Grocery Shopping

[liuzhou]

13 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Bitterness?  I always think of it being a sour agent - less sour than lime juice and more fruity.  It also withstands cooking while lime juice needs to be added at the end.  Sour tamarind is very common in Peranakan food - it's practically in everything!

 

Yes sour rather than bitter. My bad.

[liuzhou]

Picked these up today. Two little vials of saffron. 2½ inches in length containing 1 gram in each. For some reason they were labelled "Tibetan Iranian Saffron" Most strange!

 

[liuzhou]

One thing I like about food shopping in China is the freshness and nothing gets fresher than fish and other seafood. Almost always sold live even for home delivery. This just turned up my door half an hour ago.

 

 

It's a river bass and there was water in that box but the fish was flapping about so much, 99% of it has been sprayed around my kitchen It has now been refilled and he or she has calmed down a bit.

 

Will cook tomorrow. Been invited out tonight.

 

P.S. I do have a video of the fish flapping, in case anyone doubts my tale. I can't seem to upload it at the moment - China's embarrasingly disfunctional internet again.

 

 

[MetsFan5]

On 11/1/2022 at 10:55 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

My most recent Whole Foods order was delivered to the wrong address.  And yes, the driver took a picture to verify delivery.

 

This happened to me during a small snow storm. I called the driver, messaged him and got zero response. He still got my 20% tip and I had to haul bags from my neighbors place to mine which made me extremely uncomfortable.  I will never use Whole Foods via Amazon again. 
 

 The picture I was sent was of cement stairs. 

[KennethT]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

One thing I like about food shopping in China is the freshness and nothing gets fresher than fish and other seafood. Almost always sold live even for home delivery. This just turned up my door half an hour ago.

 

 

It's a river bass and there was water in that box but the fish was flapping about so much, 99% of it has been sprayed around my kitchen It has now been refilled and he or she has calmed down a bit.

 

Will cook tomorrow. Been invited out tonight.

 

P.S. I do have a video of the fish flapping, in case anyone doubts my tale. I can't seem to upload it at the moment - China's embarrasingly disfunctional internet again.

 

 

That's so cool. But I'm surprised the styrofoam container didn't weep water through it.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

That's so cool. But I'm surprised the styrofoam container didn't weep water through it.

 

The fish came to me in a tightly closed plastic bag of water inside the styrofoam, but I took it out of the bag for the photograph otherwise you wouldn't have seen it.

[Anna N]

44 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

The fish came to me in a tightly closed plastic bag of water inside the styrofoam, but I took it out of the bag for the photograph otherwise you wouldn't have seen it.

At first I was quite puzzled by this until I turned my mind back to a time when my husband and I raised tropical fish as a hobby. This is exactly how we transported them from the pet store to our home. But we also saw shipments coming into the pet stop and that's exactly how they arrived - in sturdy plastic bags inside Styrofoam containers. 

[gulfporter]

The local bacon doesn't seem to be salted, very smoky and mostly lean.  What is the cure on it....just smoked??  

 

I have to add salt to it when adding to recipes. 

 

Today at the carnicería it was 160p per kilo or 3.70 USD per pound (if my math is right).  I haven't been to US in 2 years and probably haven't bought bacon there in 4 years.  

 

 

 

[rotuts]

@gulfporter 

 

Wow.

 

the strips on the L and the R , and a bit on the middle slice

 

have segment fat , if you will

 

5 segments on the R

 

reminds me of the ' money muscle '

 

and a full pork shoulder 

 

said to be extra tasty .

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[TicTac]

Wasn’t sure where to put this and was too lazy to research the merits in starting a new thread (mods feel free to do so if you wish!) but I wanted to share some of the offerings from my favourite Japanese fish monger who recently opened a location not 10 minutes from my house!  Figured you folks might enjoy….

 

 

 

(practice your hand stands)

 

 

 

 

 

picked up collars and some king salmon and belly for tonight.

 

[rotuts]

@TicTac 

 

wow  lucky you.

 

shudder to think what a tray of uni goes for ..

 

but   ...

[blue_dolphin]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

picked up collars and some king salmon and belly for tonight.

 

What kind of collars?  And how will you prepare them?  

The fish place that I signed up with for a weekly pick-up has had ahi tuna collars available as an add-on item but I haven't taken the bait yet 😉

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

1 hour ago, TicTac said:

Wasn’t sure where to put this and was too lazy to research the merits in starting a new thread (mods feel free to do so if you wish!) but I wanted to share some of the offerings from my favourite Japanese fish monger who recently opened a location not 10 minutes from my house!  Figured you folks might enjoy….

