-
Recent Post
Archives
Flickr Photos
Foodies
Links
Photography & Travels
Sitemeter
Category Archives: FOOD
Hawker Food… Langkawi
I was out alone walking around Antalya (Turkey) and was feeling peckish… I did not want to sit and have a full meal, just something I can nibble and fill my stomach. But nothing seemed too enticing for my palate, perhaps I was ill or maybe because everything seemed to be familiar, as most food around here are just like we get in Athens.
I did crave for Gözleme but could not find any by the old town and the pushy people around just killed any appetite.
I found a small mosque by the fluted minaret and under a shade sat down and read a book… my mind drifted to Langkawi, to a food stall near the hotel where we stayed.
There were few days I was left alone as Stephen had to work, he was not on holiday after all, just lucky to have a long weekend, so I spent my time walking around Kuah. I did feel so safe with my cameras and the locals were so friendly anyway, even with limited English they still managed to have conversation with me.. hope they did not pity me, as it is not in the Asian culture to travel alone, let alone a woman traveling on her own.
On my first day there, he showed me short cuts from the main streets to the hotel or how to find the marina or even where Starbucks was, just in case I could not deal with the local teas anymore.
One afternoon I found this small restaurant and the Chinese owner started talking to me both in Malay and Chinese and I found myself explaining to them that I could not speak neither.
I only wanted a soup anyway so I settled for koay teow soup… it’s made with chicken broth with flat noodles, chicken, and some fish balls… the spring onions and cilantro were just rejuvenating. After 6 weeks of traveling I was already exhausted… this soup was just what I needed… and for less than 2 euros, it was a real bargain for a such big tasty bowl of soup.
There was nothing fancy about the place. just like most hawker’s places there, but the lady was so lovely , talking with me, making sure I was alright and wanting to know what I was doing in Langkawi.
Surely my appetite opened that I even asked her to make me an omelette with lots of chillies.
On my way back to the hotel, I could not deal with the blistering heat anymore, I decided to take a different way as Stephen told me… and it lead me to something else.
On the road was a shack and I could just smell from the distance something delectable that I crossed the street. There a family selling bun and other food I had never seen before….
First the bun has an unusual filling.. peanuts. Like most buns in Asia I just love them.. but there were more on their stall, the mother was shaping more stuff, the daughter was frying… the old man was giving me different kind of food to taste and they spoke no English…
Luckily the son-in-law came and with very basic English he explained to me what I was stuffing my mouth with. Obviously one was a bao… one I guessed was pisang goreng, deep fried bananas…
Then there was this yellowish one and upon tasting it I guessed immediately sweet potatoes which they call kuih keria.
After tasting most of the stuff I asked how much I owed… they refused to let me pay.
But I wanted to bring some for Stephen.. . so I asked them to bag me assorted of those snacks, enough for me to let them pay. And in exchange for their kindness I gave their little boy what ever chocolates I had in my bag…
Few days later I passed by their stall again and got different kinds one was with chillies and one shrimps and they gave me more than what I had paid.
Scrumptious snacks, cheap, kind people make the trip priceless…
And if I given a chance to visit Antalya, as my choice as my holiday destination, with coffee as expensive as in Paris and with pushy waiters around … I’d rather go back to Asia.
But I did go out again with my crew mates last night to have some Turkish dinner, for shish kabobs and kofte and came back found Stephen online , told him about our dinner and the price… he simply said…
that’s not quite like Langkawi!
Tagged hawker food, Langkawi, pao
5 Comments
Lemon Yoghurt Cake, cooking ala greque … and a quick trip to London.
I was in London last week, after not visiting the family for a long long time.
Then it hit me I do miss England sometimes… yes I lived there for a short while, and I also visit my sister and friends often. When I would say to friends am going home for a while, they would ask, Athens or London. Continue reading
Langkawi’s Wet Market
I took the bike along the beach here in Valencia last Saturday… it was sunny yet the wind is biting. I dismounted from my bike and paused to hear the surf crashing against the sand and feel the wind against my skin..
Warmed by peacoat and scarf I wanted to take off my shoes and dipped my toes in the sand.
Wasn’t it just a month ago I left the sugary sands of Langkawi and just walked barefooted along the shores? Continue reading
Clan VI’s Drop Cake
To be honest I did not know what to expect from this cake. Stephen was in Italy and was constantly raving about this gooey, so soft a cake their Swiss chef made for the crew. He described to me all the ingredients that rather made my crew’s eyes roll…. figs, dates, poppy seeds?
