St Maarten/St Martin
12 March 2005 Newsletter

 

 

Construction: We have posted a feature on construction on the island and have added a bit more lately. There's lots of photos and lots of info on who is building what, where. If you're interested, have a look.

 

Dutch Carnival: The carnival village opens on 14 April and the grand final parade is on 2 May this year. That said March last week. Things are slow down here, but rarely does time flow backwards.

 

 

The Escargot Restaurant contest was won by Anne Kinney. Congrats. Hot Tomatoes is sponsoring the contest that runs from 5 March to 26 March 2005, giving $100 toward a dinner for two. Just click their name to go to their website, find the contest code and the link to our new signup form, fill it out, click send, 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 really 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.

 

 

We went to the Thursday wine tasting at Vinissimo and promptly lost the list of wonderful wines in a computer crash. Trust me, nice pate, tasty cheese, wonderful bread, and lots of good wine - some under $10, some not. Even if you don't trust me, go anyway. I'll offer a double your money back guarantee. Let's see, the newsletter is free, the wine tasting is free, so that's zero plus zero times zero. Sounds as good as Social Security to me, at least you get wine, cheese, pate, and bread. Stop in from 5 to 7 on Thursday to see for yourself.

 

 

 

 

TTOL party: The Wharf Restaurant will be having a TTOL party from 6 to 8 on 28 March. Bernard will be supplying appetizers, happy hour prices will be in effect, and .

 

 

Dining:  We had a wonderful dinner at Sol e Luna in Mont Vernon on Monday. We took new photos for the website and it is possible to see why they regularly receive the most romantic restaurant award from the readers of The Daily Herald. They have just finished the rooms and suites that they were building on the hillside above the restaurant. (Sol e Luna Apartments). They are as lovely as the restaurant, have even better views over Green Cay to St Barts, and are quite reasonable, especially with the 10% discount in the restaurant. Our dinner was even better than usual. Our lovely burgundy was very good with the yellowfin tuna carpaccio with red onions, chives, red curry, wakame, and soy sauce (12 euros) - tender luscious tuna with the crunch of wakame and crunch and snap of onion plus all the taste elements. Martha had the Jumbo Shrimp flambéed with old rum with black risotto and spinach in a basil and saffron sauce (28 euros). The shrimp were very flavorful. I had the tenderest beef tenderloin, cooked to your specification, drenched in a cream sauce with morels and mashed potatoes. (30 euros). We ended with coffees and a very spicy ginger rum and a very smooth coffee rum. It was a lovely evening in the soft night air on the porch.

 

Tuesday night we went to Moulin Fou in Maho. We choose Tuesday because Cheri's (motto: Louder is better) is closed that night and the terrace at Moulin Fou overlooks the stage at Cherie's. The week has been lovely, so the warm night air was perfect on the terrace. We started with drinks and perused the menu and wine list. there were three specials, an ap, a main course, and a dessert plus about a half dozen other aps, a half dozen meat courses, a half dozen fish courses, and a half dozen desserts. The usual suspects were all represented and the menu seemed quite interesting and with most main courses in the $20 to $25 range, fairly cheap. choosing a Mercurey ($32) to go with a mille-fueille of tomato, mozzarella, and eggplant, a Caesar salad and a goat cheese salad. All good with a nice batch of arugula next to my mille-fueille. No, we have not started to eat more, we had friends with us for dinner. The gentleman raved about the tuna coated with white and black sesame, and ordered it, causing Martha to do the same. His wife choose a beef filet mignon and I had a special pork tenderloin with goat cheese in a phyllo dough crust. the tuna was very good, and again, the luscious tender tuna combined well with a crunchy texture with a bit of taste. Much like Christian's tuna carpaccio from the night before, a combination of tastes and textures makes for an interesting dish. The pork tenderloin provided more of the same with its goat cheese for flavor and phyllo crust for texture. The beef tenderloin came with mushrooms to provide another point of interest, again like Christian's, but they were rejected by the diner - food allergies. In any event, the beef was overcooked. the bill arrived with s/ch at the bottom and it equaled 15% of the total. I hadn't noticed this mentioned on the menu (possibly an oversight) and it certainly wasn't pointed out when the bill arrived. We tossed in credit cards and the slips duly arrived with $120 total on each and a very empty spot for us to add an even bigger tip. When one adds 15% to all prices on the menu, they don't look quite as good.

 

Thursday night found us at our favorite table at Auberge Gourmande, in the corner of the porch next to the fountain. We had a bottle Aloxe Corton, a lighter burgundy to go with a starter of fish cassolet that included swordfish, lotte, shrimps, and scallops (two of each) in a saffron sauce. Martha also required a light burgundy with her sole which was expertly deboned at the table and proved to be sweet as could be. I had the beef tenderloin with a porcini and risotto with girolles - again lots of tastes and textures make an interesting dish. Coffees and armagnacs finished another lovely evening.