We'd heard raves for Tulum's food (thanks Rebecca aka SanPedroScoop.com!) so came here with high expectations, and Tulum delivered.  It's going to take two posts just to cover it all!  

Right after arriving in town and checking into the hotel, we stopped in at a little coffee shop on the main street.  Rebecca had recommended their reasonably priced cappuccino, and I hadn't had one in ages, so it was on my brain.  Yes, it was perfect at about $2 US and perked me right up after our morning of travel.  Barry ordered a tropical fresh-fruit smoothie.  Delish!

On our first evening, we walked down to El Camello, recommended by Rebecca and Joshua (who owns the Secret Garden Hotel, where we were staying).  Supposedly it had the freshest seafood in town at the best prices.  Nothing fancy, just good, honest food.  You know a place is good if it's packed, and El Camello was certainly busy, even at the early hour we like to eat.  Many of the diners were locals, another good sign.  We both had the grilled fish with refried beans, salad, fresh tortillas, chips, and a couple of Mexican beers apiece.  We walked out of there for a grand total of $300MX or about $24 US, including tip.  Wow!  

The next morning we tried a place for breakfast that had also been highly recommended by both Rebecca and Joshua -- Azafran.  We arrived around 7:30 am and were surprised to find that they didn't open until 8, but they said we could sit down and they'd serve us coffee.  They ended up taking our order after all, and we had an a delicious omelet breakfast with some wonderful grainy bread and the best coffee I've had in ages, all in a lovely garden setting that we had to ourselves.  Service was excellent.

Our first lunch was at Puro Corozon, across from the beach.  We walked there from the Tulum Maya ruins having no idea what the mileage was going to be, but it was a long and very warm walk.  Barry later calculated that we walked about three miles (excluding our earlier walk from the collectivo to the ruins and the walking through the ruins!)

By the time we got there, we were sweaty, tired, and hungry.  Joshua had told us this place had authentic Mexican food, and the menu alone made us drool.  Our timing was good as well as they had Happy Hour beginning at noon, with half-price margaritas.  Need I say more?  We decided to try the mezcal margaritas, and they were so good (and potent!), we ended up lingering there for quite some time and drinking FOUR apiece!  Not something we would usually do, but we were in full-on vacation mode!

We shared these delicious mixed veggie tacos, and Barry ordered a lovely chicken mole.  I had a "Latin Tower", described as "a tower of sweet potato, pesto cream cheese, and fresh tomatoes".  This may be Mexican, but it was certainly gourmet Mex!  The flavors were as delicious as the presentation.

For dessert we splurged on the chocolate fondue with fruit.  We were a little disappointed to receive only bananas and apples.  Pineapple would have been a great addition, and of course we would love to be here during mango season!

We can definitely recommend this excellent restaurant to anyone staying in Tulum.  It was one of our very favorites of the entire trip.  And the garden setting is as delightful as the food.

After catching a taxi back to town from the beach and sobering up, we weren't all that super hungry for dinner, but I was determined to try the #1-rated Tulum restaurant in Trip Advisor, Altamar.  They are only open for dinner and looked a bit fancy, but we didn't care; most people dress so casually in Tulum, we just went with the flow and walked right in.  Both the service and food were excellent!  Instead of going the entree route, we shared a trio of appetizers and got to try their delicious condiments.  The staff took great pride in explaining each one to us.

I'm sure the entrees would be amazing based on the deliciousness of the appetizers, but we were craving some gelato, and this way we saved room.  Next stop, gelato shop!

It was not on the level of Tutti-Frutti in Placencia but was still a yummy treat and a great way to end our first day in Tulum.

To be continued...

One of Ambergris Caye's much-beloved restaurants re-opened the day after Thanksgiving, and -- of course -- we were there.  Ens and Cheri are our neighbors, and not only that, they really know how to do barbeque right.  Although we don't eat a lot of meat under normal circumstances, when we want to indulge our inner carnivores, nothing but the Lazy Croc will do. 

This is a sign we weren't sure we'd ever see again:

They're starting out simple with their basic menu of pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and a few sides.  Prices are the same as before, and there is a choice of four sides with your meal.  A limited drink menu is included but no desserts.  They told us they might add to the menu again over time, but wanted to begin again with the basics.  Makes sense to us!  Prices are in Belize dollars (divide by two for USD), and only cash is accepted.  

They're reserving their rear deck on the pond for private bookings, but they do have tables out front, or you can carry out.  

Barry had a nice chat with Ens by the smoker -- where the magic happens.

While I talked to Cheri manning the kitchen.  She's a stellar cook!

Since we live right next door, we just brought our grub (note my "cowboy lingo"!) back home.  Barry got the Smoky Joe pulled chicken sandwich (on the left), and I got the Juicy Lucy pulled pork with coleslaw.  We both ordered BBQ baked beans for our side dish.

Let me be the first to say, they haven't missed a beat.  It was absolutely delicious, and I even broke my "no white bread" rule and ate every bit of it, just this once!  

Here are the Croc's days and hours of business.  We'll definitely be back...often!

This year Thanksgiving "went to the dogs" as Fido's, an ever-popular San Pedro restaurant, bar, and live music venue, teamed up with Saga Humane Society for a fundraiser featuring singer-songwriter Kelly McGuire.  Fido's and Kelly are both such Ambergris Caye traditions that I am embarrassed to admit we've never experienced either, so we were looking forward to a good time for a good cause, and we were amply rewarded with a unique and fun Thanksgiving evening.  I'd been asked to take photos for the Saga website, so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone by doing our own blog of the event as well.

We left home on our bikes a bit early so we could eat dinner before the Saga event really got cranking at 6pm.  Barry got our steeds safely locked to one of the huge anchors right outside Fido's on the ocean front.  Fortunately, his pinched nerve and upper back issue has finally healed up, or most of the way, and he can ride his bike again.  We're both very happy about that!

We got a table right by the sea and started with a special drink of the evening -- vodka with watermelon juice.  Yum!

Here's the menu for the special Thanksgiving dinner.  The Cochinita Pibil was tempting, but we both ordered the traditional turkey dinner, which was $40 BZ ($20 US) and also included dessert (and a rum punch, as it turned out) -- neither of which were mentioned on the menu.  So it was quite a good deal.

The dinner was delicious.  The Candied Plantains tasted very similar to candied sweet potatoes, which I love.  It was also nice to get real mashed potatoes with lumps!

These two cute felines were making the rounds and became our best friends while we were eating our dinner.  I gave them a small taste of turkey.  Some kids at the next table gave them quite a nice portion of turkey a little later, so I think they made out pretty well for the night!

As I mentioned above, the menu didn't say that a rum punch was included with our Thanksgiving special, so we drank it between the entree and dessert.  Not a problem!

Dessert was a version of Key Lime Pie that had the texture of frozen Cool Whip with added lime juice and green food coloring.  Not our favorite interpretation of the traditional island dessert, but we managed to choke it down!

After dinner, I spoke to the Saga board members and volunteers at the event, and Barry and I both started taking more photos.

Kelly McGuire was great!  Although his music had a lot of country in it (and I'm not normally a country music fan), it had an islandy flare I really liked, reminiscent of Jimmy Buffet.  Lots of songs of sailing and boats, which we appreciated given our past (we used to own a 30' sailboat), and songs mentioning Belize.  Kelly lives in Texas but is much loved here and comes to the island frequently enough that a lot of the folks in the audience knew all the words to his songs.  It's obvious that he loves Ambergris Caye as much as it loves him.  Some of his songs were upbeat and fun, and some were more touching.  The one about daddies and daughters definitely wet my eyes -- and his too, he said.  He did two great sets and spent plenty of time talking to the audience, promoting Saga, and drawing raffle tickets for great prizes.

A lot of Kelly CDs and merchandise was being sold to audience members, with a portion of the proceeds going to Saga!

Ari was working the crowd and selling lots of Saga raffle tickets.

Kelly auctioned off one of his "Boats in Belize" bags with CDs and a Boats in Belize shirt to the highest bidder.  There were several bidders, and the bag brought a high bid of $140 US, all of which Kelly donated to Saga.  Awesome!

Here are the winning bidders in the auction with Kelly!

Kelly invited all the dads with daughters in the house to get up and dance when he sang his sentimental daddies and daughters song.  Not all of these are daddies with daughters, but a few were.  There was one really young girl dancing with her mom and dad, but they were just to the right of this photo.  Really sweet!

Two of our building neighbors put in an appearance, which is pretty impressive considering that they are the only others from our building on the island right now!

And just a few more random shots from the night...

As Kelly was finishing up his second set, we took off.  It was almost 9pm after all, and these two old farts have to get their beauty sleep!  But first, a bike ride back to our condo (with our headlamps).  The taxi and golf cart traffic north of the bridge was the worst we've ever experienced heading home after a dinner out.  Maybe because it was Thanksgiving, or maybe the whole Mayan calendar fascination brought extra folks to the island, but it wasn't as much fun a ride home as usual.  Oh well, we still had a fine Thanksgiving night on the island, and Saga raised a lot of money to help the dogs and cats of San Pedro.  It's all good!  

Hope all our friends and family in the US had a very Happy Thanksgiving.  We miss you!

The other day I stopped at a small fruit stand for limes, or so I thought.  I bought a bag of four lime-sized, lime-colored looking fruits, only they were peeled.  "Okay..." I thought, "that's a little different," but that's how the oranges next to them at the stand were prepared.  In Belize we often see peeled and prepared fruit for sale, so I really didn't give it much thought.  The little boy I bought them from seemed to speak only Spanish, so he wasn't going to argue when I held up the clear plastic baggie they were in and said "I'll take these limes too", as I was already buying bananas.  He may have snickered behind my back, though!

When I got home and showed them to Barry, we quickly realized that they weren't limes.  I was sick with a cold so didn't really feel like investigating at that time, so I stuck them into the refrigerator until I felt better.  They kept well, and today, three days later, they still looked about the same as the day I bought them.  I rinsed one off and decided to give it a try.  

Hmmm...it was sour, firm, a bit grainy, definitely stringy, and tasted a lot like a plum, but not a ripe, juicy plum like I am used to in the United States.  Unlike the plums I'm used to, it got sweeter as I got closer to the seed.  And I definitely needed the dental floss after eating it -- this thing was fibrous!

I still wasn't quite sure what I'd eaten, so I took the photo above and posted it on Facebook, asking if any of my San Pedro friends knew what it was.  And not surprisingly, Rebecca (SanPedroScoop) quickly replied that it was a Golden Plum.  She also said that I should eat it with salt and pepper.  Salt and pepper?!  I guess I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it, but I'm not so sure about that part.  I promise to try it with my second one, though.

I did a little research online, but information on this fruit is not too easy to find.  I found a photo of a tree seedling, Spondias spp, that is probably the tree that bears this fruit.  This site also said they are called hogplums (maybe they are used as feed on farms?) and governors plums (I like that one better!) in addition to golden plums.  And I found a photo of golden plums growing on a tree in Ceiba Jungle Camp on the mainland of Belize.

I guess it's a good thing that these little fruits turned out not to be limes.  As with so many things here in Belize, the unfamiliar ends up turning into a new learning experience!

Today we had to ride our bikes into town twice because we bought so much produce we couldn't carry it all on the first trip!  We also spent all our cash on the first trip, but the very nice fruit-stand proprietor said that we were welcome to take all the fruit and veggies that we wanted and bring him the money later.  Wow!  Even though we are regular customers there, I was still surprised and honored that he would be so trusting.  It reminded me that we are in Belize, where small-town courtesies have not gone by the wayside, not yet.

We couldn't carry any more on our bikes anyway, so we rode back to our condo to unload and headed right back out for the second trip to get the rest.   Here's our haul:  

There are cute stone paths around the property, perfect for watching birds and butterflies from.

The paths did get a bit wet after a heavy rain one night, but they didn't take that long to drain.

There's a pretty creek with lily pads.

And the road right outside the property is great for birdwatching too since it's the perfect wood's edge environment.  We spent many an hour here.

The office/restaurant/lounge is well equipped with a bar, sitting area, and library, in addition to outdoor dining.  We loved eating meals out on the porch.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the food here is super tasty and beautiful as well.  Kate is a wonderful cook!  Continental breakfast (hot breads, butter, jam) and an excellent French press pot of coffee is included in the daily cottage rate, and a HUGE plate of fresh fruit is just an extra $10 BZ ($5 US) and worth every penny.  We got two of these every morning.  I'm sure we could have split one, but we love fruit!  There's also a hot breakfast available for $15 BZ, but we had eaten so many eggs at Mama Noots that we skipped it.

My favorite breakfast was these hot and melt-in-your-mouth English pancakes (similar to French crepes), served with raw sugar and lime.  Ian explained that these pancakes were historically made before Lent began to use up all the eggs in the kitchen.  Sure enough, a quick glance at Wikipedia under "pancake" says the same. 

