Samples and the BEST fish ever

I am so excited to try out some samples I received in the mail.  First up are two sauces from Mr. Spice.  These are salt free, gluten free, dairy free, no MSG, organic, all natural, heck just about every healthy buzz word you can think of, and I think they look pretty good especially since I am not a sucker for buzz words on labels.  I know it is marketing, but this company really seems to have great products out there that I think will be great for people who do need to watch out for salt and gluten, good for vegans, and those who are avoiding HFCS.  I just got these in the mail and have not tried them, but I really can’t wait and I hope I am not disappointed.

 

Next up are some bars from Kardea Nutrition.  These are advertised for their fiber content and natural cholesterol management.  They have about 140 calories per bar and are aimed at managing heart disease.  The lemon ginger was good, but I could see myself preferring something else nutritious for my 140 calories.  Now, the banana walnut was a different story.  I loved this flavor.  I wish I had more.  The other 2 flavors I have not tried yet, but I am looking forward to this.  I was also disappointed with the lemon ginger because I found myself very hungry about an hour or so later.  I think it may have just been that I was really hungry that day, but since it was that bar I had just eaten, i associated my quick hunger with the bar.  My experience with the banana walnut was completely different.

Ryan had a fun food to try.  I showed this box of tapas he found a few weeks ago, and he finally tried them.  It was really neat.  This was a refrigerated package that went into the microwave in the package wrapper and cooked in there.  He said these little meat tapas were great and wants to buy them again.

Also at the local grocery store we found these ramen noodles.  They are no where near as cheap here as they are in the US.  This was a Thai product made in Finland (or something similar).  I bought mushroom flavor.

I make mine differently and it cuts down on sodium.  I drain all the liquid off and then eat just the noodles with a hint of flavor.  So it is more like past than a soup.

On to the super dinner we had a O Pescador the other night.  Sometimes we just get an urge to go out and east during the week.  Since I am cooking dinner twice during the week, it really only leaves Wednesday night for this, and last week we took the opportunity to head into town for a nice dinner.

 

We even had some red wine.  We always do white, so this was nice and different for us.

Ryan had the steak on the rock.  It is a charcoal stone and the steak continues to cook after it is brought to the table.  This is popular around here.  They even sell stones like this and ones that are electric so that people can eat like this at home.

It was a big piece of meat, but the dog was thankful for that.  Ginger had some, mostly because it helped her to swallow the giant antibiotic she has been taking.

The steak came with the salad and French fries.  French fries here are really good and most restaurants make these on the premises.

I ordered the wreckfish, but they were out, so I went with the fresh fish from the case.  I ordered the boca negra, which is usually a small fish, served whole.  Ryan was facing the case and noticed they cut a big fish in half.  I was really curious about this, so when it showed up and looked like this, I was excited.

The boca negra (literally black mouth) was large, and then cooked it intact, but cut it open, so there were still bones and the skin, plus the tail because I had the back half.  It was truly the best fish I have ever been served at this restaurant, and maybe even anywhere on this island in a while.  It was fantastic.  Too bad it is not always on the menu.  This fish was served with potatoes and veggies underneath.

Then we had coffees to end the meal.

QUESTIONS:  Have you tried any new products lately?  Any samples?  When was the last time a meal pleasantly surprised you?