A Look Back: Winding Up Our Week in Mustique

(Cacti grew all over the island and were quite beautiful, although one needed to watch one's step in some areas as some cacti grew like... watermelons, low on the ground.)

Our Mustique holiday, as our photographs might do best to depict, was a fabulous success. The island is beautiful, Cotton House was gorgeous and gracious, we snorkeled plentifully on often secluded beaches. It was a peaceful week. While many people on the island told us that we must come back during peak season, when there are more people holidaying on the island and so, more things to do, we enjoyed being on Mustique during the "off" season. It's easy to party in New York, or in many other cities we find ourselves for work. The restful fun we had in Mustique, however, is difficult to find just anywhere.

(David and I at the Firefly for a lovely, leisurely seafood lunch. The Firefly is a more enclosed resort than the Cotton House and far smaller -- boutique -- with only 5 rooms. It sits on a hill and overlooks the harbor.)

We did, of course, manage to party in our way, a bit, while on the island.

For one, we discovered an "exclusive" club called the Mustique Martini Club. It is a club created at the bar at Firefly, the other resort on the island. Basically, entry to the club is given to those who drink all 14 of the Firefly's martini variety within ONE YEAR. This accomplishment is then rewarded with a polo shirt with a martini glass and the words "Mustique Martini Club," thus attesting the polo owner's membership to the club. It is said that the polo shirt has been worn all over the world, from humble BBQs to some of the most elite functions (probably true, given the demographic of the people who own holiday homes on the island) -- and their photos can be seen on the hotel's website.

David and I had dined at the Firefly Restaurant a couple of times before we heard of this club. By the time we heard of it, we had only 2 days to go before our departure -- which meant, of course, we had 2 days to complete our 14 martini mission.

The truth is, a mission such as "drink 14 martinis" begins as some silly fun (i.e. "We like martinis anyway, let's see how we go") -- but by the time one realizes that, over the course of 2 trips to the Firefly, one has drank 8 of the 14 martinis already, the stakes rise higher.

A question arises:

How shall we complete the challenge and not look like drunken jerks?! (Mustique is, after all, an elegant island, where one wears "resort wear" to dinner.)

Fortunately for us, we are truly gifted martini drinkers.

Although David was ready to throw in the towel on our final visit to the Firefly, things changed when we discovered that we had one less to drink than we thought. Turned out we had drank one extra martini than we'd thought while sitting at the bar the night before and making new friends! (And this discovery explained our headaches that morning.) This meant I only had 2 more to go, David 3. So acquiring our Mustique Martini Club polo shirts turned out to be a breeze, and we were much congratulated for our efforts.

Incidentally, I think I quite impressed the older, more stuffy guests as well as the staff who serve the older, more stuffy guests, for finishing my martini journey in top form with my martini rocking petite self. Little do they know that that I wield martini glasses like a SAMURAI!

(The bartender and the martini drinker phenom.)

(David quite proud of crossing the martini finish line and getting a polo shirt.)

(Me and the "Three Amigos" of Firefly - Omar, Marlon, and Aran. I am, obviously, their Martini Princess.)

Now I shall take our polo shirts as we travel for the show, take photos of ourselves in various locations, then send them along to the Firefly website.

P.S. The "record holder" is apparently an Australian man who drank all 14 martinis in 36 minutes. They lined up all 14 on the counter and he drank them one after another.

Earlier that day, before we finalized our dreams of being part of the Mustique Martini Club, we took a day trip to the Tobago Cays. Because it is currently "off season" on Mustique, snorkeling trips off the island are difficult to arrange. The Cotton House managed organize a private boat trip for us, however, which worked out well. During the cocktail party on Tuesday (a weekly schmoozy event at the Cotton House for guests on the island as well as property owners and investors), we had befriended an American couple on their honeymoon, Neil and Lauren. They had just gotten married in Dallas, Texas, and were friendly and eager to make friends with us, who seemed to them another honeymooning young couple on the island (they are both 27 years old). They were up for a snorkeling trip, too, which worked out great for us, as we could share the cost. So that morning, we met at the Cotton House dock with our picnic baskets arranged by our respective hotels and hopped on "Love Struck," a boat captained by a man from Canouan named Kelly.

The excursion was fantastic -- and we were glad to have arranged the trip to get there. Tobago Cays is gorgeous, and it lives up to its reputation as being one of the best places in the world for snorkeling. (Check out the view from above at Wikipedia.)