But he said I must try to bake it and he guarantees that it’s heavenly.
Every time we chat, the first thing we talk about is food; what have the chef cooked for them or what I have cooked for my crew.
I did meet their chef, Carolina, when I visited him in Viareggio and we ended up talking about Switzerland, and food of course. So as promised I will experiment and post this story as my “Thank You” for the Clan crew who were so lovely and who welcomed me.
The only thing I changed in this recipe is that I did not use fruit based yoghurt. The stewies shopped soya yoghurt so I opted for Greek style yoghurt (not Fage but rather a French brand Danone.. if ever I see Fage here in Valencia I will surely stock up).
So I checked my baking cupboard, found everything that I needed when the captain asked me what kind of cake I was going to make. I said it’s something where you put everything in,blend and bake.. hoho.
He is probably hoping I will do some tart au citron, his favourite…
One crew read the recipe again… and wondered what happens and why 1/3 of the mixture is added last. I guessed that this makes the cake gooey. The recipe does not say the size of the baking tin but from my own estimate 8″ would be perfect. I was almost tempted to make cookies out of the batter but how was I suppose to stir the rest of the batter?
After the cake had settled, I left it in the oven for while before taking it out.
Ah the excitement… we sliced it before it even turned cold.
Verdict: it tasted very Christmassy – the orange chocolate added to it made that flavour stand out.
Crunchy too from the poppy seeds and chocolate bits.
But we all agreed of its sheer deliciousness.
As per Stephen’s instructions: serve it with caramel sauce.
Oh yes I failed to cut down the crew sugar intake…
Ingredients:
1 pot of Yoghurt (any flavour – but mixed berries or fig is nice)
(Use the Yoghurt pot for the following measures)
2 Sugar (Demerara or Brown)
3 Self Raising Flour, or 3 normal flour and add 3 teaspoons baking powder.
1 Fat (Melted butter or Vegetable oil)
1 Orange – Juice and Peel
A little swig of Molasses if available
1 fig (cut into small pieces)
about 8 Dates, again cut into small pieces
(Can add more or different fruits if you like, but add more flour in that case)
1 pack of 70% dark chocolate
Poppy seeds
About 3 eggs (more or less to make creamy batter)
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and put 3/4 of the mixture in a cake tin and place in the oven at 200 degrees. Bake until brown on the outside.
Remove from oven and give it a good stir around, adding the rest of the mixture at the same time.
Finish baking in the oven at around 180 degrees… not for long… just until set.
For the Love of Chocolate – Chocolate Nougat Mousse
Excitement of receiving a letter or a parcel when you are so far away from friends and family just make my world go round.
For weeks I waited patiently for a parcel to arrive from UK that was posted to my boss’ office in Hamburg which either the guests or the boss himself would bring over to Italy. Oh like Pony Express but that’s the reality of being at sea.
When it indeed arrived it felt like Christmas. Oh joy.
I felt like a little kid who received something but yet still could not believe it happened, running my fingers over the parcel and staring at my name on the address.
Some might just as well say its just chocolates. But for my eyes they are not just chocolates. They are Green & Blacks.
What is so special about them?
Green & Blacks are the first organic chocolate bars that have been marketed since 1991. I first discovered them while I was living in UK and found the dark intense chocolate just velvety and sheer pleasure to eat.
Apart from the irresistibility of these chocolates they are actually low in sugar. The higher the intensity of the chocolate the lower the sugar content.
Other than it’s organic?
He walked in the pouring rain to post them ….so it could make it on time when my boss joins us in Italy.
He really knows how to cheer me up knowing I find comfort in these chocolate bars.
Inspiration came the next day and I opened my cookbook “ Unwrapped – Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes” leafing through the pages I wanted to create something easy but yet irresistible.
I remember I have book marked nougat mousse recipe except at that time I could not find some Toblerone.
Luckily in Olbia , Auchan supermarket stocks up a lot of products known to mankind or rather to a globetrotting cook like me.
Honestly it’s the easiest dessert I have ever done, easy yet so seductive.
” The magical ingredient in chocolate comes from a pod that grows out of the trunk of a tree” Green & Blacks, “Unwrapped”
Chocolate Nougat Mousse
295g Toblerone broken into pieces
reserving one piece for decoration
6 tbsp boiling water
275ml crème fraiche
2 egg whites
Place the chocolate and the boiling water in a heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of a barely simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt slowly.
