The necessities

A few days ago, I signed up for a cooking class at  The Landings in St Lucia.

The name of the class might turn some people off — Cooking with Jerks — but it was anything but, helmed by Chef Patricia Pascal in the open-air restaurant, surrounded by bowls of prepped vegetables, meats, and most importantly, spices.

After all, “Cooking with Jerks” applies to the art of jerk cooking, not to your fellow students…

We donned aprons and got to work creating our jerk mixture, grabbing stainless steel bowls where we could mix and match everything from fresh thyme and lemongrass to garlic, lime and hot pepper sauce. It reminded me of childhood when I played around with a chemistry set to see which combinations were inert and which would explode.

Chef Pat encouraged us to be as reckless as we wanted. For me, there is never enough garlic, so I pretty much emptied out the bowl.

We took our concoctions and slathered it on mahi mahi, chicken, and a shrimp lollipop, where two shrimp are tightly nestled against each other and skewered so as to resemble a sucker.

Shrimp lollipop

While the meat and seafood cooked and Chef Pat grilled some vegetables to accompany the whole thing, we prepared chutney. Who would think that making your own chutney would be so ridiculously easy?

Basically, chutney is a close cousin of jam, but combines sweet, sour, and heat/spice to distinguish it. Here’s the recipe:

In a large saucepan, combine 1/2 cup each of vinegar, water and sugar. Throw 10 cloves and 10 pink peppercorns into the mixture and boil for 5 minutes until reduced by half.

Add 1/2 cup of minced onion, and again boil for 5-6 minutes until reduced by half. Add 1 cup of diced pumpkin and boil down for 10-15 minutes until the liquid is greatly reduced and has the consistency of jam. Remove the cloves before serving, and that’s it!

And it was much better than the stuff in a jar. Try it!

As for the jerk seasoning, you can use dry or wet. According to Pat, the brand of choice is Baron’s, made in St Lucia. She says that islanders often have a good-natured rivalry about who has the best rum and pepper sauce, and she says that it’s obvious that St Lucia’s is the best because even notoriously hard-to-please Jamaicans prefer Baron’s pepper sauce.

The final product, with some tomato salsa on the side

The last month has been an absolute whirlwind of travel for me. I’ve been everywhere from Riviera Maya to Grenada to Antigua and Curacao, to Tortola in the BVIs, which is where I am now.

Accordingly, the food and wine has also run the gamut, but suffice it to say that I’ve eaten well and learned about what’s hot and what’s on the horizon.

Here are some observations from the road and from countless interviews with chefs along the way:

*Just because you are vacationing in Florida doesn’t mean that you’ll be dining on stellar tomatoes. During a few months, it’s just too damn hot for them to grow.

*I’ve seen a number of innovative accompaniments to bread, aside from the usual artisan unsalted butter: among them: mustard butter to accompany pretzel bread, Brazilian chimichurri sauce, sundried tomatoes in olive oil, and unsalted butter mixed with a dab of mascarpone cheese, which helps add a bit of a tang without being overpowering.

*The more remote the island, the more creative the chef. And if the chef is not creative, then assume that the food is going to be flown or barged in, and not “line-caught” or “just-picked.”

*Chefs are using technology to secure their provisions in some very creative ways. I interviewed Chef Lisa Sellers at Peter Island in the BVIs who told me she uses Skype to keep tabs on fish auctions around the world. She works with brokers who bid for her in person, but she Skypes in to keep tabs on the prices and also uses a webcam so she can actually see what it is she’s bidding on.

What have you noticed recently in your own dine-arounds at oceanfront resorts? Leave a comment!

Beach view at Rancho Buena Vista

Already thinking about winter travel? Here’s what some top oceanfront resorts have in store for the season:

*At the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Moonrise Dinners are all the rage. The hotel restaurant Cioppino is featuring a variety of four-course menus inspired by a different gastronomic region of Italy. The moonrise part comes from the tabletop telescopes and the tableside constellation concierge (!) to point out key stars and constellations.

