Saint Martin - the Other Food...ahhhhh

I don't know where the world went wrong. I just don't understand how coke can be consumed with African, Japanese, Indian, French etc. food. How is it that a sugary chemical laced beverage enhances a meal? I don't think it does. I think America and maybe everywhere else is messed up in the coke department. It was disappointing but expected that Coke will have infiltrated into fine French cuisine. At least they had mini cokes! Either Jeff's head got incredibly large or this Coke shrunk! Yes, it was a mini coke good for just a taste.

Near our condo there was a little bakery. I get up a lot earlier than Jeff and I like my coffee. I figured I'd get coffee and then he could sleep and we'd go for breakfast after. To my surprise this bakery had a wide selection of croissants, pastries, breads, savory things and desserts. After seeing the selection at this spot we stopped in at 4 or 5 other roadside bakeries and found things like these...eclairs, napoleons, croissants filled with almonds or chocolate or (my favorite) apricot. There were savory things like quiches and made to order crepes. There were sandwiches with proscuitto and real cheeses (we never got to those - too full).

Our final meal on the island was at Zee Best Restaurant on the Dutch side. I had a starter of an almond croissant filled with marzipan and topped with crunch slivered almonds.(this was a second breakfast after my croissant and coffee earlier).  I moved on to fresh squeezed orange juice and a jumbo coffee and this delicious smoked salmon, onion, and amazing sauce crepe! Oh my god it was heaven!!!

Since we were headed to the airport I decided I'd try to bring a croissant and some bread home. I didn't know if I'd be able to get them through security but I had to try. We stopped at another roadside bakery and found shelves of dark breads, oat breads, french breads and baguettes. Of course there were desserts.

More desserts...

Savory little pizzas and quiches and sandwiches.

In a quest for good dark chocolate we went into a small market the size of a gas station market and found all kinds of green things! We bought some dark chocolate, dates that were juicy, and some other goodies for Jeff's dad. There were fresh figs, round zucchini, white asparagus, all kinds of tomatoes, normal sized carrots, artichokes and many many more things.

Yes, for an island that is 37 square miles they manage to import fresh, gorgeous food. Puerto Rico imports over 85% of its food - why can't they do this? Well we all know the answer to that one, so now we are back in the food wasteland of Puerto Rico where people think Velveeta is cheese and there isn't a hint of a real grain in a whole loaf of bread. I guess I can look forward to eating at an unsanitary roadside van. Yeah.