The Parade of Lights occurs on the first weekend in December. It is an opportunity for local boat owners to decorate their watercraft, take a position in a long line of ships, and “parade” through St. Thomas harbor and past all the bars, t-shirt shops, cruise liners (4 tied up this weekend), the old red fort and restaurants that make up the waterfront.
Coffee and cigars were consumed on board (along with Grand Marnier, and Single Malt). The brew: Brazilian Cerrado Dark Roast. This is a very dark roasted coffee that hails from the Minas Gerais area in Brazil. IMO, the aroma has charred cedar notes along with fruits and nuts. It is best when served scalding hot so that the spice and cedar chocolate flavors can jump right out -- and your eyes pop open as you swallow; a sailor’s coffee to be sure. (Le Madame is not partial to this brew, so we make her the Viennese Roast -- As Franklin Adams once observed: "An extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife." This falls under that heading).
The cigar (first of many): H. Upmann Magnum 50 LE 2005 (vitola is Double Robusto). IMO, this stick is a great example of the quality of Cuban sticks coming out these days. If you do a pre-light it has that unmistakable limitada aroma that only Cubans can produce. A cigar of this caliber, even though rolled and packaged this year, IMO, is ready to smoke now. When we torched these sticks, the classic Upmann trademark musky aroma and flavor, spilled out from the first puff, followed by notes of the classic (oily) Italian espresso beans, and shaved Swiss chocolate. Top this off with a well aged tobacco center and background flavors of wild black cherry and dark black (American) licorice, then you have a stick that matches very well with a blistering cup of coffee.
The temperature was 76% with a trader’s wind, which meant we could unfurl our sails and take our place as a ship-of-the-line without using the engines. There were nearly 100 different crafts participating in the Parade: fishing boats, schooners, several yachts and the usual number of boats that looked like they might sink before passing in review of the harbor and making it back to their slip. (in that category, my daughters were enchanted by one barge that had a dance party going on with a group of what looked like Rastafarians – as they passed our point in line you could hear Wayne Newton singing “Danke Schoen” in the background – I had to wonder if it wasn't time to consider what I had poured in my coffee – I note: Emo Philips once said: “Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.”)
Le Madame was along this year so my golden retriever (and companero) FuManChu and I made a pact early on that we would do our best to stay out of trouble, thereby avoiding Le Madame’s displeasure. Most years we manage to avoid obvious difficulties (not staring too long at the young bikinis, no excessive barking by either Fu or myself, no ramming other craft, no races, etc.). My wife had invited 3 or 4 of her female friends to join us for the day, so Fu and I got the lecture first thing and both of us had to promise to behave.
When we greeted Le Madame’s friends coming aboard I was wearing my Santa hat and cargo shorts (along with a t-shirt that said: “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.”) and my daughters had redecorated Fu with the alternately glowing reindeer antlers in green and purple (‘tis the season). I heard one of the women (whom I had never met) turn to my wife and say: “I hope the one with the red elf hat and the t-shirt isn’t piloting the boat. He looks like he slept in a dumpster.”
Fu and I stood very still as Le Madame swept by and gave me one of those “looks” that most husbands know all too well. As H.L. Mencken once said: “A married man should forget his mistakes; there is no use in two people remembering the same thing."
cian
Coffee and cigars were consumed on board (along with Grand Marnier, and Single Malt). The brew: Brazilian Cerrado Dark Roast. This is a very dark roasted coffee that hails from the Minas Gerais area in Brazil. IMO, the aroma has charred cedar notes along with fruits and nuts. It is best when served scalding hot so that the spice and cedar chocolate flavors can jump right out -- and your eyes pop open as you swallow; a sailor’s coffee to be sure. (Le Madame is not partial to this brew, so we make her the Viennese Roast -- As Franklin Adams once observed: "An extravagance is anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife." This falls under that heading).
The cigar (first of many): H. Upmann Magnum 50 LE 2005 (vitola is Double Robusto). IMO, this stick is a great example of the quality of Cuban sticks coming out these days. If you do a pre-light it has that unmistakable limitada aroma that only Cubans can produce. A cigar of this caliber, even though rolled and packaged this year, IMO, is ready to smoke now. When we torched these sticks, the classic Upmann trademark musky aroma and flavor, spilled out from the first puff, followed by notes of the classic (oily) Italian espresso beans, and shaved Swiss chocolate. Top this off with a well aged tobacco center and background flavors of wild black cherry and dark black (American) licorice, then you have a stick that matches very well with a blistering cup of coffee.
The temperature was 76% with a trader’s wind, which meant we could unfurl our sails and take our place as a ship-of-the-line without using the engines. There were nearly 100 different crafts participating in the Parade: fishing boats, schooners, several yachts and the usual number of boats that looked like they might sink before passing in review of the harbor and making it back to their slip. (in that category, my daughters were enchanted by one barge that had a dance party going on with a group of what looked like Rastafarians – as they passed our point in line you could hear Wayne Newton singing “Danke Schoen” in the background – I had to wonder if it wasn't time to consider what I had poured in my coffee – I note: Emo Philips once said: “Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps.”)
Le Madame was along this year so my golden retriever (and companero) FuManChu and I made a pact early on that we would do our best to stay out of trouble, thereby avoiding Le Madame’s displeasure. Most years we manage to avoid obvious difficulties (not staring too long at the young bikinis, no excessive barking by either Fu or myself, no ramming other craft, no races, etc.). My wife had invited 3 or 4 of her female friends to join us for the day, so Fu and I got the lecture first thing and both of us had to promise to behave.
When we greeted Le Madame’s friends coming aboard I was wearing my Santa hat and cargo shorts (along with a t-shirt that said: “Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.”) and my daughters had redecorated Fu with the alternately glowing reindeer antlers in green and purple (‘tis the season). I heard one of the women (whom I had never met) turn to my wife and say: “I hope the one with the red elf hat and the t-shirt isn’t piloting the boat. He looks like he slept in a dumpster.”
Fu and I stood very still as Le Madame swept by and gave me one of those “looks” that most husbands know all too well. As H.L. Mencken once said: “A married man should forget his mistakes; there is no use in two people remembering the same thing."
cian
mg: :dunno: