Yo ho ho and a Bottle of Rum

Well, I've found my nirvana, in nature and in sweets.

Mother Sugar
The best dessert I've had on the trip: The Peanut Brittle Ice Cream Sundae at Big Chef Steakhouse in Rodney Bay. Chef Rosie--a tall blonde with pretty earrings and necklace--told us it's made with homemade peanut brittle.

Before I left home, I had seen Big Chef on our itinerary and googled it--a man said he had the best cheesecake ever at Big Chef. I was wary because I didn't know what to think of a restaurant named "Big Chef." But he was right, the Coconut and Malibu Cheesecake was a true tropical treat.

And, drum roll please, the best pina colada after trying four bartenders' versions: The one at Big Chef. Blew me away like an island breeze. It was just so coconut-creamy [not icy or watery] with sweet, crisp pineapple notes.

After dinner, Rosie gave us a rum tasting--about 7 or 8 kinds. I could only sip the coconut one, because it was dessert-y. I don't really like rum on its own too much, and I was full, especially after we all passed around a Chocolate Corvette, made with spice rum, dark creme de cacao, hot chocolate and whipped cream. No more room at the inn. But my fellow foodies loved the Chairman's Reserve and the Admiral Rodney rums, both richly amber-colored.

Well, that will have to be it for me and the pina colada--and filet mignon au poivre, fries with truffle oil and Parmesan, and wine with every meal. When I get back home, it's back to healthy budget dinners like turkey tacos, dishes to wash, boot camp three mornings a week and long walks the other days. I could never eat and drink this way for an extended period of time!

Randall, the driver who took me back to The Landings hotel, told me he ate at Big Chef once but doesn't eat that way too much, mainly for his arteries. Roger that, Randall. But this is a special trip, and that was a very special meal.

Mother Nature
Today we saw the most beautiful sight at the Ladera Resort: the Pitons [pronounced PEE-tons], the two towering mountain peaks, rising tall against the blue sea. Check the photo above. Our lunch table at the restaurant there, Dasheene, was situated with a view between the two. I was dying, it was so gorgeous. Until now, the most beautiful nature settings I've seen have been the coast of California and the coast of Maine. And those are incredibly breathtaking. Now I've expanded my horizon. It will be very difficult to go back to eating a tunfish sandwich in my breakfast nook, or on a TV tray in the living room.

At Dasheene, we had some cooking lessons with the "sexy chef," Orlando Satchell [sharethelovechef.com]. His motto is "share the love" and he's all about using the Caribbean's own island ingredients. We each went up to take a turn cooking with him, even donning a white pleated chef's toque. I helped him bread and cook mahi mahi, and sear rounds of spiced ripe red watermelon to serve with it. Can you imagine? He added a little coconut oil to the pan for frying. At the end, he gave us each a bottle to take home. So I will get to try it as a beauty treatment--some island women say they've used it on their hair.

The sexy chef is passionate about plucking ingredients close to home.

"When you come to the Caribbean, don't order a strawberry daiquiri. Strawberries don't grow here. Order a mango daiquiri," he said.

His dessert was a roasted banana stuffed with caramelized pineapple and topped with vanilla ice cream. It reminded me a little of the Banana Boats Fig learned to make at sleepaway camp--you slit the skin and put chocolate and marshmallows inside, wrap it all up in foil and roast. Both equally indulgent and at least feel less decadent than a wedge of chocolate cake. [After all, you're getting your potassium.]

Oh, did I mention the cocoa plantation. Amazing!! To see the cocoa pod and the young boy doing the "cocoa dance," dancing on the beans in a giant urn, and to sample the chocolate ice cream served in a martini glass with chocolate cake and rum at the bottom. The whole plantation smelled like cocoa. But what a lot of work it is to get it out of the pod. Now I will have no problem paying almost $10 for a really good bar at Whole Foods. The young lady who gave us the cocoa tour said that 95 percent of their cocoa is exported to Hershey, PA and the other 5 percent stays on St. Lucia.

I have to leave my hotel by tomorrow at 11:30 for a 1.5 hour drive to the airport and then two 3-hour connecting flights home. H. said he'll pick me up at Newark after my plane lands at 12:20 A.M.

I don't want to leave...none of us do.

"You can always come back," the Tourist Board reps tell us.

But will we?

I was talking about how lucky we are to be here with Tamara, a writer from Atlanta. I was saying isn't it sad that some people live in awful, unsafe places and never get to see beautiful sights like the Pitons rising up over the sea while they eat expensive grilled shrimp and roasted bananas.

"Yes, but we can communicate about what we've seen through our writing," Tamara said.

Yes, Tamara, you're right.