liamsaunt

Mini crispy salmon cakes in lettuce cups with nuoc cham and rice

We had Monday off for Patriot's Day and it was warm enough to grill, so I made grilled coconut-lime-lemongrass chicken with pineapple sambal and rice. The side dish was a Thai-inspired slaw recipe from a free issue of Milk Street magazine that I got in the mail. It was pretty tasty. Last night I made salmon banh mi

I made a Game of Thrones themed dinner last night in honor of the premiere of the final season. I don't watch much TV, but love Game of Thrones. All the recipes came from the companion cookbook to the series, A Feast of Ice and Fire. I was not able to take pictures of the entire meal because of all of the chaos and running around, but here are a few. Black bread (very tasty with a great crust) Sansa's Salad (baby spinach, candid walnuts, figs (which I subbed in for the called for prunes), edible flowers and raspberry vinaigrette) Sansa's Lemon Cakes, made by my teenaged niece

Spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli with pesto and grape tomatoes

Miso-glazed salmon on miso ramen with bok choy and mushrooms

Cod baked with cherry tomatoes, garlic, kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts

scallop rolls again

Tuna bolognese

Mushroom and poblano pepper fajitas with arugula-toasted pecan salsa and queso fresco from the current issue of Eating Well magazine. It tasted....healthy

Ciambotta. The stew has tomatoes, onions, potatoes, eggplant, red bell peppers, garlic, zucchini and an oregano-basil pesto. Next time I make this I am going to swap in mushrooms for the potatoes.

First home cooked meal in 10 days (away on vacation). Filet mignon with Roquefort-chive sauce, duck fat roasted potatoes and spinach I don't eat beef so my dinner was chicken with the same accompaniments

That's a remora. heidih''s link explains it. It's a symbiotic relationship. Though sometimes the turtles get annoyed and try to shake them off 🙂 It's really cool to watch the way the various fish interact. Big fish like grouper will go to "cleaning stations" and smaller fish will swim inside their mouths and clear all the parasites off. Last post for this trip. We got home late-late-late last night. I was supposed to be back to work today, but multiple flight delays (medical emergency, timed out crew that needed a shift change etc) and a bad car accident that closed the highway once we finally got back to Boston meant we were not climbing in to bed until 2AM. It's our tradition that our last meal on island is at the Banana Deck, so we went back for lunch on Saturday. Drinks Peel and eat shrimp We both got the spicy mahi wrap with pineapple salsa. It's tradition! After lunch we went to "our" beach, Francis Bay. We've been coming to St. John twice a year since 2003, and this was our first beach. It's a little different from the others: the sand is darker, the water is greener, and it can sometimes be a bit buggy. But we love it. We had heard that it got hit hard by the storms so we saved it for last. There used to be good coral along the right side of the beach but friends told us it got scrubbed clean. It's still a good place to see turtles and octopus. Trees down on the beach View of the beach from the water Turn around and it is still beautiful! We did not snorkel because I wanted my wetsuit to be dry for the flight home. However, I thought I would share three of my favorite snorkel pictures I have taken. Wild dolphins at Leinster Bay: Turtle rising at Caneel Bay Octopus at Haulover North. I won a magazine photography contest with this one. We never ended up using the prize though (air tickets to Jamaica) Friday morning it was time to leave. Some views from the ferry Until next time!

Yesterday was a multi beach, two snorkel, and two restaurant day. We snorkeled in the morning. Here are some pictures Maho Bay We went to lunch in town at High Tide. This is the only restaurant in the Wharfside complex that has opened post-storms. Their damage was mostly structural, from moored boats being thrown in to it, while the other side of the complex sustained massive water and boat damage. Drinks Coconut shrimp Mahi and shrimp tacos We spent the afternoon at Trunk Bay. This beach is consistently rated one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. We like to go in the later afternoon, after the cruise ship people have departed Dinner was at La Tapa. Bread and dipping oil Bacalao fritters Local tuna Pasta with shrimp and asparagus Today is our last full day. I'm not sure what we are going to end up doing (right now we are waiting for some rain to pass through), but I am sure food will be involved.

One more sunset photo from last night. The buildings by the water are the Westin Resort. It used to be a mixed time share and hotel but converted to only time shares after the storms.

Yesterday we met some more friends who live here for lunch in town at the Lime Inn. Husband had fish tacos I ordered a caesar salad with shrimp, but they brought it out with chicken. I sent it back and they gave me a cup of their fish chowder for the inconvenience. I would not normally want fish chowder down here but I tried it and it was very tasty. The shrimp caesar salad came out soon after Beachy afternoon at Cinnamon Bay Then back in to town for a late (OK late for this island--7:45) dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro. Cocktails Housemade Portuguese sweet bread Arugula salad with over easy egg, bacon and pickled onion. In the back is my husband's appetizer of housemade ricotta with roasted mushrooms and corn Husband had local tuna in lobster broth with a roasted garlic and spinach risotto I got crab and shrimp fettuccine. This was a huge portion and I took most of it home No chance of fitting in dessert, way too full! We did not even look at the menu.

