What I didn't know, when I signed up for this tour months ago, is that it would be in a morning following an MTP party and four Breeza Marinas. I set the alarm for 6:30am and, sometime during the night changed it to 7:30am, and when it went off, hit snooze twice so that I finally got up at 7:48am. (And even that was a challenge). I prepared for what I knew would be twisty-turny roads on Dominica by skipping breakfast coffee and instead drinking iced peppermint tea, and ate only fruit and cereal. By 9:15am, I was walking off of the ship and meeting up with the other members of our group, 17 in all. We were divided into two groups for the minivan ride to the home of Daria and Michael Eugene.
First, though, we drove through the Botanical Gardens that G and I have walked through in the past, and up to the Morne Bruce overlook at the top, which we've reached in the past via Jack's Walk. FINALLY! I was one of those sweet smelling and non-sweaty tourists at the top of the mountain, instead of the woman crawling on her hands and knees as she struggled to the lookout.
We left Morne Bruce and made our way back down to the coast. I must comment here about Dominica's roads. They are bad. Really bad. They are quite often one lane wide with a mountain wall on one side and a storm sewer or drop off on the other. Upon threat of being sick on, the others in the van gave me the seat of honor...the front passenger seat, and I was armed with Altoid mints and soda crackers to keep any car sickness at bay. After not too long, we turned left off the coast and headed up to Michael and Daria's home high in the mountains, with both gorgeous mountain and Caribbean Sea views.
The first floor of their house had been configured as an outdoor kitchen with a large counter around which we could all gather.
We were first greeted with passion fruit juice, and allowed some time for strolling around the beautiful grounds. This home felt a world away from Roseau, where the cruise ship docks.
Daria has herbs growing everywhere, in tubs, in the ground and even in an old wheelbarrow.
Eventually, Daria called us over to begin. First up was some education about the vegetables and herbs we were going to use in our lunch.
It's safe to say that Daria was the ultimate locavore...most of the items came directly from her own yard.
At this point, I must inject an honest confession. I am not much of a cook. I've come a long way in the past few years...for much of my marriage, when I worked long hours in an office, I would actually just dust my stove, rather than clean it. It never got dirty because it never got used. I'm slightly better now, but still stick to mostly Mexican food and Italian pastas. When you spend so many months a year in a cruise ship, it's hard to be incented to perfect your cooking skills. Dieting skills, yes. Exercise skills, for sure. Cooking skills...not so much.
But, perhaps because of just that, everything Daria showed us and demonstrated wowed me. Freshly dug ginger root. Cocoa pods. Bay leaves from a bay tree in the yard.
It was even better than watching the Barefoot Contessa (no throaty laughs) or Giada (no toothy smile) on the Food Network, because we participated too. For example, I dumped a bowl of chopped parsley and celery into a pan to make the Creole sauce for the marlin, but Ron (aka Fish man), really pulled that one together, layering the Creole sauce and marlin pieces to be sautéed.
Meanwhile, beans and rice were steaming in coconut milk on the stove, while Daria showed us how to make a pumpkin drink with lots of spices. After it was blended, it was served over ice with rum.
And, speaking of spices, did you know the red outer skin of a nutmeg is mace? News to me, but what a valuable nugget of knowledge that is!
Somewhere in this timeframe (it's starts to get a bit fuzzy here, for reasons that will quickly become obvious), Daria brought out several bottles of rum infused with various ingredients for us to sample. I went first for the lavender rum, because, well, I liked the smell, but wasn't too impressed with the taste. The rosemary rum was lovely, and the taste of the rosemary was more obvious.
While some participants built a salad and prepared grapefruit with rum for dessert, I was enlisted to slice plantains, and then dredge them in flour in preparation for being dipped in a batter and covered in shredded fresh coconut (no bags of sweetened coconut here!) and deep fried. This was my finest hour, slicing the slippery plantains after sipping rum, and then flouring them enough, but not too much. I was so proud...and lucky that I wasn't doing the subsequent deep frying. ;-).
By then, the wonderful smells were making us anxious to eat. We sat at the beautiful tables that were dressed in Dominican madras and decorated with wild ginger, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor. It was all delicious, and Daria will be emailing the recipes to us so we can reproduce the meal at home.
Right. I'll make it for our first dinner after we return home, 'cause I have cinnamon bark and fresh soursop at home, just waiting for my arrival. ;-)
But the best part: Daria's daughter's boyfriend did the dishes (I love that in a man!).
The food was too soon eaten and the fun too soon over. We made the trip back down the mountain and returned to the Emerald Princess, where I actually napped for a bit before dressing for dinner.
After a dinner with Darko, we were anxious to watch tonight's performance of production show Boogie Shoes to see if singer Janeta was feeling well enough to perform. Sadly, no, but company performance manager and dancer Astrid was once again great as her understudy, and any required choreography changes were undetectable even to us.
There was no alternative show in the Explorers Lounge tonight; the 50's Rock and Roll party is being held instead. After fuzzy water and popcorn, we returned to the cabin. I knew it would take a bit of time to prepare this post, but G is considering going back out to watch the movie Las Vegas on MUTS. We arrive at 7am in Grenada tomorrow, but we have no plans for the day.
Two days of excitement in a row are all I can handle. ;-)
Domincan Cooking Experience
Daria Eugene, Managing Director
Email: jtas@cwdom.dm