I Drank, I Ate, I Conchered.

It never crossed my mind that I would be on a cruise. Even after I paid for my half of the trip. Even after Andy and I were on the boat, sipping a very colorful drink with an umbrella, cherry, and pineapple... it still hadn't hit me. The boat's horn snapped me right out of that as we pulled away from the dock. We were on our way to the Bahamas.



The food was fantastic! All of it from crispy duck to chilled raspberry soup. I even tried escargot for the first time which was remarkable, except I got an earthy aftertaste that in hindsight I should have known was coming, so unfortunately - at the time - I really couldn't bring myself to move onto the next buttery morsel.

Also! My mofongo hunt completely bombed, but failure never tasted so good. Maybe because failure has never come to me in the form of fried conch, home made tarter sauce, slice lime, Bahamian beer, and on-the-house conch fritters. All served here:


at "Conch Fritters".

Our waitress said to really get a taste for conch and still have that fried consistency, the best way to go is the simplest - the fried conch. She still brought us some fritters so we could compare/contrast the two dishes. The fried conch was spectacular. Dressed with a light squeeze of lime and dipped into the tarter sauce sent my taste buds spinning. Even without these bells and whistles the conch was delicious, but the second I brought a dab of hot sauce into the mix was the second I was completely won over.



The texture and consistency reminded me a lot of calamari, and the batter was surprisingly light, hovering somewhere between tempura and beer batter. There was just enough for that crispy texture to compliment the chew of the conch. Adding hot sauce on the side of the fried conch brought on the same smooth sensation as getting enough butter on lobster claw meat. The tarter was fantastic; fruity, creamy, yet becomingly sharp.

The fritters were good, though I spent more attention on the fried conch dish. The spices were fantastic and so wonderfully blended. The conch taste was a bit hidden in comparison to the fried dish, but the remoulade (I'm assuming it was remoulade, it certainly tasted like it) on the side was a tangy, sweet-and-sour way to bring an extra bite to these nearly baseball sized fritters.



The trip really was beautiful. It was breath-taking to step out on the deck and see an expansive carpet of blue water; a tapestry woven with uneven patterns of lacy white foam and wandering brown-green seaweed. The weather was gorgeous, and I felt like a lazy, happy dog when it came to laying out under the sun. It's nice to be back home, looking over the pictures, enjoying the new tint to my skin, and wondering what the next adventure outside my little red door could be.

- Bon App!

Coming up this week is a review of "Peter Jackson's King Kong the Game Based on the Movie", followed by the dish that got away - my home made attempt at King Kong Mofongo.