Cape Coy

Saint Maartin has the most beautiful beaches.    The water is the perfect Aqua!
Click HERE for more Watery Wednesday Posts.  Next week I'll have Oregon Coast pictures from my vacation!



EnJOY!

The Big Cheese

My Handyman likes to enter sweepstakes on line. He's a pro at it! We get several packages a week of prizes. Mostly T shirts and coupons for free products but he has also won some very nice prizes. A couple of years ago he won a trip to Saint Martin. It had all kinds of extras with it.. (click on the labels below to read about the trip) . He's won professional cookware, golf clubs, fishing poles, gift cards etc..... Its a great way for him to de-stress for a few minutes each day and he gets rewarded for it.



A few years ago he entered a Grilled Cheese recipe contest. He Entered his recipe "Grandma Sarica's Italian Grilled Cheese. " Its kind of a funny story. He was reminiscing about his Grandma and the fabulous Italian food she cooked for him when he was a kid. He pretty much made up the recipe as he typed it on the entry form.. A few weeks later he got a call that he had won one of the top spots. He was speechless. We got calls from local news and TV stations wanting an interview. It doesn't take much to get this town hopping! I couldn't stop laughing! He had never even cooked the sandwich.. let alone give an interview and tell the sappy story about it.. He grilled it for us that weekend and it was really good! You've gotta give it a try.. He gave in and had an interview with the local paper.

Grandma Sarica's Italian Grilled Cheese
8 Slices of Italian Bread
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive tapenade
2 Tablespoons oil packed sun dried tomatoes,
drained and finely chopped.
6 ounces Gorgonzola cheese, coarsely crumbled.
4 pepperoncini, thinly sliced
1/4 Cup olive oil

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place 4 slices buttered side down on your work surface. Spread the tapenade on the bread and sprinkle with sundreid tomatoes and peperoncini. Distribute the cheese. Top with remaining 4 slices of bread. Buttered side up.
Place the olive oil in a large Teflon coated non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, about 2 minutes, place the sandwiches in the skillet (in batches if necessary) Cover, and cook for 2 minutes, or until the under side of the bread is golden . Remove the cover, turn the sandwiches, and cook another 1-2 minutes. Cut in half and serve. Makes 4 sandwiches.



EnJOY!

Sint Maarten Four

Read part one here
Read part two here
Read part three here

When you drive around the Island, Everything is painted in bright primary colors. The houses, the open air markets, even the artwork. There are free range chickens and goats running everywhere. I think that is the food of choice. Chicken, Goat or Seafood. Beef is imported and costs over $25 a pound for steak!


We had so much fun the previous night we decided to hang out at The Hideaway again..



We met a few more of the patrons and a nice couple from Scotland. We were chatting for awhile and I was telling them my Moms family is from Scotland. I ask if they had ever heard of the Kinghorn’s. “You’ve Got to be Kidding!!! We live in Kinghorn” the guy said. It’s a little village along the coast of Scotland. He was telling us how beautiful it is there. I told him my Mom’s last name was Kinghorn. “ You’re Mother?? OH MY GOD!! You’re Royalty!! Everyone in Scotland knows the Kinghorn Family is Royalty! Descendants of Queen Mary !!” People in the restaurant were turning and looking. I had heard this rumor before.. but I really didn’t want to hear it now. I didn’t want the attention. Wilt said “OH NO! Don’t tell her that! She already thinks she’s the Queen!” LOL! We had a nice visit and the rum punch began pouring again!

Here is an interactive map of Saint Martin

One night we took a sunset cruise on the Tango.. It was a beautiful night.




The rum punch was flowing again! I had some old millionaire lady telling me her life adventures on the cruise. I am a good listener so I didn't mind... She was keeping up with me pretty well downing all of those rum punches!! LOL! It was a fun adventure on the sea at night. We could see all of the cruise ships lit up off in the distance.

