Aruba has become an incredibly desirable destination with so much to offer and to celebrate including an annual Wine, Food and Art Festival, held at The Westin Resort and Casino, Aruba www.thewestin.com/Aruba right up our alley!

Our home away from home is the Westin Resort and Casino, well known for their culinary program, with Pago Pago http://www.westinaruba.com/ArubaRestaurantsPagoPago one of their restaurants being awarded the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

Here we meet Executive Chef Matt Boland, responsible for all the restaurants and eateries at the Westin Resort and Casino. We quickly are taken with the enthusiasm Matt has for his craft, his mandate here and the island of Aruba captured here in our interview.

Georgia chats with Chef Bolland in The Westin Resort and Casino Art Gallery.

Pago Pago, where we will dine this week is the recipient of the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, which we will soon appreciate, and be dazzled with; a steady stream of creative and delectable recipes paired with a selection of wines from Napa Valley, France and Chile will grace our table.

Susanne enjoys the signature Coconut Jumbo Shrimp dish, while Georgia savours the surf and turf, accompanied by a Portobello mushroom and chocolate sauce lightly drizzled on succulent filet mignon. Two of the wines we particularly enjoyed was a Simi Sauvignon Blanc, from Sonoma County, truly delish, with fresh and seductive aromas of lemon and lime zest with mineral notes and a lengthy finish, as well as the Silverado Cabernet Sauvignon, layered, complex, rich with ripe fruit, amazing with the filet and sauce. Magnifique!