Remove from the heat, cool until it thickens and then fold in the crème fraiche.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into the mixture.
Chill in the fridge for at least 6 hrs
I used a small dipping bowl and dusted the top with cocoa powder and plated them with chocolate drizzle and a piece of macaroons.
I served this dessert when we were in Corsica
Thank you Stephen for such wonderful present!
By the way Green & Blacks cacao are bought from the Maya Indians in Belize that gives children in the villages a better future, changing lives for the better.
For chocolate lovers check these chocolate related films:
Chocolat with Juliette Binoche
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka
Like Water for Chocolate
Figs, Prunes & Mascarpone Tart…Cooking On The High Seas
I left the USA last May and found myself back in France once again. Although the Mediterranean season starts when the spring air blows, melts the snow and Easter is on its way, I was still in Florida (and then New York) with my last boat. I kept my word to my last Captain and did not leave until we took the boat up north. I was a bit anxious the first few days since most jobs that had been offered in early spring were already taken. But I knew, somehow,there would be a job for me. It was just a matter of time and patience. Lucky for me, one of my former captains and his wife adopted me until I found something. I let another of my former captains, Hubb, know that I was back in Europe, hoping we could catch up.
I met Huub a long way back when I had just started in boating. I was a junior stewardess on that boat. Years later, we were again working together on another boat and I was the chief stewardess. One day, he told me he was going to see another boat in Hamburg and asked if I wanted to come along to work with him if he gets the job. He got the job, but I chose to return with my old boat.
Yes, it would be great catching up.
A few days later, he rang me up to see if I would accept a job on his boat, not as a chief stewardess, but as a chef.
Chef? Cooking for the guests and crew? I told him I was not too sure about this. I have cooked for some previous bosses of mine and for a small crew of 10 or so, but Chef? He explained the owners do not want a culinary trained chef. They only want simple home cooking, clean and healthy.
“What makes you think I am capable of that?”, I asked.
“Because I have tasted your food!”, was the reply.
I had two days to think about it. My last Captain, Axel, told me that I should be a chef. I sat down with Captain Benjamin and discussed the prospect.
Could I see my hobby and passion turning into a job? A few days later, I was checking in at the airport for Valencia, Spain. Who would have thought that years later I would re-join Huub as a chef?
When I arrived, his first word was, “Finally!”
A few days after joining the boat, we left Valencia for Italy with a pit stop at Mahon, Menorca, seemingly endless days on sea while the guests fished. One afternoon, while I was soundly asleep on the foredeck, the boat suddenly rolled. Odd. I dashed to the bridge to know what was happening. One of the guests caught a tuna. The boss asked if I needed help to fillet it. I said don’t worry I can handle it…
That was before I found out it was 11 kilos of tuna! A few hours later, we caught another one…23 kilos! The crew looked at me, horrified, wondering how I was going to clean that one up! But I successfully filleted it and the next day served sashimi!
That huge tuna felt like my initiation to the cooking world. Other than the cooking itself, I also dealt with shopping at different places with my very basic Italian, little sleep, cut fingers, scaldings…I even poured a quiche mixture onto the tin with out the pastry. Despite a few disasters, new recipes to test, and different guests coming my way, I have successfully made a lot of bellies happy. Without my vast network of chef friends, from whom I ask advice and beg for recipes (especially Victoria), I don’t know if I could have survived. Yet here I am, still standing and enjoying every moment of it!
In less than a month we will head back to Spain. I still need to pinch myself, still wonder at the end of every day how beautiful it is to cook. I’ve turned into a baking fairy as well. One treat I made that the guests really enjoyed is a fig, prune & mascarpone tart recipe that I found in a Jamie magazine I picked up at the Nice airport (Jamie now has a monthly magazine). The recipe is from the Pam Tal cookbook, A La Greque, and is a perfect summer tart when figs are in season, scrumptious and easy to make.
330 g plain flour
110 g caster sugar
220 g chilled unsalted butter, diced
4 egg yolks
6 dried figs, sliced
12 pitted prunes
125ml port
3 eggs
80g caster sugar
250 g mascarpone
250 g pouring cream
1. Heat the oven to 180C and grease a 23cm loose based tart tin
2. Combine the flour and sugar in a food processor. Add the butter and whiz until it look like breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and whiz until the pastry just come together to form a ball. Wrap in a cling film and rest in fridge for an hour.
3. Dust the tart tin lightly with flour. Roll the pastry out to 5mm thick then lift it onto the tin and ease into the edges and up the sides, leaving an overhang of about 2cm. Refrigrirate for 20 mins.
