{"id":4618,"date":"2017-02-12T14:18:43","date_gmt":"2017-02-12T14:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=4618"},"modified":"2017-02-12T14:23:04","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T14:23:04","slug":"a-week-in-st-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/?p=4618","title":{"rendered":"A week in St. Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been here a week now and have enjoyed many of the local attractions. \u00a0Yesterday was a particular highlight for me since it was the weekly open air market. \u00a0There were plenty of stalls with cheap, manufactured souvenirs , but on Saturdays the locals set up stalls with handmade items, like hot sauces, spice blends, shell creations, beaded jewelry, watercolor paintings. \u00a0It was a colorful market, and I bought some fun things.<\/p>\n

\"2-12-17a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2-12-17a<\/a><\/p>\n

We bought several kinds of spice blends and several bags of nutmeg,–of course! \u00a0We now live in the nutmeg state, so we had to have some straight from the source. The reason our\u00a0state has this distinction of being the nutmeg state is because the early trading ships along the Connectiuct River sailed to the Caribbean and brought back spices.<\/p>\n

\"2-12-17a<\/a><\/p>\n

This was a fun purchase!–a peyote stitch, beaded starfish made by a woman who had set up a booth at the yacht club on the Dutch side, which overlooks the drawbridge where all boats enter and exit Simpson Bay Lagoon. Bob and I had stopped there for a drink to watch the drawbridge open and see what big boats might go through. \u00a0Finding the tables of beaded jewelry was a bonus for me. \u00a0I just know my beading friends Karyn and Janet will either already know how to make this little gem, or will quickly figure it out when they see this. \u00a0The both live on beaches, one on the Jersey shore and one on the Cape, so I think they would enjoy making\u00a0something like this.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3198\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After years in the Bahamas, I have to say that the best thing about these Caribbean islands is the food! \u00a0And on St. Martin it’s mostly French food! \u00a0I do not know how they can make bread and pastries as delicious as their mother country when it is so hot and humid here. \u00a0The baguettes are amazing and the croissants are too! \u00a0At the markets I’ve been able to buy food that looks like it was picked locally each morning, even though it has been flown here from France. \u00a0Such fresh baby heads of lettuce…tiny romaine heads and heads of red leaf lettuce. \u00a0Cooking is so much more enjoyable with these beautiful ingredients!<\/p>\n

Here is the pastry case at Serafina’s boulangerie et patisserie. \u00a0Are you salivating?<\/p>\n

\"2-7-17a<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this week we had lunch at a beach bar, and my lunch was so beautifully displayed, and such good food, that I had to take a photo of it. \u00a0In the US, you can imagine lunch at a beach bar as a greasy hamburger and fries, or a hotdog, or maybe fried clams on a roll. \u00a0Look at this and weep!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shall I describe what is on the plate? \u00a0First, three big prawns with a bit of aioli for dipping. Then a half dozen little snails with a muslin covered lemon to squeeze on them. \u00a0Then there are two glass containers stacked at the far end of my plate. \u00a0That top dish is a salad of crabmeat topped with alfalfa sprouts and caviar in a lemon vinaigrette. \u00a0It was fabulous! \u00a0Underneath is fresh guacamole to go on the toast points. \u00a0There was also a remoulade sauce not shown here… so a collection of shellfish, served with 3 sauces, a salad and bread!–and a view of the beach to set the mood!<\/p>\n

St. Martin is a must stop destination for all cruisers, so whenever you are here you will meet boats you’ve seen in other locations. \u00a0Thursday evening we had a farewell party for some couples who were headed in other directions, both back north and further south. \u00a0There were 12 of us for dinner at LeCanal, a wonderful French restaurant that sits on a canal on the French side, run by a husband and wife. \u00a0They also live on a boat and hope to make a go here for a few years, before returning to France. \u00a0They have a beautiful 3 year old daughter who came out to greet us during dinner.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3197\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We are going back today at noon to enjoy crepes for brunch. \u00a0Sarah makes the crepes at your table, while I believe the fillings are made by her husband back in the kitchen. \u00a0I’m looking forward to this! \u00a0The idea is to have a savory crepe first and then a dessert crepe. \u00a0There was a time in the distant past when I made Julia Child’s crepe batter almost every weekend. \u00a0It’s been a few years since I’ve made crepes. \u00a0Today will be a treat!<\/p>\n

More later when I have returned from another fun visit ashore in St. Martin!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve been here a week now and have enjoyed many of the local attractions. \u00a0Yesterday was a particular highlight for me since it was the weekly open air market. \u00a0There were plenty of stalls with cheap, manufactured souvenirs , but on Saturdays the locals set up stalls with handmade items, like hot sauces, spice blends, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fine-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4629,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4618\/revisions\/4629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.argoknot.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}