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St Maarten/St Martin |
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ISLAND
NEWS
Weather and
Beaches: It has been a very warm week with hardly any rain, but
very breezy. There were whitecaps and big waves all over the island.
Unfortunately, Friday, the day of the big Dutch side carnival
parade, dawned to thick clouds and waves of rain. Fortunately, the storm
passed over and we had a lovely time watching the parade from the front porch at
Escargot
Restaurant. Saturday arrived with a few dribbles, much needed at
this point, but we had a mostly sunny afternoon on a very small beach at the
little cove on Cupecoy.
Photo feature: There are some photos of
the week's activities at a secret location not posted here. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the location.
There are some shots taken by Laurie Watson on a dive with Dive
Adventures and a bonus sunset shot from the Gypsy Queen anchored
off Grand Case.
Wines: The regular Thursday
wine tastings at Vinissimo have been cancelled
in low season. Print the coupon from the Vinissimo website and Sylvain
will give you 10% off and a few samples whenever you show
up.
CONTEST
Temptation Restaurant is sponsoring
the current contest, which will run until 16 May. Just click
their name to go to their website, find the link
to sign up for the SXM-Info newsletter, click it, sign up, and you are
entered. Obviously everybody that is getting this email is already signed
up for the newsletter, but you are not automatically signed up for the contest.
You do have to go to their website and click the email link to show you visited
their site. Just tell me you are already on our mailing list, and I'll leave you
signed up for the newsletter and just add your name to the contest list. You
could win a $100 toward a great meal at Temptation.
Here is the list of future sponsors.
We urge you all to sign up ONCE for each contest. Our clients want you to see
what they have to offer. Go to their websites at the appropriate time, click the
link, and you could be a winner. Look for future gift certificates
from:
Vacation Suites - 17 May to 30 June - prize: 1 free week over the summer!
L'Auberge Gourmande - 1 July to 15 August - $100 off a meal for two
Sunset Café - 16 August to 30 September - $100 off a meal for two
Montmartre Restaurant - 1 October to 15 November - $100 off a meal for two
Sealine Charters - 16 November to 15 December
Chez Pat/Tropical Wave - 16 December to 6 January - $100 off a day at the beach: food, drinks, chairs, windsurf lessons, etc
Vacation Suites - 17 May to 30 June - prize: 1 free week over the summer!
L'Auberge Gourmande - 1 July to 15 August - $100 off a meal for two
Sunset Café - 16 August to 30 September - $100 off a meal for two
Montmartre Restaurant - 1 October to 15 November - $100 off a meal for two
Sealine Charters - 16 November to 15 December
Chez Pat/Tropical Wave - 16 December to 6 January - $100 off a day at the beach: food, drinks, chairs, windsurf lessons, etc
Marci's Mega Gym - 7 January to 27
January 2005 - a week of gym usage for two
California Restaurant - 28 January to 17 February 2005
Escargot
Restaurant - 18 February to 4 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
Hot Tomatoes - 5 March to 26 March 2005
The Horny Toad Guesthouse - 27 March to 24 April 2005 - seven low season days for
the price of five
Celine Pub
Crawl - 25 April to 5 June 2005 - two tickets
on the Lagoon Pub Crawl
Another contest:
Hot Tomatoes has a contest
on their website to kick off their combination lagoon cruise/dinner
package. You can now take sunset lagoon cruise on White
Octopus and follow it up with a dinner at
Hot
Tomatoes. They are giving away a two pizza dinner
with a bottle of red, but you have to go to the website, click the comments link, and
send in some comments. Somebody's going to get two pizzas with a
bottle of red just for saying something that tickles our fancy. I talked to Brad
last night and we're looking for 25 entries. As soon as we get 25, we'll post
them, and pick a winner. While you are there, look over Brad's site, check out
the coupon, and take a look at the White
Octopus. We have almost
enough entries, but there is room for a few more.
RESTAURANTS
On 17 April the
euro was at 1.188 and today it's at 1.???. Not much
going on there, but it's still heading in the right direction. French side
restaurants with many costs in dollars and many American (or Canadian) clients
have been offering more favorable exchange rates. Some restaurants offer
a 1 to 1 exchange. This list includes California,
Escapade, Balaou, Santal, Enoch's Place, Au Beaujolais,
Rainbow, Oizeau Rare, Pirate on Orient (not Repaire du Pirate in
Grand Case), Restaurant du Soliel, Pedro's (priced in dollars - no conversion
ever), Saint Germain, Le Cottage (for cash), and Paradise View. Many
restaurants will offer you a better rate than you can get on your credit card,
so you can allow them to convert and charge in dollars. Note that California
only offers 1 to 1 on cash purchases. Some restaurants have lowered their
prices. As always, know what the euro is worth, what the restaurateur
is offering for an exchange, and what the costs are on the menu. Finally, you
are here to have fun and fine food, not complex financial calculations, so don't
worry about it too much.
