Settling In

A couple of days in and we have not really begun a routine as such, at least not beyond taking our sweet time getting out of bed and then making breakfast. I don’t think that will change at all the entire time we are here. We do have a few things planned for upcoming days (Adam’s tattoo, an island tour, a Polynesian feast at Tiki Village), but otherwise we basically play every day by ear. For me, more than anything, I cannot seem to keep my mind off the water especially after having had the experience with the sting rays. Now I am dying to see some black-tip reef sharks! I know they are out there, but so far they have eluded me. Soon….soon.

We have gone to dinner the last two nights, both locations recommended by Laurel, so we knew we would not be steered wrong. The first night was at a restaurant run by the Mother of a friend of hers. It was called Irene Restaurant. Essentially it is a small, open air restaurant, with just a handful of tables. It was more of an experience of going out for a home cooked meal than going out for a restaurant meal. I hope that makes sense, but that is the only way to explain it. Anyway, the food was great! I had some shrimp and Adam had Mahi Mahi in curry sauce. The menus list everything in both French and English, so I took it upon myself to (massacre the language!) order for the both of us in French. I think I managed well……they brought out what I ordered anyway, so I guess I should not question it. Adam actually mentioned to me that he was glad that I spoke at least a tiny bit of French as it made him a little more comfortable. And he even said that he thought it was cute that I ordered for him, too.

The next night we went to The Mayflower, another small open-aired place with a very friendly vibe and a wide range of French cuisine. Let me just say this right now………..Adam and I both declared this was one of the all time BEST meals we had EVER eaten in any restaurant. Seriously. We could not stop talking about it. We started with some Foie Grois and mushrooms in a cream sauce which absolutely melted in your mouth. I had a gigantic duck breast in a balsamic reduction with some scalloped potatoes and Adam once again had Mahi Mahi in a tarragon cream sauce. Of course we shared a nice bottle of red wine and just drooled all the way through the course. There was no way we were going to eat in a French restaurant and not have dessert, so after much deliberation I finally decided on the assortment of sorbet stuffed fresh fruit and Adam had the profiteroles, essentially cream puffs with vanilla ice cream on the most delicious chocolate sauce this side of Willy Wonka’s factory. The sorbet was amazing and I could not stop eating. Truly the desserts were huge and we could easily have ordered one and shared the portion……..forget that! I want my own! And, quite frankly, I would have eaten 5 more had I been able to put it away! There were 6 different sorbets on mine, including papaya, lemon, lime, banana, pineapple, and one other citrus type of fruit that I cannot think of the name. Each was served in the shell of the actual fruit from which it came and all was set on flowers. Like a dumbass I didn’t bring the camera! Ugh! Big mistake, but oh well. Maybe we’ll have to go back.

I have been diving into the fruit, at least somewhat. I really am not partial to bananas, but I eat them after a work out to keep from cramping. The bananas here are off the chart amazing. And let me tell you, that banana sorbet was like nothing I have ever tasted in my life! So fantastic! Plus, I cut into a Papaya that we picked from a tree in the yard a couple of days ago………..I ate the whole thing! Well, I did it in two sittings because I would have been sick had I eaten the whole thing at once, but it was just delectable. Plus we have had some amazing kiwis from the market each morning that just explode with flavor.

The interesting thing is that Adam cannot stay out of the fruit juice. He doesn’t particularly like juice at all, from pretty much any fruit. He does eat a lot of fruit, but won’t go out of his way to drink orange juice or anything. Of course there are a ton of different fruit juices available, and he keeps heading for the mixed kind. We will definitely miss the fresh fruit and assortment of local fruit juice when we leave.

Now it is just about time to head back to said market for some more fruit, juice and beer!