Fishy Feast

Since I was in a conference in Orlando, I decided to take the weekend and visit my family in Naples, FL, where I grew up. I usually go the the beach and eat a lot of fish when I'm down here :)

Yesterday my high school friend, Jessica, and I went for a run before going to the beach. She's much faster and more acclimated to the humid heat than I am so she kicked my butt. She'll actually be posting as a guest blogger soon so watch out for that! After the beach we went to one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Sushi Thai, with her family and had an amazing lunch. The fish is so fresh at this restaurant and they have some great rolls, like the lobster roll below. Sushi is quite healthy, especially if you're eating it raw. Plus, seaweed has even more nutrients than dark leafy greens like kale and spinach. However, white rice is definitely not healthy. I try to ask for brown rice if they have it or pick off the rice because there's usually too much of it on the roll anyway. I'd rather taste the seaweed and fish. Jess gave me the idea to try to make sushi rolls without rice, I have some nigri at home so I might try it next week!

I met up with my sister later in the day and she also wanted to get sushi for dinner but I convinced her to get mexican instead and it was great! We went to a new (to me) restaurant in Naples called Agave. It's more "southwestern" than "mexican." The name caught my eye since a "Blue Agave" place just opened in our building in Chicago. Turns out, we got there during happy hour which was actually a really good deal! It was half off margaritas and appetizers, including ceviche! Ceviche is a way of "cooking" fish in which you marinate raw fish and seafood with lemon/lime or other citrus juice. You leave it for a few hours and the juice actually "cooks" the fish. The fish still tastes raw but lemony. I got the ceviche sampler (half price!) and it was amazing!! My favorite was the scallop and mahi tostone, pictured below.

I don't normally eat this much fish in one day, or even a week, but it was yummmmmy :) And, be sure to check out these restaurants if you live or are on vacation in Naples!