feeling saucy

I try to do the "buy local" thing when I can - not eating at chain restaurants, patronizing independent coffee shops and bookstores, drinking local microbrews. I also try to "buy regional" when I get to a new place, unabashedly trying things that I've never tried before due to their not having been available to me before. In that vein, lately I've been exploring new condiments and, since H loooooooves condiments, this is a great way to get him to try new stuff too.

I like honey in my tea and on my Cheerios and last week I brought home a refillable plastic squeeze bottle of Miller's Honey. It is paler than the Maine honey I'm used to, with a lovely light flavor. Very nice.

I don't think I've seen many (if any) Herdez products back in Maine and so here I've picked up a couple: Bufalo Chipotle Mexican Hot Sauce, a thick, smoky sauce with flavorful heat; and the Herdez Salsa Verde that H used in his huevos H-os last month. Herdez also has a Dona Maria product line with several moles that I'm anxious to try.

We've also been using Valentina Salsa Picante which I really like a lot. It's a little bit thicker than Frank's Hot Sauce or Tabasco and it's got a wonderful, slightly smoky flavor with decent heat (not as hot as the red Tabasco but hotter than the green). I've been using it on everything lately - chicken, pork chops, rice, egg sandwiches - and it comes in a big bottle (for not much money) which is awesome.

Today's impulse buy: Some Dude's Fry Sauce, made right here in SLC. (They have a website, http://www.somedudesfrysauce.com/ , but it's down at the moment.) Some dude made some french fry dipping sauce and sold it at all sorts of burger stands, then decided to bottle it in squeeze bottles and sell it that way too. It's pretty much Thousand Island dressing without the pickle relish, nothing too original, but that dude's right: sure is good to dip your fries in it.