It was almost a year and a half after our move that I met my friend Chrissann here on Virgin Gorda. Originally from Northern California, Chrissann moved down to the Caribbean almost 9 years ago. For the first 5 years, she lived on St. Thomas and then moved over to Saba Rock to be with her now-boyfriend. Chrissann and I clicked almost as soon as we met. It was one of those “love at first sight” kind of friendships, mainly because we had so many things in common. She, too, used to be a hotelier, left her country to experience a different culture, was in a relationship, and most importantly – living here. However, I think the biggest connection that we have in common is that we both have blogs. Like me, Chrissann started her blog last year and has been enjoying writing it ever since. The best part of it is that she is very well aware of the challenges that come with maintaining and promoting a blog. After spending months to start a blog, it was such a fresh breath of air for me to meet her. I felt like there was finally someone out there who understood what I was going through. A writer herself, Chrissann created the blog Women Who Live on Rocks, which is a collaboration of many other funny women writers living on tropical islands. Women Who Live on Rocks is a place where you can read humorous articles about what it’s really like to actually live on an island – all the quirks that come with a lifestyle that are very different from simply vacationing on one. Though it is much different than writing a food blog, a lot of the challenges we face are similar. To bounce ideas off of each other, Chrissann and I get together once a week, mostly over coffee. We enjoy these times that we spend together and feel very positive, happy, and energized after each of our dates. This week, instead of doing our typical meeting over coffee, we decided that we would take a moment to celebrate being a “Woman Who Lives on a Rock” by creating our own signature cocktail and enjoying it on the beach, in true island-style. It ended up being a fantastic afternoon of chatting, brainstorming, and laughing about our lives on this rock. As we were thinking about the kind of cocktail we wanted to create, I was so happy to see my favorite gin, Hendrick’s, in Chrissann’s liquor cabinet. I just love fruity, cold drinks mixed with the unique flavor of Hendrick’s. Because we wanted to create a drink with bright Caribbean flavors, we decided to use a refreshing combination of honeydew melon, cucumbers, and limes. We took everything out to the deck and started testing. It didn’t take us long to come up with an easy-to-make, cool, tropical cocktail for happy hour on the beach. To make this delicious cocktail, Chrissann started by muddling 4 slices of fresh cucumbers, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon lime zest with a couple of honeydew balls that she carved using a melon baller. After they released their juices and mixed thoroughly, she added the mixture into a rock glass. She stirred in a shot of Hendrick’s, 1 teaspoon of simple syrup, 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice. After adding a couple of cubes of ice and freshly cut cucumbers, she topped it off with some club soda. We decided to call our creation, “Woman on the Rocks”. Whenever you feel like being transported into our island world, just make yourself one of these, grab your e-reader/laptop, and go to Women Who Live on Rocks to read and laugh through our often unbelievable – yet true – island adventures.