4. Remove from the fridge and roll over the edges of the tin with a rolling pin to trim the edges neatly, Prick the pastry with a fork then line with a baking paper and dried beans.
5. Bake for 20 mins then remove the paper and beans and cook for further 10 mins until the pastry is just cooked.
FILLING
1. Combine the figs, prunes and port in a heavy based saucepan and simmer gently until the fruit is soft and all the liquid been absorbed. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
2. Spoon evenly to tart shell
3. In an electric mixer , whisk the eggs until light and fluffy.
4. Whisk in the sugar, followed by mascarpone and then the cream.
5. Pour mixture over the fruit in the tart tin and bake for 45- 50 mins until set and golden.
Thank you to Stephen my ex crew mate on Mitseaah, my fellow foodie for reminding me that the readers might think he has not cooked for a while… and to Karl for proof reading my post.
Also posted in Baking
19 Comments
breakfast at the inn at tilton place
There was something beautiful about the name , “Jensen Beach”.
I first heard about the place from my ex-captain when he attended a wedding there last year and it stuck in my mind since then…. Jensen Beach.
I know it’s just north of West Palm. A couple of friends have moved there with the boat they are working on and they have been telling about the area and that I must visit.
Since we did not know what was going to happen with us aboard the boat, whether we were crossing the Atlantic or not, it was a bit hard to plan. Then we were told our bosses were coming to Ft. Lauderdale and yet nothing was sure.
But I still told my friend to look for a place to stay. When I got an email about the place, I could see the inn is a small place. Only 8 rooms and it’s a B & B and it’s a 107 year old family owned house.
The two and half hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale , was well worth it when I opened the room. Sleigh bed, luxurious blankets and huge memory foam pillows. It was not the typical inns I have seen in the US, but rather something I would expect in the UK, except of course for the ceiling fan, the shutters and the wooden floors which are light and airy. A typical old Floridian house.
I have never slept fitfully for so long and when I woke up I noticed that the wall of room is a beautiful shade of dark blue and the front door leads to the garden.
As I was told there was a complimentary breakfast, oh and oh, a proper kettle. So here is the best part of the stay and I have let my friend write about it…
When you think of the breakfast part of an American “Bed and Breakfast”, what images come to mind? Typical pancake house fare of pork products and eggs, coffee, toast and orange juice? All tasty, mind you, especially if prepared by a cook with a bit of care about them.
What if a different image came to mind?
Orange juice, yes, freshly squeezed just seconds before being placed on the table; organic teas, prepared in the English style, hand packed in “proper” tea bags; raspberry scones, piping hot from the oven, flaky and light with seemingly a thousand layers of buttery pastry and just the right balance of sweet and tart from the natural raspberry puree; and poached nectarines in a superbly light brown sugar syrup, subtly sweet, firm but not crunchy; finally, a blue potato fritatta – yes, wonderfully earthy tasting, deep indigo-blue heirloom potatoes surrounded by delicate and frothy eggs and a touch of cheese, served in a personal cast iron skillet, complete with a linen napkin secured to the handle with butcher’s twine to prevent accidental branding of your palm.
Yes indeed it was of the best breakfast I ever had in the US. And the innkeeper herself, Katie made it for us. Katie said I could always come in for fresh tea, heavens, that exactly I wanted to hear as I love their organic tea very much and while walking around the properly, Bella, the dog followed me everywhere.
Jensen Beach is located in Florida’s Treasure Coast, a name she got, as number of Spanish galleons were wrecked off the coast in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Inn at Tilton Inn
3350 North Indian River Drive
Jensen Beach
FL 34957
USA
info@InnAtTiltonPlace.com
More photos of Jensen Beach and Stuart here…
One of the memorable breakfast was I had was in Norway … read more… click here
Also posted in Travels, USA & Bahamas
6 Comments
MITseaAH’s Apple Pie
It all started asking Stephen suggestions what to bake. Of all crew mates he is pretty much involved with food ideas what to feed to the crew. Perhaps because he loves food and cooking himself and loves to try any food.
One day he simply said APPLE PIE. Oh dear it has been ages I have not baked apple pie and my most trusted recipe is at home. I found some recipes at Martha Stewart Living cookbook and at Bon Appetit, but I also checked what BBC food has to offer.
