And the "Big Saban Adventure" comes to a close

Yesterday I arrived back home to DC to start a new chapter in my life.

Nearly 18 months ago I sold everything I owned and packed a couple of suitcases, crated the dogs and birds and left DC on a one way ticket to Saba to start a new life. And although Saba is a wonderful place to be and to live I have felt the constant tug pulling me back "home" for quite a while and that urge has finally won out and brought me home again.

I will truly miss Saba and the life I created but know in my heart that I need to be here for family and personal reasons.

So once again I put my entire life into one suitcase and packed up Baxter in his crate for the long journey home again.

I'm not sure whether I will continue writing in THIS blog or start a new one. Perhaps I'll just change the name to something like "MyBigHomelessandUnemployedAdventure" but we'll see.

Check back soon and I'll update as things go along.

For now my plan is to sleep for a day or two and shed a couple of tears and then focus on the future moving forward.

Happy Friday from (no longer Saba) DC.

Bloody Mary: It's a Breakfast Drink!

And as we wrap up our week here at Bistro del Mare we head into our Sunday Jazz Brunch which will feature, of course, Bloody Marys!

In addition to all the classics featured on our Brunch menu we are serving as today's special meal:

Pork Scallopini "Tuscan Style" with a sun dried tomato and lemon sauce and served over fresh Arugula with shaved parmesan cheese.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll enjoy one of those famous Bloody Marys myself at the end of the afternoon.

Busy Days at Bistro del Mare

Paul made his "famous" Stinco d'Angelo al Forno yesterday which is braised lamb shanks in red wine and root vegetables and served on rosemary polenta which sold out last night.

We've been really busy every night this week and are sold out for tonight's dinner and also for tomorrow's Jazz Sunday Brunch.

When I usually get to this time of the week I am focused on getting through the next day and just look forward to Sunday night's off and a day of leisure for Monday.

That won't happen this week since the hotel is full starting Sunday and Monday.

When we started into this venture we were cautiously optimistic that we would have success but had no idea that the place (hotel AND restaurant) would take off so quickly.

I guess it's high time to "staff up" and get some much needed help to run this joint!

Spring is in the Air!

And that means that lots of cool new things are blooming around the property here on Saba.

The Spider Lillies are out in force. This one has a bloom head on it that is nearly the size of a soccer ball.

By the pool the Plumeria has just put out its first petal. These are the same flowers Hawaiians make Leis, lotions and perfumes out of. The scent is overwhelming, sweet and delicious!

In the orchid garden yet another one of Paul's orchids has just bloomed. This one is quite peculiar with it's long tendril like stalks.

And finally, the nasturtium garden has taken off. The first bloom appeared yesterday. Paul wanted to "play green thumb gardener" and can use these edible flowers in some of the salads on the menu.

Happy Friday from Saba.

Fogged In

We've been fogged in here for the last several days and, thankfully, have gotten a good amount of rain which we desparately needed.

Many of the flights to Saba have been either cancelled or rescheduled.

But it's been "thick as pea soup" around here!

We had a little plumbing mishap on Monday when one of the cottage rooms' sink backed up. A plunger didn't work, Liquid Plumber didn't work, acid didn't work so we had to resort to jack hammering the exterior wall to locate the drain line which resulted in knicking one of the water lines which caused a minor flood and now, 2 days later, it's still "in repair".

Ahhh, the joys of running a hotel.........

The Heineken Regatta is here again

This weekend is the Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten which means that most folks are LEAVING Saba rather than coming to Saba.

That means that Saba will be somewhat serene and St. Maarten will be a rip roaring and non stop party through Sunday night!

The Heineken Regatta revolves around 3 days of yacht racing but the primary focus seems to be how much drinking, dancing and carrying on can happen.

Quite frankly, I am quite content to be here rather than there! Happy Friday from quiet and peaceful Saba.

A Little Italian Humor

Not much to report on today from Saba so I thought I'd share a cute little joke that was sent to me.

And NO, we don't serve Spaghetti on our menu at Bistro del Mare!!

For Several years a man was having an affair with an Italian woman. One night she confided in him that she was pregnant. Not wanting to ruin his reputation or embarass his wife he paid the woman a large sum of money to return to Italy to secretly have the child. If she stayed he would pay for child support until the child turned 18 years old.

She agreed but asked how he would know when the child was born.

He told her, to keep it discrete, to simply mail him a postcard and write "Spaghetti" on the back and he would arrange the start of the child support.

One day about 9 months later he came home to his confused wife. She said "Honey, I got this very strange postcard in the mail today". "Just give it to me and I'll explained later" he said.

She complied and handed over the postcard to which the husband, as he read it, turned pale white and fainted on the floor.

On the card was written:

SPAGHETTI, SPAGHETTI, SPAGHETTI, SPAGHETTI, SPAGHETTI

THREE WITH MEATBALLS, TWO WITHOUT

SEND EXTRA SAUCE!

All this Wind is Making for a Bad Hair Day

We are having another day of really strong winds and this is making for a very bad hair day for me today. Every time I walk outside I immediately start looking like Donald above.

Or Camilla- minus the pearls.

They are saying that the heavy winds out of the South may last into the weekend (one word Big Bird) and that may wreak havoc on flights coming to and from Saba.

Only to sit back and watch and see what happens.

We just booked a dinner for the Governor and some Dutch Delegates for their meal here tomorrow night. We'll have to "put on a good show" for them.

Some More Yumminess

A couple of days ago I tried out a new Chocolate Mousse recipe. This one is "an Italian" Chocolate Mousse made with Amaretto Disaronno and served with fresh whipped cream and a chocolate Biscotti cookie.

Here's a picture I took of my creation. So far it's been a good seller and people are enjoying it.

The winds have kicked back in, Montserrat is blowing ash again but things are really cranking here!

Happy Wednesday from Saba.

Loco for Coconuts!

Yesterday was out "official" day off and we ONLY had 3 hotel room check ins and served breakfast to our guests and drinks to them poolside so we "only" worked about 5-6 hours!

We did manage to get a little fun squeezed in which (obviously) included some cool refreshing adult beverages which we made from fresh coconut milk.

A number of coconuts were harvested from the trees, cracked opened, drained and blended into nice little tropical delights.

I'm certainly paying for it today though.

Last night we went out to dinner with our friends Jody and David who were here for a long weekend. We saw them off this morning and it's right back to the grind.

It's a HOT one here today with temps blazing!!