the last supper

On Wednesday night, Rob and I went to Naru for our last supper "out" in Barbados. We just ended up ordering take out and having leftovers Thursday and Friday night (which worked out well because I had an allergic reaction to something and didn't want to leave the house ...).

But our last supper was definitely blog worthy! Naru is a restaurant that specializes in "Caribbean cuisine, Asian Techniques, Sushi & Traditional Japanese Dishes." The seating area is right on the boardwalk by Accra beach so you can enjoy your dinner with a view. 

After ordering cocktails, a Naru Iced Tea (vodka, rum, tequila, malibu, raspberry sake, orange and pineapple juice and grenadine) for Rob and a Purple Haze (raspberry sake, dragonberry bacardi, malibu, cranberry juice and blue Curacao) for me, we decided on a couple appetizers.

We started with the Local Rabbit Gyoza, pan fried Japanese dumplings with Jalapeno/Ham compote, yuzu dressings and sweet soy. They were amazing!  The sweet soy and jalapeno was a great sweet and spicy combo! We also had the Marinated Calamari and Grilled Octopus salad with mixed lettuce, cherry tomatoes and radish with a yuzu dressing. The calamari and octopus were so tender in this salad and it was a pretty decent portion. Rob was afraid that the radish would be an overpowering flavour but it blended really well.

For mains, I went for the Marinated Yellow Fin Tuna. It was seared rare with roasted garlic mashed potato and a hoisin and tamarind vinaigrette. The sauce was so delicious I could have licked the plate. Over the last year or so I have started liking tuna sushi (my friends and I went for all you can eat almost every other Friday). However, I had never ordered tuna as a main so I was excited to try this and I definitely wasn't disappointed!

Rob had Roasted Duck with with Mu-shu pancakes. It was basically build your own duck tacos! It came with roasted duck, crispy duck skin, cabbage, apple, lettuce and some sauces. I loved the presentation and the duck that I tried had a realy nice flavour. It was funny watching Rob assemble his tacos in a nice restaurant. But try as he might to be tidy, the server still came over and cleaned up his place before dessert.

My usual go-to dessert is the one on the menu with the most chocolate. However Rob isn't the biggest chocolate fan so I end up eating most of the dessert (what a pity!) So this time we opted for a dessert that both of us would eat, a cinnamon coffee cake with warm caramel and chocolate ice cream. It was good but it left me wanting more chocolate ... guilty.

The service at Naru matched their food. Rob actually said it was the best service he had ever had and I would have to agree. I'm definitely adding Naru to my list of restaurants that I want to take my dad when he comes this Thursday!

"and on wednesdays we wear pink"

I had just planned to have lunch with Rob on Wednesday but my supervisor convinced me to take the afternoon off!! So in true Mean Girls fashion (Rob's favourite movie, shhh) I pulled out my hot pink bikini top and decided to play hookie from work. After we ate and napped, we lathered up in sunscreen and hit the beach.

I managed to try four more drinks off the Tiki Bar menu. Hmmm I think that leaves me with about 40 more drinks to try. I was trying to go down the list alphabetically but it didn't quite work out that way. One of my favourites had a few kinds of rum, peach schnapps, peach juice and mint. Interesting combo!

Once the sun sunk behind the trees we decided to head back home to shower. At this point our lunch was in our toes so we headed to Bert's Bar (the Ottawa Senators' owners have a sports bar down here!) to grab some food and catch the game. I love going to Bert's because I know I can get a good caesar (even though they don't put any "snacks" in them). And lastly, here's a snapchat from Bert's, the only picture I took!

saturdays & sunburns

Saturday morning mom and I headed to Hastings where there is a little market set up once a week. I talked about going to Hastings last weekend too. The best part about the market is the walk to the market. There is a boardwalk stretching from Accra beach all the way down to Hastings (and probably further but I've never gone past Hastings). Mom and I stopped to enjoy the view. I can't get over the colours in Barbados. Everything is so vibrant. Gorgeous.

 These pictures we took with my Joby Gorillapod tripod. It is seriously cool. I was able to set it up on a pretty uneven rock and not be concerned about my camera falling to its death. Even my mom, who thought it was a waste of money thought it was pretty neat! I used a remote as well.

We came back from the market tired and sunburnt. I guess we forgot the sunscreen. Only way to fix our silly tanlines was to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach. This time, we wore sunscreen. We rented chairs from the Tiki Hut on Accra beach, where your chairs cost you $30 Bd but you get to drink that amount at the bar. I'm thinking of making it my summer goal to try every one of the drinks on their menu. 6 down, 54 to go!

barbados, beaches and banks (beer that is)

I am in Barbados. I am in Barbados. No matter how many times I tell myself I still can't believe it.

The flight was uneventful. My dad brought me to the airport Thursday night. The trip to the airport was probably more eventful than the flight itself. There were a bunch of road closures and if anyone has driven with my dad they know that he does not deal well with detours. Long story short I thought I might die before actually getting to Barbados. BUT we made it to the hotel in one piece and passed out for a few hours before our 5:45am wakeup call.

I watched the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants during the flight. I forgot how cheesy it was and that it makes me cry every time. After that I started reading the Fault in Our Stars. And cried again. The person next to me on the plane probably thought I was psycho.

After a quick nap we were flying over Barbados. I was able to snap a quick picture with my iPhone of the coastline as we decended. Gorgeous.

Once I got to the apartment and changed, Juliana and James (my landlords), took me into town to get a Barbados cell phone. They also showed me the way to the beach, grocery store, restaurants etc. We stopped to get rotis on the way into town. I tried curried chicken and potato and loved it! After unpacking, a quick swim and a shower, I called it an early night.

I woke up early with the sun and had coffee (it was instant and gross) and eggs on my porch. I headed to the beach and walked along the boardwalk to the Hastings market where I bought some fresh melon and bananas. The market had a few produce vendors, arts and crafts, and a smooothie/juice bar. I had a fresh fruit smoothie with mangos and bananas, mmmm. I walked back only the beach and even though it was overcast, it was beautiful. I cannot believe I am actually in Barbados.

Can you see the little crabs?

After another quick stop at the grocery store, I finally headed home. Just in time too because it started to pour as I was getting home. Now I'm going to relax with my ice cold Banks Beer and hope that the sun comes out so I can go relax on the beach.