*The El San Juan Hotel & Casino in Puerto Rico recently debuted the Burger Bar at the Encanto Beach Club. The Bar offers an array of specialty burgers and cocktails like Blue Lagoons and Goombay Smashes.

*The Hotel Rancho Buena Vista in Los Cabos — with an astounding 3 miles of beachfront — first opened its doors in 1954, and essentially put Cabo on the map for tourism. Shortly afterwards, Hollywood came calling, and stars like John Wayne, Clark Gable, and Bing Crosby flocked to the place. Fast forward 55 years, and the Ranch is emerging from a recent renovation to offer ziplining, stand-up paddleboarding, kitesurfing, and yoga retreats.

*At Eustatia Island, a 26-acre private-island estate near the North Sound of Virgin Gorda in the BVIs, after a decade of only occasional rentals to elite clientele, the retreat is now being offered to a broader market. It is one of only a handful of private island properties available for rent in the Caribbean, and only one of three in the BVIs.

What’s on your radar for winter travel this year? Leave a comment!

The lodges at the Auchrannie Country Club

You wouldn’t think that Arran — a 167-square-mile island off the west coast of Scotland nestled into the Firth of Clyde which leads into the Irish Sea and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean — would have much in common with its Caribbean counterparts, but other than serving as a popular weekend getaway for people who live in Edinburgh and Glasgow, there is one very surprising commonality:

Palm trees.

Yes, even though the temps dip down into the 30s and 40s through the winter months, due to the warming air and water currents of the Gulf Stream that pass directly over the island, Arran actually has palm trees dotting the landscape, along with the omnipresent sheep, striking hills, and rocky beaches.

Here are the must-sees on Arran:

*The Arran Whisky Distillery gives regular tours scheduled throughout the day at its visitors centre. Each visit ends, of course, with a tasting.

*The Lodge at Auchrannie provides a five-star country club experience on this normally rustic island. Three bedrooms, ample living space, a fully-equipped kitchen, stereo wired throughout the building, and visits to the adjacent spa and fitness club.

*Adventure: Hire Walkabout Scotland for a customized tour that will give you a taste of everything that Arran has to offer.  From biking and hiking to sea kayaking, and even visiting an historic site featuring Stone Circles that date back to the Bronze Age, the guides at Walkabout will ensure you’ll sample a little bit of everything, which should almost guarantee a repeat visit so you can experience your favorite in depth.

What’s on the horizon for luxury oceanfront travel over the next few months? I polled a few experts for their take, just in time for booking that holiday trip.

*Here’s what Mollie Fitzgerald, CEO of Frontiers Elegant Journeys, says: “There is definitely pent-up demand for travel. People seem to be planning a little further ahead than last year, when the holiday calls came in during November. It’s as if the minute Labor Day was behind us everyone started thinking about that week between Christmas,” she said. “Also, people want something different, perceived to be more exotic and less resort-y.

“Mexico is still suffering from all the bad PR about security and occupancy levels are down, so many resorts are relaxing minimum-stay requirements over the busy holiday period,” she continues. “Certainly, the best values are in Mexico. Also, the air industry needs to catch up with the hospitality side — often we can get the hotel space we need during peak winter demand periods, but frustratingly, cannot get the air space to get people there.”

*Nagma Walker, General Manager at The Reefs Hotel & Club in Bermuda, is seeing an increased interest in the property’s hotel and private residences. “We are running a few more promotions than we have in the past, but nothing dramatically different and we still focus on value for the guest.” she says. “After two years of recession, there seems to be a pent-up demand for quality products and services. But today’s luxury travelers are more selective and expect to receive superior service, cuisine and accommodations for their dollar. While The Reefs enjoys loyal guests who return often, we have begun to see an increase in new visitors who are also younger in age.”

