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A Trip to the Beach: Living on Island Time in the Caribbean |  | Authors: Melinda Blanchard, Robert Blanchard
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $0.12
as of 9/3/2010 08:17 PDT details
You Save: $13.83 (99%)
Seller: atlanta-book-company
Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 109584
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 060980748X
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.973
EAN: 9780609807484
ASIN: 060980748X
Publication Date: November 20, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
On a vacation with the family in Barbados, Mel and Bob Blanchard (of the Vermont-based Blanchard & Blanchard specialty foods company) stumble upon a tiny restaurant/shack on a Caribbean beach: I marveled at the ingenuity of the set-up. A secluded spot, sand like flour, customers arriving in bathing suits. The guy barely lifted a finger, cleared at least $35.00, and gave us a lunch we'd remember forever.... The man had sold us a frame of mind. So begins the Blanchards' 10-year pursuit of the illusory notion of "island time." In a literary heartbeat, they abandon the "concrete jungle" that was Vermont and open a restaurant on a little-known island in the British West Indies called Anguilla ("rhymes with vanilla"). Narrated by Mel Blanchard, A Trip to the Beach dispels tired notions of the Caribbean--the steel drums, the lush landscapes, and acres of swaying palm trees--and instead focuses on the understated elegance and easy rhythms of the sublimely "flat, and scrubby" island. Though lacking the richness and finesse of Frances Mayes, and the wit and wisdom of Peter Mayle, Mel Blanchard nonetheless forges a new path in travel writing as the Martha Stewart of the Caribbean. A remarkably intuitive and inspired chef, Mel writes poignant passages on running a kitchen in Anguilla. Here she exposes the meat of the story, sharing her many outrageous adventures--how to cater to pampered and demanding guests, how to cook for a full restaurant in the darkest of island night with no electricity, how to prepare for recurring and utterly devastating hurricanes that wipe out your business. In these chapters the writing is as good as her cooking--inspiring, colorful, and easily digestible. Although she sometimes relies heavily on well-worn clichés and expresses naïve and rather privileged assumptions--"Why would anyone choose to live surrounded by concrete and traffic rather than fishing boats, water and palm trees?"--discerning readers will see the true nature of this tiny island--a place of simplistic beauty that struggles to maintain its independence while it depends on tourism for its livelihood. With a strange concoction of anecdotes, island politics, recipes, and sweet memories, the Blanchards seduce readers with the allure of "island time," bringing Anguilla home to the rest of us. --Daphne Durham
Product Description
This is the true story of a trip to the beach that never ends. It's about a husband and wife who escape civilization to build a small restaurant on an island paradise -- and discover that even paradise has its pitfalls. It's a story filled with calamities and comedy, culinary disasters and triumphs, and indelible portraits of people who live and work on a sliver of beauty set in the Caribbean Sea. It's about the maddening, exhausting, outlandish complications of trying to live the simple life -- and the joy that comes when you somehow pull it off.
The story begins when Bob and Melinda Blanchard sell their successful Vermont food business and decide, perhaps impulsively, to get away from it all. Why not open a beach bar and grill on Anguilla, their favorite Caribbean island? One thing leads to another and the little grill turns into an enchanting restaurant that quickly draws four-star reviews and a celebrity-studded clientele eager for Melinda's delectable cooking. Amid the frenetic pace of the Christmas "high season," the Blanchards and their kitchen staff -- Clinton and Ozzie, the dancing sous-chefs; Shabby, the master lobster-wrangler; Bug, the dish-washing comedian -- come together like a crack drill team. And even in the midst of hilarious pandemonium, there are moments of bliss.
As the Blanchards learn to adapt to island time, they become ever more deeply attached to the quirky rhythms and customs of their new home. Until disaster strikes: Hurricane Luis, a category-4 storm with two-hundred-mile-an-hour gusts, devastates Anguilla. Bob and Melinda survey the wreckage of their beloved restaurant and wonder whether leaving Anguilla, with its innumerable challenges, would be any easier than walking out on each other. Affectionate, seductive, and very funny, A Trip to the Beach is a love letter to a place that becomes both home and escape.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
 awesome escape from reality! August 17, 2010
Kristy Thompson (Brenham, Texas United States)
This book was one of the best books I've ever read! Being a lover of the Carribbean, this was a total escape. I felt I was there and knew all the characters in the book. An American Dream to chuck it all and move to the Carribbean. Would love to visit in real life!
ANXIOUSLY AWAITING HER NEXT BOOK !!!! August 15, 2010
D. H. Bowe (Houston Texas)
I LOVE LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK !!
Can't WAIT for the author's second !!! need i say more?
 What an interesting journey! March 25, 2010
cajunInVA (Wash. DC metro area)
I don't often read biographies or personal stories like this one, but this really resonated with me. We've been thinking of moving to Costa Rica, and this was an amazingly similar story. Melinda Blanchard really makes you feel like you're there with them, making each decision, facing each problem, making new friends. At the end, you say "Wow!".
Now I'm going to get the cookbook too...
Wonderful summer book! July 9, 2009
Jennifer Richards (Stafford, VA)
I loved this book. I love Anguilla, and this book made me feel like I was back there again. I can't wait to go back now and hopefully meet some of the people in the book!
Wonderfully written, interesting, entertaining, loved this book. June 22, 2009
Trudy Robbins (Raleigh, NC USA)
I am always looking for good reads about life stories of those settling in the Caribbean as I have attempted several times. The Blanchards love of Anguilla matches my love of St. John and Tortola and now Dominica. After reading this book I also enjoyed Live what you Love and would really love it if they would write a sequel to A Trip to the Beach.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
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