In just four days, I had the most relaxing and fun filled getaway with delicious food and wine. What more could you ask for? The Grand Lido Negril did such a wonderful job with its 10th Annual Epicurean Escape. I had the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the most world renowned chefs and somelliers. 
There is nothing that turns me on more than someone who cooks healthy, and so when “Rock and Roll Chef” Kerry Simon, a winner on Iron Chef America and owner and chef of restaurants in Las Vegas and LA, made a delicious raw salad, he had me hooked. My brother had a pseudo crush on Nikki Cascone, owner and chef at 24 Prince in NYC and a former Top Chef Season 4 contestant , after he experienced her style of healthy cooking and environmental consciousness. In Jean-Francois Bonnet’s class, we sampled delicious chocolate that he hand crafts at his shop, Tumbador Chocolate, in Brooklyn. “The Royal Chef” Darren McGrady has been the private chef for Queen of England and Princess Diana and shared his culinary expertise with us as well. Sommeliers from Las Vegas, California, and Jamaica were also there to share their outstanding knowledge of wine with us and we definitely benefited from their expertise!
Our days were a great mixture of cooking and wine classes, and activities like kayaking, water ski lessons, snorkeling, pilates and yoga classes, spa treatments on the beach, and parasailing. Most activities are included with the resort, but if you’d like to go parasailing, you can contact the concierge and they can hook you up with Ray’s Watersports. You can even renew your vows, as the resort does an outstanding job at creating a romantic ceremony on a beachside gazebo, complete with a terrific minister, champaign, delicious rum cake, and Bob Marley music for the walk down the aisle.
The food was outstanding. In addition to the formal dinner Saturday night, which featured an eight course meal prepared by the celebrity chefs with well researched (and incredibly rare) wine pairings picked by the sommeliers, the resort’s six restaurants offers a diverse selection. We ate at the French restaurant, Piacere, where the food was magnificent and the ambiance romantic with a pianist playing throughout the meal. Other cuisine specific restaurants include Jamaican, Italian, and Japanese Hibachi. Even the lamb chops at one of the poolside eateries were delicious! 
Every Friday night, the general manager puts together a grand gala featuring over 100 local and international dishes and a room dedicated just to desserts. Plus, there is a live dance band after dinner to work it all off!
We did head over to Hedonism II for an hour during the day and checked out the Saturday night dance party which was a lot of fun. If you’re open minded and would like to see what all of the talk and excitement is about, you can purchase a day pass. When I talked to two couples over there, they told me they had been going there since 1989 a few times a year and have made friends that last a lifetime.
If you are planning a trip for next year, definitely try to make it for this culinary event. The resort itself is amazing, but couple that with outstanding meals and wine, and you have the perfect romantic escape!
After just a three and a half hour plane ride from JFK on Jet Blue, we were in beautiful Montego Bay. In the airport, there are lounges for the many resorts in Jamaica including the SuperClubs properties where we quickly dropped our luggage and were taken to a van and transported to Negril, where we checked in to the Grand Lido Negril Resort and Spa, the flagship for the SuperClubs all-inclusive resorts. The resort is extremely romantic, specializing in honeymoons and weddings. There is a two mile stretch of gorgeous white sand beach, two pools, five restaurants, and a fabulous spa which offers complimentary manicures and pedicures. There is also a clothing optional section. Of course as amazing as this is, I am probably the only single woman here and with my brother! Not that I’m not happy he’s here doing my video work with me, but how do I always end up in the most amazing of settings alone or with a relative?!
Since we were pretty tired today, we just drifted away on a raft in the rather calm sea, ate some great Jamaican food and had a few frozen drinks. I love resorts like this because everything is included and you can eat and drink as much as you want and not think about it! Also included are non-motorized water and land sports such as kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing, tennis and volleyball.
After our time in Montpellier, we took the EuRail to Nice. I love the EuRail…it’s such a great feeling that you can go anywhere in Europe with a simple train ride. However, that day, the EuRail employees decided to go on strike and it took us a bit longer to get to Nice. They advise reserving a seat on the train before going as they tend to fill up. Our train was filled to the max, but I’m not sure how it would’ve been if everyone wasn’t trying to get on the one train to Nice that day. 
When we arrived at the Nice Rail Station, the rental car companies were right there. While EuRail makes stops along the coast, we decided to rent a car so we could drive up into the mountains to the Medieval Villages and we wouldn’t be locked into a schedule. We made Nice our home base, as it’s central to Cannes, Monaco, Antibes, and villages like Saint Paul de Vence and Eze. We even had a chance to drive into Italy to San Remo. 
The Palais de La Mediterrranee, a Concorde Hotel, is a spectacular property located on the Promenade des Anglais. Overlooking the beautiful blue Mediterranean, and a few minutes from Old City, the hotel has been a symbol of the French Riviera for over 80 years. While Palais de la Mediterranee is a luxurious and contemporary hotel, it retains its most symbolic features such as the monumental facade, and has been listed as a historical monument since 1989. It also has a great casino, a turkish bath, pool, sauna, gym, and a great restaurant, which serves a delicious buffet breakfast including various breads and pastries, dried and fresh fruit, salmon, popular Nice dishes such as ratatouille, and fresh squeezed juices. While it may be a bit of a splurge for some, I highly recommend staying here if you can.
So if your budget doesn’t allow you to stay right on the promenade, there is a terrific hotel just a few blocks in from the water. If you are like me who was out from morning until night and only used the hotel to sleep and for breakfast, Hotel Brice is the perfect answer. Set back in a beautiful garden setting, the hotel is priced very reasonably and also has a nice buffet breakfast. The front desk is very helpful with directions and things to do. You can also stop into the Nice Tourism Office located on the promenade, just a few steps down from the Palais de la Mediterranee.
There is so much to do in Nice and the surrounding Riviera region. I would give yourself at least five days in the area, so you can enjoy each place and not feel rushed to see everything. While it was neat to see Cannes, the home of the famous film festival, and the neighboring coastal towns including Antibes, Juan les Pins, and Monaco (you must go to the Monte Carlo casino!), I enjoyed the character of Nice the most. Its feel was both French and Italian with a wide array of shops, restaurants, museums, and attractions. Definitely walk to Castle Hill and take the stairs to the top. It offers spectacular views of the Riviera and Nice. The water was so buoyant and wonderful to swim in. However, I wish I knew to bring my rock shoes. Instead of sand, the beach is layered in rocks, which can be painful walking from your towel to the water! Be sure to check out the local fruit and vegetable, flower, and fish markets. 
The food and wine was spectacular. Some of the local dishes you should try are of course the salade nicoise, pan-bagnats, ratatouille, and pissaladiere, an onion tart with anchovy fillets and black olives. We also ate a lot of gelato, and it was delicious everywhere! 
