Extravagant Sushi Lunch c/o Doma

A Friday or two ago I took the day off from work. It was one of my last vacation days before my office life gets very, very busy. Lots of editing all of the time. Reminds me that I am generally competent and have a brain. In any case, I was using my vacation day to prepare for my next week's vacation in the Adirondacks, as I would be departing on Sunday and had LW's 30th birthday to attend on Saturday. Preparations included a trip to south Philly for camping supplies and cat food.  On the way back north I thought I'd detour to Federal Donuts, thinking it wouldn't be too crowded in the middle of the afternoon. I didn't actually go in, but it looked crowded from the window and I was feeling weird about crowds. So then I thought I would finally (finally!) get myself a Paesano's sandwich. That's a date I've certainly been meaning to make. A date with a sandwich, that is. In any case I didn't have any cash and Paesano's is cash-only. So on home I went. But now I really felt like I wanted some lunch treat. So I settled on Doma. I think they lowered their chairs, which makes me very happy. I feel like I've gone there twice and both times I was perched in these uncomfortable tall chairs. Or I'm just an unwitting sufferer of chair vertigo amnesia. Who knows. I know I can't remember.

I ordered the hand roll lunch special, one eel and cucumber hand roll, one salmon and avocado hand roll and one spicy California hand roll. In addition to that I also ordered ikura, wasabi tobiko and monkfish paté.

I was quite pleased with my selection. Uncouth as it may be, I enjoyed sprinkling a little of the wasabi tobiko on the salmon avocado roll. They were all well constructed rolls and I thought the eel was nice and sweet, and the salmon fresh. The spicy California roll could have packed a little more punch, but I just infused some of my bites with a wee little bit of wasabi tobiko and straight up wasabi. 

Monkfish paté is just its own special thing. I've only ever seen it except on the Doma menu. It is the 'foie gras' of the sea according to this blog. The liver of monkfish is salted and then wrapped up in a cylindrical shape and steamed. Then disks are cut from the larger roll. This little disk has a definitely firmer and denser texture than actual foie gras. But there is some similar thing going on. The liver part, obviously. But they're very different animals, geese and fish. Additionally, I've always found foie gras to be really sensual thing. Not sexual mind you. It's just that when I eat foie gras I enjoy it with my whole body and brain. It fills me with a sense of satiation and contentedness while also alert. Perhaps that is the nature of all luxury foods.  It's just one of those taste/texture/tongue things for me. The monkfish paté doesn't have quite that brain rocking mouthfeel or flavor, but it has its own mojo. If you're a sushi fan and you haven't tried it, you should. Then we can talk about it.

Ikura, a long time favorite of mine. Just salty pearls of wisdom, each and every one of them.

A very nice lunch spot.

Rainy Day Preacher's Cove

Saturday I woke up to wind and rain. We hoped that it would pass in the morning hours, as our plan was to use the car to take ourselves to the Harbour Island ferry and to spend a day living 'the high life.' But a key component to 'the high life' was lying on pink sand beaches for hours, which isn't quite as appealing an activity if it's windy, rainy, and kind of chilly. While we were hoping the weather would improve, we went to the Laughing Lizard to take advantage of its wireless connections to the outside world. There we spoke to two rather handsome devils, who told us about a number of possible other places we could see and enjoy even with the less than ideal weather. This sparked an interest in going to a specific cave, but upon further discussion with the woman who owned the apartments we were staying in, we realized we didn't have the serious flashlights necessary to go on such an adventure. So, instead, we went to Preacher's Cave. As was the case in many instances during our time in Eleuthera, we were almost alone on the road to get there, and certainly alone during our time at the the cave and nearby Atlantic-facing beach. The cave had a wide mouth but was a little deep. It kind of reminded me of the cave in the first season of Lost, only easier to get in and out of and minus the waterfall/indoor pool. Total sidenote: about once every six months I remember to be very angry about the last two seasons of Lost.





For lunch L. made turkey sandwiches with mustard on white bread. Was it the best sandwich of either of our lives? No. But did the location prop it up a little? Yes.
I forgot to adjust my settings when I asked L. to take this photograph, so I'm all washed out. Oh well.
After enjoying the cave and our lunch, we followed the trail to the beach. The waves were a'pounding and the wind was a'whipping, but we took full advantage of the perhaps 20 minutes of sun before the next round of rain clouds came across the horizon.


Loves it.

On the limestone outcroppings (outcroppings?) there were all these tiny little zebra-like snails. I dug them, as in, I thought they were neat.

Lost River Cavern, Root Beer and Dinosaurs

On their way to the farm house on Friday evening L. and Fat T. saw a couple of signs for a cavern in the area. On Saturday the weather was a little undecided. As in, it was forecast to rain but it hadn't yet started to such a thing. But it was damp. So sitting outside in the sun couldn't really be the activity of the day, which meant their dream of going to the caverns could be realized. Off we went to Lost River Caverns. While we were waiting for the tour to start L. and I started a game of checkers. We didn't get to finish it, but I'm certain I would have crushed her. Like a bug or a twig.
A nice young man took us and two other people into the cavern. He told us a lot of things about the cavern and its history. For example, back in the day they held dances in one 'room' of the cave. There was a spot high up where the fiddlers would play and then a brick floored area for dancing. There was also a non-denominational chapel, though it is no longer open for marriages. Why that might be was never explained. Mystery! Here we moved to one side to let the tour before us move by.
He told us what all the different kinds of formations were, but I only remember one, which I'll share with you in a minute.



See that weird strip of stuff in the top right? That's called cave bacon. A regional delicacy.
At one point the guide turned off the light so we could see these different rock samples glow in the dark. I was pretty amazed by this.


Some kind of cave flower. Not a flower at all of course.

The cave is always 52 degrees. It has a small river running through it, but they don't know where it empties out into. At one point in time they tried to figure it out by dumping a bunch of non-toxic red dye into the water, with the goal of seeing the red turn up in a larger river in the area. No dice. Then they put their phone number and request to be called on 100 ping pong balls and sent them down into the dark recesses of the water. Not a single call was ever fielded. Mystery!
The tour guide had a script full of terrible jokes. He had a sense of humor about it; said he was required to say them. I wish I could remember any of them to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. They were the sort of jokes that make you groan.
L. and Fatty in a cave.


At the end we were emptied into the gift store where L. and I got overly interested in the barrel of polished rocks (25 cents a piece). We spent an inordinately long time with our hands in the rocks. My camera fogged up after being in the cooler climate, which makes this photograph look all steamy.
Also there were dinosaurs and a giraffe head. Obviously.
As well as a pirate.
They also had an A-Treat vending machine. I put my 50 cents in and had a birch beer. L. had the cream soda; it was red and delicious.
Then we emerged into the outdoors and took a few photographs as cave men, women and children.


This is my favorite.