(Approaching Tobago Cays -- apparently, parts of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" were filmed here.)

Upon our arrival to the Tobago Cays, we stopped at a grassy area where sea turtled reside. Unfortunately, we did not see any turtles, although we did see the largest trunk fish we have ever seen (about 3 feet long). Then we moved onto the coral reefs, which were beautiful. The reefs in the Tobago Cays are quite shallow, compared to, say, the Great Barrier Reef. But we did manage to see a couple of reef sharks, about which David was pleased.

(David in his balaclava, sea legs and the rest of sun protective gear.)

We had a lovely time with Lauren and Neil, too. We shared "how we met" stories, details of our weddings as well as vodka and rum aboard the boat. Originally, both of them are from the South -- she from Dallas, he from Atlanta -- but they now live in Chicago, so we hope to keep in touch with them and maybe catch up with them when we are in Chicago next year with the show.

We met some lovely couples on Mustique. Besides Lauren and Neil, we met an Australian journalist who lives in Brooklyn, on holiday with his New Yorker girlfriend -- she is in PR and apparently gets to travel to luxury resorts for work. They were on the island only for a few nights, and we didn't meet them properly until their last night. There was another couple, Simone and Justin, whom we met at the Firefly bar. They are British and live just outside of London. They, too, were on their honeymoon, but they were a bit older -- they have two sons, and finally tied the knot and found the time to have a honeymoon. They were lovely, too, and we had a great time chatting to them (they were a major reason why we consumed more martinis than we'd thought that one night).

(Three couples, friends over drinks: Justin, Simone, David, Tomoko, Lauren and Neil.)

And so went our week in Mustique. We could have stayed yet another entire week... but so it goes. We came back to New York rested and mellow, very much satisfied with our holiday. It was the first holiday where I took an entire week off and did minimal work -- just checking email each morning to make sure there were no disasters to be taken care of. But anything more... we were simply too far to fret about anything. We got to know some of the guests, and recognize the faces of many; we befriended many members of the staff, and were sorry we did not go to their "village" and party with them island style (we had been invited, but the party was canceled due to a thunderstorm); I learned to drive the "mule" and learned to not fear reef sharks in the water; David discovered that he loves rum in the Caribbean, although he doesn't drink rum elsewhere... it was a productive holiday week. We are already trying to figure out when we might be able to go back to Mustique or another island in the Grenadines. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

A Look Back: One Night in Barbados

(In car, en route to the airport in New York to travel to Barbados... working the "cowgirl straw hat" look.)

(David tried on the hat, too...)

David and I are back in New York after 8 days away. It has been a while since we've returned to New York from a trip that was solely for ourselves, i.e. not a work trip. This difference was nice. And while we were loathe to leave Mustique and the gorgeous white sandy beaches, we were happy to be in New York again last night in a quiet, relaxed way. We have had a vacation, indeed.

We never had the chance to post anything, photos or anecdote-wise, about Barbados, where we spent one night on our way to Mustique. So I shall step back a little and do that now.

One cannot get to Mustique without going through Barbados (well, not unless one has one's own private airplane), so we decided that we would spend one night there. We had a great time, and it turned out to be a pleasant way to break up the trip.

Barbados is not a very big country. But it's not a small island country, either, which we discovered when we arrived there and traveled through many sugar cane fields to arrive at our hotel. The Fairmont Royal Pavilion, where we spent the night, is on a strip of beach known as the Millionaire's Mile -- it's a fabulously white sandy strip of pristine blue beach, on which there are various upscale hotels. We had a gorgeous room overlooking the beach, with a little patio area. Beautiful. It was a great place to sit back, relax, unwind from our travels and get some rest.
(David with a welcome glass champagne in front of our hotel room, right on the beach.)

(David's first Caribbean tropical fruity smoothie drink.)

(Dusk, on beach just outside our room.)

On our way to the hotel, we asked our taxi driver which rum we should try in Barbados. We were instructed to drink Mount Gay Extra Old. This rum turned out to be unanimously recommended -- "You can't do better than Mount Gay Extra Old," we were told whomever we asked.

(Mount Gay Extra Old rum, on the rocks...looks and tastes more like whiskey!)

