The destruction that storms wrought
The upper picture is a view from our room when we came to this same hotel eight years back. You can see the structure jutting out into the water with pavement on top. We would go to the edge and watch the high waves.
Then Hurricane Irma came in 2017. Caused over a billion dollars of damage to the island.
The bottom picture is what remains of that structure as I can see from my room today.
Early morning view from the room
Clear view of Fort San Felipe and downtown San Juan from the air
Trying to escape Atlanta cold one more time
One upside of restarting pen friendships
From the bartender’s corner – Baja Gold
This is one more drink from the book of cocktails and trivia that Natasha gifted me. This is Tequila, mango juice, Agave nectar and lime. The original recipe called for pineapple juice but I am not a big fan of pineapple juice. Somehow, that particular acid does not sit very well in my mouth.
The trivia mentioned for this drink is interesting.
“In 1669, The German Alchemist Hennig Brand, after noting that gold and urine were similar in color, developed the belief that he could distill the precious metal from it. So, he started collecting urine, mostly from his wife and her friends.
After boiling over 1,500 gallons of it, he found no gold. Instead, he discovered phosphorous!”
This reminded me of the UK
These days, since the weekend morning Farmers’ Market trip has stopped (due to the season), we have started a new routine of walking to a coffee shop in downtown and having a lazy cappuccino/latte time. My goal during that lazy time is not to touch the phone at all. And just observe all the customers coming in and out. Or talk to Sharmila.
Today was rainy and damp. Sitting at a corner in Warm Waves coffee shop, the environment reminded me of days in London and specially its suburbs. (At one time, I use to go there multiple times a year for work).
Customers were coming in with their umbrellas. It was drizzling outside with totally overcast sky. Even the brick walls of the buildings on the other side reminded me of smaller towns outside London.
From the bartender’s corner – Satan’s Whiskers
Made this from a cocktail book that Natasha had given me as a Christmas present. This is a fairly old gin cocktail. And I replaced orange juice with mango juice to make it a little sweeter.
One of the interesting things about the book is that it gives some trivia with every drink recipe. For this it had – “Did you know that a cat’s whiskers go out for the same length as the width of the cat’s body? This allows them to judge if they can fit in thru a hole!”
Back to the drink – this is gin, dry vermouth, sweet vermouth, orange juice and orange bitters.
Lynette and Nathan!!!
Lynette, her mom Lia and her dad Matt were my running partners when I used to run in groups. Lia was undoubtedly the one in the family with who I ran the most. One unique quality about Lynette is her love for reading, literature and books. I remember discussing P.G. Wodehouse with her those days. Not too many people who have grown up in the US is aware of this incredibly humorous British author. Google “funny lines from PG Wodehouse” to check me out!
Two and a half years back, Lynette got married to Nathan. As luck would have it, he teaches English !!
During our conversation on Lynette’s birthday a few weeks back, we talked about learning new languages. She inspired me to pick up a new one. I am thinking Arabic. We also promised that we will have a coffee together and I will get to meet Nathan soon!!
Today was that day!! Wonderful conversations!
I wish this young couple all the best that life can offer to them!!!