PeterLynn
Senior Insider
The first full week of the trip began with a couple of sunny "maid-free" days (Sunday, plus the holiday) and meals in the villa. Although it is early, Flamands seems less crowded than usual with only a handful of beach walkers and a few families enjoying the waves. The villas around us are occupied, but the Cheval Blanc appears to be rather quiet. Interesting.
Tuesday morning, we head into Gustavia and this proves to be the defining moment in the trip. Over the past few years, we've made friends with some of the people who come around the same time. While we enjoy the company, we have been more inclined to spend time as a couple with a different beach each morning, lunch and then afternoons in the villa's pool. Maybe it's a year of being cooped up, but more often than not, we ended up at Le Select catching up, just people-watching or a combination of both. One such session gave us the opportunity to meet Ellen, who immediately set me straight that "The Wife" has a name and will now be referred to as "Lynn", and her husband Rosemond, who, despite all he has been through, looks great. Wished we could have stayed. Maybe next visit.
Hiked the lower trail last year, but this was as close as we got to Columbier this time.
Lot's of construction permits on the island, although not as much building activity (noise) as in previous visits. That doesn't mean things aren't changing. We stopped by the first villa we stayed at back in 2014. On the hill above the pharmacy in St Jean, it holds a place in our hearts and so it was sad to see how damaged it was by Irma. Alas, it is no more.
Wednesday's lunch found us as guests at the table of Phil and Amy at Santa Fé. Wonderful food, views, breezes and delightful company. We had invited them to have a drink at Bar de L'Oublie two years ago, so it was great to spend a bit more time getting to know them better and some of the flavor of the island in years gone by.
Dinner was another of our favorites - Orega. Greg was not present, so the welcome felt a tiny bit incomplete without one (or two) of his memorable "bisous", but fortunately the ever charming Tuti and Clément's cooking more than made up for it. I had a crazy seared fois gras on watermelon for a starter and the always great sea bass, but after three hours of lively conversation, I am struggling to remember what the others had. Also got the chance to meet another fellow forum member, Brett and his wife, who were clearly having a wonderful meal after having missed out on their previous visit.
Thursday's mean moule et frites, which I was denied when we arrived, so reservations were made for dinner at Le Repaire. Very good, but the mussels were larger ones from Canada rather than Brittany, which seemed to throw off the moule and marinière ratio. Really need to try Santa Fé's next visit.
The pre-L'Espirit sunset
Friday night was the culinary highlight as we headed over to Saline and a rendez-vous with Jean-Claude. Such a beautiful setting, welcoming staff (great to see Christophe again) and amazing food. With the menu set at 60 euros the meal was a real bargain. My entrée was the sublime tuna tartare with apple sorbet, while Lynn had the duck spring rolls. We usually like to have separate dishes, so as to try each others, but this time we both had the saint jacques (scallops), which were perfectly seared and melted in our mouths. I had three "boules" (a VERY dark chocolate ice cream, raspberry and Yuzu sorbets) while Lynn had the strawberry and pistachio pastry. Wow!
Saturday found us at Le Select, yet again meeting up with friends and me trying my first Pastis, after which I was ready for a game of Petanque. Dodging showers while running errands led us to St Jean and lunch at Kiki-e-mo. Coincidentally, we had just read an article about the owners in one of the free glossy magazines I overload my suitcase with, when in they walked. Had a nice conversation and found out they were closing that day so they could visit their boys Keefer (Kiki) and (e) Marlon (Mo) back in the states.
Thanks to one of the passing showers, a baby turtle enjoys a drink from the villa's welcome mat.
Our final dinner of the first week was another of our favorites - Maya's. Dora was sorely missed as she was such an amazing hostess, but Randy did his best to make us feel welcome and was able to have an extended chat with us before we ordered. Maya's amazing tomato and mango salad was absent from both the prix fixe menu and the carte, but Randy checked with his wife and she was able to find a single mango, for which Lynn was grateful. I opted for the Gratin Christophene, which was delicious with just a hint of spice. Freed from the menu, I had my usual grilled durade and Lynn her shrimp skewers. The real treat was Maya's pistachio ice cream and having her stop by our table to say hi and describe how she came up with it. Rather than the typical bright green color, hers was made from actual crushed pistachios. Wow. What a way to finish out the week.
Mr Fiona was in fine form (maybe the new Dora?)
