Anguilla; 2012 Begins

Anguilla was awesome. Anguilla is near St Maarten. We flew to St Maarten and took a ferry from near the airport to Anguilla. Had a great time. The beaches and the food and the people were wonderful. We stayed at the Allamanda Beach Club.

The hotel is very reasonably priced and is a short walk to a beautiful beach. (Shoal Bay) We liked the hotel very mcuh. It is not fancy but does have good wi-fi and excellent satillite tv which was great for the NFL conference chamionships. Way to go Giants. It also has a very good restaurant on the grounds -- Zara's. It is in the picture above at the end of the pool. We had 2 meals at Zara's and had fish. Snapper, lobster and grouper and all superb. The chef sings while he cooks. They were very nice and let me bring a bottle of wine to dinner with no charge. Awesome.

The hotel does not have breakfast but a real treat is go about 2 miles down the road and have breakfast at Le Bon Pain. This is a small bakery run by a woman who makes amazin croissants, danish, brownies, apple tart and baguettes.

We met many interesting people each morning for breakfast. A nice couple from Toronto visiting their daughter in Med school on the island. Yes Anguilla has a med school that is affiliated with a school in Chicago. We met someone who had moved to the island from Montclair, NJ. Not sure what was my favorite item -strawberry danish, coconut danish or apple tart.

Shoal Bay is gorgeous. Great swimming and fine white sand. The color of the water speaks for itself.

Anguilla is relaxed - no traffic. They drive on the other side of the road. The people are friendly and keep up with things in the US. The follow US politics very closely and have very positive views of the US. Go figure.

Another restaurant On Da Rocks has a special every Saturday. $5 crayfish. These are small lobsters that are grilled. We ordered 6.

All sides are $5 too. We had french fries and cole slaw with beer. The island has a small selection of beer. Heineken, Carib, Corona, Coors Light, Red Stripe and Guiness export. We had Heineken. $2 for a 9 ounce bottle. I also found a Barbados lager beer in a supermarket that was the best beer we tasted.

 I also found a really good wine shop with a very good selection and fair prices. It is next to Gerauds which is another french bakery food shop. We had excellent lemon meringue tart, almond tuiles, a dense brownie and flavored meringue. All very reasonable.

We wanted to go to Hibernia which was a highly recommended restaurant. We asked the woman at our hotel to make reservations and to ask them if we could bring a bottle of wine.They said no to the surprise of the woman at the hotel. So we cancelled the reservations. I brought 2 bottles with us to the island. A bottle of 08 Chalone Estate Chardonnay and a bottle of Chablis. We had the Chalone at Zara's.

We visited the Viceroy hotel which is a new, very high end hotel on the island. A shout out to Remy. He asked me about my Rutgers hat that I was wearing.

R-- Remy. We started talking and then he gave us a tour of the hotel.

They have serious athletic facilities including a full basketball court, rock climbing wall and tennis courts. When my wife asked about ping pong, Remy took us to the ping pong table. I don't think that I have mentioned in this blog that I love ping pong and happen to be very good at it. Remy challenged me to a game and we played to 2 games like warriors. He won 1 and I won 1. However I think that he sort of let me win my game. My excuse is that I did not have my paddle. I really do need to play with my paddle.

I would definitely recommend Anguilla to beach lovers. We had not been there in 20 years and I forgot how great it can be. We went back to airport in St Maarten via Marigot. St Maarten is so busy and crowded these days that it was unbelievable. We have been to St Martin (French side) many times over the years and love the island but the contrast with Anguilla was striking.

More next time.

 Wines of the Week

Chalone Estate Chardonnay 2008  California $13 but usually cost around $23. We love this wine. Oak blends beautifully with the fruit. A favorite.
Simmonet Febvre 2010 Chablis France  $11 A good basic Chablis. Acid, minerally, a touch of fruit.
Chateau Devise d' Ardille 2009 $18 A cabernet based Bordeaux Haut Medoc. Highly rated by the WA's Neal Martin. My first 2009 Bordeaux. Enjoyed the wine. Nice fruit but I would have liked a better finish.
Chateau Guibot La Fourvieille 2001 Puisseguin St Emillon $12. A good merlot based Bordeaux, Fragrant and nice fruit. Aged well.
Bruno Giacosa Dolcetto D' Alba 2009 $18 Italy   An expensive wine from a top producer. The wine was not memorable. OK fruit but no oomph.
Montgras 2010 Sauvignon Blanc Chile $9.98 One of my bargain wines. I was really  surprised. It had good body and lots of flavor. It was not a watery wine. Check it our if you can find it. I need  to try another bottle to confirm my impression.
La Carraia Sangiovese 2009 $11 Italy Good wine. Nice fruit but somewhat dry like many Chianti 's. Sangiovese is the grape of a Chianti. Enjoyed the wine.
Calera Central Coast Pinot Noir 2009 California $20 Very highly rated. (92 by the WA) Spicey, somewhat light tasting though high in alcohol. Mouth feel was not right but enjoyed the wine. Not what I expected. Try it and let me know what you think. Calera is one the best Pinot Noir producers in California.

