Eating and Drinking in New Orleans

I'm not gonna lie, we researched the food in New Orleans far more than the attractions. So the first night we walked to Bon Ton for dinner and it was delicious. Here's my shrimp etouffee.

During our week in New Orleans we tried Gumbo, Jambalaya, Red Beans and Rice, Shrimp, Crayfish, Beignets, Coffee with Chicory, and Andouille sausage.

We also had drinks at Compère Lapin, the Den, Pat O'Briens, the District, and Bamboula's. I particularly enjoyed meeting Abigail, the bartender at Compère Lapin. She fixed me this lovely Campari and grapefruit, and two delicious Sazaracs for the boys.

For those of you who've never been to New Orleans, I've got to say, they make drinking too easy there. To-Go cups are de rigueur and nearly everyone walks around with a drink in their hand. Bars can stay open past 2am so drinking is possible almost 24 hours a day.

One of our funniest memories was in the elevator early one morning when a bachelorette party attendee said, "I'm going to need a liver transplant when I get home." We were still laughing after she left the elevator.

One of our best meals was Sunday Brunch at The Court of Two Sisters. We had Champagne, Eggs Benedict, fresh fruit, crayfish, and pecan pie for dessert, but the lavish buffet had many other items as well.

One cannot go to New Orleans without trying a beignet, so one morning we got some to go and ate them as we drove out to the Swamp Tour. They are basically a square donut doused with powdered sugar. Locals know not to eat them in their car, or wear black pants when they eat them, but we did both and paid the price. There is still powdered sugar in the car, but it's a sweet memory from our time in the Big Easy.

Chattin' and Chillin' on Stocking Island

We arrived here in Georgetown, Exumas yesterday afternoon after an uneventful motorsail up from Clarence Town.  We chose to anchor over by the Chat'n'Chill on Stocking Island so we could attend the Sunday Pig Roast.

During the height of the winter season there are sometimes 400 boats scattered around Georgetown, but this time of year things start thinning out as cruisers leave to escape the hurricane season. We had no trouble finding a nice spot in 15' of water just off the beach. You can see our boat anchored in the background of this photo.

Georgetown is just across the channel and has a nice grocery store, so this morning we hitched a ride in with Madhatter to get some fresh produce. On the way back we were going into the wind and I was absolutely soaked by the time we got back to our boats. And darn it; those were clean clothes!

After stowing the ice and groceries and changing clothes, we went ashore to buy our tickets and stake out our table.

The meal was generous and very nicely prepared. We sat at their picnic tables under trees and visited with other cruisers and vacationers. There is plenty of entertainment for all ages: volleyball, a rope swing, the bar, the beach, and rays to feed.

These rays are wild, but used to being fed by humans, so they come right up to you and if you hold your hand out flat with a bit of meat, and they suck it right up.

It was great to see them and touch them.

They seemed particularly affectionate towards this woman, but she admitted she'd been hand feeding them for about three years. I think they actually recognized her.

International Peanut Butter Cookies

We haven't been "home" in over a year, so our lockers are filled with an international blend of foodstuffs. We are planning a visit home soon and we need to use up the perishables because the refrigeration will be turned off while we are gone. One of the items in the freezer is 3 lbs. of butter. I know that sounds like a lot, but in some countries it was hard to find, so I stocked up.

I've been thinking of ways to use up the butter and decided cookies would be good, so today while rolling downwind from Virgin Gorda to Tortola, I made peanut butter cookies. The butter cane from England via Antigua; the white sugar came from Cartagena; the brown sugar came from Dominica; the eggs came from Virgin Gorda; the peanut butter came from America via Antigua; the vanilla came from Mexico, and the flour came from Bequia.

INTERNATIONAL PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 

1 stick (1/4 lb, 4 oz, 1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Extra white sugar

Cream butter and sugars. Add peanut butter and mix well. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Combine flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add to first mixture. Combine thoroughly. Chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350°. Form dough into 1" balls. Roll in extra sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie a bit with a fork creating an "X" on top. Bake for 10 minutes for a chewy cookie, 12 for a crispy cookie. Makes 36.

The French Way

I love the French, I really do. I love their food. I love their culture. I love their national motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood). I love that cheek kissing thing they do. Heck, I even love their devilishly difficult language, but I'm having a little trouble with their schedules here in these French Caribbean Islands. If you want to get anything done here, you must do it by their clock. For example: the stores are only open from 8 to noon, and then from 2 to 6. If we arrive by dinghy and a store is just closing, we never know what to do. Should we go back to the boat? Hang out and waste two hours? Go to a restaurant and eat Creole food and enjoy (?) bad WeeFee?

