Sedate Sunday

Mandatory taking it easy this weekend. Breakfast this morning was the Tofu Scramble at Shoreline Bar and Grille. Much better than last time, but the side of Avocado was horrific yet again. Learned my lesson not to waste $4 on that when there are fresh Avocados being grown here as I type this...

earlier, the Mr. had enjoyed a shore dive with Coki Dive Club. Below is the Dive Shop Cat, Sadie, whom I met while waiting for him to finish. So sweet and friendly...

I thought this was an adorable little fruit stand on the road to Coki Beach, so I took a pic. Someone inside yelled, "Who say you can take a picture?!" Scared me off...

in the afternoon we went to see a replica of a Spanish sailing vessel that is currently docked in St. Thomas...

it was $10 pp to tour, and lots of folks were paying up...

personally, I didnt think it was worth it (Admiral's quarters below)...

I would have much preferred to tour the yacht next door...

Sabra Hummus with some Mediterranean Style Crisps for dinner...

a locally made Brownie for dessert...

very rich. They did a great job!

some sweet yellow flowers blossoming in the cracks of the road...

More to come.  Bye for now.

President's Day in Puerto Rico Mega Post

Took a little hop to Old San Juan today....

We got to Cafe Berlin a few minutes before they opened at 8am, and they kindly let us in...

my 'Vegan Breakfast' of Tofu Scramble, Potatoes and Bread was even better than anticipated (though Le Pain Quotidien's Tofu Scramble remains the best I ever had). Anyway, highly recommend Cafe Berlin. Great service and atmosphere...

plus lots of vegan options on the menu...

not much opens in Old San Juan before 10am, so we wandered the empty streets...

this guy pushes a wheelchair full of fruit up the street. He whistles really loud so shop keepers know he is coming and they buy fruit to start their day...

we found the Parque De Palomas where there are supposed to be tons of pigeons, but they werent up yet either...

found the the house where the Pina Colada was created...

they come out of a machine now, still were good...

found the store where you get perfectly fitted for a Panama Hat. I enjoyed all the Arts & Crafts stores in Old San Juan, there arent that many on St. Thomas. Most stores had a place for the Mr. to sit while I browsed...

then it was on to the reason I came to San Juan...

the ABC Station in St. Thomas is broadcast from Puerto Rico. Al Dente Restaurant has a commercial that runs almost every half hour if not more (see above)...

The power of advertising works, after a year and a half of watching the commercial, I got myself to Al Dente. We got to chat with the owner, Giancarlo, and we arent the only people lured in by the commercial, even though it is five years old and the food they show isnt available anymore...

the restaurant is very dark, so the pics arent so good. The Bread was fantastic...

Giancarlo helped with the ordering since we had to amend some dishes. The Bruschetta was excellent (they left off the mozzarella)...

and they made a special Pesto Primavera for me that excluded the cheese. A lovely meal, but after watching the commercial hundreds of times, I dont think anything could live up to my expectations. After lunch it was back to the airport...

a view from the ride back of some little islands between St. Thomas and Puerto Rico. Thanks for looking. Bye for now.

A Pawsitive Sunday

Marmalade on a toasted Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin for breakfast...

As part of our never ending attempt to exhaust Calvin, I signed us up for a 'Paddle With Your Pooch' activity. 

We joined twenty people and their dogs (those without pups got loaners from the Humane Society) kayaking through a Mangrove Lagoon to a little Cay....

we weren't the slowest kayakers, there were others behind us! Yay!

Upon arriving at the Cay, most everybody went for a half hour hike, but we just hung out in the water with Calvin.

It was $25 per person, of which $20 pp goes to the Humane Society. 

we found a really great stick for Calvin to fetch...

The event ended up tiring us out more than Calvin, he sat in the kayak while we paddled, but it was a memorable experience meeting all the pups and some of the wonderful Humane Society volunteers...

After all that exertion, lunch was a Veggie Burrito a Greengos...

Doubt I will be doing dinner after that. If all goes well, I will be blogging again tomorrow. Bye for now.

Pizza, Pasta and Salad

Recently tried out some new-to-me places...a cheeseless Veggie Pizza to go from Senor Pizza...Not as great as Restaurant Thirteen's Pizza, but it was pretty and they definitely did not skimp on the vegetables...

Penne Pasta with Tomatoes, Peas, Onions and Crushed Red Pepper at Cafe Amici...

the service was pretty bad (the kind where they dont write down your order, and you know they're gonna get it wrong and then they do), so that kind of spoiled the pleasure of this dish....

 

the bread was definitely good...

had a fantastic feta-less Greek Salad at Fish Tails yesterday. The Lettuce was nice and fresh, lots of high quality Olives and Tomatoes. Cant wait to go back!

saw a nice looking flower recently...

Sadie, Molly and Scrat enjoying the sun...I had nothing to do with them posing like that, it was pretty weird. Lots more to come. Bye for now.

An Extremely Lengthy Non-Food Post

Yesterday, I took a tour of Richard Branson's Necker Island. It has nothing to do with vegan food, but I thought I would share some pics just for people to get an idea of it (or just click on the link for better info)...

There is a cute little "deserted Island" adjacent to the main Island...

we didnt get to see Richard Branson, but we did meet his dog, Simone. I guess she wanders around freely, no worries about her getting lost...

there is a classy little air-conditioned gift shop to satisfy any shopaholic guests. It even accepts credit cards!

the walking tour began after the gift shop visit...below is the approach to the Flamingo Pond...

coming round the bend en route to the Pond, we passed the Bali Hi Guest House...

arriving at the Flamingo Pond, our tour guide, Gumption, detailed the figures forged into this big iron fire thing that is full of tinder. At the evening functions, a fire is lit inside and it looks cool apparently. I will never know...

Hard to see, but the figures of Branson's favorite people and things are there, including his daughters, Lemurs, Bono and below is supposed to be Mick Jagger...

next Gumption opened a fifty pound bag of Flamingo Food...

he scattered the entire bag in the pond and gradually the Flamingos made their way over to eat...

there were also White Cheeked Pintail Ducks and Scarlet Ibis...

seeing the Flamingos was the main reason I came. I have seen pics (and plastic replicas) of them my whole life, but never actually saw one in real life, so mission accomplished. Before yesterday, I never even knew Scarlet Ibis existed, so they were almost more of a pleasure to see...

then we walked about ten minutes to the area where the Tortoises hang out...

this one is eating a leaf from a Breadfruit Tree...

amazing creatures...

one last pic due to their incredible awesomeness...

next it was on to a Turtle habitat where I held a baby Red Footed Tortoise...

and Gumption showed us various rare species from around the globe...

the Turtle in the middle has a bad shell cuz it is a survivor of the 2011 fire. I wasnt aware that animals had perished in that fire, but sadly it was so...

then it was on to the Lemurs...

upon entering the enclosure we were all given treats to entice the Lemurs and everyone was taking selfies with Lemurs on their shoulders..except for me, why spoil a nice Lemur pic?

the different breeds of Lemurs are kept separated, so we got to interact with two of the three different kinds I saw there...

they were so sweet and gentle, never used their claws...

Simone was still around the dock area when we left. She got a good whiff of all my babies...

If one takes into account Richard Branson's conservation efforts, I can see that justifying the cost of staying on the Island. It is heartening to see such goodness in action. I will return to the vegan grub next post. Bye for now.