St. Thomas !

I was having a pool day with my friend Sean, at his house in Concord, Massachusetts. In the late afternoon, we decided it would be a good idea to go out and get some bottles of white wine and a big box of Coronas to enjoy for the rest of our evening. While we were out, we stopped at a local butcher shop and farm stand, to get ingredients to make a dinner for his Mom when she got home. We made steak on the grill and a Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad with grilled asparagus, summer squash and zucchini. Sean made a homemade balsamic dressing to go with the salad. The meal was delicious and his mom agreed. It was so good that she decided to invite me to St. Thomas with their family for the week !! This was on Tuesday night and we were off bright and early Friday morning.

It was my first time in the Caribbean and it was more stunning than any photos or videos I had seen in the past. We stayed at his family’s beautiful house at the tip of Water Point in Red Hook. We spent a week being super stressed out: waking up late, having amazing fruit salad and granola for breakfast, hanging out at the house, snorkeling, and going to lunch, the pool, and the beach at the Ritz Carlton. Ugh – we were just so busy the whole time :P It was soooo nice !!

One of the highlight from the trip was all of the fresh seafood ! I had fish almost everyday and it was so good ! One of my favorite meals was on the first night at a restaurant called Pesce. I had seared Ahi tuna with pesto mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. This was my first taste of the amazingly fresh fish that I would be enjoying all week. The tuna was cooked to perfection, still pink and raw on the inside, which gave it a great flavor and texture. Also, I really like the potatoes and thought they were a nice compliment to the fish.

Another one of my favorite parts of our trip was spending the 4^th of July in St. John. There is a huge festival there on that day as well, not celebrating Independence Day for America, but celebrating their own emancipation from Denmark funny enough. We took the ferry over at around 10 AM and posted up at a bar on the second floor terrace. From here we had a perfect view of the areas where the parade would be passing by. At about noon and 5 pineapple rums later, the festival came our way and it was AWESOME ! there were so many musical and dance performances, and just so much to look at ! At one point we even joined in on the parade and climbed up on a truck with a live ska band playing on it. It was soo fun. Later in the evening we went to a live concert with traditional Caribbean party music. Lol I don’t even know how to describe it but it was great !

All in all, an impromptu, week long getaway to the Caribbean proved to be just what I needed to help pass the time before my departure to Denmark ! It was the trip of a life time and one that I will never forget.