Gearing up for New Year's Poolside!

Paul and I worked our asses off today trying to get prepped for the New Year's Eve dinner at Tropic's. We are booked for reservations for the evening. I just finished a Tuxedo Cheesecake which has a chocolate espresso brownie crust with a chocolate marble cheesecake topped with a marscepone mousse and finished off with a dark chocolate ganache. Yummy! Our plan is to get everyone fed by the time the "all white party" starts at 11pm by the pool.

We are expecting about 60 people for the New Year's party that starts as soon as dinner is served. All the guests have been asked to wear all white and we have a dozen or more cases of champagne ready for the big midnight toast.

Our goal is to get wrapped up with dinner, run home, shower and change and get back in time for the big "Part-A". I told Paul that we'll probably get home, shower and change into our chic and hip all white outfits, sit down for a minute and fall fast asleep. That not really a joke because it will probably happen.

Happy New Year from Saba!

Boxing Day on Saba

It seems as if Boxing Day is "the bigger" day to celebrate here on Saba. December 26th started off the champagne at breakfast by the pool followed by going house to house visiting relatives, friends, or for that matter, anyone who's door happened to be open.

The grand finale of the day was going to the Eugenius Johnson Centre to dance, celebrate and listen to The Occassionals play.

I asked how they came up with their name and the response I got was that they only play occassionally. Hmmn, so I thought it would be funny to start refering to them as The Every Once in a Whiles and then I got "even more clever" I came up with The Every Now and Thens.

One of the members of the band is Jonathan who happens to be the Governor of Saba. He plays this thing that looks like a cheese grater with a fork that scrapes along the edge. We laughed at the thought that if his gig as Governor didn't work out, he could always get a job at the pizza parlor putting cheese on the toppings. Funny at the time, yes.

I have to say that I was amazed by my wit but now, this morning, I think I'm more embarrassed by my obnoxious-ness. It may have been moderately humorous the first or second time, but 14 times?? Chris, put down the cocktail and close your mouth.....

All in all, I had an awesome day and was a happy camper.

It's NOT a Poinsettia but....

.....it's my Prickly Pear in bloom!

You may remember this piece of Cactus (or is it Cacti?, oh well, Who really cares) that I got after the Hurricane blew through Saba. When we moved up to the house on Booby Hill Paul planted it in this outcropping of rocks at the edge of the cliff. Well it has taken root and already started blooming! I'm calling it my Island Poinsettia....


Paul and I are enjoying our Christmas morning on the deck with coffee in hand and Christmas songs on the I-Pod. It is warm and sunny here today with highs in the low 80's.


Later we'll go down to the restaurant to begin preparing the "feast" for tonight's dinner for 22 people.


Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from Saba!

Christmas Eve Dinner Menu

Paul put the finishing touches of our Christmas Eve prix fixe dinner menu and I got them posted around the island to boost some reservations for the night.

We are offering a four course meal with the following choices:

APPETIZER SELECTION:
Tuna Tartare with a soy-ginger dipping sauce and potato crisp
Lobster & Corn Chowder
Pork and Pistachio Pate with cranberry relish and Dijon Aioli

SALAD:
Mixed Field greens with spiced candied walnuts, dried cranberries and a bleu cheese & champagne vinaigrette

ENTREE:
Herb Roasted chicken breast with natural Jus with a sage & sausage stuffing & candied carrots
Seared Tenderloin of Beef with a rosemary-port wine sauce with Potato pave & broccoli-cauliflower florets
Grilled wild Salmon with mustard vinaigrette and mashed sweet potatoes and Country style green beans

DESSERT:
Cranberry Cheesecake
"Milk and Cookies" which is Homemade Spiced Rum Eggnog and Oatmeal Raisin cookies
Flourless Chocolate-Esspresso Torte with a warm cherry compote

You'd think that I would be as big as a house by now with all this food around but I find that when you're preparing it in the kitchen all day you kind of lose your appetite.

I weighed myself this morning and am down 26 lbs. Only one more pound to go and I will be under the #200lb. mark for the first time in nearly 7 years!!

Pretty soon I may actually be presentable on the beach.....

A Beautiful Morning Sunrise Over Booby Hill

Paul and I had a great day at the restaurant with a nice lunch & dinner crowd.

We had a group of 8 people here from the Czech Republic on holiday for 3 weeks. Wow, those folks really know how to drink! It definitely puts me into the Junior Varsity league in that category.

Another table came in and they were from the Maltese Falcon, the mega yacht I talked about earlier. The owner of the yacht told me that my homemade pate was fantastic! What a nice compliment from someone who's obviously travelled the world in his $300 Million dollar "toy".

