GB
Chief Eating Officer
I took a little hiatus from Discuss Cooking while I was on vacation, but I am back now. I will have pictures to share soon, but for now I will just describe my trip a little.
I won an all expense paid trip to my CEO's house in the Dominican Republic. I now know how the other half live. The place was amazing. It is a private home that my CEO uses to entertain clients and board members. private people can also rent one of the 10 rooms if there is availability and if they can afford the $1,500 a night price tag. If I had that much to spend then I would have to say it would be well worth it.
We got to the house and the house manager made us feel at home right away. She introduced us to the staff and told us that while we were at Casa Alegre (the name of the house) that we should feel like it was OUR house. Nothing was off limits. We could go anywhere and use anything. The bar was open and stocked and we had our our personal bartender or if we wanted we could tend bar ourselves. Actually there were two bars. One was a swim up bar at one of the two pools. The other bar was inside in the huge kitchen. That was the bar that had the good stuff. Multiple bottles of Grey Goose as well as some good looking port and Dom Perignon
There was a huge jacuzzi that we spent a lot of time in of course. It was right at the oceans edge. The view was great aside from the sugar plant the pumped out black and white smoke 24/7.
One day we went deep sea fishing, but the only fish we saw was the bait. I have never been before, but I don't think the captain of our boat knew what he was doing. He was going kind of fast and the bait was skipping on the surface of the ocean. Well at least it was a nice boat ride.
The only disappointing thing was the food. I was expecting it to be five star and local food. It was anything but that. the first night we had pasta with a red sauce and also a white sauce. Not bad, but any one of us could have done much better. Lunches we cold cut sandwiches. BORING
Breakfast was good because there was always fresh fruit. the most exotic though was the papaya. It was delicious at least. the coffee was fantastic. Very strong and flavorful.
The highlights for food (if you can even call them highlights) were dinner the last night and breakfast the next morning. Dinner the last night was steak and lobster. The steak left a lot to be desired, but the lobster was quite interesting. It was the first time I had ever tried a Caribbean lobster. It was much different from the Maine lobster I am used to. The grilled the tails and basted with butter. It reminded me more of scallops than lobster. The meat was very first and very flavorful. Completely different from Maine lobsters.
Breakfast the next morning was the only local food we has the whole time. Once of the people we went with grew up in the Dominican so she asked if the chef could prepare Magoo (sp?) one morning. It can be made many many different ways (think hash), but basically it mashed plantains with other stuff mixed in. Ours had plantains and milk and fried onions. sometime it has ham or other items as well. It was quite good and very filling.
All in all it was a trip I will never forget and probably never be fortunate enough to experience again. I am very thankful to my company and CEO for sending me. Once I have my pictures ready I will make sure to show you all what I got to experience
I won an all expense paid trip to my CEO's house in the Dominican Republic. I now know how the other half live. The place was amazing. It is a private home that my CEO uses to entertain clients and board members. private people can also rent one of the 10 rooms if there is availability and if they can afford the $1,500 a night price tag. If I had that much to spend then I would have to say it would be well worth it.
We got to the house and the house manager made us feel at home right away. She introduced us to the staff and told us that while we were at Casa Alegre (the name of the house) that we should feel like it was OUR house. Nothing was off limits. We could go anywhere and use anything. The bar was open and stocked and we had our our personal bartender or if we wanted we could tend bar ourselves. Actually there were two bars. One was a swim up bar at one of the two pools. The other bar was inside in the huge kitchen. That was the bar that had the good stuff. Multiple bottles of Grey Goose as well as some good looking port and Dom Perignon
There was a huge jacuzzi that we spent a lot of time in of course. It was right at the oceans edge. The view was great aside from the sugar plant the pumped out black and white smoke 24/7.
One day we went deep sea fishing, but the only fish we saw was the bait. I have never been before, but I don't think the captain of our boat knew what he was doing. He was going kind of fast and the bait was skipping on the surface of the ocean. Well at least it was a nice boat ride.
The only disappointing thing was the food. I was expecting it to be five star and local food. It was anything but that. the first night we had pasta with a red sauce and also a white sauce. Not bad, but any one of us could have done much better. Lunches we cold cut sandwiches. BORING
Breakfast was good because there was always fresh fruit. the most exotic though was the papaya. It was delicious at least. the coffee was fantastic. Very strong and flavorful.
The highlights for food (if you can even call them highlights) were dinner the last night and breakfast the next morning. Dinner the last night was steak and lobster. The steak left a lot to be desired, but the lobster was quite interesting. It was the first time I had ever tried a Caribbean lobster. It was much different from the Maine lobster I am used to. The grilled the tails and basted with butter. It reminded me more of scallops than lobster. The meat was very first and very flavorful. Completely different from Maine lobsters.
Breakfast the next morning was the only local food we has the whole time. Once of the people we went with grew up in the Dominican so she asked if the chef could prepare Magoo (sp?) one morning. It can be made many many different ways (think hash), but basically it mashed plantains with other stuff mixed in. Ours had plantains and milk and fried onions. sometime it has ham or other items as well. It was quite good and very filling.
All in all it was a trip I will never forget and probably never be fortunate enough to experience again. I am very thankful to my company and CEO for sending me. Once I have my pictures ready I will make sure to show you all what I got to experience
.
Those are BEAUTIFUL pictures!!!!! Hey youre good at that! And welcome back!!!!! We missed ya! 