And here is the other dinner we enjoyed on our last night at Hickatee.  (Our first night's dinner is documented in a previous blog post.)  It was delicious and healthy to boot.  Dessert was more of the yummy local dark chocolate drops and a shot of "Belizean Bailey's" liqueur.  We did not leave hungry!

Ian and Kate were great -- helpful, knowledgeable British expats who positively bubble over with enthusiasm for what they do and where they live.  They seem to be doing exactly what they were born to do, and we enjoyed all they had to offer and share.  From birds, to bats, to butterflies, to howlers, to plants, to spiders, and even to salamanders, there's very little about the natural world that one or both of them don't know.  This makes Hickatee such a delight for nature lovers like ourselves, and very hard to leave!

Stay tuned for blog posts on our short trip to Placencia and finally back home to Ambergris Caye.

After three great days at Mama Noots Eco Resort in Mayflower Bocawina National Park in the Stann Creek District of Belize, Friday morning, July 27, it was time to head even farther south to Punta Gorda (called "PG" by those in the know) in the Toledo District.  This would be our first visit to this district, and we were excited to see it.  From what we'd read, this is the wettest part of Belize, receiving about 160" of rain per year.  As a result, it is lush and green -- a true tropical rainforest.  

We were lucky to catch a ride to the bus terminal in Dangriga with Shacka (sorry if I butchered that spelling!), Mama Noots' manager Liz's spouse, so we avoided a repeat of the 4+ mile hike to the road, plus any risk that the bus would not stop for us along the Southern Highway.  It was a hot and sunny morning, so we were very thankful for the lift.

Our bus ride was three and a half hours, and that is plenty of time to spend in an uncomfortable school bus seat in a crowded bus.  We were very glad to arrive in PG, which is situated right along the Caribbean Sea, much like San Pedro.  Unlike San Pedro, however, PG is not a "tourist town".  This meant less traffic, which is always a good thing. 

We had reservations for three nights at Hickatee Cottages southwest of town, but we weren't sure exactly how to get there.  As it turns out, Kate, one of the proprietors, had sent me a lovely map via email, but since I didn't have my laptop with me a couple of days earlier, I hadn't gotten it.  I called and spoke to Ian, her husband, and he gave me directions over the phone.  It was only a couple of miles, so even though he suggested we could catch a cab, we decided to walk it.  We'd been sitting most of the day, so walking felt good, and it wasn't nearly so far as our 4.2-mile hike into Mama Noots.

After about 2.5 miles of walking, approximately two miles of which was on dirt roads outside of town, we arrived at Hickatee Cottages.

This place is a real gem in the jungle!  Since it was not rented, Kate gave us an upgrade from the small "Hickatee Den" we'd booked for $75 US/night to the Wilby Cottage (normally $100 US/night), giving us more space and privacy.  From their website, I learned that this cottage was recently completed, and it was absolutely perfect and quite upscale, with wood floors; and soothing turquoise, white, and wood decor inside.  There was plenty of space for us, two closet areas, a large and comfortable bathroom, ceiling fans, and a desk and futon.  This accommodation exceeded our expectations in every way!  There was no air-conditioning, but it was cool enough under the trees and with the ceiling fans that we never missed it.

When Kate's husband Ian got back from town, he called us out to the garden to see a troup of five howler monkeys who were right above us in the trees.  How exciting!  Although it looks like one of the monkeys in the photo is howling, he actually didn't make a sound.

The food (breakfasts and dinners) at Hickatee is all made by Kate, and she is a brilliant cook.  Ian takes orders and serves the food, and offers up interesting and intelligent conversation at the same time.  We thoroughly enjoyed our meals there.  The only slight drawback (for us) is that dinner is served at a set time, 7:30 pm, which is late by our standards.  Barry tends to get heartburn if he eats too late and then goes to bed not long after, so we would have preferred an earlier dinner time, but it was worth a little inconvenience to eat such wonderful food, and so nice being right on the beautiful and serene premises rather than having to take another trip to and from town.

Meals were served on the porch of this attractive office/bar building.

Here are photos of our first dinner, which we inhaled after our busy day of travel.

Dessert was organic chocolate drops made right in the Toledo district, and complimentary chocolate liqueur.  Now that's my kinda dessert!

Stay tuned in future days for more on Hickatee Cottages, Punta Gorda, and the Toledo District...

As I mentioned in our first post on this trip back to Mayflower Bocawina National Park (and points south to come -- stay tuned) in Belize, we stayed at Mama Noots Eco Resort right in the park for three nights.  In the first post, I shared photos of the authentic cabana we stayed in, so in this post, I wanted to share additional photos of the facilities, grounds, people, and wonderful food we were served over the three-day period.