We had too much sun, too much rum punch but not enough time. It was such a fun time. Before we knew it, it was time to fly back to reality. To the cold, snowy Idaho winter. I have a lot of great memories of our trip to “Sint Maarten” as the Dutch would say. We'll be seeing you again!

Sint Maarten three

Read part one here
Read part two here.

We found Orient Beach the next day. It’s a family friendly beach. You have to wear bottoms but can be topless. The waves were calm that day so I just bobbed in the ocean most of the time there. It was glorious!! It was so relaxing… Everyone needs a vacation where you can sit under the warm Caribbean sun all day..

We drove to the French town of Marigot. We wandered the shops and found some souvenirs for the family. We found a French bakery, ate some lunch and bought some pastries for later. There are so many places to eat. So many cultures. So much seafood. So much fun!





That evening we decided to eat at The Hideaway. This is the restaurant at the Resort we were staying at.


Most of the tourists on the Island are retired folks. We were sitting at the bar, eating something with Lobster and chatting with the bartender. The music was calm and soothing. We were trying to talk them into changing the music and making it a little more upbeat! They said they couldn’t because of the Guests. Party Poopers!! The host didn’t want to offend them. This is a small little open air restaurant next to the pool. There are probably about 20 tables. Guests were probably between 40 and 65 years old. This didn’t stop My Handyman. He went around the tables and asked them what they felt about changing the music up a beat. Before we knew it.. the music was loud and rocking and we were all lined up forming a chain, dancing around the restaurant and bar, singing and drinking rum punch! Luckily our path to home was only a few feet away!! I don’t remember how we got home!

To be continued.....

Sint Maarten One

Since there is a chance of snow tonight and I've been dreaming of sunshine... I'll tell you about my trip to Saint Martin.

My Handyman and I went on a vacation to Saint Martin in December of 2006. We flew to Salt Lake, then to Dallas, then to Puerto Rico, then to Saint Martin. We left home at 5:30 AM and arrived at 11:30 PM. Talk about a long day! When we boarded the plane in Dallas, the pilot asked me where we were going. When I told him, he told me to be sure and go to The Sunset Bar. It’s a small bar on the beach along the airstrip. All topless females get free drinks. The girls all lie out along the airstrip on their lounge chairs and wave to the pilots. I couldn’t help but wonder if the pilot thought I would be participating in this activity. I noticed that twinkle in his eye as he laughed…


The plane from Puerto Rico was small! We flew across several Caribbean islands before landing in Saint Martin. The hot sultry air hit my lungs as I got off the plane. We took a Taxi to La Vista, not sure what our room would be like. Wilt had won the trip on an online sweepstakes entry. I half expected some little dumpy love shack. We didn’t care! We were on vacation! In the Caribbean! Away from all of our worries and stress of daily life. The room was fabulous! It had two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a kitchen, eating area, and living room. The back door led to a covered patio with lounge chairs. A path led to the swimming pool and down about 3 steps to the sandy ocean beach below! We were in Heaven.


The first morning we decided to rent a car for the week. The car barely fit the two of us. It was a tiny tin can.

I swear they have no traffic laws on the Island. They talk to each other in a special horn honking language. I thought I was going to die my first day in paradise. Wilt picked it up pretty quick. Hit the gas, and go for it! Beep! Beep! The entire Island is only 37 square miles. Half of the Island is owned by the Dutch and half by the French. We decided to drive around the Island for a quick tour and see everything there was to offer. We drive into Phillipsburg. There was a lot of open air shopping and dozens of jewelry shops.

You could get a big beautiful diamond for just a couple thousand dollars! Most of the shops are owned be East Indians. I have a gut feeling that most of them are “Blood Diamonds”. Wilt bought me a pretty little Ruby ring. We walked along the boardwalk and seen where the cruise ships dock. We watched some of the local entertainment while eating a quick lunch.


There was a small casino near our “home” so we had to check that out.. We decided we would check out the beaches the next day..

To be continued...