OT: Leave the Meat Behind!!!

 

 One of many beautiful sunsets from our balcony in St. Martin

Bonjour! After 12 peaceful days in St. Martin I am finally back home to foggy Ohio. We had a wonderful trip, ate a lot of great food, and soaked up a lot of rays. While St. Martin was not our favorite destination, we had a lot of fun. St. Martin is known as the gastronomical capital of the Caribbean and it definitely did not disappoint in that regard. There were too many fabulous restaurants, bakeries, and markets to try even if you were there for a month. We definitely gave it our best shot while we were there though.

My favorite part of the trip was definitely the amazing bakeries, charcuterie, and cheeses that were so reasonably priced. We sampled croissants from no less than 6 different bakeries and tried lots of new breads and pastries we'd never seen before. Many days for lunch we'd buy a new loaf of some sort of French bread and stuff it full of different kinds of French charcuterie and cheese. So simple, yet so delicious! This was out first experience with French culture and my wife and I both agreed that we enjoyed the way they eat!

Now to the funny part. I really wanted to bring home some of our favorite foods so I headed to the US Import grocery store (my favorite) the day before we left. It was ironic it was called US Import because it carried very little from the US but lots of European imports. The other big grocery store on the island was called Le Grande Supermarché but it felt like a Giant Eagle or Super Wal Mart when I walked in (and quickly walked back out). I purchased 3-4 kilos of our favorite charcuteries and a little bit of cheese. I packed it all in one of our checked bags and thought nothing of it.

As we went through customs, I mentioned that I brought food back with me. We were then pulled to the side and forced to go through a special line where they did a thorough search of our bags. It turns out you are only aloud to bring in pork from another country if it is of the canned variety. I almost cried as she took kilos worth of delicious charcuterie and threw it in the garbage. It's very odd to me that I could bring in what I told them was home made fish stock (more on that in another post) that I'd frozen in a plastic water bottle but I couldn't bring in delicious meats that were clearly labeled from the grocery store. I guess the moral of the story is if you really want to bring something back with you, just don't tell customs what you have. We wouldn't have been checked at all if I'd kept my mouth shut. At least I decided not to buy any of the 200 $Eur a kilo iberico jambon!

If you are considering a trip to St. Martin, please feel free to send me and email. I'd be happy to share our favorite restaurants, bakeries, shops, beaches, and more with you.
 
Below are a few more food related pictures from our trip.

One of our favorite bakeries in Marigot

The dining area, this place was always crowded

Another of our favorite bakeries (we had 3). This place was barely visible from the road and was basically a walk out basement but they had delicious, buttery croissants.

 

A selection of some delicious French charcuterie, cheeses, and butter from the local marché

 

There was an outdoor market everyday in Marigot. Every Wed & Sat there were stands selling local, line caught fish, goat, chicken, and other meats.

I purchased fresh grouper from this stand to make Michael Symon's Slash & Burn Grouper, delicious!

 

 Lobsters were plentiful on the island

 

 There were lots of different fish available to choose from

 

Along with the fish stand there were stands with people selling local fruits and veggies, homemade hot sauce, local vanilla, and lots of other great products