Randy told an interesting story about the cat. Apparently it is a stray that hung around Maya's was adopted out to a family in Grand Fond. Four weeks later the cat showed back up. "She" was named Fiona and appeared to be pregnant, thus a trip to the vet. Turns out the cat had been neutered and obviously not pregnant, nor female. Voila, "Mr" Fiona.
Tuesday morning, we head into Gustavia and this proves to be the defining moment in the trip. Over the past few years, we've made friends with some of the people who come around the same time. While we enjoy the company, we have been more inclined to spend time as a couple with a different beach each morning, lunch and then afternoons in the villa's pool. Maybe it's a year of being cooped up, but more often than not, we ended up at Le Select catching up, just people-watching or a combination of both. One such session gave us the opportunity to meet Ellen, who immediately set me straight that "The Wife" has a name and will now be referred to as "Lynn", and her husband Rosemond, who, despite all he has been through, looks great. Wished we could have stayed. Maybe next visit.
Hiked the lower trail last year, but this was as close as we got to Columbier this time.
Lot's of construction permits on the island, although not as much building activity (noise) as in previous visits. That doesn't mean things aren't changing. We stopped by the first villa we stayed at back in 2014. On the hill above the pharmacy in St Jean, it holds a place in our hearts and so it was sad to see how damaged it was by Irma. Alas, it is no more.
Wednesday's lunch found us as guests at the table of Phil and Amy at Santa Fé. Wonderful food, views, breezes and delightful company. We had invited them to have a drink at Bar de L'Oublie two years ago, so it was great to spend a bit more time getting to know them better and some of the flavor of the island in years gone by.
Dinner was another of our favorites - Orega. Greg was not present, so the welcome felt a tiny bit incomplete without one (or two) of his memorable "bisous", but fortunately the ever charming Tuti and Clément's cooking more than made up for it. I had a crazy seared fois gras on watermelon for a starter and the always great sea bass, but after three hours of lively conversation, I am struggling to remember what the others had. Also got the chance to meet another fellow forum member, Brett and his wife, who were clearly having a wonderful meal after having missed out on their previous visit.
Thursday's mean moule et frites, which I was denied when we arrived, so reservations were made for dinner at Le Repaire. Very good, but the mussels were larger ones from Canada rather than Brittany, which seemed to throw off the moule and marinière ratio. Really need to try Santa Fé's next visit.
The pre-L'Espirit sunset
Friday night was the culinary highlight as we headed over to Saline and a rendez-vous with Jean-Claude. Such a beautiful setting, welcoming staff (great to see Christophe again) and amazing food. With the menu set at 60 euros the meal was a real bargain. My entrée was the sublime tuna tartare with apple sorbet, while Lynn had the duck spring rolls. We usually like to have separate dishes, so as to try each others, but this time we both had the saint jacques (scallops), which were perfectly seared and melted in our mouths. I had three "boules" (a VERY dark chocolate ice cream, raspberry and Yuzu sorbets) while Lynn had the strawberry and pistachio pastry. Wow!
Saturday found us at Le Select, yet again meeting up with friends and me trying my first Pastis, after which I was ready for a game of Petanque. Dodging showers while running errands led us to St Jean and lunch at Kiki-e-mo. Coincidentally, we had just read an article about the owners in one of the free glossy magazines I overload my suitcase with, when in they walked. Had a nice conversation and found out they were closing that day so they could visit their boys Keefer (Kiki) and (e) Marlon (Mo) back in the states.
Thanks to one of the passing showers, a baby turtle enjoys a drink from the villa's welcome mat.
Our final dinner of the first week was another of our favorites - Maya's. Dora was sorely missed as she was such an amazing hostess, but Randy did his best to make us feel welcome and was able to have an extended chat with us before we ordered. Maya's amazing tomato and mango salad was absent from both the prix fixe menu and the carte, but Randy checked with his wife and she was able to find a single mango, for which Lynn was grateful. I opted for the Gratin Christophene, which was delicious with just a hint of spice. Freed from the menu, I had my usual grilled durade and Lynn her shrimp skewers. The real treat was Maya's pistachio ice cream and having her stop by our table to say hi and describe how she came up with it. Rather than the typical bright green color, hers was made from actual crushed pistachios. Wow. What a way to finish out the week.
Mr Fiona was in fine form (maybe the new Dora?)
Randy told an interesting story about the cat. Apparently it is a stray that hung around Maya's was adopted out to a family in Grand Fond. Four weeks later the cat showed back up. "She" was named Fiona and appeared to be pregnant, thus a trip to the vet. Turns out the cat had been neutered and obviously not pregnant, nor female. Voila, "Mr" Fiona.