Dinner service was a success with people saying how nice their meals were. Comments like that really make Paul and me feel like we're doing something worthy even if it's as hard work as it is. I never realized that my 4 decade old body would feel the aches and pains like I am. Ugh!

Had an awesome night's sleep and woke early this morning to enjoy this spectacular sunrise over Booby Hill. The visibility is so clear that you can see all 3 islands, St. Eustatius, Nevis and St. Kitts in the background.

Stinky cheese

Paul found a supplier in New York that offers some of the finest selection of French and Italian cheeses that can be shipped down here so he ordered a bunch for Christmas and New Year's at the restaurant. We were planning on doing some really nice cheese platters with wine pairings, etc.

Well, this morning I ran into the lady who runs the mail supply place and inquired about the order to make sure that when it gets here to call us right away so we could pick it up.

The response I got was "Oh, Was that YOUR cheese?" "It came in last week and it smelled bad so the ferry captain refused the shipment and it got thrown away" Ummnn, did you even bother to pick up the freakin' phone to call us and let us know?

Now I can just imagine $700 dollars worth of the finest European cheese rotting now in a G.D. garbage dumpster in St. Maarten. Do I have to do everything myself to get anything done with ANY level of accuracy?

And for that matter, It's SUPPOSED to "stink" you bunch of Ding-a-Lings....

The MegaYachts are coming, The MegaYachts are coming!

Over the last 24 hours we have gotten a chance to see several "big boats" arriving to Saba.

This one is the Caribbean Explorer which is actually a large live aboard dive yacht which caters to divers that cruise the islands and go scuba diving.

This one is a small sized Dutch cruise ship that comes to Saba once in a while for day trippers.

And the creme de la creme is this mega yacht sailing vessel called the Maltese Falcon. It is the largest privately owned sailing mega yacht weighing in a almost 300 feet long complete with its own submarine!

The Maltese Falcon is available for charter in high season for a mere 350,000 Euros per week for up to 16 guests, NOT INCLUDING FOOD AND DRINK. Good Golly Molly!!!!

Check out the info on it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_%28yacht%29

It anchored just below us yesterday and we watched it from the balcony. I kept waiting for some sort of smoke signal inviting down for the evening but, alas, it never happened.

A Little Intestinal Distress

Yesterday we celebrated Paul's 47th birthday by going to a great restaurant for lunch and celebrated with champagne and a delicious lunch followed by a nice afternoon nap and then a Christmas dinner to celebrate the holidays with the hotel and restaurant staff last night.

I have no idea what I ate or, more accurately drank but the day's festivities gave me a severe case of the "Di Di's". Most likely it was because my liquid intake outweighed my solids intake. Now I'm gonna have to delay my debut of the new Santa swim suit I was going to wear this week.


Nothing like a little leakage combined with a revealing piece of swimwear, right?

My New Mantra

Our friend Jody sent me this quote which I've now adopted as mine.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather one should aim to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, glass of Scotch in the other, your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO! Man, what a ride!"

Seriously, I think this is the way that we should all live our lives and not get all screwed up about things like traffic, work, politics, family tensions, etc.

A New Image for Tropic's

All of our light fixtures have arrived for the restaurant and they look pretty darn cool. It gives the Dining Room and really nice and serene atmosphere.

We also added curtains along the "rail" overlooking the pool which adds a little island, breezy and casual look.

The most important improvement though is our new shelf which holds our own blend of fresh pineapple and vodka. We are trying to come up with a name for the drink. So far, we have Paul's Pineapple Paradise or Chris' Fruity Tutti. The 2 words I've never like being put together is Chris and Fruity. Perhaps that reverts me back to old school yard teasing. I think we should just call it the Absolut Pollute.

Enjoying another sunny and warm Saban day today. Happy Holidays!

Opening Day was a HUGE success!

Our opening day at Tropic's Cafe was awesome! We're both freakin' exhausted but feel great about how things went. We started the day early, around 8am and with the exception of a short break to run home and get the doggies out and fed we ended our "work day" at about 11pm last night.

We were busy for both lunch and dinner and had a good Happy Hour crowd poolside. Paul did a fantastic job in the kitchen getting all the meals out, looking and tasting great. And I might say that my waiting and bartender skills dazzled the crowds. :)

Today is SABA DAY, the official national holiday on the island. Everything is closed, banks, schools and businesses but Tropic's is open for business so I hope that we'll be busy again today.

Off to work!

I'm Now Legal

Yesterday I picked up the last piece of paperwork for my resident status.

When I got my resident alien card a couple of weeks ago I found it unusual that it is larger than a typical sized credit card or ID card that we get "back home" and wondered how I would carry it around. For that matter I also wondered why I'm now called an alien but that's beside the point here folks....


