Maracas Bay Magic
"Bake and shark vendor Candice makes the best fish sandwiches in Trinidad, but when British food blogger Eric tastes her creation, he discovers the real flavor is the woman behind the counter."
Eric had eaten food worldwide. Nothing prepared him for bake and shark at Maracas Bay. And nothing prepared him for Candice.
She was thick and sweating in the beach heat, frying shark with practiced hands, her smile the best condiment.
"Yuh first time?" she asked.
"First time for the sandwich. Not my last time seeing you, I hope."
"Smooth. Yuh smooth."
He came back every day of his trip. Always her stall. Always extra conversation.
"Yuh just like mi shark?" she teased.
"I like watching you make it. The passion."
"Yuh want to see mi passion?" She laughed. "That's different from shark."
"Show me."
"Tonight. After mi close."
Her beach house smelled like spices and sea salt. That thick body still warm from the cooking flames.
"The blog?" she asked.
"Can wait. You can't."
"Yuh bold."
"Yuh beautiful."
"Yes! Eric! Right there!"
Sand in places sand shouldn't be, her moans mixing with the waves outside.
"Don't stop! Yuh tasting the real magic now!"
His blog post about Maracas Bay broke records. Everyone wanted Candice's bake and shark.
"Yuh made mi famous," she said.
"You were already famous. I just told people."
"Yuh coming back?"
"I'm not leaving."
Eric writes about Caribbean food exclusively now.
From Candice's beach house.
Where the magic happens.
In her kitchen.
And everywhere else.
Maracas Bay.
Where flavor means everything.