Our vacation traveling buddies, Jim and Frankie, thought I should tell you about the lunch we enjoyed last week on the Dutch island of Bonaire. We rode our rented motor scooters inland for around 45 minutes to the small town of Rincon, which, according to my guidebook, was the first town on the island. (The reason the first inhabitants didn't settle on the coast is because of pirates who apparently didn't venture very far inland.)

We stopped at the Rose Inn for lunch which was the only place open on a Sunday afternoon--or on any afternoon for that matter (it's a very small town). There were around four or five tables set up and a small outdoor bar. We arrived in time for the Dutch lunch buffet which consisted of a choice of Dutch brats, huge meatballs (around 4 inches in diameter) and something that looked like cabbage roll but instead was a meatloaf mixture rolled into individual logs and wrapped in bacon. The meat entrées were served with a choice of mashed potatoes--but not just plain mashed potatoes. One option was mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and the other was mashed potatoes, carrots and onions. Before tasting anything from the buffet line, we were told by the woman who seemed to be in charge (Rose, perhaps?) that we had to have the green been soup. This tasted like split pea soup to me and was delicious with bits of ham and slices of sausage added.

We had breakfast at a restaurant on the waterfront the next morning. An item called Dutch Eggs was on the menu. My husband Jack ordered it and it turned out to be toast topped with Gouda cheese and ham, and three sunny-side-up eggs. I'm going to put this on my list for great breakfasts at our cabin but I'd make each serving only half the size