We had lunch
at Sunset Café on Monday as we
needed to talk to Sebastien at the watersports desk about a website. It was a
very hot day, but a good breeze and a bottle of chilled rosé made it bearable.
Sunset Café is the "house restaurant" at Grand Case Beach Club, so
it is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, giving it a huge menu. We just had
a caesar salad and a smoked fish salad, eating light after several major
celebrations last week. The salads were fine and the view of Anguilla plus the
close-up of Créole Rock makes this a lovely spot for any meal.
Previously, we
had sailed from Simpson Bay to Créole Rock on Random Wind as an all
day sailing and snorkeling expedition. The rock is one of the best snorkeling
spots on (OK, near) the island. While some people could swim out to it, a boat
would make it a lot easier. For those who don't want to invest a whole day in
sailing, Sebastien at Snorkel
Trips will take you out to the Rock for a couple hours of guided
snorkeling.
On Monday night we went
to Bistrot Caraibes yet again. Our
nerighbors in Sapphire unit 254 had taken their boat out
of the lagoon and were anchored off Grand Case. Kathy asked us to go
to dinner with them and said that Bistrot Caraibes had the appetizer she wanted:
goat cheese and smoked duck breast in a puff pastry. We drove over to GC and met
captain Gary at the dock. We dinghied out to the Gypsy Queen for drinks
and snacks before dinner. We then headed back to the dock and walked over for
the aforementioned ap, a caesar salad, sautéed sea scallops and royal
shrimps with crispy vegetables in a garlic sauce, and a bit of the best smoked
salmon on the island. The big flavors in the goat cheese ap demanded a flavorful
wine like the Crozes-Hermitage "Les
Jalets" 1999 Paul Jaboulet Aîné, but even the fish dishes had enough flavor to
stand up to the wine. For the main course, three people choose the special lamb
chops on a bed of creamy garlic mashed potatoes with tomatoes, asparagus, and
butter beans in a reduction sauce. At 20€, it is about the chepest set of lamb
chops you will find on the island. Not only that, but they are
very flavorful and the entire dish is a treat of textures and
tastes. A shrimp and scallop special rounded out the dinners and a hot
chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream and coffee sauce with four spoons and
several Armagnacs finished a wonderful evening. As always, we thank Fish Pot
across the street for providing such a lovely water view to Bistrot Caraibes customers. Fish Pot really
does have one of the most spectacular lobster aquariums (it's not a
tank) on the island. Bistrot Caraibes really has lowered their
prices, so they use a real exchange rate, but all this food with two bottles of
wine came in at a bit under $120 per couple.
On Tuesday night we went to
Sitar in Maho for our regular
Indian meal fix. We had the garlic nan (garlic infused crispy flat bread) and
some somosas (fried pastry dough wrapped around a seasoned vegetable and
potato filling). We then had a shrimp vindaloo and and chicken tikka masala,
both ordered very hot. One of our favorite beers, Stella Artois, is available if
you get things a little too hot. Prices are good, only $50 for more food
than we could eat and several beers. We stopped in at Paris Bistro for an after dinner
cognac and a few songs from Chocolate Sax Watts. It was my father's 80th
birthday, so we got Mr Watts to play Satin Doll for Dad. His hearing is pretty
good, but I doubt that he heard it in Florida. It's the thought that
counts.
On Wednesday we had a light
sushi lunch at Old Captain in downtown Philipsburg before
some serious end-of-season shopping at The Place for sapphire
earrings and Endless
Summer for bathing suits for my favorite beach babe. It is now pretty
conclusive that Everyting Cool will be closing as the building
is remodeled along with the extension of the boardwalk up to Sea Palace this
summer. Andy is looking for another spot, but little is available any
closer to the cruise ship docks
Wednesday night was a
final dinner at Temptation. We walked into the
restaurant for a consult with the chef, who was nervously watching a table of
about 20, waiting for their order. Dino has added several new Pinot Noirs to his
wine list and suggested the La Crema ($45). He also suggested the hot
and cold soup and the prime beef filet. Martha had the duck with white
beans sausage ($27). The soup was an
interesting contrast of hot Cuban black bean soup and chilled gazpacho
coupled in the same bowl ($11). The soup had hot crunchy black beans on one
side and smooth tasty dark red gazpacho on the other, contrasting colors,
temperatures, and textures in a beautiful and tasty presentation. We have had
the duck and sausage before and the tastes are wonderful with a big Pinot. The
beef came with herb roasted smashed potatoes, Argentinean chimi-churri, and
cebollita ($34). The beef is probably the best available on the island and the
preparation doesn't hurt either. The prices aren't cheap, especially as the
service charge is pointedly not included, but we certainly had more than enough
to eat and one of the finest meals of the season for about $140 with the tip and
a $45 bottle of wine. In addition, there is parking with security from the
casino, always nice. All that is missing is a water view, so Dino put water
windows on the restaurant and on the outside pavilon. Add in live piano and a
stunning interior, and it is worth a bit more than most
places.