*Jamie Holmes, General Manager of the Nisbet Plantation Beach Club in Nevis, says this: “From what we’ve seen at Nisbet Plantation, upscale travelers seeking a luxury beach vacation are more interested in receiving a good value and service for their money than just a cheap room rate. Instead of deep discounts we continue to focus on providing great service, added-value in our packages and enhancements to our product. Just last year, we added complimentary WiFi throughout the resort, Flip digital video cameras, and Hiker GPS for guests to use during their vacation, which have been well-received by our guests. We continue to attract couples and families, but we’re also seeing an increase in girlfriend getaways, a new category for our intimate resort. These days, sophisticated women want to forget Vegas and New York City and do something different.”

*A spokesperson for Royal Hideaway Playacar says the resort is witnessing the following trends: “Although Royal Hideaway Playacar still remains popular as a romantic destination, it has been attracting several culinary travelers as of lately. These travelers especially love the Chef’s Table experience, where they can watch as the Chef prepares their meals and answers their questions along the way. The hotel also has more specials now than it did a year ago, in large part because flights are less expensive than they were last year and people want to nab the bookings while they can. Finally, we’re finding that exceptional service is becoming more and more important to upscale travelers in comparison to other hotel aspects.”

*Tom Roth, director of sales at The Atlantic Resort in Fort Lauderdale, says that the biggest change he’s seen is that the luxury consumer is increasing the length of their stay from two or three nights to four-plus nights as the economy and world conditions improve and stabilize. “Value will continue to be of paramount importance,” he says. “Resorts that offer Zen-like spas will grow in popularity as our 24/7 world means that finding and enjoying downtime is becoming harder and harder. We’ve seen a considerable increase in massage appointments, for example, as well as guests who just want to relax in the whirlpools or sauna.”

I profiled Scrub Island Resort in the September/October issue of Ocean Home, but didn’t have enough room on the page to include some eye-opening comments from Chef Andy Niedenthal, so enjoy:

I’ve talked with a number of island-based chefs in the last year, and one topic that always fascinates me is the sheer logistics of getting food across what sometimes amounts to thousands of miles of ocean, and how they make the effort to work with local suppliers, whether they’re farmers, butchers, or ice cream makers.

When I asked Niedenthal how he got ice cream to the resort, he laughed and said it was the equivalent of running a special ops mission. Temperatures average in the mid-80s year-round, so everyone involved had to be on high alert.

Essentially, Niedenthal sends a small truck equipped with a refrigeration unit over on a barge to collect the ice cream in St. Thomas before barging it back to the docks at Scrub. From how he describes it, it’s a constant recon mission with cellphones and radios constantly abuzz until the quarry is safely tucked away in the walk-in.

Get it from the store! Get it on the truck on the boat! Then, Get down to the lift, it’s here at the dock!

Wouldn’t getting an in-house ice cream maker make his job a little easier?

“I’m working on it,” he says.

I’ll keep you posted on further developments…

Think wine and Spain, and you probably think of Rioja.

I’ve been drinking Rioja for years, but a recent trip to the wine region of Valencia has shifted my gears. The bonus: Unlike the better-known but landlocked region of Rioja, Valencia is smack dab on the Mediterranean Sea, with beautiful beaches and rolling hills and countryside inland so that some refer to it as the Tuscany of Spain.

Indeed, on my whirlwind three-day trip, we hit eleven wineries in Valencia and the subregion of Utiel-Requena, and met winemakers and tasted wines that pair well with the national dish of Spain, paella, or are fine to drink on their own. Here are a few:

At Bodega Aranleon, the first organic winery in the region, wine is made in a winery that dates back to 1927. We then headed to Bodegas Dagon,  where winemaker Miguel Marquez makes his Bordeaux-style wines by harvesting the grapes according to lunar cycles. He must be doing something right: one of his wines sells at the Ritz in London for 240 pounds sterling.

At the other end of the spectrum, Vinos de la Vina is one of the largest wine and olive oil facilities in the region; they produce over a million kilos of olive oil each year and up to 15 million bottles of wine.

