eG Foodblog: therese - Hey, wanna play a game?

[therese]

Remember upthread where I said that my kids would be off school this coming week and I needed to make sure that they had appropriate food for lunches? Well, turns out that my kids' idea of appropriate food for lunches includes items that aren't found at our local Publix, so after dim sum we headed out to:

Note the sign in front advertising the Asian Food Festival. Normally Super H features small tasting booths throughout the store, particularly on weekends, but today it was truly over the top. My husband pointed out that we could have skipped dim sum altogether and just done a sort of reverse dim sum trip from cart to cart. The generally frenetic mood was enhanced by pulsing disco music and a young woman in a tight green ensemble doing some sort of commentary (possibly part of a game).

This store is located in an area of Atlanta that until recently wasn't too interesting from a dining point of view (Gwinnett County), but lately has become home to a large Korean community. Here's a shot of the shopping center where Super H Mart is located, and it's by no means unusual:

I didn't see a sign forbidding photographs, but only managed to take one before I was politely asked to refrain. Fortunately I'd planned for this possibility and took the most important one first:

[mizducky]

Hiya, therese! Happy blogging! I'm already envious of those peaches.

How many other states place produce in between numbers and digits on their license plates? Iowa? Idaho, maybe?

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Okay, it's not produce, and it's a background design rather than a between-the-numbers graphic, but Oregon does offer a license plate featuring a nice-looking salmon.

Edited to add: Oooh! The dim sum pics slipped in while I was busy posting--yum!!!

Edited May 29, 2006 by mizducky (log)

[therese]

Hiya, therese! Happy blogging! I'm already envious of those peaches. 

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Those peaches aren't nearly ready to eat yet, so we won't know whether they're envy-worthy for a few days.

Instead I'm eating the item pictured on the far left of the middle shelf in my fridge shot, litchies (or lychees or whatever you want to call them):

I've got two containers of them, on top of which is a head of lettuce.

Proceeding to the right...

Okra, with lemon grass on top of it

Stoneyfield fat-free yogurt, with a container of rhubarb compote on top of it

Plastic bag of steamed pork buns (left from last week), with salad spinner behind and bag of rhubarb on top of it

Leftover onion, tomato, and grocery store potato salad (left from last week, a meal of hamburgers prepared by my husband and consumed without me---I have to let a decent interval pass before pitching the really nasty potato salad in the trash)

Bottom shelf:

Miso paste

Pie crusts (leftover from visit by parents about a month ago)

Gazpacho (from Dekalb Farmers Market, pretty darn good)

Green grapes (special request of daughter)

Eggplant

[MarketStEl]

The blog opens with a trivia quiz and quickly moves to a trip to an H-Mart. (Okay, not just any H-Mart--a Super H-Mart.)

Are you channeling me, Therese?

So maybe you could tell me what's Atlanta's answer to Upper Darby Township? (A Korean presence is not enough. You have to have Hispanics, preferably from Central or South America; blacks, some of whom are African, not African-American; recent or not-so-recent immigrants from Europe's poorer (or formerly poorer, in the case of Ireland) nations, and a generous helping of white hyphenated-Americans of various persuasions. This being Atlanta, I'm inclined to insist on the presence of a rapid transit line too, but given how little of the area is directly served by MARTA's rail system, that isn't a requirement.)

Atlanta being the city it is now, I imagine one of these places must exist in the metropolitan area. If you could, I'd appreciate it if you could find it and describe it to me.

I can say up front that your trivia questions will be much more challenging than mine--so far, I'm 0-for-2, which should tell you how often I watch "The Sopranos." The street light design in the first picture looked an awful lot like those in downtown Atlanta, installed for the Centennial Olympic Games, but the rest of the photo bore no resemblance at all to any American location, so that threw me.

As for peaches, we tend not to get good ones from Georgia--the best time for eating peaches around Philly is when the Jersey crop comes in beginning sometime in late July.

And speaking of food on license plates, New Jersey ought to issue a plate with a big, juicy tomato on it, but so far, nothing of the sort has been proposed. Maine's standard license plate features a lobster in the background. Kansas plates used to have stalks of wheat in between the numbers, but the current ones now have the state capitol building in Topeka. (A special conservation plate features a bison, the state animal, and the title of the state song, "Home on the Range.") Indiana plates for a while featured a farm scene and the legend "Amber Waves of Grain," and Iowa plates today have a farm-scene background. (I guess that's stretching "produce" a bit, but it is about producing food, so I think it qualifies, or ought to.)