Hmm the crew does not seem to trust an american recipe so at the end found this recipe for the filling:
700 g bramley
80 – 125 g soft brown sugar
grated rind of orange
1 tsp mix spice
1 tbsp plain sifted flour
25 g butter
Except of course I did not use bramley. I only had macintosh and some granny smiths.
Somehow they turned out fine. I used the mandolin so the apples are thinly sliced.
And to add a bit of more twist I grated nutmeg and lemon rinds too.
For the crust, I used the one from Bon Appetit cook book
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter
4 tbsp iced water
Mix the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and use the food processor by using turn on and off until powdered. Blend ice water to gather the dough then chill.
The best part of this apple pie issue on our boat was whether I should do my custard or as the British suggested I should buy Bird’s custard.
Well the captain suggested I should make my own and do the Bird’s custard to compare. Easy…. they sell the custard at Publix (for non US readers its the supermarket chain in Florida, USA).
But then the whole apple pie idea went further more about the crust. The captain , Axel, suggested that I should try putting cheddar on it. This really horrified the Brits.
Cheddar on the apple pie!!!
Quelle horreur!
As he explained its like eating Thai food, sweet and sour.
The day I made the pie, it was one of our crew mate’s last weekend with us. The boys went to North Miami for biking. I was so excited for them to come back and devour the pie that I even was sending mms photos to Stephen so they could hurry up.
The biggest joy of all, seeing their faces happy. Since then I have been making the pie whenever I have time and always with the Birds custard. I was the only one who dared eating it with cheddar cheese.
This post is for my dearest crew mates aboard SY Mitseaah, who made life less lonelier, to Axel who believed in me that I can feed his crew well…
but mostly to Stephen …. who patiently pushed my shopping cart and who have memorised every aisle in Publix above all, also my constant food inspiration.
The boat is now in Long Island , NY while the my ex crew mates are scattered everywhere. But I know time will come we will meet up and reminisce our past aboard this boat.
I am now writing here in South of France and now craving for a slice of apple pie.
Also posted in Baking
11 Comments
a birthday celebration… lemon pancake cake
For weeks I racked up ideas what cake it should be… …. he does not like frosting so there goes the wicked chocolate cake I had in mind layered with cream frosting.I even dreaded about what if we did an Atlantic crossing then the birthday would be at the open seas, what if it would be bumpy? Should I pre bake and freeze it?
Well we did not leave for a crossing but then it hit me if he loves pancakes , crepes I mean then I would build a tower of pancakes.
How will it hold? I was already looking at options like nutella spread in between and glaze it with ganache.
When he was in England I went to the supermarket alone, which by the way, made the fishmonger noticed. While emptying the cart at the till I was browsing the April Martha Stewart Living magazine … and there it was pancake cake with lemon curd mousse.
I just found the perfect cake!!!
Well when he came back I somehow still asked him what cake would he like… just in case he wished for something else.
At the end I decided on this but I panicked a bit! I never ever made a lemon curd. I was almost tempted to go to Whole Foods and buy a bottled one.
The day before the birthday I was away from Ft Lauderdale but I came back early to prepare things in advance. Monday is hectic day, with the crew meals and other things to do I wonder when I would have time to do other things.
So I prepared the batter and the lemon curd mousse. The recipe calls for Meyer lemon which I could not find at Publix. I was about to call all chefs I know to help me out but I thought maybe just use the regular lemons and add a bit more of sugar to sweeten it.
While preparing everything I needed my phone did not stop ringing. My ex crew mates were having dinner together and wanted me to join them. I could not stop what I was doing and promised them as soon I was done I would join them. That very night the rain would not just stop. Luckily the boys were tired from their trip in Ocala that they did not come to the galley and asked what I was doing.
To be safe in case this cake would fail, I made another cake , a pound cake which I planned to layer with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
Monday , April 19th our mate Stephen turned 21+ years old… while I was busy assembling the cake ( the recipe called for 15 layers) with lemon mousse in between each layer, I could see the mousse was too watery. I added more cream to lessen the lemony taste. The tower of crepes was about to collapse when Dickie , our engineer came to my rescue. He immediately stuck these long cocktail toothpicks to hold the cake. Phew almost a disaster.
I knew I still have enough time before serving it so I decided to put in the freezer to stop the mousse running all over the cake.
It somehow worked.
Afternoon tea break came and I took the cake out. I must have been so excited that I forgot to put the candles on the top.
But it did not matter, he loved it…. and the crew enjoyed it too.
It was all gone by the end of the day and I served the layered pound cake the following day.
Happy Birthday Stephen.