Utiel-Requena produces more grape varieties compared to Rioja because its harvest season is longer; compared to Rioja’s average of 15 days, the harvest in the Mediterranean region lasts almost three months, from the end of August through mid-October, due to its more drastic swings in climate: warm and temperate near the coast, with hot dry days and cool nights further inland.

Which results in a greater variety of grapes for winemakers to play with, a kind of experimentation that’s difficult in a more established region like Rioja. Bobal, Monastrell, and Macabeo are common varieties here. In fact, Valencia and Utiel-Requena reminded me of the Paso Robles appellation of California: it’s in the shadow of a more well-known winemaking style and established wine tourism route, has a climactic system that swings far and wide, and the winemakers skew younger and are therefore more experimental in their approach to winemaking.

Hint: though you may revel in the earthiness of a Valencian Tempranillo sitting seaside in Florida, Mexico, or the Caribbean, know that almost universally that winemakers keep the best wines to themselves, or at least in their own countries. Which always warrants a trip to any international wine region so you can taste the difference. The wines of Valencia and Utiel-Requena are no exception.

Okay, I’ll admit, it was the sliding glass doors at a 90-degree angle on the balcony that totally hooked me on The Reefs Club in Bermuda. I’d never seen the likes of them before, and since I’m easily entertained, I had to slide them back and forth more than a few times so it would imprint on my brain. I knew that from here on out that regular sliding glass doors just wouldn’t do it for me.

Of course, the hot tub on the balcony with a killer view of the pink sand beach below should not be overlooked, either. But there were so many little touches just like this in my oceanfront residence that I ended up totally sold on the place.

The Reefs Club is part of the Reefs Hotel & Club complex in Southampton, and its 19 two- and three-bedroom units are filled with these kinds of amenities. From the rooftop putting green to the marble bathrooms and fully-equipped gourmet kitchens, nothing goes overlooked. The Club will even store your golf clubs for you year-round, so no more schlepping through the airport.

The Club has its own private infinity pool, clubroom, and concierge, but the public facilities — spa, restaurants, tennis courts, and snorkeling — are a quick walk away through a ground-level hallway.

Owning a private home or condo in Bermuda has been onerous at best through the years, given the restrictions that the government places on foreign ownership. But The Reefs Club bypasses the hurdles by offering a program of fractional ownership with a flexible and generous reservation policy.

If buying isn’t on the books for you right now, you can still stay in one of the Club residences as a guest. But once you burrow in for a visit, I predict that it won’t be long until you start to consider ownership.

Sakonnet Vineyards in Little Compton, Rhode Island, courtesy of www.christiesgreatestates.com

For me, one of the best ways to enjoy the ocean is to camp out on an oceanfront balcony or beach chair, toes burrowed into the sand, wineglass in my hand.

Wine, of course, no matter the hue or vintage, is notoriously prone to temperature and humidity, which of course, includes anyplace that touches salt water.

So I asked a few experts about the best ways to store and preserve wine at the ocean.

*From Sara Kavanaugh, sommelier at the Grill Room in the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans: “It doesn’t matter where you are in relation to the ocean as long as your wine is kept in a cellar between 52-56 degrees Fahrenheit in a non-moving dark place. If you’re not fortunate enough to have a wine cellar on the premises, your best bet is to put your wines in the refrigerator and take them out before consumption to allow them to rise to the desired temperature,” she advises. “For older, more fragile wine, it’s typically in your best interest to buy a small wine cooler and store wines there. Put a thermometer in and periodically check the temperature to ensure it is not fluctuating drastically.”

*From Gerri-Lynn Becker, Director of Operations at The California Wine Club: “Don’t store an open bottle with the cork popped back in on the counter; instead, put it in the fridge. For unopened wines and long-term storage, a cool dark place is still best.”