Til next time.

Happy New Year

Looking forward to 2012.

Christmas Day menu repeated Thanksgiving. Turkey and all of the sides. Loved it! We had a 2007 Seven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Seven Hills Vineyards Walla Walla Valley $27 from Washington state. Enjoyed it. Not a fruit bomb, good structure, nice tannins and it tasted like a cabernet. Followed it with an Italian dolcetta d' alba which was a mistake. It was much lighter and did not stand up to the cabernet.

We opened the keg of HB Oktoberfest beer and it was great. We finished it much faster than I expected. This is the way to drink beer.

We did not do a big wine swap with family at Christmas but I received a bottle of Plumpjack 2009 merlot. It has received some good ratings. Will open at a later date. I gave out a  Calera 2009 pinot noir and a Summers 2007 cabernet sauvignon. I have not tried either but I have added them to my list. They sound like excellent wines.

We did our traditional Chinatown, NY take home thing on New Year's Eve day. My son and I went to the Peking Duck House on Mott Street and bought a whole Peking duck with all of the trimmings. $45. The price has gone up over the years but it is still a bargain. We then went to NY Noodletown and bought a roast duck and spare ribs. $9 total. Great NY Noodletown is great little place on the Bowery. The prices are low and  the food great.Cash only.
We then went to Nice Green Bo Village on Bayard. for dumplings. Green Bo is Shanghai style and has new management as of late. We ordered vegetable dumplings and little pork buns.$9 total. We then went 456 on Mott Street. This is a fairly new restaurant and is Shanghai style also. The woman working there previously worked at Green Bo, a good sign since she made Green Bo hum.We ordered soup dumplings and scallion pancakes. $6 total.

We then went to Ferrara's bakery on Grand Street in Little Italy and ordered rainbow cookies(rich in marzipan), these are great cookies. Also ordered a cannoli and sfogliatelle ( crisp wheat with ricotta filling shaped like a clam). Ferrara's is not as good as it was 40 years ago but it is still good and a family tradition. Although I will never forget or forgive them for no longer selling swiss rolls and rainbow ends.

Santa gave me a bottle of 2002 Dom Perignon for Christmas. This champagne is very highly rated and is a wine we love but don't have very often. The plan  was to drink it for New Year's Eve but my wife was not feeling great so we switched to a Charles  De Cazanove brut Champagne from Reims. It was a good medium bodied wine. Good flavor and not much oak. I generally like some oak in my champagne as it adds a vanilla overtone to the wine.

I also tried this week a bottle of Moosbader Lager beer from Germany. Liked it alot. A typical flavorful but not heavy Bavarian beer. It goes down smooth.

Also tried the 2010 Deboeuf Morgon beaujolais. It was a typical beaujolais with decent body and good flavor. Not as much fruit as I expected.

Also tried the Kirkland Champagne. It was delicate with good flavor. Not the strongest bubbles.
I have noticed that I like Champagne at a warmer temperature than in the past. As with any wine, cold can mask flavors. I am guessing that maybe 45 degrees is right for Champagnes whereas most refrigerators will keep the wine at around 37 degrees.

My friend had to cancel for our paella party so we put it off for a few weeks.

Planning a trip to Anguilla in January. More on that at a later date. Anguilla has beautiful beaches and some very expensive hotels. We have picked a very reasonably priced  hotel and I found a good airfare on Continental/United. The merger has not thrilled me.

There have been a number very good wine deals over the past few weeks. Barolos continue to appear at reasonable prices. However I was disappointed this week in an attempt to locate the 06 Podere Ruggeri Corsini Barolo. After Ferraras I went across the street to DiPalo's wine shop, the place where my Italian acquaintances from my trip spoke fondly about. DiPalo is also the only place I know that has wines from Podere Ruggeri Corsini in Monforte d' Alba. We visited the "winery' on the Italian trip and spoke for some time with the owner and winemaker. DiPalo had the 04 Barolo and it was $62. The store was staffed by a bored young women who knew nothing about the wine. When I asked the price (many wines did not have a price), she had to call the boss to find out. It must be a hot selling wine. Moreover the 06 and 07 vintages should be available. Anyway it got me thinking again about becoming a wine importer so that some great wines get proper distribution. Wine importer is going on my 2012 things to do list.

Anyone catch the Honeymooners on TV the last few days. Norton!

Here's to 2011. Bring on 2012!