, in any form, this visit. It must be out of season. I know lobster season is September to March. I am not sure if conch follows that too. Newstead at Belmont Hills. My husband's knee was bothering him yesterday, so we decided to stick around and explore the hotel property. Resort breakfast After breakfast we walked down to the scenic lookout where they have weddings and such. Here's looking back at the club part of the resort. The hotel portion is to the right, out of the frame. There are 19 club residences and 65 hotel rooms on the property, which is pretty large by Bermuda standards. Once it warmed up a bit, we headed down to the beach. This property is definitely not easily navigable if you have mobility issues... I spied a Portuguese man o' war nestled in some washed up sargassum. Back to the room to get ready for dinner We ate at Coconuts, the beachfront restaurant on the property. We shared a pineapple jalapeño seveche of shrimp, wahoo and mussels. Neither of us enjoyed the mussels but the shrimp and especially the wahoo were nice. Husband ordered pesto pasta topped with wahoo and I chose a Thai red curry with shrimp For dessert, we split a banana bread pudding.

Are you coming to Bermuda to dive? There are so many wrecks here. I used to be certified and miss diving sometimes, but my husband cannot do it with me. He has chronic sinus issues and it's just too painful for him. Sorry for the delay in starting this report. We are staying at the Reefs Hotel, on the club side. We booked the trip last minute and on points, so got a first floor unit. The second and third floor units have completely unobstructed views of the water and glass balconies. The view from our unit is a mix of water and vegetation. The unit is like an apartment rather than a hotel room. There's even a full kitchen if I decide to cook (hahaha). We had some basic staples delivered like water, yogurt, and beer/wine for my husband, and it's nice to have a full size fridge with ice maker. Living room There are also three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a private hot tub on the patio outside the unit. The hotel has a beautiful beach but I have not been down there yet. Maybe later today. The beachfront restaurant at the hotel we were planing on going to for dinner was closed down for a wedding the night we arrived, and the formal restaurant was doing a buffet (I dislike most buffets and avoid them if possible) so we walked up the road to Henry VIII. My husband's cocktail. He said it was OK. We shared a sushi roll with shrimp tempura, yellowtail, and salmon Husband got the fish and chips and I had the catch of the day, which was a wahoo steak. It was extremely large! Luckily my husband was starving, so he helped me finish it. We went back to the hotel and crashed. I slept for ten hours! (we had to get up at 3AM to catch our plane that morning). Sunday we started the day with breakfast at the hotel. Here's the view from our table I ordered the smoked salmon plate. There was enough salmon for three people! I felt bad leaving most of it behind. The bagel was meh so I left most of that too. Husband had a breakfast burrito filled with eggs and spinach. We found out after breakfast that it was included with our room rate (points rate?), which we did not know. No complaints! Food is expensive in Bermuda! We decided to get some exercise and walk to as many beaches as we could. We started out by heading left from the hotel and heading to one of the best snorkeling spots on the island, Church Bay. This church is across the street from the beach The water was extremely calm and clear We could see large parrotfish fins sticking up out of the water. I am going to try and get in to snorkel at some point, but the water is much colder than I prefer at this time of year. We certainly saw many people swimming, but I am the first to admit that I am a wimp! We left Church Bay and headed right past the hotel, down the road to Horseshoe Bay. There were two cruise ships in, and Horseshoe is the beach with the most amenities (chairs umbrellas, bathrooms, food etc.), so of course it was very crowded. It was Sunday so there was even a priest conducting a church service on the beach. We bypassed the crowds and headed over to the South Shore walking path. The path is about one mile long and stops at many little coves, almost all of which have no more than four people at them. Here are a few pictures of the coves. Chaplin Bay One of my favorite stops, Stonehole Cove Entry to hidden beach And my favorite beach, Warwick Long Bay All our walking and exploring led to a ten mile walk, according to our fitness trackers. More than enough to justify a fancy dinner at Blu. Restaurant view. We were some of the first arrivals, but the patio was filled within fifteen minutes. The menu here is huge. They have a full sushi menu, plus a regular menu. We decided to share two appetizers, a plate of tuna tartar and salmon sashimi And an order of shrimp tempura For entrees, we both wanted to order the same thing, which required some negotiating haha. Husband ended up with the local catch of the day, which was red hind. It came with a broccoli risotto, shrimp, and a lemon butter sauce. We had never had red hind before and it was really nice. I chose the mahi mahi with ginger garlic black bean sauce, rice, vegetables, and tofu puree. Both entrees were very good. The fish was nicely cooked and the portions were not too large. For dessert, we split a lemon souffle. Husband had a limoncello too. Sunset from the restaurant and over the golf course as we were leaving We have no reservations for this evening so not sure what we will get up to. Not me cooking!

I am back in Bermuda. The view is not bad from our accommodation, and the weather is warmer than at home. Food photos to come.

Clean out the herb drawer risotto with spring onions, ramps, chives, lemon zest, and peas

Congratulations! It was rather miserable here weather wise last night, so I made spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast

Rummo makes an excellent gluten free spaghetti. I read about it in Stanley Tucci's memoir Taste. He developed a gluten intolerance while being treated for mouth cancer, and declared this the only gluten free pasta worth eating. My nephew has a roommate with Celiac and they have tried every brand out there. I shipped them a six pack of the Rummo and now they won't eat any other type! I've never seen it in the grocery stores around here, but Amazon stocks it.

No starch coating on the fish for no reason other than I did not think of it. It was just briefly marinated in some lime juice, coconut milk, and a pinch of salt before cooking. And yes, I mean a grill pan. It's basically a round oven proof skillet with ridges on it to replicate grill marks. My husband gave it to me decades ago when we were living in a city apartment without access to an actual grill. It's a pain to clean between the ridges, but I still break it out occasionally. Last night, a quick chicken stir fry with baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, red bell peppers, red tabby spinach, and cilantro.

Based on my observations of what I see people walking around with, and the fact that a "regular" ice coffee at Dunkin' Donuts is full of sugar and cream, I think the regional version of iced coffee is basically ice cream in disguise. My feeling is, why drink gooey sweet iced coffee when you can just have ice cream? I am an iced tea person myself. Unsweetened with lemon, please.