Mama Noots is entirely off the grid and generates its own electricity through solar panels.  A back-up generator is also utilized when the sun isn't shining or additional electricity is needed.  

Here are some shots from around the property.  It's absolutely gorgeous, with hummingbirds buzzing about, brightly colored butterflies flitting, and beautiful foliage and flowers everywhere.

Here's the final platform for the zip-line.  We enjoyed it for bird watching and checking out the view.

This is a Great Kiskadee nest.  It was behind our cabana, and we could watch the male and female coming and going from the nest.  They had a favorite branch right outside one of our windows where they would sit and sing and call, and then fly into and out of the nest.  

On our second full day at Mama Noots, we tried to hike down the road to the Bocawina Falls trail, but unfortunately, the road was just too muddy (it is rainy season in Belize) to make it in.  We had already hiked to these falls in June, so we were not too disappointed.  The photos below are actually not the worst part of the road; unfortunately we didn't get a photo of the mud pit all the way across that finally stopped us in our tracks.

Here's the restaurant/bar where we ate all the delicious meals.  Since we were the only guests, we were usually the only ones here, but sometimes a few of the workers were eating as well.  The restaurant is open to the public for lunch, which is a great option after a hike in the park or run on the zip-line.  You won't go home hungry!

Ms. Marci cooked us some absolutely delicious food.  I don't think there's anything this sweet lady can't make!

Here are some of the great meals we had at Mama Noots.  Ms. Marci made sure we never went away hungry!

Last, but certainly not least, the hostess with the mostest, Mama Noots manager Liz made sure we were comfortable and happy.  She's been managing the resort since January and seems to be making a lot of positive changes.  We both give Mama Noots a big thumbs up!

Stay tuned for our continuing adventures to Punta Gorda in the Toledo District of southern Belize!

Since failing to reach the top of Antelope Falls in June due to a tight time schedule, we were determined to get back to Mayflower Bocawina National Park, near the villages of Silk Grass and Hopkins in the Stann Creek District, as soon as possible to finish the hike.  We also wanted to visit the town of Punta Gorda in the Toledo District of southern Belize for the first time.  So we decided to combine both goals into a week-long adventure.

On our first trip to the park, which we got to via taxi from Hopkins, we'd discovered an eco-resort right within the confines of the park, Mama Noot's.  We hadn't read about it in any of our resources prior to visiting the park, but once we found it, we knew it would be a much more convenient place to stay to hike the falls as well as indulge in our passion for birding.  So, we booked three nights to allow plenty of time for hiking, birding, exploring, and relaxing.  There is also a new zip-line onsite, but we didn't take advantage of it.  It looked like fun, but would have been an additional expense, and we really preferred the hiking and birdwatching.

We took off from Ambergris Caye on Tuesday, July 24.  We caught an early-morning water taxi into San Pedro, dropped Paisley off at Pampered Paws to board for the week, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Lily's Treasure Chest, since we had some time before the ferry to Belize City departed.  

We've learned while traveling this summer that while the summer months are slow season in Belize for tourists from the US, Canada, and Europe; this is the time when Belizeans as well as other Central Americans travel, since the children are out of school and bargains are plentiful.  As a result, the transportation options most-used by locals, ferries and buses, are packed.  Today was no exception.  Both the ferry and buses were very crowded, and our final leg, a bus from the town of Dangriga to the park turnoff was standing room only.  We were not able to sit together, and Barry was forced to stand way in the back.  Practically the entire aisle was filled with standing passengers.  

As you can see on the sign for Mama Noot's, it is 4.2 miles in on the unpaved road, and the bus doesn't go in.  We could have hired a taxi in Dangriga, but we figured the hike in wouldn't kill us after so much time seated in ferries and buses, and we're trying to keep our travel as frugal as possible.  Times like these are why we travel with backpacks rather than rolling suitcases in Belize!  It was a beautiful hike with no houses at all along the road, just green as far as the eyes could see.

As we walked down the road, we met the manager of Mama Noot's, Liz, as she was heading the other way into town in an SUV.  She offered us a ride, but we were within a mile at that point, so decided to forge onwards.  Before reaching Mama Noot's, we entered park land.