We are not rum drinkers, usually. Being culturally curious, however, we tried this Mount Gay Extra Old rum about which everyone kept telling us. When we think rum, we think sweet and fruity... but we discovered that there is a whole range of rums in this world. Mount Gay Extra Old rum is a blend of rum aged from 15 to 18 years, and does not taste at all like rum, as we think of it. It tastes more like a more aromatic whiskey. One drinks this rum as an after dinner drink, on the rocks.

(David holding his breath and taking a sip of the Mount Gay Extra Old.)

David and I don't normally drink whiskey, either, and with good reason -- it's too strong for us. Mount Gay Extra Old, which tasted like whiskey to us, had the same kind of punch, too... it took a bit of commitment to drink it on the rocks, as we were told by the locals to do...

...so how did it go?

I ended up diluting the powerful rum with my vodka martini...

...while David poured the rum into his tropical fruity drink. We did this rather stealthily, as we did not want anyone thinking we were lame American/Australian tourists. (We also had drank a bit before dinner at the welcome cocktail party, where one could order any kind of drink for free... one might imagine how we went.)

As we mentioned in an earlier blog, there was a live band that played at dinner, so David and I got to dance a bit. We weren't lame on the dance floor! I think we provided quite a "show"...

(One of numerous sugar cane fields on the island.)

David and I enjoyed Barbados, although we did not see much of it. We ate a few interesting things: We ate grilled barracuda, which I never knew one could eat -- it was delicious. And we tried a coconut bread at the airport, which was kind of reminiscent of banana bread but much more dense, hard, almost (quite heavy in its weight, could hurt someone if one flung it with enough force), not sweet but aromatic. We developed a taste for it.


We also tried a tamarind ball at the airport. This we did not care for. It's a ball of sugar granules with tamarind and other spices. Surprisingly not sweet and with an interesting, tart flavor, but we could not imagine eating a whole ball of it.

And so it went. We kicked off our Caribbean getaway with a bit of initiation into Caribbean-style treats and rum. Our rum-interest, especially, had been piqued in Barbados... which turned out to be useful, as we discovered in Mustique that rum drinks simply seem to go best on the beach, in the tropical heat!

More Snapshots of Mustique

There are these tortoises all over the island. They seem to come out at around 4:30pm and walk about the island until around 5:30pm, when they seem to go away again... interesting. One must look out for these tortoises while driving on "mules."

David found this baby tortoise on the main road and saved it from being squashed by any human vehicles.

And this is our "mule" -- we have named him "Vin Diesel" and he runs very well, climbs hills and drives through dirt roads like a champ.

David on Vin Diesel on an amazing look-out just above Obsidian Bay.

We have tried to visit a new beach every day, while making sure to log in plenty of snorkeling time. Our favorite beaches to snorkel off of are Endeavor Bay (right off our hotel grounds) and Gelliceaux. Macaroni Beach is great for splashing around -- it has fabulously blue and turquoise surf.

Here, David looks into a rock pool by Gelliceaux Bay.

With all the swimming, I have turned quite brown. I have also discovered that the limes here are wonderful -- more potent and lime-like than limes back in New York. The hotel makes marvelous margaritas, and the bar staff have come to know exactly how I like my margaritas (on the rocks, and lots of it).

Vamping at the entrance to the Coutinot House, in which we are staying. (There are 5 units in the house.)

One of the more exciting events since yesterday is that I HAVE LEARNED TO DRIVE. Well, okay, not exactly. I still have no drivers' license and I certainly do not know how to drive a car. But I HAVE learned to drive Vin Diesel. I have a great deal of go-cart experience, which I think has facilitated my learning process. My favorite roads to drive are EMPTY ones... empty dirt roads are great!

David has been the most patient teacher and I think he finds it all very amusing, my learning to drive for the first time.

Fun, fun.

Mustique FUN!

A few choice photos to visually chronicle our Mustique experience thus far:

A "welcome" towel bird and flowers on our bed upon our arrival.

David jumps to express his joy and delight at our own private deck with plunge pool over-looking the Caribbean...

...while Tomoko plays amongst flowers...


View from the Beach Cafe at the Cotton House.

A margarita on the beach...

...and a rum punch on the beach.

In search of a good snorkeling spot (we saw lobsters that time)... finding a secluded beach is simple here.

Postcard perfect beach (Lagoon Bay).