 

 

 

(practice your hand stands)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! Nice selection especially the baby squid, sea urchin and all that tuna. Not a place I'd risk walking in with my credit card 😋.

[TicTac]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

@TicTac 

 

wow  lucky you.

 

shudder to think what a tray of uni goes for ..

 

but   ...

pics are high res'ish - zoom in (you can ID most of the fish that way), $65 CDN....so about $4.50 USD 😛 (or at least it feels like lately!!!)

 

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

What kind of collars?  And how will you prepare them?  

The fish place that I signed up with for a weekly pick-up has had ahi tuna collars available as an add-on item but I haven't taken the bait yet 😉

 

Kanpachi - my favourite!  I have not had tuna collars myself - bet they are big!

 

@Senior Sea Kayaker - awesome selection.  Often changes. 

[TicTac]

Turned into this: 

 

so far my favourite prep for collars - stock (in this case double chicken), sweet and regular soy, smoked duck skin, green onion, last years dried boletes. 

[liuzhou]

Today's haul (by delivery service).

 

 

Matsutake, chicken's feet and a frozen chicken breast. I have a plan.

 

 

Black bolete. Part of plan. These are not cheap and are sold singly.

 

Peeled, cleaned shrimp. I usually buy these live, but recently found these which, in my decreptitude, are easier to deal with.

 

[liuzhou]

... and then an hour later this arrived.

 

2 kilos of locally grown mango jam. Well, they don't grow jam! Just the mangos and the sugar.

 

 

 

[Anna N]

Inspired by @liuzhouI ordered a pound of fresh lychees from my online grocer, Fortinos. I guess they were out of stock or at least almost. I received one single lychee for which I was charged $.35. I could ask what were they thinking that they obviously weren't. What am I supposed to do with a single lychee? Grrrrrrrr. 

[liuzhou]

Insane! For the price of your single lychee, I can buy a kilo! Almost.

 

 

 

[chromedome]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Insane! For the price of your single lychee, I can buy a kilo! Almost.

 

 

 

Yeah, they get marked up a time or two before they hit Canadian shelves.

[Shelby]

I love sour cherry pie.  I buy the canned ones that are Oregon brand.  They are SO expensive right now.   Almost $8 a can!  Anyway, we went to the Mennonite Market--they sell damaged packaged goods, fresh produce from farms around here, overstocked items that other stores want to get rid of etc.  I was thrilled when I went to the freezer section.  Bags of pitted sour cherries!

 

 

$5.99 a lb.  Each bag was about 2 lbs.  I vac packed and froze.  Trying to stop myself from going back to buy more.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

6 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I love sour cherry pie.  I buy the canned ones that are Oregon brand.  They are SO expensive right now.   Almost $8 a can!  Anyway, we went to the Mennonite Market--they sell damaged packaged goods, fresh produce from farms around here, overstocked items that other stores want to get rid of etc.  I was thrilled when I went to the freezer section.  Bags of pitted sour cherries!

 

 

$5.99 a lb.  Each bag was about 2 lbs.  I vac packed and froze.  Trying to stop myself from going back to buy more.

I would!

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

Go back !  Clean Them Out !

 

after all , w a Vac system and freezer :

 

after all ,

 

you don't want the new freezer

 

you just ordered 

 

to be lonely very long .

 

OK   this is a deal you will remember 

 

when you use up your last bag.

 

Just saying.

 

P.S.:   consider taking a bag or two

 

Cuisinart them ,  add a little brown sugar 

 

( extra flavor )   and vodka 

 

not the vodka in the fancy designer bottle

 

but maybe not  the 2 gallon jug 

 

( just guessing on that 2 gallon )

 

macerate , bottle , wait until fall 

 

( you have to look the details up )

 

nice in ice cream , or  etc .

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Shelby]

15 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Cuisinart them ,  add a little brown sugar 

 

( extra flavor )   and vodka 

 

not the vodka in the fancy designer bottle

 

but maybe not  the 2 gallon jug

This sounds delicious

[JoNorvelleWalker]

This afternoon on the way home from the doctor, I asked my friend to stop at a store called Brick Farm Market.  I've gone past many times and I was curious, besides I needed limes.  I've not had an experience quite like it.

 

At the entrance was an assortment of pig parts:  noses, ears, bits I never knew existed.  The produce section would accommodate one customer at a time.  Except for bananas and citrus produce was local, much of it from Brick Farms' own farm.  I got tomatoes, some beautiful basil, and a cucumber.