We had stopped at Bruno's house above
Orient Beach to take photos for a Villa Djaba website. That's
the house next door to his, with great views of the northern reaches of Orient
Bay. This reminded him that he wanted new photos of his staff and some new
photos of various dishes on the menu at Le Cottage. This is the way our winters on the
island always end. Everybody who has been too busy to think about their existing
website and those who are too busy to think about a new website finally have
time. I have done little but type for the last week, which made the beach report
above rather short. Thus, after taking photos for the villa website, we got
reservations at Le Cottage for dinner (and another photo
shoot) on Thursday. They do have new
fixtures this season and the chairs and table are visible in the photo at the
bottom of the home page, so some things should change. however, the food is as
good as it always has been and Chef Chrisophe's stage in France over the
extended summer vacation last season brought him back brimming with new ideas.
There is always a page of specials and we usually order them. This night was no
different. Our ap was snails in puff pastry in a creamy reduction sauce with a
hint of ginger and some spicy tomatoes: tender snails in a crunchy puff pastry
with a lovely sauce. Stephane had started us with a Ch Reynon white Bordeaux
that was a mixture of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, cold, refreshing, with a
hint of citrus, and brought 99 Les Hauts du Tertres (2nd wine of
Château du Tertres) for the ap. It's a Margaux with plenty of cab taste, but
mellowed by five years of age. For our dinners he poured a Ch de la Negly La
Falaise Languedoc-Roussillon from the extreme southern
part of France near the Spanish border. We had a chicken and lobster dish and a
sea bass. The chicken was a farm-raised French bird, much like those we get at
the supermarket here. There were several bits of breast and a leg, but we like
the leg better than the breast. Martha's seabass came with aumoniere (beggar's
purses) pastry filled with crab meat. Our great picture taking expedition came
crashing to a halt as the restaurant filled to capacity on what is usually
a slow night in the off-season and the oven started acting up in the
kitchen! How Christophe managed in the kitchen, we don't know, but
good food came out, and we ended with coffee and Armagnac. We paid cash and got
a 1 to 1 exchange rate.
Friday lunch was at Escargot
Restaurant on Front Street, followed by the big
carnival parade. They had two specials: osso buco and coq au vin. These are poor
cuts of meat, slow-cooked with very tasty sauces, to make them tender and tasty.
While Dino's tenderloin was fantastic, my hat is off to a chef who can make a
really wonderful meal from the lesser cuts, and these were two very tasty
lunches. I was cutting the veal with my fork as it fell from the bone and
the chicken (I doubt very much that any purveyor supplies intact roosters
these days) was similar. Photos from last year's parade already on the Escargot
site and this year's photos will get up there in my next available
minute.
BARGAINS
We will be leaving the island
in about a week. Our one bedroom condo will be available for rent until we
return in mid-December. Last year we replaced the microwave with a new GE
Advantium model and this year we replaced the refrigerator and dishwasher. The
unit was painted. New drapes were put in front and back. All the upholstery was
recovered and a new cover was put on the king size bed. We rent it for
$1000 per week and throw in a $50 voucher on a dinner for two at Hot
Tomatoes and a $50 coupon to Ama Jewelers with any
reservation. As a special offer for newsletter subscribers, we'll take another
$50 off for any reservations made before we leave the island on 10 May. That's a
net of $850 for a sixth floor one bedroom unit. The rest of May is lovely and
our on-island friends tell us that June is calm and quiet. July is largely taken
already and August is when the French arrive for their month's holiday, so the
restaurants are all open. September is probably the hottest and wettest month,
so many restaurateurs close and take their vacations. We have been here in
October and November and loved it. By then the restaurateurs are back and trying
out new ideas. Go over to our website, check out the unit and its
fabulous views, check the calendar for availability, and send us an email if you
are interested (mention that you are newsletter subscribers for this
discount).
Look on the SXM-Restaurants
website for a list of all restaurants that have coupons for some freebie. There
are several coupons there to make your vacation a bit cheaper.
Vinissimo has added a coupon
offering a 10% discount on all purchases.
L'Esperance
Hotel (www.LesperanceHotel.com) in Philipsburg is bargain at $65 per night for a
1BR suite with a kitchen. It's not on the water, but they have a
pool.
Delfina
(www.SXM-Hotels.com/delfina) now charges $95 per night for a double and includes two breakfasts
and evening cocktails. They are in the Cupecoy area, not on the beach, but close
enough to walk and they have a pool. You also get a $50 coupon to Ama Jewelers with any
reservation.
The Banana Cabana
(www.SXM-hotels.com/index.html#bc), a
one bedroom studio on the lagoon in Cupecoy, is only $695 for the week all taxes
and service included.
California
(www.SXM-hotels.com/california has two
apartments for rent that are right on the water in Grand Case. The one
bedroom, sleeps four, is $550 and the two bedroom, sleeps six, maybe more,
is $900 for the week.