I have some new joys in life thanks to our vacation here in Sanibel.

1. Plocky’s Three-Grain Corn Chips – yeah, you’d better believe it.  I’m a huge fan of chips & salsa, and these are, by far, the best chips evar!  Low in fat (no saturated fats!), no cholesterol, low sodium (90mg/serving) and 1g of fiber.  Ingredients: all-natural corn, cracked whole wheat, brown rice, non-hydrogenated corn oil, natural turbinado sugar, sea salt.  I’m ordering some from Amazon [ed. Amazon was out of stock of my favorite flavor] SnackAisle right now so they are at home when we get there.  Note: in Sanibel, you can get these from Bailey’s.
2. Bailey’s Salsa Grande – it’s a trip to Trinidad in a jar!  I’ve been searching high and low for a high-heat/high-flavor salsa.  Hot sauces aren’t the way to go, because heat ain’t where it’s at – it’s heat and taste.  I found some “pepar” sauce while in Trinidad, but as luck would have it I haven’t found nearly the same complimentary flavors and white heat in anything this side of the Caribbean.  I managed to bring back a few bottles, but it’s not the same as that stuff you get in the local Trini eateries – you know, the kind that’s made by hand by some old lady in the back who has a dozen kids running around her ankles and she’s using local peppers grown out back of the shed next to the highway using a recipe that was passed down from her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother from back-a-de-i’land.  Yeah, that stuff.  Anyway, I was traipsing through Bailey’s, trying to find a sauce to compliment the fantastic Plocky’s tortillas and I found Salsa Grande.  It’s made with tomatoes, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions, salt, vinegar, garlic, cilantro and “spices”.  Humph - “spices”.
3. Added via Stephanie: Publix Premium Cool Mint Cookie Low-fat Frozen Yogurt.  Apparently, it’s like heaven on a spoon.  Or in a large bowl – a very large bowl (isn’t there any way to fit more into the “large bowl”).  This stuff is so good, you have to restrain yourself from downing the entire quart in one sitting.  We were sitting around the table playing Uno last night and the game had to go on “mint ball delay” while Mom and Steph savored their ribbons of chocolate and minty goodness.  Steph informs me that she has yet to find a comparable balance of flavor, mintyness and chocolatization, and creamy heaventasticity in any freezer, anywhere.
4. The Hungry Heron / Island Cow.  These are two of my favorite restaurants here in Sanibel.  If you know Steph, you know she doesn’t eat anything that comes out of water (except maybe an olive), so my chances of getting to eat really good, fresh fish are few and far between (hello, work lunches!).  These two restaurants specialize in local fresh fish, and have a super-large menu with everything from pasta to burgers to, well, fish.  So it’s good for the whole family!  Plus, they are locally owned and operated so that’s great too.