So much for the beach

Today's our day off and we have torrential rains right now. We had talked about going to the beach today to get a little sun and take a dip but that looks like it isn't going to happen. Weather here on Saba is fickle though. It can be cloudy and overcast here at the house and hot & sunny down in Wells Bay at the same time. I hope the sun will come out later and we can do an afternoon trip down to the water.

If not, I'll just have to occupy my time inside and entertain myself.

Whew, that was fun!

Yesterday afternoon we had 2 separate dive groups that checked into the hotel. All of them arrived on the last 2 flights of the day. One group of 17 are from the San Antonio, TX area and other group of 5 are from California. We already had 4 tables reserved for dinner service and both dive groups decided at the last minute to have dinner with us as well.

Nothing like service 30 some odd people within a span of 45 minutes!

The Texas group especially are going to be a hoot this week. They "like them some cocktails"! I need to go in to the restaurant early today to restock all the liquor shelves and beer coolers before brunch today.

Happy Sunday from Saba.

New Decor for Tropics Cafe

Paul found these hand blown art glass plates on the internet and thought they would look great at the restaurant.

They do actually look pretty cool and gives a nice contemporary look to the place.

Several people have asked whether they are Dale Chihuly art glass and naturally I lie and tell them "Why yes they are"! Only the best for Tropics Cafe here on Saba.....

Now I have a question for you; If (and that's a big fat IF) I was in the position to acquire 4 authentic Dale Chihuly art plates, why in the Hell would I place $20,000 - 30,000 worth of them in an open air restaurant where a wind gust could blow them down and some clumsy patron would want to "touch" them and knock it off the wall???

I guess people really are "that naive".

Happy hot and sunny Saturday from Saba.

The Carnival Prototype has arrived!

There is a costume manufacturer in Trinidad that made our Carnival costume samples. The colors are in orange, greeen and blue. I chose the pretty blue costume since it matches my eyes....

The headress has spires across the top with seahorses on them. The collar is supposed to be the ONLY top piece worn. Geez, that means twice daily trips to the gym for abs workout starting now until late July when Carnival hits Saba.

The Seahorse belt will be worn over a pair of blue tight bike style shorts. Lookout Saba, here I come!

Home "early" tonight!

We finished with dinner service early tonight! Thank goodness. We had a handful of reservations, one of which was scheduled for 7pm. Well all of our tables were seated, served and finished by a little after 8pm and our reserved table for 3 reserved at 7pm showed up at 8:20pm for din din.

In my most gracious manner, I said "Gosh, I'm sooo sorry but the chef (I always blame it on Paul) has already closed the kitchen for dinner tonight". "If I had only known you were "running late" (a fucking hour and a half) we would have kept the kitchen open for you".

Thankfully for my fantastic personality and congenial way about me I was able to re-book them for tomorrow night's dinner which is the start of our Summer Starlight Theater Series which is showing Andrea Bocelli's "Live in Tuscany" performance on the big screeen!

I know I'm wonderful but you can all respond and remind me of that just to keep me humble.....

Rainy Days

After 6 or more weeks of nearly no rain here on Saba we are finally getting our due. The last 2 days have enshrouded the island in a fog bank with plenty of rain which is a great thing for the plants and filling the cisterns with much needed water. It's not such a great thing for my mood however. It gives me a full appreciation for people who suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder.

These two shots are taken from our deck and, as you can see, we're in a total cloud bank!

On the restaurant front, we've been really busy. Mother's Day Brunch was a big hit and the start of the week brought a small conference to the hotel. The DCNA (Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance) is here for their annual meetings for several days.

We need to go in early to set up their coffee and breakfast snack service each day. Yesterday they had both lunch and dinner at Tropics Cafe which made for a pretty long day for both Paul and me.

Well, off again. Happy Wednesday from Saba!

Mother's Day Brunch at Tropics Cafe

We had a "nearly" full house at Tropics yesterday for Mother's Day Brunch. In addition to our regular brunch menu we offered a 3 course special menu with Swordfish and Ribeye steaks finished off by a selection of homemade desserts.

It was hotter than Hell yesterday so I was running around serving folks sweating my "you know whats" off. Luckily I didn't sweat into anyone's plate as I was serving them. It would have made the meal just a little too salty.

After finishing up Brunch we had invited a nice couple from New York up to the house for sunset and then went off to a great steak dinner.

Today's our day off but we're gearing up for our new theme based nights starting this week. We are offering Taco Tuesdays, Lobster night for Wednesday, The Starlight Theater Series for Thursday with movies and live concerts on the big screen and many more fun things!

Going into the Low Season we are trying to come up with fun new ideas to bring in the crowds.

Happy Monday from Saba!

Kitchen and Cork

Last night we had our first monthly wine tasting dinner at Tropics to a sold out crowd.

Paul worked very hard on pairing the wines of Argentina to the four course menu.

We all worked our butts off from about 10am and got everything ready for the dinner to start at 6:30pm. It was a huge hit and everyone enjoyed their evening!

We got the restaurant cleaned up and closed down at a little after midnight.

It was a ton of work but at the end of the night I think we made a profit of about $43 dollars so it was all worth it.

Next month's wine dinner celebrates the wines of Spain. Come on down and enjoy!

My name in print!

A couple of months ago Paul and I were interviewed for an article on Saba specifically deatailing how the island was "open arms" about welcoming Gay and Lesbian tourists to the island.

http://www.miamiherald.com/407/story/1023362.html

Well, the article got published in the Miami Herald in the travel section and we were quoted!

Happy Tuesday from Saba.

New "toys" for the bar

A Package arrived earlier this week and when Paul opened it up you could imagine my surprise.

He said "it's the little things in life that make him happy". I found them to be halfway between a ridiculous waste of money and a cute way to mesmorize the bar clients so I didn't have to.

After all I know they come into Tropics Cafe to be regaled by my stories of old and classic, witty and fantastic jokes but now they just sit there with their drink in hand staring at these stupid birds bobbing back and forth into the water glass.

Come to think of it, I now think they are simply fantastic! Now all I have to do is sit there.

Happy bobbing bird Friday from Saba...