 

Coconuts, Cocoa, Avocados, Mangoes, Pineapples, Cashew Apples, Plantains, Bananas

Speaking of restaurants, there's another schedule-bound institution. They serve lunch from noon to 2 and if you come by at 2:30? Forget it; they won't serve you. They actually lock up the place and leave at 3, then come back for the dinner service at 5.

 

All these schedules make things hard for us cruisers because our schedules are so elastic and we can't always arrive somewhere exactly on time. However, if you can adapt yourself, you will find some amazing things. Like the fruit and vegetable market which is open 6 to 2. And the fish market; same hours. And the spice market. And the boulangerie; but get there early or all the baguettes will be gone.

 

Everything from Anise to Vanilla Beans atop Madras Plaid

 

We have tried to adjust and since we have been in these French islands we have become locovores. We buy fish right off the boat. We buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. We season them with locally grown spices. We snack on coconuts just like the folks on "Survivor". Our only non-local foods are the French wines and cheeses. If this is the reward, maybe adjusting our schedule to fit the French schedule isn't so bad after all.

 

Fish can't get much fresher than that - right off the boat

 

Fish of every description - even a few I've admired while snorkeling

 

Mango and Coconut

 

A Trip To Van den Tweel's

We stopped by Van den Tweel's supermarket this afternoon and I took a few photos to show you our shopping dilemma. The pictures on the boxes help a lot, but some things are just mysterious!

 

Above you see what could be cookies, but look carefully. See the picture of cheese? These are "Assorted Puff Pastry Cheese Biscuits".

Above is "Sliced Smooth Gingerbread Whole Wheat". Gingerbread toast?

 

This ones easy; it's pancakes. You add 800 ml milk and 2 eggs.

 

This is a "Potato-Leek Soup Meal" but you have to add a "small leek, a medium sized potato, and 50g of ham pieces".

 

Another easy one; "Wild Pink Salmon".

 

And another easy one; "Green Tea - A Conscious Choice".

 

We picked up this sauce packet because there is a lot of cauliflower here and it looked good. When I got back to the boat I Googled it and it's a "Curry Cream Sauce". The label says it's "Yummy on Cauliflower" so I'm sure we will like it, but I had to translate the instructions which were thankfully simple: "Whisk the contents of this packet with 250ml of cold milk in a pan. Bring to a boil. Simmer for a few minutes. Serve".

 

And wouldn't you know it; they had no Rundervinken today. The meat counter lady said maybe tomorrow, so we will be going back because we are stocking up the boat again for our passage to Grenada. There is a sweet weather window starting Wednesday and lasting until Sunday. Perfect.

Rundervinken

One of our favorite things about traveling is trying new foods and experimenting with new ingredients. We have tried many new foods in our year of cruising and enjoyed most of them. (Except pupusas; I'm sure we could go the rest of our lives and never miss pupusas.)

 

 

We are at a distinct disadvantage here in Bonaire because we understand absolutely no Dutch and the labels at the markets are in Dutch, but yesterday at Van den Tweel Supermarket we picked up some rundervinken. We didn't know exactly what it was, but it looked good and we figured we could Google it to see how to prepare it.

 

 

I discovered that rundervinken is sausage wrapped in beef and that a traditional presentation would be with an onion/pepper/tomato puree/sour cream sauce. Sounded easy enough, so here's my mise en place.

 

 

 

After a 15 minute saute, the meat sits and waits while the sauce comes together.

Here's the finished dish and if our speed inhaling it was any indication, it was delicious! 

 

Evening in Getsemani

We spent a wonderful evening last night with Rachel and Steve from Il Giro. From the marina we walked barely a mile to the Getsemani neighborhood which is right next to Centro, but poles apart.

While Centro is for tourists, Getsemani is for Cartagenans. While Centro is all tidy and upscale, Getsemani is full of graffiti, food carts, dogs, kids, and families just hanging out enjoying the night air.

Our goal was Plaza de la Santisima Trinidad and the music was so loud it practically pulled us there. We started with beers from the corner store. Next we sampled patacones and watched a wedding party enter the Church. Then we tried barbecued beef on a stick while we watched break dancing. Finally we shared a HUGE burger on the church steps and capped it all off with Nutella and strawberry crepes on the way back to the marina.

We had so much fun! How did we miss this area in all the weeks we've been here? I want to go back again!

Getting Ready to Leave Cartagena

We have decided to start heading towards Aruba next Wednesday so we finished our generator maintenance today. When Malcolm changed the oil a couple of days ago he noticed a water leak so he took the seawater pump off and we pressed out the shaft and replaced the seal and impeller. The job went quickly and we had all the spares onboard so it was cheap too.

Pressing out the shaft

Water pump all apart

 

 

The old leaky seal on the bottom. New seal on top.

 

However, the provisioning we did today was not cheap. We spent 1,302,680 pesos on non-perishables (that's about $450 dollars), and we still have to get meats and veggies next week. I try to keep tasty little things like olives, artichoke hearts, pesto, sun dried tomatoes, sauces, capers, and pickles on hand to perk up the basic ingredients that you find everywhere. And of course we needed coffee, tea, rice, pasta, crackers, snacks, beans, condiments, and box milk. We have heard that things are expensive out in the islands so we filled up the lockers like we did when we left home one year ago, but now all the labels are in Spanish.

 

Food for the Soul

Since we have arrived in Cartagena I have been cooking more interesting foods and Malcolm made mention of that fact last night as we were eating our pork chops with cape gooseberry chutney.

We first tasted these sweet little fruits in a salad at a restaurant. They were so good I decided to get some which I did yesterday along with the pork chops. We had eaten the green gooseberries in England, but we had never seen these orange ones.

It's always fun to add a little sweet element to pork so I decided to make a chutney. I didn't have all the proper spices, but I added onion, apple, dried cranberries, brown sugar, white wine, vinegar, and cayenne and simmered it about 20 minutes. I also made a salad while Malcolm was barbecuing the chops.

The finished product was scrummie on the pork and we discussed why I seem to be more creative in the galley here in Cartagena.

Obviously, it's because of what's available in the market. Finding the same old limp onions, potatoes, yucca, bell peppers, carrots, and celery at the market (like we did in so many places in Panama) certainly dampens one's creativity. Just how many ways can you combine those ingredients for a new and tasty meal?

I also think the lack of fresh produce causes a nutritional deficit which affects every aspect of your well-being from mood to energy to skin health. Aboard Thistle, we celebrate food and are so happy to be living in an area with a wide variety of fresh produce and a healthy respect for good foods.

Tarta de Arándano

I recently found lemons and blueberries at the grocery store. I haven't seen lemons in months - plenty of limes, but no lemons - and I can't even remember the last time I saw blueberries. So I bought some and came back to the boat and made one of our favorite desserts ever: blueberry tarts.

These tarts are simple to make; an easy pastry crust, lemon curd, and fresh fruit, but they make an elegant presentation. They remind me of all our fun tea parties back Amongst The Oaks.

Not everyone brings tiny tart pans cruising, but I'm glad I brought mine.

You must whisk the lemon curd nonstop as it cooks....

and soon the lemon juice, lemon zest, butter, sugar, and eggs turn into a thick and tasty base for the fruit. Spoon it into the cooked pastry shells,

top with berries, and dust with powdered sugar. Voila, c'est magnifique.

What We Love About Cartagena

We decided to try a new place for lunch last Sunday so we wandered over to Centro. Just past the Church of San Pedro Claver, Malcolm stopped to buy a hat and started talking to a local woman who was also buying a hat. He mentioned that we were looking for a good restaurant and she enthusiastically started listing her favorites. She said there was an arabic restaurant nearby that was especially good so we asked her to write down the name of it for us. As she started to do that, Carlos, the hat seller, offered to walk us there! How amazing is that?

 

After three blocks he brought us to Az-zahr. It was tastefully decorated, comfortable, air conditioned, and had reasonable prices. We ordered the tabbouleh salad to share, langostinos, lamb shawarma, and baklava for dessert.

 

 All the food was delicious and the service was perfect. And guess who got our leftover baklava? Why, Carlos the hat seller, of course. I think he was a little surprised by that.

 

And this is what we love about Cartagena: the friendly locals, the vibrant street life, the wonderful restaurants, the gorgeous scenery, and now the baklava too.

Quiche

I love having the market so close here in Cartagena because I wanted to make quiche for dinner and I needed some nutmeg. But before I could run the dinghy in to get it, I had to figure out what it was in Spanish. Using an online translator I learned that nutmeg is nuez moscado.

We love quiche and I've been using the same recipe for ages. Its from a really old Sunset magazine cookbook. And the best part is we'll have a really easy lunch today.

Fennel Feast

I found fennel at the market the other day so I made this dish that's been a family favorite for years. I posted about it back in 2007:  Click here

The most difficult part about making the dish was the white beans. I haven't seen canned white beans in ages so I bought some dried white beans and cooked them in the pressure cooker to use as little gas as possible. Unfortunately, they were overcooked. Next time I'll only cook them 10 minutes instead of 15. And with some fresh oregano and a little tweaking, I think I can make this recipe the old family favorite it used to be.