Alex

An H Mart opened in Chicago recently -- and in the West Loop, not the far burbs! It's become part of my regular shopping circuit when I'm in town. BTW, the author of the New Yorker article, Michelle Zauner, is not only a talented writer, but a talented musician.

Crying in H Mart

Ms Alex was there last month and raved about her meal. (She ate at the bar.) The pictures below are, in order: Lemon basil gimlet (yes, that's Mr. Bacon, who was very relieved that his traveling companion had sausage for breakfast rather than his cousins); Wood-fired oysters w/brown butter and Tabasco; NC flounder w/pesto, charred squashes, and stewed tomatoes; Strawberry shortcake. She also is a big, big fan of 247 Craven, in New Bern.

It's a SALAD!

Here's a "human interest" NYT article about one of the owners

Thanks, rotuts. There's a store here in GR, about 10 minutes from our house, so iirc I've never ordered via their website. I've made it a point of late to buy more stuff from Penzey's, doing my small part to counteract the boycott. They're also very supportive of teachers, especially those at public schools.

Doesn't the Times allow ten free articles a month? It used to, anyway.

I'm sure the recipe is good as it stands, but I also find it a bit odd. I rely on Sam Sifton's recipe in the NY Times, Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles.

I had a similar experience, although it wasn't gourmet-ish. After I had been living in Japan for 7-8 months, I went to Nagoya to take care of some official paperwork. While there, I stopped at an "American store" (I don't remember the exact term), with shelf after shelf of typical American grocery store items. I never thought I'd feel like crying in the presence of Heinz ketchup and Campbell's soup. I guess I was more homesick than I realized. It looks like all the signs are in English. Why do you think that is?

Butter tea has been a "thing" in Tibet and neighboring countries since pretty much forever. Butter coffee has become part of the ketogenic diet trend -- and you know it's a thing when Nestlé gets involved.

Yes, they make decent wines, as does its current parent, Chateau Ste Michelle. However, CSM is owned by Altria (former name: Philip Morris Companies), whose primary business was, and continues to be, tobacco. As addressed elsewhere in the forums, the intersection of food/beverages and ethics/politics is fraught, to say the least.

Ms. Alex makes that observation regularly -- fortunately, not loud enough for the pants-wearer to to hear it. She also will make a similar comment about midriff-baring tops. ------------ A scriptwriter couldn't have come up with a better exchange than the one between your uncle and your grandmother.

Great choices, joiei! And we just missed each other at Publican Anker -- that is, if "just" means "two weeks."

Page 1 of the most recent Art Culinaire features a memo Tower sent to his staff at Stars concerning sexual harrassment. Scroll down to the last paragraph of this article in the Montreal Gazette to see the memo. (The original memo was in three paragraphs.)

I see what you did there.