RICHARD FRISBIE :: Don't Worry - Be Happy!

There is something wonderful about being in the Caribbean. Island life is so laid back, everyone just seems to take a “Slow down, mon - life is too short to race through it” attitude. I didn’t know this about myself, but after a week in Antigua & Barbuda I think that I really could get used to living like that.

The Beach off the deck of my room at St James's Club & Villa

On a recent trip to Antigua & Barbuda it took me exactly three days to lose my uptight, New England ways and “go native”. I first noticed it the morning I went to breakfast in flip-flops. Up North I wouldn’t wear shower shoes out of the house, but here I was at St. James's Club and Villas, hyphenated in flip-flops, cut-offs and a t-shirt with a “Don’t Worry - Be Happy” message across the stained front. (Not my fault! I'd spent the previous evening in a chaise on the beach drinking Rum & Coca Cola while a steel band played. Do you know how difficult it is to drink lying down?) I though it was a big deal I’d shaved! Island life is Heaven. Hedonism, thy name is Richard!

At least my breakfast was healthy. The Rainbow Restaurant just off the St. James's Club lobby lays out a beautiful buffet every morning. First there’s a big basket of whole fruits surrounded by bowls of peeled and chopped fruit - oranges, melons, some of those delicious local “black” pineapples, plus raisins, prunes and yogurt. Past that was a “fresh squeezed” juice section with pineapple, papaya and orange. Each morning, after a plate- and glass-filling visit to the fruit section, I’d return, working further into the hot food area, by-passing the fresh muffins and croissants, and the dry cereals, until I was in sight of the omelet chef’s smiling face. While she cooked my eggs, I explored the many steam-trays of foods, asking her to point out the local items that sometimes sneak into this bastion of British/American cuisine.

Chicken Pastrami "hot dogs" for breakfast in St James's Club Rainbow Restaurant

The most unusual local dish I found in a week of such breakfasts was a rippled hot dog looking “meat” served with fried fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions. It was labeled Chicken Pastrami. The chef said it was long links of canned meat she cut up to serve with the vegetables, and definitely a common dish for the locals. The other local flavor was the bowl of  Aunt Tilly’s Hot Sauce which was principally used to Caribbeanize any of the bland Anglo fare the St. James’s Club offered.

3 photos where the birds have joined me at the table - look closely!

The hot sauce was one of the few things the birds that roamed freely on the breakfast patio wouldn’t eat. Whenever I left my table I covered my plate with my napkin to keep the birds out of my food. Once I caught one drinking from my water glass! I never saw any bird droppings, they were the neatest, housebroken little chaps, but they were always ready to snitch something off my plate if I wasn’t careful.

Another thing I noticed. All of the people cooking at The Rainbow Restaurant were female. Morning, noon and night, seven days a week, only women cooked the meals. Outside of this gated luxury resort things are decidedly different among the locals. Women are the primary cooks, but every Friday and Saturday night the men take over. Their specialty? BBQ, of course. Up and down the roads, and on the sidewalks and side yards in the villages, tarp-covered picnic tables and charcoal grills can always be seen. On Friday and Saturday nights they were “manned” by the husbands while their family and friends sat around the tables eating grilled meats and vegetables. Indoors or out, a strong sense of family prevails around the tables of Antigua.

One such night I went to the old garrison on Shirley Heights, a place with arguably the most beautiful views of any eatery in the world, to enjoy their BBQ and hear some local bands. It was a clear and beautiful evening with the sun slowly setting behind the low silhouette of Montserrat’s erupting volcano in the West. Far below, the lights of Nelson’s Dockyard in Historic English Harbour blinked on as the last of the sunlight faded. Outside of the guardhouse on Shirley Heights the light from the BBQ stations spilled out from their open-sided huts, lighting the compound. Smoke rose, mirroring the column of hot ash rising in the sunset.

The smells: hot sweat, smoke, and the pungent aromas of grilling meats and fish mingled with the sounds of energetic playing from the steel band. I had a glass of local beer, a Pilsner called Wadadli, and settled in for some of the best grilled chicken I had on the trip, served with potato salad and greens, while I enjoyed the tropical music. Ahh - life is simple and sweet when you are close enough to heaven to embrace the stars. Like I said - I think that I really could get used to living like that.

Sunset with the low silhouette of Montserrat’s erupting volcano on the left

There was another great BBQ in an equally exotic setting on the Antigua trip, one where I filmed this video - Caressing Waves on Barbuda’s “Pink” 17 Mile Beach
But that is a story for another day . . .

Antigua & Barbuda Tourism
www.antigua-barbuda.org
St. James's Club and Villas
www.stjamesclubantigua.com

Richard Frisbie, FOOD Correspondent:

RICHARD FRISBIE is published twice a month to Gather Essentials: Food. It is a food junkie's take on growing, raising, preparing and - above all else - eating food. Together we’ll explore the trends, addictions, equipment and regional specialties that make up the sometimes mundane and sometimes sublime cooking and dining experience. You can keep up with my other postings and Gather activity by joining my Gather network -- I look forward to hearing from you.

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