Last Meal Followers

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Jewish Italian Aruban ‘JIA’

Jewish by birth
Italian by association.
and Aruban because that is where she calls home.

There is no place like home…. there is no place like home…. THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME! Especially when you home is an island surrounded by clear blue water, beautiful beaches, and it’s always 82 degrees outside. 100,000 individuals are lucky enough to enjoy this 14 mile long by 6 mile wide paradise all year round – so who makes the crazy decision to leave – the ‘JIA’ does. What is also crazy and incomprehensible is how many people always say that they will take a trip back with her, for the full tour of the island and its entire splendor, and then never get around to taking her up on the offer – there in lies the basis of stupidity.

The cuisine of Aruba is a melting pot of Dutch, Latin American, and Caribbean dishes inspired by the wonders of what the surrounding sea can supply. Picture yourself under the tree pictured above enjoying JIA's last meal - light breeze, toes in the sand, no boss over your shoulder, no computer screens....

Appetizer: Escargot and grilled conch, straight out of the sea, in an olive oil and garlic sauce.

Main Course: Filet mignon (medium), potatoes au gratin, and grilled asparagus.

Desert : Quesillo - the Aruban version of creme brulee with out the hard sugar topping (recipe to follow shortly)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

When I think of the best of the islands, escargot & fillet don't exactly come to mind. I can understand why she came back to the mainland.

The conch sounds good, but I'm going with a grilled spiney lobster that was caught this morning. And of course, some of the locally distilled dark rum.