*Laura Mohseni of Riverbench Vineyard and Winery in Santa Maria, California, believes that salt air really does make crisp whites or rosés taste all that much better; she compares it to when you get hungrier just by being on the beach. However, she advises that besides carefully tending the wine, you also keep an eye on the glassware. “A light film tends to form on glassware stored near an ocean,” she says. “I’ve found that a shot of white vinegar added to the dishwasher rinse cycle or the water you use to rinse your glasses when you handwash them will help. Additionally, it’s best to dry the glassware by hand right after washing to prevent buildup.” One last tip: “It’s always best to store wine on its side and out of direct sunlight. People like to keep their wine on top of the fridge, but it’s too hot there!”

*Lastly, Jesse Rodriguez, sommelier and director of wine at the Addison at the Grand Del Mar in San Diego, has a cautionary tale about how ocean air can affect the outside of a wine bottle: “When the restaurant first opened, it became evident that the marine layer affected the humidity inside the wine cellars. We noticed that the labels on the bottles started to bubble up and fall off. We added thick weatherstripping on all the doors and windows in Addison, as well as those leading to the wine cellar, and since then, we haven’t had any problems.”

As summer nears, I find myself dreaming of heading to Norway to see what the country looks like in 24/7 daylight.

Last March, I spent a week on a Hurtigruten cruise along the western Norwegian Atlantic coast in a hunt for the Northern Lights — yes, we did see them and they were as amazing as you imagine — but when people showed me pictures of what the towns north of the Arctic Circle looked like at 2 a.m. in late June, I vowed to return. Even though it would mean breaking my usual commandment of Thou Shalt Not Visit The Same Place Twice, locals assured me that the land north of the Arctic Circle is a completely different place in summertime.

There’s still time to get on board Hurtigruten’s Norwegian Coastal Voyage, a seven-day trip where you travel 1,250 miles up Norway’s west coast, dotting between open sea and fjords, starting in Bergen and ending up in Kirkenes, close to the Russian border. In addition to marveling at the fjords, the ship stops at 34 ports, though some are as short as 15 minutes, since the ship also serves as a ferry service for those living along the coast. Must-see towns include Trondheim, one of Norway’s oldest cities, Tromso,the largest city in Europe above the Arctic circle, and Alesund, which was destroyed by fire in 1904 and rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style.

Summertime north of the Arctic Circle means that everything’s on fast-forward: trees and flowers grow faster with round-the-clock light, and Norwegians try to get as much life in as possible, which means that excursions and impromptu parties and gatherings onboard the ship are much more impassioned and frequent: this season is short, so make the most of it.

Have a hankering for a trip to Tuscany but don’t want to be away from the ocean for too long?

Head to the Turks and Caicos, specifically, Providenciales — Provo for short — and you’ll get the best of both worlds at the aptly-named Tuscany on Grace Bay, a small boutique hotel tucked away from the noise and crowds of Grace Bay. One look at the exterior, and you’d be forgiven for thinking you were about to walk into a Tuscan villa.

The Tuscany is located on the northeast end of Grace Bay, and it’s the last hotel on the row so it’s quieter and more secluded than other beachfront properties. Plus, the Tuscany’s beach is actually wider than elsewhere due to an extensive beach restoration project from a few years ago.

Although there’s no restaurant on the premises, with a fully-equipped high-end kitchen in each suite you won’t miss it, since staff can stock the fridge and cupboards in advance and/or arrange for a private chef to come to you. Plus, there are plenty of restaurants within a short walk or drive, and the Tuscany’s concierge will take care of anything you’ll need.

Though The Tuscany has 30 luxury three-bedroom condos, only 12 are open to non-owners, which creates an air of exclusivity. But the hotel caters to all ages, from spreading rose petals across the threshold for a honeymooning couple to furnishing a family with five kids under 10 years old with the latest family-friendly DVDs, changing tables and toys.

When I stayed at The Tuscany, it almost felt like I was on my own private beach in Tuscany. Which, of course, is impossible in the real world.

Like the real thing, however, this Tuscany will make you feel like you’re miles away from the real world.