But when I picked up my official Saban driver's license I saw that it is 11" X 5"! Now I am going to have to turn in my wallet for a snazzy new Man Purse to hold it. Or would it be called a Murse????

Tropics Cafe, The Official Take Over!

December 1st marks the official take over of our lease for Tropics Cafe.

We started the day by placing our food order through Merchant's Market in St. Maarten for delivery on Wednesday, pulling recipes for Country Pate and Duck Mousse (my job to make) and getting reorganized in the Kitchen.

I just love my new "uniform". Imagine shorts, tennis shoes and our logo polos to wear!

I'm sure that Paul is pissed off at me for being on the computer right now while he is on his hands and knees scrubbing away over at the restaurant. I've always felt, though, that I'm more suited for managerial tasks like writing in my blog and surfing the web for racy pictures to fill my imagination. Hmmn.

Moving Day!

Yesterday we made to move up to Booby Hill and into our new little house overlooking the sea.

Since we had all the boxes sent up there directly before we moved the actual move itself was fairly painless, unlike the departure from our house on Cedarwood Lane in Falls Church.

Our friend Travis helped us with the pickup truck and we made it in only 2 loads which was great. I am so happy to be out of the Hobbit House you don't even know.

Paul is already busy planting things and decorating the house and yard.

Here he is planting a stock of Halyconia, orchids and cacti. We also hung our wind chimes. They are the Manchester Bells and Corinthian Bells but the winds are a little stronger up on Booby Hill so I'm sure that we'll have half the hilltop in an insane asylum within the week with the ringing and clanging at all hours of the day!

The owners of the house did some major clearing of the hillside below the deck which makes the view even more spectacluar if that is even possible. Here is our revised view from the edge of the deck. Wow!

One of the best things about the new house is that I now have my very own clothes dryer.... No seriously, the house does have a washer and dryer unlike the Hobbit House. No more lugging clothes down to the laundry. Whoo Hoo!

I just thought the idea of line drying towels and bed linens was kind of cool. I'm sure that novelty will wear off soon. Oops, it already did.

We officialy take over the Tropics restaurant as of tomorrow. We plan on closing Monday through Wednesday to do inventory, clean and organize and get the menu all ready for "opening day" on Thursday.

We are holding Sunday Brunch this morning with the luncheon special of fresh Seafood Newburg, Eggs Oscar, homemade breads and muffins and lots more.

Yesterday one of the locals asked me to make a birthday cake for their daughter who is visiting. I made a Vanilla Genoise layer cake with a mixed berry puree as the filing and a Vanilla cream cheese frosting. We decorated it this morning with freshly cut Bouganvilla and Hibiscus flowers. Simply elegant! Martha Stewart; eat your heart out, Bitch!

Thanksgiving, Saban Style

Happy Thanksgiving to all from Saba!

Tropics decided to offer a traditional "American" style Thanksgiving dinner for locals and island tourists today. The hotel is full with US folks here on vacation so we're offering a taste of home for them.

While we don't actually take over until next week, Paul and I decided to offer a helping hand in the kitchen this week. Yesterday I made Bourbon Chocolate Chip Pecan Pies, Pumpkin Pies and double fudgy chocolate brownies. Paul is busy in the kitchen now making corn bread stuffing and other yummies.

Another project for the day is to plant our "new crop" of banana tress in the yard of the new house which we move into on Saturday. Yeah!!

Paul is very excited about our new place, as am I because it has a great yard for the dogs and we can start a little garden. He has already started heirloom tomatoes in egg crates and has a good supply of herbs and garden veggies on the way. We'll be the regular Farmer Joe's or is it the Farmer Homos??

Wishing you all the Blessings of Thanksgiving today in this crazy and screwed up world we live in.

Auction House Woes

I WAS (VERY past tense NOW) happy this morning when I woke only to have that ruined by an email sent from the auction house giving me a status update on what items have sold so far. I must admit that news coverage of the economical market meltdown does reach our little island of Saba but come on for goodness sake!

Example#1: Oil on canvas painting by LISTED ARTIST; paid almost $3,000 by Chris in 1998 sold for $125. Fucking give me a break.

Example #2: Federal cherry tilt top bird cage side table; insurance value over over $1,750 sold for a whopping $175. FUCKING, FUCKING GIVE ME A BREAK!

Example #3 through #183: Oh, I can't even go there.............

So, for all my dear DC friends who like art, fine antiques and home furnishings (I have to use initials not to publish anyone) "B.N.", "D.F.J." and "M.S." if you want some really great paintings or bronzes for bargain basement prices, go to Weschler's on Dec. 6th for their end of the year art & antique sale. This is the day that my "really good stuff will be GIVEN AWAY".

I'd much rather someone I know and love have it than some other schmuck!

Happy "Suckerday" (that's me) from Saba.

