St. Kitts
Did you know that St. Kitts is actually a nickname for St. Christopher’s Island? Just a fond familiarity given by the British to another gorgeous Eastern Caribbean island - in some ways more beautiful than Tortola. Certainly, it is more modernized and shinier. It also has a medical school and a veterinary school – and the first female Governor!
Whilst there, I embarked on a St. Kitt’s cooking class. We walked off the ship to enter an air-conditioned bus with 21 of our closest friends (soon to be, anyway), and set off. We went to a beautiful beach-side cooking space, and we started by making rum cakes. They had these crazy, homemade fly shooers (kind of fan thingies) that kept most of the critters away. We created our own pineapple salsa, rice and peas (what we call beans, they call peas) and jerked chicken. They supplied the rum punch, and the day was made!
Why is it that everything tastes better when made outside and made in 80 degrees under a beautiful blue sky with a soft, ocean breeze? I don’t know – but it does. Even so, I got all the recipes, and I’m definitely going to be making everything here.
It was on my way back to the bus that I realized I didn’t have my small purse containing my passport, cash, all of my credit cards – basically, everything I need to return to America. Instead of panicking, which was my first thought, I started replaying the morning in my mind. Thinking through every bit of it, including doing my NY Times puzzles in the hammock, rushing to meet the group at 8:30 (since I slept until 7:30), and disembarking. I just had a feeling that maybe I hadn’t picked it up at all. But it was a stress-filled moment until I returned to my cabin, and found it sitting plaintively on the top shelf, mad that it had missed St. Kitts! I, however, was delighted.
It turns out that Robert Redford (owner of Sundance Ski Resort, Utah and the Founder of the Sundance Film Festival, has a mansion on St. Kitts – guess what it’s called. Brace Yourself. Sundance Ridge. My god, the imagination of this man! I also didn’t realize that his empire is called Sundance because he starred in the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Maybe that has became his whole identity and he never broke free from it!
What would my identity be if I never grew or evolved? Laura Broom and the Two Fanged Teeth (incisors grew in pointing straight out). Laura Mae and the One Long Toe (my second toe on my left foot is longer than the other.) Maybe Laura Mae Broom and the Messy Car, or Laura Wall, Tired Wife…Mommy…Daughter…Girlfriend...
Here are my new identities (that will continue to evolve as I get even Grander. Laura the Grand. Author of Grand Love Adventures. Laura the World Traveler. Laura the Kind. Laura the Bullshit Radar Detector. Laura the Strong. Laura the Gracious. Laura the Meryl Streep Impersonator. (Happened 3 times so far on this cruise). The few I will hang on to, Laura the Mom, Laura the Sister, Laura the Friend, Laura the Mother-in-Law, and Laura the Grandmother (whatever Arthur decides to call me is just fine!) Stay tuned!
