Food

No seafarer ever forgets their first approach to Saint Lucia on a superyacht charter: dramatic tree-veiled peaks rise above turquoise waters, creating a truly breathtaking spectacle. Scenic and pristine, Saint Lucia is one of the most magnificent Caribbean yacht charter destinations, offering sugar-white beaches that are bordered by thick tropical rainforests. As the island was undamaged during the hurricane season, Saint Lucia offers a superb luxury yachting haven for the winter of 2017/18.

A Caribbean Dream: Waterfalls, Coral Reefs, and Powder-Soft Beaches

On a Windward Islands yacht charter in Saint Lucia your charter party can explore stunning waterfalls hidden deep in the rainforest, and bathe in mineral rich pools of ethereal blues. Toraille Waterfall is one such spot; gushing water showers bathers in a flora-filled hollow.

Spend happy days lazing about on the island’s spectacular beaches, reading a book in a hammock, or swimming by your chartered superyacht. There is an abundance of picturesque beaches from which to choose in Saint Lucia: Grand Anse Saint Lucia is alluringly deserted and attracts plenty of turtles, while Malgretoute beach enjoys crystal clear water and a stunning backdrop of the forested Pitons.

If you’re in the mood for snorkelling or diving, Anse l’Ivrogne offers a magnificent drop-off of more than 2,000 feet just offshore, while Anse Cochon Beach also has great marine life and is only accessible by boat. Fishing enthusiasts will be in heaven in Saint Lucia, with world-class fishing in the deep waters just off the coast.

Jungle adventures also await charter parties in Saint Lucia. The emerald isle offers zip lining through the canopy, a rainforest tram ride, or even quad biking experiences through the mountains, villages, and banana plantations that dot the island. No Saint Lucia yacht charter would be complete without a visit to La Soufriere volcano – a dormant volcano where you can drive through the crater or bathe in the nearby mud pools, which are known for their therapeutic qualities.

When your adventuring is done, it’s time to return to the beautiful Rodney Bay Marina or Marigot Bay Marina to enjoy the refined pleasures of Saint Lucia.

Saint Lucia’s Food and Cocktail Scene

Saint Lucia’s food scene is a melting pot of international influences that come together to create a unique cuisine.

On charter you might like to dine by the beach at the pretty village of Marigot, or enjoy one of the tiny waterfront bars that line Gros Inlet. If you’re looking for an elegant affair, The Cliff at Cap offers a stunning cliff-top bar for evening cocktails, and a fine dining restaurant with superb views.

Rainforest Hideaway is also one of the island’s culinary highlights. Here, you’ll dine at tables on the deck over the water, while live jazz music floats on the warm night air. Dasheene, meanwhile, offers wonderful views and upmarket local dishes, while Boucan is the most innovative restaurant on Saint Lucia, with an upscale menu that is inspired by the local cocoa plant.

To finish the evening, try Elena’s ice-cream parlour near Rodney Bay Marina, or head to the lively street party that is held every week at Gros Islet, where people dance in the streets to the sound of a steel band and the smell of barbequed food fills the air.

Whether you’re looking for a blissful beach escape, jungle fun, or delicious dining, Saint Lucia is the perfect Caribbean yacht charter destination. And with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines just nearby, you can easily include the stunning islands of Bequia, Mustique, and Saint Vincent on your Saint Lucia yacht charter itinerary.

A Caribbean yacht charter in Saint Lucia is the epitome of luxurious seafaring.

Breakups are painful, whether you see them coming or not.  We’ve all helped others through these times but when it is you, it can be hard to remember your own advice.  One of the tops ways that we fail ourselves can often be with our diet – so how can you make sure you eat healthily and look after yourself after a breakup?

Breakup with bad habits

As you are at a crossroads of sorts due to the end of the relationship, it can also be a good time to kick and bad food habits you have picked up.  Eating too many takeaways, too much fatty food, drinking too much, all of these can be habits that we fall into and that don’t help our body.  By getting rid of some of these habits and cleansing our bodies, we can also do the same with our minds and this helps us to heal after the breakup.

Eat foods that lift your mood

One of the biggest problems after a breakup can be low mood – feeling depressed and sad.  But foods can actually help by naturally boosting your mood and helping you overcome these feelings.  Try to eat foods that boost your mood naturally such as:

• Salmon – source of energy-boosting omega-3 fatty acids that make the brain work well
• Bananas – give you potassium and Vitamin B that gives you energy and helps you do more
• Coconut – source of triglycerides, a kind of fat that turns to energy and boost you
• Goji berries – add these to a smoothie to help with a healthy mood and sharpen the mind

Food and exercise

If you think that the breakup might not be final, you may want to work on keeping yourself in good shape.  This is just one of the ways you can deal with the breakup – check this website on breakups for more tips.  You can also look at eating the right foods to give you the energy to try a new type of exercise – maybe your ex was a jogger, but you never really enjoyed it.  So why not take on yoga or Pilates instead?  Eating the right food is key to giving yourself plenty of energy to try these things.

Try something different

You can also try something different in the kitchen now you are on your own.  Maybe your ex didn’t like spicy food, but you always wanted to try making your own curries.  Or maybe they insisted on plain dishes where you want to try the alternative recipes.  Make meals fun by eating what you want to eat, no compromises.

Some people eat to live and foodies live to eat. There is nothing that makes a foodie happier than trying out variety of foods and enjoying every morsel of their food.

It’s not just us food bloggers like myself and Hungry Harriet that do this. Here are 5 reasons why you should call yourself a foodie with utmost pride;

1. You have a great understanding about food

There are people who will have just about anything for a meal, and then there are foodies, who relish each meal and are always looking for new things to try out. Your taste buds are always active and you have a great understanding of every ingredient in your food.

2. You know the best places to eat

Foodies try about anything and don’t hesitate going out of their comfort zone, trying out new places to eat at, which is you have a good eye for some of the best hotels and restaurants in town

3. You are highly trusted with your choice

Because of your reputation as a foodie, people will know you will choose the best of places to eat which is why, when you pick out a place to eat, your friends and family blindly trust your choice

4. You are probably a great cook

Being a foodie is not just about eating, it is also about enjoying the whole process of cooking.  You love experimenting in your kitchen and the outcome of these experiments can be some of the most delicious dishes that people drool on.

5. Food cheers you up like nothing else

Foodies recover from a rough day like no one else. All you have to do is, take away your favorite food from your favorite restaurant and every bite of the food acts as a stress buster for you.

Well, now you know why being foodie is the best thing ever.  So, don’t shy away from saying that you are a proud and a passionate foodie.  However, there is one thing that foodies dislike, and that is to wait for their order to arrive. Play bingo games on GameVillage, one of the best bingo sites so you don’t have to get bored as you wait for your delicious meal.

Under the watchful eye of Head Chef Tim MacDonald, the galley on-board M/Y ELIXIR runs with military precision and is powered by a passion for culinary exploration. Chef and guests alike favour healthy cuisine, with the finest and freshest ingredients used to make innovative dishes. We spoke to Chef MacDonald to find out more about his favourite culinary practices and his experiences on-board M/Y ELIXIR – a stunning 55.0m luxury yacht for charter.

What is your favourite food to prepare for guests?

For yacht chefs, it is important to remember the golden rule: cook what the clients would like, not what you want to cook. But my favourite food to prepare for guests would be a dish from the macrobiotic menu that I have developed on M/Y ELIXIR. Macrobiotic cuisine comprises lots of power grains, nuts, seeds, seaweeds and fruits. As well as this, we prepare lots of seafood, salads, and pasta dishes in a buffet style; dishes such as sushi and sashimi bridges, seafood towers, carrot and beluga, and roasted vegetable salads are particularly popular among guests. I like to cook with locally sourced and organically grown produce – especially concerning seafood. Regardless of the itinerary and country, I am able to offer clients a healthy eating plan while on-board.

A few more of my favourite dishes to eat and prepare are the Australian salads or pressed salads that were all the rage in the 1980s in Sydney: smoked quail, avocado and BBQ peach or Andrew Blake’s sesame prawn salad with avocado and mango. These two are typical salads that I still make today for guests on any itinerary. I like to place a special emphasis on the food’s presentation: these bright, vibrant dishes are very fresh to the eye and are very healthy to eat.

In your opinion, what are the best destinations for food?

I love Italy. While in Sardinia recently, I was offered two local pastas to serve to guests by our provisioner. One was a simple mortadella and pistachio ravioli, and the other was a local hybrid between a Russian varenyky and ravioli, made from buckwheat flour. I was also given walnut, rosemary and cheese culurgiones, which are not typical in other regions, and truffled potato. Each of the foods does not possess a huge wow-factor, but does offer something authentic and delicious. I like experimenting with new ingredients; I am a product of my industry.

If I was to use my ceviche dish as an example, it is best prepared in Antigua – one of my old cruising grounds. In Antigua, you are forced to cook local but things have come a long way since the past. There are a few farms and plantations that are now selling produce. A local American lady even grows a smaller version of Koppet Kress products. Local wahoo and mahi-mahi fish can be found on the docks every evening. Ceviche of mahi-mahi with local avocado and grapefruits – fresh, acidic and pleasing to the eye, it’s a real crowd favourite. It is best enjoyed in true Caribbean fashion – for lunch at anchor. Simply put, all fresh ingredients are diced into edible chunks and marinated for about 4 hours before being freshened by local coriander, red onion and the typical spices of the Caribbean. The salad catches the eye if served with a wheatberry, roasted vegetable and herb salad.

Which are the best sources for ingredients?

The best place to buy ingredients is at local markets. All Captains like this as it saves money and the most difficult guests insist on this. But in reality, we know it’s just not possible. Try telling the sole chef on a busy Mediterranean yacht charter that they have to walk up to the hill and purchase daily ingredients and haul them back, before preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for guests and crew. It’s just not going to happen.

The provisioner is king! I’ve had a relationship with Vivian Goldsmith from All Services now for 10 years. This season, the Van Gorsel Bros up in Holland have been the key to M/Y ELIXIR’s culinary success. With access to the world’s finest provisions, hot houses, meats and seafood, they ensure we are fully stocked with the best produce.