Scuba, Sun, Fun, Food and more

This morning we went down to the docks for another day of diving. Once we got there I was relieved to see 2 things! First was the tanker anchored off shore that was here to fill the tanks so we have fuel. Second was the supply boat filled with cargo so we have "fuel".
I didn't see any supply of fresh fruits or vegetables, meats or poultry but got down one knee and thanked the Lord when I saw that the pallets of Carib arrived safely.
I did redeem myself today in Scuba Diving. We went out this morning for another day of diving and I did much better than yesterday which means I didn't drown! Our 2 dive sites were "David's Drop Off" first which is on the Windwarside of the island and has very deep lava flows from the ancient Volcanic activity. It drops to about 110 feet and has an abundance of coral, sponge and fish life all over the place.

On the ride to our second stop we got to view the location of our "new house" from the water. It is on top of the ridge in the middle of the pic and of course a token vanity shot of my other half.
Our second dive was around towards Wells Bay and is called Torrens Point. In Dutch Torrens means Tower and underwater the "towers" follow the line of the cliffs underwater but much more shallow. Here we saw more of the damage done by Omar with coral and habitat destruction. One good note is that we saw "Nemo" the Green Turtle with only one front flipper. It was great to see him and happy that he survived the Hurricane safely.

We are heading over to the restaurant shortly to start cooking off fresh pork roast freshly butchered from a local pig. Thank God I didn't have to see the execution, though.

All is well, happy and sound from Saba today....

Scuba Drowning, Not Really

Paul and I went Scuba diving only for the second time since we've been here. Only 2 times in over 6 weeks is pretty pitiful but we ventured out to enjoy some beautiful sunshine and warm breezes on the boat and get in 2 good dives today.

As we were leaving the pier I spied "Dr. Death" on the next boat. No really, he looked like something that movie producers depict as the image from the other side. He kept staring at me which should have been an omen......

Our first dive was a deep pinnacle dive and all was fine with that. We dove to about 108 feet and had great visibility and saw some pretty nice "waterlife". After resting during our down time in between dives, we went over to Tent Reef which is a nice shallow dive; no deeper than about 60 feet or so. Once we got to the bottom the currents really picked up and I decided to cut the dive short and make my way to the surface. Swimming against the current I felt like I wasn't making ANY headway and then got a horrible charlie horse cramp in my right calf. I went ahead and surfaced only to see the dive boat was more than 100 yards away and I had to swim the rest of the way, cramp and all against the heavy current. End result, a sore leg and the decision to exercise more so this old and tired self of mine can deal with these kinds of hardships.

Relived that I had beaten The Reaper this time around we had to stop at Pop's Place once we docked for a cold refreshing beverage to celebrate my living!

Beachcombing for Treasures!

Paul and I decided to take a break from "all this hard work" and go beachcombing along Wells Bay. Although Hurricane Omar wasn't quite so bad for the island, it did do some damage under water and broke away a bunch or coral and sponges.

We walked along the bay looking for things and found a whole bunch a sponges, fan coral, brain coral. I am thinking that I can use them for an island shabby chic look in the new house or maybe package them in some cute little bags and sell them to some trendy store in Manhattan. Hmmn. Or I could just put them to good use in the shower as a loofah.

After working up a good sweat, we spent the rest of the day getting tanned, swimming and floating around in our el cheapo floatie which barely has enough air in it to keep my fat ass on the surface. And enjoying some ice cold beer and sangria.

Our Full Moon Picnic

Well, the clouds didn't clear as much as I'd hoped but we still ventured out at dusk to see the Full Moon rising over the mountain peak.

We packed a picnic of treats including fois gras from St. Maarten, french cheeses with baguettes, prosciuto wrapped cornichons and smoked fish pate and, of course, some refreshing adult beverages. (Thanks, W&J!!)

Paul brought his "fancy" camera and tripod down to the Dancing Trail Overlook where we set up camp but was having trouble with it so we didn't get any professional quality images of the full moon.

This was the best I could do with my little Casio "point and shoot".

Here's to Howlin' at the Moon for you from Dancing Trail Overlook, Saba.

Leaving the Hobbitt house

We're down to our final 2 weeks in "the Hobbitt House" and Iam VERY glad! When we first moved in I hated it but accepted the fact that I would have to make do with it. 6 weeks later and nearly 50 bruises to my head I can't wait to get out of there. Door frame Height = 5'9" / Chris' Height = 6'1". Definitely NOT a good match.

Today is a pretty quiet day here and cloudy. I hope the overcast conditions clear because it's a Full Moon tonight and I wanted watch the moon rise from the peak at Booby Hill.

Here's a big HI from Baxter, the island dog!

Happy Thursday from Saba..........