I can't think of any other states beyond these and the three already mentioned upthread that have or had food products or food-related themes on their license plates. (Actually, I think Virginia may also have a special Chesapeake Bay plate that has a crab on it.)

Looking forward to your future trivia questions and the rest of this blog!

[racheld]

.

There's also a cool display case of dried this and that:

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Dried WHAT? There's a FACE in there!!

[torakris]

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Pocky!!

I would trade any Pocky for those peaches though.....

[Pat Churchill]

Welcome Therese!

You've started by immediately getting me hungry for some bone marrow.  Perhaps you would be able to tell us if it's "good for us" in any way.  I've always imagined (rationalized) that being it's bone, it must be a good source of calcium, and that I should eat a lot of it because I have osteoporosis. 

I also like it that you began with the always much anticipated fridge shots.  I'm sure that will please a lot of the eG foodblog fans.

As for the famous restaurant, I guess we can rule out McDonalds, huh?

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Susan - I have been making osso buco lately - http://cookingdownunder.com/articles/2006/225.htm - and no one at my table will touch the marrow (me included). Gross is probably the word I would use for it. Bit late to post it to you, I guess

[miladyinsanity]

.

There's also a cool display case of dried this and that:

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Dried WHAT? There's a FACE in there!!

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I'm reasonably certain that the left picture is abalone, but I've no idea what's the stuff in the right bottle.

Great blog Therese!

[TheFoodTutor]

Hey therese!

Is this one of the spongy desserts? I noticed you got the daikon cakes as well. Did they have a sautee cart for those and some of the other dumplings? What was in the egg roll sprinkled with sesame seeds?

I'm glad to hear that Oriental Pearl ditched the lousy buffet to go back to providing the authentic Chinese and great dim sum they had before the remodeling.

Great blog, again, as expected.

[tryska]

hey therese!

where'd you find the fresh lychee? I was looking at Harry's last week and didn't see any...DFM? Super H?

[therese]

Getting a late start this AM (it's almost 10:00), but with good reason.

So far I've managed to provide several of the key ingredients of an eG foodblog: fridge shots and Pocky shot. Because I don't have pets (and won't, ever, because I'm very allergic) I haven't been able to show pics of any furry little darlings

Until now, that is.

Very early this AM, while I was lying in bed awake worrying over my busy week to come, I heard what sounded like a small animal scrabbling over our roof. Our house has a mansard roof, so we can hear things more easily than we might otherwise, but still, I don't usually notice them. As it continued I decided that it was perhaps in our attic, a dismaying thought as it meant we'd need to do some investigating and patching, and the mansard roof means that our attic is actually more of crawl space.

By this point my husband was awake, and I told him I thought the sound was coming from the attic. He thought it was just the roof, and then pointed out a small shape perched on the sill of the fanlight over the door to the balcony. At first we thought it was outside, but as it started to move we realized it was actually inside.

So, here's our new friend:

After photographing him we opened the door to the balcony and got back into bed and turned off the lights. It took him a few minutes, but he finally managed to get out.

I'd never seen this animal before, but had a good idea of what it might be based on its large eyes and broad, flat, furry tail (which you can't see too well in the photo). Even though it's not strictly a food inquiry, I'm going to make this a trivia question:

What animal interrupted my night?

[Daniel]

Enjoying your blog..Is that a tree squirrel or a chipmunk.. If it doesnt come on a plate and if it aint a rat, my animal knowledge is limited..

Edited May 29, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[therese]

hey therese!

where'd you find the fresh lychee?  I was looking at Harry's last week and didn't see any...DFM?  Super H?

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Hey, tryska!

I found fresh lychee at DFM on this week and last week as well. They were from Mexico (DFM does an excellent job of indicating provenance of their produce). Super H Mart had a big display of them right inside the door this weekend, next to a smaller display of longan. I've no idea where they were from.

[therese]

Enjoying your blog..Is that a tree squirrel or a chipmunk.. If it doesnt come on a plate and if it aint a rat, my animal knowledge is limited..

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Nope, not a tree squirrel or a chipmunk, or even a rat.