Jump for joy! at Macaroni Beach.

Gorgeous and Fabulous Mustique

David and I arrived in Mustique yesterday, after a night in Barbados. We will have to post some photos when we can (internet is a bit tricky)... but our holiday so far has been fabulous.

Barbados was fun and pretty -- we tried Mount Gay Extra Old rum, which everyone recommended to us. It tasted like whiskey. We stayed at the Fairmont and had a terrific room (photos to come), and we danced up a storm at dinner at our hotel, in the fancy dining room overlooking the ocean, as there was a live band. We caused a bit of a stir (none of the other predominantly British guests danced), and people came up to us with hand-scribbled signs that read, "10" and told us that is the score they gave us for our dancing... and we were thanked the next morning at breakfast by random people for "the entertainment." We were, clearly, a hit!

Now we are on Mustique, which is the most beautiful island we have ever been on. We took a small airplane from Barbados -- it was just us, a Dutch model and 2 pilots, the journey took 45 minutes and I did think that we might die as our plane seemed to descend rather fast and in almost perpendicular angle -- but we were fine. We received a warm welcome at the airport and were whisked away to our resort and given a glass of rum punch each, before being taken to our room. Our room is SPECTACULAR. Again, one must see the photos to believe it. It's like a luxury one bedroom apartment. Basically, the Cotton House (where we are staying) is more beautiful than it looks on the website. We have a sitting room, a walk-in closet, gorgeous four poster bed with netting, and a wrap-around balcony overlooking the Caribbean. We even have a patio just below the balcony, with our own private plunge pool, lounge chairs and umbrella. Last night, we sat by our plunge pool and looked at the stars -- truly incredible. I have never seen so many stars, and I even saw my very first shooting star!

The resort is extremely peaceful and quiet, which we enjoy. The grounds are well-kept and there is an elegant, airy quality to the place. The off -shore snorkeling is wonderful here -- we took a dip yesterday afternoon and saw many fish. Today, we are going to rent a "mule" for the remainder of our week -- no, not the animal, but a buggy. Mustique is hilly, so apparently the best way to get around is by this buggy, not by car. David is, as one might imagine, extremely excited at the prospect of buggying around the island!

So. Our holiday is off to an excellent start.

(And we made sure to buy a bottle of Grey Goose and a bottle Anejo Patron at the Duty Free in Barbados...brilliant.)

Temperature Rising

(A photo taken on my computer using the "thermal" effect... to express the heat wave, obviously.)

The heat wave is on and temperature in New York has risen as of yesterday. It's humid and hot in the city, and the sun beats down -- at the moment, it's 91 degrees Farenheit and 33 degrees Celcius (according to my the Accuweather widget on my computer). Air conditioning is a must, although I have had a difficult time balancing the air conditioning level to our comfort and liking at night.

David and I are looking forward to getting out of the city and to the Caribbean! (Where it will also be hot, but at least there are the beaches!)

Holiday Sun Protection

No, no, it's not the Blue Spider-Man. It's David Scotchford, in his sun-protection gear.

In preparation for our holiday in Mustique, where we hope to spend much of our week swimming and snorkeling, David and I have purchased sun-protective clothing. Snorkeling exposes one's body, particularly our backs, our necks, basically, our back-sides, to sun exposure (and sun reflection on the water). As David is sun sensitive, we must go to the Caribbean and approach our water activities with caution. Enter Solumbra, a company that specializes in 30+ SPF Sun Protective Clothing and Accessories.

Here, David models the Solumbra water jacket as well as trousers (or, perhaps more accurately, leggings), as well as a balaclava and hat. The wrap-around sunglasses were a free gift. I only purchased the water jacket, as I don't need the full gear, only a good bottle of sun block (being more tan-efficient than Aussie David).

**David will wear his swim trunks OVER these leggings, in case you were wondering.

I think I shall call David in his Solumbra gear the sombrero-wearing snorkeling super-hero, SOLUMBRERO.

Here David models a sun protective shirt as he looks for crime above and beyond Central Park South.

And here are his sun-protective trousers... basically, civilian wear for Solumbrero.

(He sort of slightly looks like a bee keeper, also.)

Meeting an Idol...Richard Greenberg

(Michael, Eleanor, me and Tony Award winning playwright, Richard Greenberg, on Eleanor's balcony.)