As we neared Mama Noot's, one of the workers met us on the road and walked us the rest of the way in to the resort, and Ms. Marci, who does all the cooking in the restaurant there, showed us our cabana.  We had requested a regular "Longhouse" room since the summer rate was only $39US, but since those rooms were currently under renovation, we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a larger cabana.  Since it is low season for tourism, we were the only guests at the resort for the three nights we were here, although there were zip-line workers staying in the larger cabana close to ours.

The cabana was very Belizean with tiled floors, a thatch roof, and screened windows all around.  It was definitely more rustic than most places we've stayed, but charming.  Inside there were two sleeping areas, each with a queen bed, a large entry area, and a bathroom with tiled shower.  The sleeping area had a screened porch feel; there were curtains for the windows but not all had slats to close.  The heavy overhanging thatch roof kept rain from coming in, however.

Meals were served in a large dining hall (photos later).  Before our first dinner, we chatted with Liz, who brought us a beer, salad, and some of Ms. Marci's delicious home-baked bread.  We were starved by this time, since we'd had only snacks for lunch, so it sure went down easy.  

We had Belizean pork chops, rice, and veggies for dinner, followed by a slice of key lime pie.  Yum!  We definitely did not leave hungry, and the food made the long hike (and day of sometimes uncomfortable travel) all worthwhile.

Stay tuned to future days' blog posts for hike reports and photos (see whether we made it to the top of Antelope Falls this time!) and more on Mama Noot's.  Also coming up:  Visiting Punta Gorda and the Toledo District, Hickatee Cottages, and a brief return to Placencia....

Taking a break from our frenetic pace of activities, I wanted to do a post highlighting the wonderful dinners we had at the Barracuda Bar & Grill right at Beaches & Dreams where we were staying near Hopkins Village, Belize.  As I mentioned in the first post about this trip, we found out that the restaurant was officially closing this week so the proprietors and chefs, Tony and Angela, could take a break (they will re-open in October).  However, we weren't too late to attend a tapas party at the restaurant on Wednesday night, their last official night open before their break.  It was a fundraiser for the Hopkins Belize Humane Society.  Tapas would be even better than a regular dinner in some ways as we'd get to try 12 different dishes, and all food proceeds would go directly to the HBHS.  Perfect!

We got a great table with stunning view of the beach.  Seated with us were Doug and Jeanette.  Doug, who lives in Florida, is a frequent visitor to Hopkins, where he's developing some vacation cabins along the Sittee River.  Jeanette, a British expat, is a Hopkins resident and owns a cute little shop in False Sittee Point that seems to offer everything from tours to Belikins.  They were fun to talk to as we noshed on some delicious and creative cuisine.  

The tapas were brought out in courses -- what a fun way to eat and enjoy so many different dishes.  There was one serving for each person at the table; that's why some of the photos show four portions of each.

My favorites of the savory tapas were the fried calamari (loved the crunchy cornmeal in the batter) and the Beef Wellington bites.  I am a sucker for anything in pastry!

Next came Angela's amazing dessert trilogy.  They were all delicious, but the Chocolate Pecan Caramel Squares were the favorite at our table.  Also served were a creamy Coconut Flan and a lip-smacking White Chocolate Grand Marnier Cheesecake with cherries.  

It was plenty of food, and for just $35 BZD ($17.50 US) per person, a great deal too!

The next night, Thursday, Tony had promised to cook for Barry and me since the restaurant was closed, and I'd been so disappointed when I found out we wouldn't be able to order off the menu.  So, we had a private meal -- what a treat!

We started with an avocado/rice appetizer that was really tasty and beautifully presented.

In addition to the great food, the view wasn't bad either.  The wind had really kicked up this afternoon, so the sea was quite choppy.

Our entree was mixed seafood pasta (fish, shrimp, and lobster) with a side of cauliflower and carrots.  It was absolutely delicious, especially when paired with a glass of Pinot Grigio.  We hadn't had many vegetables since getting to Hopkins, so we were happy to get some.  Tony and Angela grow their own herbs for use in cooking and for garnishes, and this basil was just beautiful.

We asked Angela if there were any of the delicious chocolate squares from the tapas dinner left over that we could have for dessert.  There wasn't much, she said, but she was able serve us a small square each with a bit of vanilla ice cream.  It was a wonderful way to top off a great meal.

We certainly appreciate Tony and Angela's time and trouble in serving us when the restaurant was actually closed.  We hope to get back during their regular season sometime as the menu looked great, and we already know that they are both very talented chefs!