I used Stephen pancake recipe for this instead of Martha Stewart recipe is here
For the lemon curd which I thought is difficult the recipe as follows.
Makes about 3 3/4 cups
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
1 tablespoon cold water
4 large eggs plus 6 large yolks
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest (from 2 lemons), plus 3/4 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 5 to 6 lemons)
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Directions
Sprinkle gelatin over water; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes.
Whisk together eggs and yolks in a heavy small saucepan. Whisk in sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Cook, whisking constantly, over medium-low heat, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove pan from heat; add gelatin, stirring constantly, until gelatin dissolves and mixture is slightly cool. Add butter, a few pieces at a time, stirring after each addition, until smooth.
Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl, pressing with a rubber spatula to remove as much curd as possible; discard any undissolved bits of gelatin and egg.
Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours or overnight. Stir curd, and gently fold in whipped cream.
Refrigerate for 1 hour. Stir before using.
A hike and unexpected bbq treat – St John’s US Virgin Islands
Best food and best meals are not from the Michelin studded stars restaurants. Although I have dined in fine restaurants, maybe it be in Aspen, Zurich, Athens, London, Oslo, most of my memorable meals are from the beaches of Lombok, back streets of the old city of Athens, food stalls in Singapore, small tratorria in Genoa and elsewhere.
But to be honest most of the memorable meals are either shared with friends or some unexpected places…. That brings me back to St John’s , US Virgin Islands.
We were just finishing our trip with the boss when I wrote in my facebook status “St Thomas, Virgin Islands.” Within an hour I received an email from a chef I used to work with saying…. “ Where in St Thomas, am at Haven Grande”
I just went out and there it was on our starboard side. As soon I had I had free time I went and looked for Jeff.
Jeff and I worked together for a short while long way back 2007. We went all over Bahamas with the boat and whenever I had free time, would help Jeff in the galley cleaning up. Jeff was always up by 6am to bake and start breakfast without a break work until dinner done.
I asked Jeff if he could take a day off the next day to hang out with me. After travelling with crew, I just needed to go away from everyone else and since Jeff been based there for a while he would make a perfect companion.
As planned we met at 9am at the dock and took a taxi to Red Hook where we would take a ferry to St John’s.
While on the ferry Jeff and I caught up with our lives, last year we were exactly on the same route except he was 24 hours ahead as they left Monaco heading to Venice and we left France for Amalfi. When Jeff managed to find an off, I was already on a long weekend in Florence, so we never saw each other in the Mediterranean.
Few months later however we managed to meet in Ft Lauderdale and he in few days after, was on his way to Puerto Rico then St. Thomas.
Since Jeff has spent time hiking St John’s he looked for a trail that he has not been yet. With a little help from the they suggested we start our hike at the Annenberg sugar estate ruins then to Leinster Bay (great place for snorkelling) , uphill hike to Johnny Trail that would lead us to Coral Bay which was around 2 miles, but would take us at least 2 hrs to hike. Well a bit longer as we spent time marvelling the sweeping view of the bay .
At the start of the trail we saw a turtle as we walked towards Watermelon Bay. But above the bay where there were ruins which was a old guard house, the marvellous Watermelon Bay was just so engrossing. Further up the trail where we found another ruin of a house, you can see the British Virgin Islands across Sir Francis Drake strait.
Johnny Trail after few mins turned out to be so steep that I felt if I did not lean forward I would roll back to the bottom, while Jeff was already far ahead he stopped and waited for me maybe wondering if I could make it.
Coral Bay was at the end of the hike and we stopped at Skinny Legs for drinks but the food there did not make the chef hungry at all…. After waiting for the bus for ages, island time of course we finally made it back to Cruz Bay. We followed our nose to this little yellow bbq shack along the main road opposite the post office.
Jeff and I had our bbq that tasted one of the best I have ever tasted. I asked J what was the name of the place since there was no sign or whatsoever.
I started asking the old man who was doing the bbq and he thought I was asking for the recipe.. the name of the place is Uncle Joe’s.
The place has few tables and Jeff kept asking me if I was alright eating in a shack. It was certainly one of the best meal I ever had…….
While I was hiking with Jeff, the boys, Dane and Stephen took their bikes out and were also at St John’s. The last three photos of the gallery are courtesy of Stephen (left), his favourite photo of tamarind tree and Dane who has now left our boat and gone back to South Africa.
Also posted in Butcher's, DINING, Travels, USA & Bahamas
4 Comments
Flickr Photos
Sitemeter