My husband and I have been lucky enough to stay at Caneel Bay many times...I'm not sure how many but more than 15 and less than 20. It really is a special place and you I don't think you can really understand it unless you have stayed there. It's very sad that there's not been any progress on the rebuild. Your stories are funny! The only way that would let you use the beaches if you are not a guest is if you swim in from a mooring ball. There are no dinghy channels on the Caneel beaches which is why Mr. Travolta got in trouble 🙂 We have seen various famous (or infamous) people there over the years as well. On our most recent stay we were seated next to Mitch McConnell and his wife at dinner. Since we keep "dinner party manners" on this site, I will leave it up to your imagination to guess whether I wanted to shake his hand or stab it with my fork 🙂 Yesterday we went over to Miss Lucy's for lunch with a friend who lives on island. They were out of conch fritters which was very sad indeed. I got the grouper reuben Husband had the crunchy fish sandwich And our friend just wanted chicken tenders Here is a photo of the bay the restaurant is on, taken from the balcony of our friend's home We completely punted on dinner last night. I don't think you want to see a picture of pringles and wine 🙂 Here is the sunset instead

Yesterday we went over to Coral Bay to snorkel at one of the lesser known spots. Snorkeling is our main reason for coming to St. John. The beach Highlight of the snorkel, a pair of spotted eagle rays! There are a lot of turtles here too We went to lunch at Aqua Bistro, which overlooks Coral Harbour Drinks Conch fritters with jerked aioli Local hot sauce We split an order of fish tacos since we were going to dinner Back at the house, I took photos of some of the fruit trees on the property. Papaya Banana. There was a bunch of ripe bananas on this tree that we were eating from every morning for breakfast, but the gardener came yesterday while we were at the beach and cut them down for himself. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted! We had dinner at the Terrace in town. Here's the view That big ship in the background is the mini cruise ship Sea Dream. It only holds 112 passengers. There are no cruise docks on St. John but sometimes small ships anchor offshore and tender their passengers in. Cocktails Bread service with carmelized shallot butter A special appetizer of fish chowder made with lobster and mahi mahi Sea scallops with shiitake mushrooms, truffled sweet corn puree and thyme Pan roasted wahoo with butter braised peas and edamame, garlic-herb angel hair, smoked bacon and truffle cream, with an add-on lobster tail Crab stuffed prawns with leek and sweet corn risotto and shellfish emulsion Too full for dessert! In fact we took home leftovers that I will probably reheat for dinner tonight.

Yes, that is right. The sand is white. Here's a picture of the ferry dock. There are no airports on St. John, you fly into St. Thomas and then take the ferry over. The building up on the hill is where we spent our first night on island, where I posted the glass of wine with the sunset from. To the left of that building is what was housing for the National Park workers. Most of the buildings are badly damaged, but we noticed that two were repaired and had people staying in them. This is the Wharfside complex in town. Before the storms this building housed about six restaurants and bars. There were apartments on the upper level and shops on the street side. It's being rebuilt but it's taking a long time because of the complexity of the repairs. Last night we had dinner at the Longboard in town. Cocktails. Tuna and crab tower with quail egg Shrimp sushi wrapped in rice paper. I thought I took a photo of the inside of the roll, but I can't find it. It had tempura shrimp and avocado. Mahi mahi sliders with grilled pineapple Spicy shrimp tostones. This was my favorite thing, I could have eaten them all by myself but husband made me share 🙂

We drove around the entire island yesterday. There is still a lot of damage but a lot of progress has been made too. The island is very dry right now, which makes things look worse than they are. Here are some before and after shots, to give you an idea. Trunk Bay, before the storms Trunk Bay today Maho Bay before the storms Maho Bay today This one is the worst. Caneel Bay before the storms Caneel Bay today 😞 We had lunch at a little dive, Skinny Legs They are famous for their burgers. Here's their basic cheeseburger We skipped dinner last night. Hopefully I will do a better job on food reporting going forward!

Here is a photo of the kitchen in the house the house use also has a well stocked bar. Runs (too bad we don’t drink rum haha) various other choices. All free for the taking. Rum is sometimes cheaper than water down here. Too bad I like wine, which is expensive. And the entire island is out of Sancerre right now! Yesterday I poked my head into what used to be the Beach Bar. They have a ways to go before reopening. They’ll get there eventually. Let’s offset that depressing photo photo with one of last night’s sunset.

So far we are not having issues with bugs. There are lots of ceiling fans which are helping to keep them away, I think. We are wearing insect repellant as a precautionary measure. Last night I took a picture from the kitchen island looking out to the view to give you a better idea Friday night we had dinner in town at Maorgan's Mango. Bread service and my cocktail. I ordered a drink made with gin and lime, but this actually tasted like coconut. I have no idea what they actually gave me haha Snapper seveche with plantain chips Tuna tartare Mahi mahi with a rum mango sauce, rice and beans Coconut crusted grouper with yucca mash Too full for dessert. Yesterday we had lunch at Banana Deck. Crab and shrimp spring rolls Blackened mahi sandwich Blackened shrimp caesar

Cheers

Alison Roman's roasted salmon with brown-butter harissa sauce and dilly salad from the New York Times cooking section. I also made salt-roasted new potatoes with roasted garlic aioli.

The house has a roof but does not generally have solid walls. The front of it is completely open to the elements, and the sides are open but gated. This is a picture I snagged from the management company's website to give you an idea. This is the living room. In front of it there are steps down to a swimming pool and there's a cliff beyond that. The kitchen and dining rooms are to the right of the living room and are also open to the elements just like this room. The bedrooms are behind these other rooms and do have walls and locking doors. I'm not cooking because with the open air setup I am expecting lots of little island visitors based on prior experience. Certainly various bugs and lizards, probably iguanas, definitely birds, and maybe some island cats. Hopefully no rats but you never know! :-)

Crispy cod cake with basil aioli and a celery arugula salad