![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.publicityhound.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/St.-Kitts-at-pier2-480x360.jpg\")
It’s a gorgeous 83 degrees today, Thursday, Jan. 26, and our ship arrives in St. Kitts at 5:45 a.m.<\/p>\nIt’s a gorgeous 83 degrees today, Thursday, Jan. 26, and our ship arrives in St. Kitts at 5:45 a.m.<\/p>\n
This is the day we learn West Indian cooking\u00a0on a shore excursion called Caribbean Cooks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here are highlights from today.<\/p>\n
7:45 a.m.:<\/strong> A 15-minute bus ride takes us to the 18th century Great House which has been beautifully restored. From the upstairs master bedroom, we enjoy the view of the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n A short walk down a cobblestone courtyard takes us to the original kitchen building with its volcanic stone and brick oven. Our tour guide explains that what looks like a giant bathtub, but without a faucet or drain, is exactly that. It was where the slave owner and his entire family bathed, one by one, every Saturday. The slaves brought water from nearby to fill the tub. Pale by pale, they emptied it.<\/p>\n Seven of us hoist ourselves into the dry tub for photos.<\/p>\n 9:30 a.m.:<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s finally time to cook. Our chef, Cheviour Lake,<\/strong> starts preparing today’s menu:\u00a0Jerk Pork,\u00a0West Indian Steamed Fish,\u00a0Red Beans & Rice,\u00a0Vegetable Escovitch,\u00a0Bread and Butter Pudding and a fresh ginger drink.\u00a0<\/p>\n Grace Allison,<\/strong> one of our authors, leads the group in a calypso dance in the kitchen. She’s holding shak-shak, a type of Caribbean musical instrument typically made of hollow gourds with beans placed on the inside to make the shaking noise.<\/p>\n
\n Most of the eight people on this little jaunt skip breakfast, except me. We gather at the end of the pier for the Caribbean Cooks excursion at the historic Fairview Great House,<\/strong> a former sugar plantation.<\/p>\n