Last Friday I had the privilege of meeting Richard Greenberg, the playwright. He is a graduate of Princeton University (before my time) and was a student of Michael Goldman, so he and Eleanor occasionally have dinners with him. I have loved Richard Greenberg's plays since I studied "Three Days of Rain" in a modern drama class at Princeton. I have seen every single one of his plays that have run in New York since I've lived here. Basically, I think he is one of the most brilliant language playwrights of our time. I had never met him before, but I finally had the opportunity to do so the other night, when he came by our office before going out to dinner with Eleanor and Michael. He was lovely and witty, and I was completely ecstatic (if a bit nervous -- I tend to get extremely shy and starstruck around people whose intellect and talent I completely admire, and I nearly left the building before Richard Greenberg arrived... I am glad I mustered to courage to stay).

P.S. Eleanor reported back to me that Richard Greenberg thought I was very pretty and very smart! Woo hoo.

28th Birthday! and a beautiful night at Degustation

Monday, July 2nd, was my official 28th birthday. I say "official" because I have been blessed to have been celebrating my birthday since Friday, June 29th, when Eleanor and Michael had a birthday dinner party for me, David, Michael, Fran and Jordie (Eleanor's sister and brother in-law), Robin and James Powell, our director who was in New York for casting purposes. And on Saturday, June 30th, James generously took me and David out for a birthday brunch at Balthazar. So by the time my official date of birth came along on Monday, I'd been toasting and toasted champagne many times over.

Couple of weeks ago, David decided he'd prefer to take me to a more formal birthday dinner on Friday instead (July 6, thereby extending my birthday celebration yet further), since Monday is the start of the week and not exactly the most romantic or partying-conducive day of the week (READ: hangovers do not go over as well). On July 2nd, my birthday proper, then, I requested that we go to a mellower dinner at Degustation, an intimate and wonderful restaurant in the East Village we have come to love (and about which I have wanted to blog for some time). Degustation is an innovative "Franco-Spanish-inspired small plates" restaurant, whose chef is young and extremely talented -- Wesley Genovart is 27-years old, but has already worked at top-rated restaurants in Spain as well as New York. Wesley is also a lovely, lovely guy, who works hard and is neurotically passionate about his food. We have come to be friendly with him, in part because his restaurant is great for striking up a friendship with the chef: the restaurant seats 18 or 19 people, counter-style, around the kitchen, where he cooks every night. He recognized us the second time we came in (we tend to be recognizable as a couple, I suppose), and since then, we have had a good rapport with him. We talk to him about our work and our travels, and he talks to us about his new dishes or restaurant experiences. Through our conversations we have discovered that there are many similarities between putting up a theater production and running a restaurant, and we enjoy sharing our ideas and thoughts. And it doesn't hurt that we love his food. He is a phenomenal talent, humble and candid (he readily tells us where to go to buy wines we love at his restaurant, cheaply), and truly wants people to eat delicious and inspired dishes. And the wine list at his restaurant is superb, and everyone else at the restaurant also friendly and lovely. (So basically, you need to get yourself there if you can.)


My birthday dinner at Degustation was superb. The restaurant made us feel like VIP's, with everyone from Jack Lamb (the owner) to the waiters wishing me a happy birthday. We had a fabulous time, and the food was, as usual, excellent. We hadn't been back to Degustation for a while as we've been out of New York, and so there were several dishes on the menu that were completely new to us.

(Amazing rare grilled tuna with dried black olives...)

(David expressing his delight by pretending to be a...bunny...over a dish of soft shell crab.)

(David smelling the most incredible "cheese steak" ever... rare roasted beef, thinly sliced, piled on top of grilled bread -- bruschetta-style -- with red peppers, etc. and drizzled with some sort of Spanish cheese...genius!)

(Blowing out candles in the dessert... a nice woman sitting next to David took this candle-blowing action photo for us.)

(The freshest, fruitiest version of the "millefeuille"... this one's Spanish, called "mil hojas," or "thousand leaves.")

(A glamor/arty shot of me, by David.)

It was the perfect restaurant to celebrate my birthday proper. We loved sharing each of the dishes, meticulously plated and artfully presented, full of flavor and texture. Degustation is a brilliant restaurant and we always have a gorgeous time there, full of laughter and merriment as we share food as well as thoughts and stories, and my birthday (proper) dinner did not disappoint.

TM