A story about lasting moments

A beautiful beach :

Mario's feet, full of mosquito bites

We are enjoying every last moment of our time here in Port-Louis, and in sunny, warm Guadeloupe. Our last trip here, the last days were marred by issues, like Mario battling a possible food poisoning, and my falling off a rather uneven sidewalk to both spray my ankle and gouge both my knees the day before the flight. This trip, we are both feeling great, happy, healthy, tanned - the only negative so far, and for most of the trip, has been the mosquitos. The little bugs are bad, but the ones in Port-Louis bite lots, suck little, but inject such a potent toxin that we are scratching for days and days and finding no relief. Forget to possibility of getting Dengue fever, the itch is the killer part of these mosquito bites! Aloe vera gel helps, as do cold showers, and now we've turned to Claritin to keep from going crazy, but the best relief is the salt water waves of the ocean. And so in between all the hiking, we are at the beach. 

Toes in the sand at La Plage du Souffleur

Lathered in sunscreen, we relax on our towels in the sand, and while Mario reads, I scribble in my journal. We watch the comings and going of other beach-goers, busloads of cruise ships daytrippers, long terms renters who reserve their spot all day with their towels, families whose kids run between it all, kicking up sand as they go. But it is nowhere near the crowd we ran into on the Sainte-Anne beach, and we always seem to find a place with some shade and a direct route to the water. Today, we get a couple of the tasty bokit sandwiches from one of the food trucks, filled with a mix of fried egg and marinated, grilled chicken, and the paper bag is filled to the brim with greasy french fries, so finger-licking good. We bake in the sun for a few hours, absorbing as much of that deliciously-warm sunshine and Vitamin D as possible, hoping to store it in our bodies and on our skin, to get us through the rest of the winter.

A fantastic creole meal :

Taking notes

Cheers!

Our Airbnb host, Carole, is very present in the North Grande-Terre tourism scene, and is always giving us suggestions of places to go, things to see or do in the area, and often more authentic than what the daytrippers are doing. She has mentioned several times this place called "Chef Tof", a table d'hôte in the same neighbourhood. It's by reservation only, one of the only places around here that is actually open at night, and just around the corner, so we can just walk there from our rental apartment. We are greeted by the resident dog, who licks our toes to say hello. Chef Tof follows, and leads us into the open air dining room. He offers us a drink and contrary to everyone else's Ti'Punch, Mario and I opt for the homemade Planteur. Chill jazzy music videos play on a large TV screen on the wall, a playlist from Youtube. 

The Planteur is very much like the one we make ourselves, with lime and guava juices, though this one seems to be infused with other citrus, too - maybe orange. Our first course arrives: a fish salad, maybe cod, maybe dorade, mixed with tomato, carrot, mayo, topped with slices of beet and a sprinkle of manioc flour. A bed of lettuce, dressing and some lime complete the dish. When I ask the chef what we are eating, he says, "A surprise! If I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?!" And he puts his fingers to his lips, as if  to hush any more questions, and scurried off joyfully into the kitchen.

Our main course comes faster than we expect, especially since we were taking our time savouring the delicious salad : For me, simmered pork in coconut milk with a hint of colombo spices, and for Mario, slow-cooked octopus, possibly with black beans. Both are served with a shredded carrot and zucchini salad, fresh tomato and a gratin of giraumon with emmental. 

In the background, Pink Martini's "Amado Mio" queues up in the playlist.

The octopus is truly the star of the entire meal, so tender from the slow-cooking(how long?) that it is melt-in-the-mouth buttery smooth. The giraumon is a close second, the nuttiness of the emmental adding a lovely depth to something as simple as a pumpkin puree. The pork is not far behind in 3rd, but all three are miles above anything we have eaten on this entire trip. To be honest, both meat components taste as though they have been simmering for days, the texture is so lovely, and the flavours so complex.

Next up on the playlist: PostModern Jukebox.

On to dessert, a small frozen ramequin containing a creamy concoction of possibly cactus pear(which we saw growing on the cliffs above the Porte d'Enfer a couple of days ago) and banana. I am only guessing, as again, this is a surprise from the chef, but it's creamy, and bright pink, and there's a little crunch from blended seeds, so both Mario and I are in agreement that this is the likely recipe. There is a syrup, or caramel, on top, just a touch, and it balances the flavour of the little dessert perfectly.

Mario observes that the chef looks like an old pirate, who worked in the galley of some ship. He sits down at a nother table and has a drink with 2 young men who came in late, and seem to know him outside of this place.

We finish up our meal with a coffee, and Chef Tof offers us a glass of aged rhum as a digestif - he does the same for everyone. With everyone served, he heads over to his playlist and switches on a microphone. The chef begins to sing karaoke! Though he does have a lovely singing voice, it's a little awkward, and so we decide this is the time to make our escape before we get ourselves ropes into another "Papi" incident. Thankfully, we can pay for our meal with a credit card, which was really our only concern of the evening. Chef Tof embraces us like old friends, wishes us luck starting our snowmobile tomorrow, adds in a token Quebecois swear and bids us a safe trip until our next visit in 2 years. We walk back to the Airbnb with a surprise doggy escort - Chef Tof's dog follows us all the way home, and we sneak inside the house before he takes notice, lest he think he is going to stay the night!