Take Tuesday : Favourite Dish

It's time for the weekly photo series I have been participating in, called Take Tuesday and hosted by Shakti (who no longer blogs). Today's prompt was Favourite Dish.In order to select my most favourite dish I imagined myself seated in our living room, and then hearing something hit the floor. Which plate or bowl would make me the most upset, were I to go into the kitchen and see it being picked up from the floor in tiny pieces?I cheated a bit and chose a few things that might elicit a tear if they were to break. My sadness would have nothing to do with the monetary value of the items because I didn't pay much for any of them, but rather with the level of difficulty I would have replacing it if it broke.

Souvenirs and Gifts from St. Martin

I believe that when I am a guest in someone's country, it is my duty to spend a bit of money there and buy the goods that they would like to sell! So, fulfilling this obligation, we did some shopping while on the Island of St. Martin.

And I must say, we could have done so much more, because the things they had on offer were so very nice. There was such a variety of goods, from the most luxurious designer things, to lots and lots of handmade artisan pieces.

Also the vendors made it very easy to find their goods, with many of them bringing the things to you. For example, we bought the two cute wooden puzzles from a woman who had set up a table of handmade things in the lobby of our hotel one day. And I bought the pareo from a woman who was selling beautiful things on the beach. (That same beach vendor also really wanted to braid my hair, but I was not into having that cornrow look going on!)

We also shopped while we were in the cites, checking out a jewellery store in Philipburg, and the best market ever in Marigot.

Here is what we got ...

These two wooden puzzles are gifts for some littles in our lives. I got home a little concerned that the one year old girl I bought the cat one for, might be too young for it yet, however I just googled what year old children like to play with and by chance the top of the list was 'wooden animal puzzles'! Pheww. Now I am wondering if the three year old boy we got the fish one for will be too old to enjoy it! I hope not.

Exploring St. Martin : Around our Hotel

This is the last of the vacation pictures we took in St. Martin, and they were taken around our hotel, called The Alamanda.

We don't go in for all-inclusive types of beach resorts and prefer a simple yet comfortable accommodation. We also enjoy privacy, in that it is nice to have people around for brief chats, but we are not out to really make friends while away from home. I don't mean to sound snobbish but meeting people who we will probably never see again is not high on our list of things to do, so we don't really 'join the party'.

We found the Alamanda through Tripadvisor and happy very happy there. It offered us exactly what we love in a beach holiday and well go back sometime for sure.

Food Friday : Drinks in the Tropics

I was hoping to show you some of the food we ate in St. Martin for this week's Food Friday post, but upon going through my photos, it became clear that I didn't get any pictures of us actually consuming food ... only drinks!

So while I have no pictures of what we ate, I can tell you that there was a lot of delicious fresh fish.

Our room came furnished with a little kitchenette, so a few days when we felt like eating lightly, we made snacky meals of decadent French cheeses, olives, sardines and baguettes and apricot cookies, that we ate either out on our patio or at the little round dining table in our room.

Also, our hotel included a really nice continental breakfast of fresh juice, fruit salad, croissants (including chocolate ones) and jam. And great coffee too!

Exploring St. Martin : Marigot

The beautiful colours of St. Martin continue with photos from our visit to the French city of Marigot. This time, unlike when we went to Philipsburg, we arrived in the city with an appetite, so shortly after arriving we found a cute spot with a fantastic view of the harbour to sit, eat, drink and generally soak in the ambiance. We both sat on the same side of the table so we could see the boats and watch the people walking along the boardwalk.

The restaurant we ate in is the one on the left with the beige awning in the picture below.