Actually left my spot in front of the TV yesterday in search of ingredients for Pad Kee Moa, Thai drunken noodles, to which I have become addicted (no liquor in them, just a lot of seasoning) so headed out to the Korean grocery. They've really cleaned the place up since the last time I was there - my former favorite Asian grocery shut down, and this place now is very busy, not just Koreans, but women in scarves and men in turbans and Latinos and Japanese all loading up their carts with groceries.
I don't know if you have a large ethnic population where you are, except for Latinos. What always amazes me when I watch Asians, Middle Easterners, and Latinos shop is how much fresh produce they buy. I really felt intimidated watching people fill up their carts with 3 gallon sized containers of tofu and ten pound bags of bean sprouts and bag after bag of leafy green vegetables. That's really healthy cooking.
I thought of you when I saw the fresh durian, plastic-wrapped on the typical produce market styrofoam trays. I put my nose right next to a package of fresh durian, and sniffed, but couldn't smell anything. The skin wasn't broken, maybe it's the meat that smells bad.
Anyway I filled up my entire cart with fresh bok choy, cilantro, peppers, leeks, mangos, clementines, navel oranges, etc., and a big bag of rice, sesame seeds, sushi nori, and some bottles of sauce, and the whole thing cost me $63 and change.
Having Pad Kee Moa for lunch, very good if I say so myself, but next time I will add more peppers. I bought about 1/4 pound the little Thai bird peppers that are so hot. The Latino lady behind me in line had at least three pounds in her bag.
So that's my report from the Asian market. |