Our initial order of the seasons is stocked before set off. As we sail, a second local provisioner is used to purchase seafood from the sea, not the tank. This is another core principal on-board M/Y ELIXIR: seafood is all caught locally from the ocean. There is such a big difference between a lobster caught from the sea and one taken from the tank. The local supplier can also recommend such items as the ravioli that was sourced in Olbia.

What are some of the special meals that you prepare for guests?

A few years ago, I won the Antigua Yacht Show’s Chef Competition with my ice sculpture tower dish, called Aki-Maki. It comprises a swan ice sculpture that’s surrounded by fresh seafood. Culinary simplicity. The charter guests love her! I also make a multi-tiered cake for special occasions, which never fails to please. Multi-storeys of polystyrene fakes are topped by one real chocolate cake, dressed in berries, flowers, glitter and gold. Although, on M/Y ELIXIR everything is of the freshest and highest quality, meaning every dish is somewhat special.

The Philippines is an archipelago, rich in history, beautiful scenic spots, kind and cheerful people, and iconic foods! No wonder, many tourists fall in love with the country easily.

If you are watching Travel Channel’s “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern,” you may have seen how Andrew Zimmern excitedly tasted balut (duck embryo), which Philippines is famous for. According to the American television personality, food writer and chef, who visited the Philippines in 2014, the Filipino food would be the next big thing in the international cuisine.

Filipino foods may lack attractive presentations that Korean and Japanese foods offer, but definitely it is one of the best when it comes to flavor. Forget about balut or lechon (roasted pig) that you often see on the television.

If you are coming to the Philippines for the first time, you shouldn’t miss the top 6 must-try dishes of the country:

Food# 1: Kare-kare

Kare-kare is one of the well loved dishes by the locals as well as foreigners. It is the second most popular dish next to Philippine’s Adobo. The dish is a stew with rich, savory peanut sauce or ground peanuts, oxtail, calves feet, beef stew meat, pork hocks, pig feet and offal or tripe.

The stew can be composed of vegetables or seafoods, instead of meat, such as mussels, squid and prawns. Kare-kare is a complete meal because it also has vegetables, including eggplant, asparagus beans, Chinese cabbage, daikon and green beans. The dish is eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste) that can be added with chili.

Food# 2: Halo-halo

Halo-halo (mixed together) is a favorite dessert of the Filipinos made of shaved ice, various sweets, including gulaman (agar jelly), sweetened banana and then topped with ube (yam), leche flan, or ice cream and evaporated milk. Sometimes, it is also mixed with boiled sweetened chickpeas, sweetened kidney beans, sugar palm fruit (kaong) and coconut sport (macapuno). Sugar is also added to the dessert and placed in a tall glass or a large bowl.

Food# 3: Pork Sisig

Pork sisig is another signature Filipino food that is so popular in bars and restaurants throughout the country. Zimmern once touted the dish as “one of his favorite dishes.” It is made from chopped pig’s face, pig’s ears and chicken liver. The dish originated in Pampanga (province) and is seasoned with chili peppers, calamansi (calamondin), topped with sunny side up egg, and served in a sizzling iron plate.

Food# 4: Sinigang

Sinigang is a very popular Filipino stew or soup that has a unique savory and sour taste. It is almost similar to the Malaysian dish called Singgang.

The stew is one of the favorites of the Filipino families. The original version of sinigang is cooked with tamarind, giving it a one-of-a-kind sour taste.

Sinigang is called a one-pot meal because it is complete with the main ingredient that can be pork or beef or seafoods, tamarind, tomatoes, vegetables, such as okra, water spinach (kangkóng), white radish (labanós), taro corms (gabi), yardlong beans (sitaw) and eggplant (talóng). It is often garnished with long, green peppers to add spice.

There are several variations of sinigang, including: sinigang sa miso, sinigang sa mangga (unripe mango), sinigang sa bayabas (guava), sinigang sa kalamansi (lemon), sinigang na isda (fish), sinigang na baka (beef), sinigang na baboy (pork), sinigang na hipon (shrimps) and sinampalukang manok (chicken with tamarind).

Food# 5: Puto at Dinuguan

If you’re new to the country, you shouldn’t miss puto (rice cake) and dinuguan. Dinuguan,often prepared during fiestas is a flavorful stew cooked with pork or pork offal, such as kidneys, lungs, heart, snout, intestines and ears. It is mixed with the gravy of the pig’s blood, vinegar, garlic and chili. The dish is often eaten with puto.

Food# 6: Adobo

Adobo compared to other Filipino dishes is a dish that has reached its popularity in the international scene. It is the most iconic dish of the Philippine cuisine. The word adobo came from the Spanish word adobar that means “to marinate.”

Adobo is made of pork or chicken or both and marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, black peppercorn  and bay leaf. The dish is so popular that it is cooked even by foreigners.

Marie Sandoval is a chef, certified food lover and food blogger. Her passion in cooking is seen in her several recipe books that she herself has written. Aside from cooking, Marie loves traveling and discovering different cuisines, she is also a life coach. Visit the Official site here.