If you love tomatillos, chances are, you'll love the golden berry as well. Inca berry, Aztec berry, Cape gooseberry...it's all the same thing. Contrary to the name, the golden berry is not actually a berry. Its a member of the nightshade family similar to the tomato and eggplant, with the tomatillo being its closest relative.
The dried golden berry has a sour, tart flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked. It is considered a superfood that is high in Vitamin A and C. It is also high in protein and a great source of bioflavonoids. In the natural medicine world, the golden berry has been used to treat asthma, rheumatism and malaria. On a more benign level, it can help with weight management and better organ function.
Level Ground Trading sells direct fair trade golden berries, which are vine-ripened and organically grown in the volcanic soil of Narino, Columbia. They are free of sulphites, additives and preservatives. They have partnered with Fruandes to ensure a sustainable income to small scale farmers.
The partners also sell pineapple sourced from the jungles of Casana, mangoes near the Magdalena River Valley, and coconut and bananas from Colombia's coastal regions. You'll be amazed at the quality of their fruit. It's how fruit should taste all the time.
The resort was stunning. We arrived to refreshing wet towels, and champagne waiting for us. Our check in was a breeze, and we decided to meet for lunch at The Grill restaurant. The Excellence resort offered 8 international a la carte restaurants, which meant NO BUFFETS..woo hoo! They had a breakfast and lunch buffet at their Mediterranean restaurant, Barcelona, but that was it. The rest had to be ordered off menus.
With so much to eat, here were just some of my meal highlights:
They had a lot of egg white choices at Excellence resort. Some days I would have a hard boiled egg white, while other days, I would have an egg white omelette. Ahh..life is tough.
Chicken quesadilla at The Grill restaurant...this was one of my favorites. So simple, but so good.
Grilled mahi mahi at The Grill restaurant.
Grouper with a chipotle garlic sauce at Agave Mexican restaurant.
Grilled grouper with a spicy chili-basil sauce at Spice asian restaurant.
Coquilles St. Jaques et crevettes at the French restaurant, Chez Isabelle.
Triple spicy duck and vegetables in a spicy basil sauce at Spice asian restaurant.
Thai beef salad at Spice asian restaurant.
Deep fried ice cream at Spice asian restaurant.
ROOM SERVICE: I decided to be lazy one day, and ordered room service. I enjoyed my meal on my comfy couch while watching TV. I ordered the spa mixed salad, a tortilla soup, and a miile spa wrap. The wrap was a spinach roll with yogourt, Lebanese cream, and veggies. The meal was great, and when you've finished, they had a neat system to take away your dishes. There was a cupboard in the room, called an "xbox", and it opened from both inside and outside of your room. When there is something for the staff to take away, you place it in the "xbox", and they remove your dishes from the outside, without ever having to disturb you.
Earlier on in the week, JL, M, and I headed to the Cancun Wal-Mart to buy some clothes and toiletries to replace some of the essentials that never made it. Driving in Cancun was a mess, there were no lanes, and the roads were not marked clearly. M had to use the GPS on his blackberry to get us out of Cancun. We were stuck there for about 4 hours circling around.
They also had boxes of camaron seco (dried whole shrimp), and pre-made pescadillos ready to eat. I bought myself a bag of cured serrano ham flavored chips to bring back to the resort. These came in handy a few times!
After that, we wandered the streets of Cabo where we bought tacos and churros from the street vendors.
While at Misiones de Kino earlier, our bartender kept raving about a pescada dish at his favourite restaurant, Mariscos el Torito. We wanted to check it out, so he gave us some very vague directions, and off we went. We finally managed to find it after many attempts at asking for directions, and when we got there, we were nervous to go in because it looked a little sketchy (we thought that hole in the wall was the door...actually, it kinda was).
But as soon as we walked in, all was good. It was a nice, colorful restaurant with friendly staff.
We ended up having a feast. The grilled pescada was highly recommended to us, and it turned out to be our favorite dish of the evening. The menu was entirely in Spanish, but most dishes had pictures beside the name so we were able to get an idea of what each dish looked like.
After our satisfying meal, we wandered the streets a bit more. By that time, people were bringing out fresh tamales to sell.
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