Be It Ever So Humble--Home

It started snowing lightly this morning when Fig left for school ["March comes in like a lion," she called happily from the street], but now it's stopped.

Most-Missed List [Saint Lucia]
1. The giant bed [our house is from the 1920s and the bedroom is quite small]
2. The sea, a short walk from my doorstep
3. Roaming horses, cows, goats and chickens
4. Someone taking my breakfast order
5. The company of Kate, Elly, Nicole, Tamara, Maria, Nerdin--such color, such style, such dinner-table conversation. And Elly knows everything about everything, from grappa to Hollandaise.
6. That smooth-talking guy who worked at The Landings and said "I'm sad today. It's a very sad day. My Princess Alice is leaving." Oh to be young and searching again. How come when you're young and searching, willing guys with big muscles and cocoa-smooth skin don't emerge when you need them? Or do they?

Climb Every Mountain
I told H. all about the trip as he steered the car home--about the Pitons, the people, the sea. He wanted to know how tall the Pitons are but I didn't know. Now I've checked--Gros Piton is 2,619 soaring feet. Petit Piton [its smaller twin sister] is 2,461 feet. Nerdin, from the St. Lucia Tourist Board, told us at Big Chef, over the world's best bruschetta [with a generous dusting of fresh Parmesan], that she climbed the big one at age 15 as a Girl Guide [like our Girl Scout].

I bet H. and his brothers and others would love to take on Gros Piton. They're into climbing mountains in Maine. John, Dave, Bonnie, Lynn and Leah have all climbed to the top of Mount Katahdin, Maine's highest mountain, at 5,268 feet. I'm exhausted even thinking about it.

"Wait," H. said, "What about the cocoa plantation?" He knows me and my chocolate. I told him how you just smell the cocoa when you walk around there. You just breathe it in.

"Yeah," he said. "I looked up how to make chocolate online once and it looked really complicated. I thought it might be fun to make it." That's him--eggnog made from a dozen eggs cooked into a custard sauce first; The Cake Bible waffles, which require some involved steps; chowders made with clams in the shell; his own pickles.

Back in our kitchen, I told him about Sexy Chef's mahi mahi cooked in a little coconut oil, about the seared watermelon rounds.

"I wish we knew exactly how to make it," he said, eyeing the bottle of coconut oil. He's a good, and adventurous, cook.

"Oh, I can find out," I said.

Souvenir--To Remember
He was pleased with the bottle of Chairman's Reserve rum that I brought him and made an ad hoc tropical cocktail at 1 A.M. He had no coconut, no pineapple.....he blended ice, Maraschino cherries, and a banana [NOT from St. Lucia's trees--the island's bananas are exported to England] in our yellow blender....let's just say I didn't even take a sip of the pink drink. Not after Wednesday night's masterful pina colada.

Fig loved the green pareo [the color of an unripe mango]; the hot-pink, decorated Havaianas from the Ladera gift shop; and the loofah mitts from The Landings shower stalls.

I can't exactly wear my white Havaianas with the pretty silvery trim outside right now, but I put them by the front door....a stylin reminder of the faraway terrain I walked this week.