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Published: November 12th 2016
I'm in Heaven!
First stop on the way up was at our favourite local stone oven bakery on the Bar de Isle. Bread straight out of the oven - hot, crusty and filled with salt fish "buljolle" and washed down with a glass of sour orange drink - Couldn't have been better!We arrived to a huge surprise - a downpour of rain as we exited our plane at Hewanorra International Airport. We seemed to have forgotten that November tends to be somewhat rainy although I must confess, previous Novembers never greeted us with such a watery reception.
Anyway, on exiting Customs we loaded up the rental SUV and headed up north amidst an understandably slowed traffic flow. As anxious as we were to reach "home", we simply had to make a stop at our favourite local bakery. Located roadside, just as we started to climb the
Bar de Isle (the mountain separating east from west and between the lush valleys of
Mabouya on the east and
Cul de Sac on the west). There was a bevy of activity with several cars and vans stopping,their eager passengers converging with similar goals, as the tantalizing aroma of fresh-baked bread filled the crisp air. Bread here is always fresh and is usually completely gone before another batch is started. From boyhood days, hot fresh bread was always highly desired and I recall the constant long lines of patrons, bags in hand, jostling with others to ensure their purchase before it was all gone. Familiarly
The greatest mango on earth! The Julie.
Of the hundreds of varietes of mangoes in St. Lucia, of which I love many of the different tastes, in my books Julie is at the top of the food chain. known as
"Te te pain" because of the crusty pointed ends of the creole loaf, it is still popular to this day, although very few bakeries remain, having succumbed to the convenience of the modern supermarket and its machine formulated bread.
The food on St. Lucia never ceases to amaze me - from the sophisticated international standard cuisines, the countless great restaurants, to little roadside shacks and everything else in between. Not long after we arrived we were invited by good Swiss friends to join them and a friend over dinner. Our hostess' culinary skills were on full display, starting off with a most memorable appetizer of delicate smoked salmon and salad, setting the high standard of taste for the rest of our visit.
Aside from Gee's wonderful meals, beautiful fresh fruit and coconut water, we are enjoying each meal we have, savoring the superb and varied offerings available from the
Bread Basket Restaurant's fish lunch (either Dorado or King I believe), including the beloved macaroni and cheese, to some
local soup we couldn't resist recently just where we parked our car in downtown Castries. Watching patrons enjoying this local fare, we managed to get the last available
meal and were not disappointed with its taste.
While certainly a sad occasion attending the funeral of a good friend's son, it became a wonderful opportunity to greet scores of friends that we had not seen for a long time. The warmth and obvious delight that they expressed to both of us, made us feel special indeed and set the tone once again for a visit to Saint Lucia that never fails to tug at our heart strings.
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Kim
non-member comment
Good eating!