These animals are reportedly very common, but rarely seen.

[therese]

Susan - I have been making osso buco lately - http://cookingdownunder.com/articles/2006/225.htm -  and no one at my table will touch the marrow (me included).  Gross is probably the word I would use for it. Bit late to post it to you, I guess 

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It is a weird combination of fatty and gelatinous, I agree. And so I find it all the more bizarre that one of my children (my son, who is 15) loves it, loves it so much he'll ask for mine and his dad's, and is likely one of the very few diners under 21 to have ever asked for a marrow spoon when we dined at Rules in London a couple of years ago.

It's possible that I may have gone a bit overboard in exposing my children to interesting foods.

[patti]

Enjoying your blog..Is that a tree squirrel or a chipmunk.. If it doesnt come on a plate and if it aint a rat, my animal knowledge is limited..

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Nope, not a tree squirrel or a chipmunk, or even a rat.

These animals are reportedly very common, but rarely seen.

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Flying squirrel?

[MarketStEl]

Is that critter a lemur? (Purely a wild guess, as I somehow recall that lemurs are actually related to civet cats or something like that.)

Haven't run across lychee or longan yet at the H-Mart I patronize, so either (1) I just haven't noticed or been looking for it or (2) that's what makes yours Super.

I am curious to see Atlanta's answer to Upper Darby.

[therese]

Hey therese!

Is this one of the spongy desserts? I noticed you got the daikon cakes as well. Did they have a sautee cart for those and some of the other dumplings? What was in the egg roll sprinkled with sesame seeds?

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The dessert pictured here was gelatin-based. Sweet but not overpowering, and possibly Asian pear-flavored, based on the consistency of the little bits of fruit distributed throughout.

No rolling saute cart, I'm afraid, but the cake did have a nice crisp on it, so I wasn't too upset.

The eggroll sort of thing was actually a baked pastry with a sweet glaze on top, savory meat filling inside. We liked them so much we got a second order:

[therese]

Flying squirrel?

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Excellent work, patti.

Yep, a flying squirrel. You can find some more information about them here.

Did you recognize it from having seen one before? Or, like me, did you figure it out from its appearance?

We still have no idea how it got in the house, of course.

[Segue]

I second the flying squirrel nomination!

[therese]

Is that critter a lemur?  (Purely a wild guess, as I somehow recall that lemurs are actually related to civet cats or something like that.)

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Vide supra. Definitely a rodent, so once I'd ruled out tree squirrel and chipmunk there weren't too many other options in this part of the word.

Haven't run across lychee or longan yet at the H-Mart I patronize, so either (1) I just haven't noticed or been looking for it or (2) that's what makes yours Super.

Possibly. I don't actually buy too much produce at Super H, as DFM is much closer by and has a better selection of things I actually use.

I am curious to see Atlanta's answer to Upper Darby.

Well, having never been to Upper Darby I can't quite say, but since the ethnic mix seems to be the key I'd have to say that Buford Highway is the area that shows the most mix, with all sorts of Asian and all sorts of Hispanic restaurants and businesses mixed in together. Several of the large markets I use are divided into sections: Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican, etc.

The area is poorly served by MARTA: no train, and some bus service, but many local Hispanics rely on privately run shuttle bus services. Or they walk, which is truly frightening as much of this road has no sidewalk (so they walk in paths along the roadside) and crosswalks are infrequent (so you see families with strollers crossing in heavy traffic). The road was never designed for pedestrian traffic, and these issues are now being addressed.

[therese]

Okay, so nobody here watches the Sopranos? Maybe a hint is in order:

Carmela and Rosalie are dining at Le Grand Vefour (which is located at one end of the Palais Royal, where I stayed recently with my children---there's a picture of them running in the garden upthread). The waiter makes a point of describing their main courses to them. Did you notice what Carmela's was? And did you notice the accompanying vegetable?

This same vegetable was named earlier in the same episode, in an entirely different place and in an entirely different context.

What was the vegetable?

[rooftop1000]

Come on I think I got the meats but....but.... Carrots?

tracey

[therese]

Come on I think I got the meats but....but.... Carrots?

tracey

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Well, that's a start. What was Carmela's main dish?

[therese]

While we're figuring out just exactly what Carmela chose for dinner at Le Grand Vefour I'll pose another question. Much easier as it's just a simple ID: