The Mexican Aisle

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Recently, I've started to become acquainted with the section of my Publix that houses the Hispanic ingredients. The bit that I particularly like right now is the selection of Hispanic spices. They come packaged in clear plastic baggies, which isn't the greatest thing in the world for freshness, but if you only need a couple tablespoons of something, it can be just what you're looking for. The variety is pretty good, and many of them come whole, like star anise, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. I bought a little bag of pine nuts to make Lebanese stuffed eggplant this week. I only need a few tablespoons for the recipe. Why waste the money on a bottle?

And check out the difference on prices:

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These are the sesame seeds I bought to top an Asian coleslaw a few months ago.

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And these are the ones I didn't buy. Holy cow. What a difference. And sure, you get more with the bottle. But how often do I use sesame seeds? They'd go to waste. And I don't have to traipsing all over town to find a place that sells high quality spices. It's amazing what you can find in your neighborhood grocery store these days.

"I love rooster sauce!"

This is a fascinating article about the history of sriracha sauce in the United States. I had always assumed it was some traditional Vietnamese sauce and only recently available in the United States. But according to this, it's a Thai sauce, produced in the United States by an ethnic Chinese man, who immigrated here from Vietnam in the 80's.

I first encountered it abour eight or nine years ago, when I was first dating my husband and he was living in Chamblee. I'd go visit him and we'd go to the Ranch 99 Market on Buford HWY and I'd gawk at all the crazy Asian stuff and he'd mutter under his breath at the other chinese and pretend he didn't speak Mandarin. The Ranch 99 Market is a crazy place, yo. We'd pick up frozen dumplings, various sauces and serious curry powder there.

Sriracha is the only hot sauce I use at home, other than the odd jar of harissa purchased at a Persian market. I don't say this because I am some kind of hot sauce conniseur, turning up my nose at inferior bottles of fire. I'm not a huge fan of spicy food. I like to taste my meals, not sweat them out. I like sriracha because it has a tolerable level of heat and a well developed flavor of its own. I like to add a little squirt to stir fries or marinades, or fried rice when I cook at home. I'm not terribly creative with it. Apparently there are tons of recipes using sriracha that I never knew about. I'm fine with that. Like I said, not really a hot sauce person. These garlic hot wings sound pretty awesome though.

I do find it very interesting that it's become so wide spread, from something I had to make a special trip for, to something I can grab at the local Publix. That's pretty cool.

The Atlanta Greek Festival

I have a love hate relationship with the Atlanta Greek Festival. I adore the food, the music, the crafts, the Cathedral itself. I hate the crowds. Unfortunately, there seem to be thousands of people who adore the same things I do there, so it's elbow throwing time. It's been a nearly annual stop for us ever since I was in college. One of my professors offered extra credit to anyone that attended the Cathedral lecture at the festival. Learning + food = I will be there. That first year we had a great lunch of roasted lamb sandwiches, attended a greek cooking class, and bought a crazy amount of cheese and olives. We were hooked.

However, the crowds just keep getting worse and we stay a shorter and shorter time each year. I think we'll skip it next year, in favor of the smaller Cumming Greek Festival.

I got some great pictures though and I did pick up some cheese and cookies.

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Greek pastries for sale outside the Cathedral. I can never recall, or spell for that matter, the names of any of these things. We bought a bag of the twisty looking cookies. They are slightly sweet and crisp. I think they are perfect with a mug of hot chocolate on a cool fall evening.

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The selection of cheeses available. For years, this was the only place where I knew I could get some of these cheeses. My favorite is the manouri, which is a soft, mild sheep's milk cheese. We also bought some feta, which will be part of my lunch tomorrow, and a sharp white cow's milk cheese. I'm going to be eating pieces of that for breakfast along side Honeycrisp apples from the farmer's market.

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Lamb, roasting on spit outdoors. Not something you see every day. Unfortunately, their lamb is so popular and the roasting process takes so long, they had supply issues. So we sadly skipped eating lamb from the Festival this year. Which was a pity, because my husband wanted to buy a pound to take home for nibbles.

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Since there was no lamb for us at the Festival, we had dinner at Veranda instead. I had meant to take pictures of our food BEFORE eating it, but I, uh, forgot. So those are the remnants of my lamb chops and stewed lima beans in tomato sauce.

If you'd like to flip through all my photos, here's the link. I got some great pictures of the inside of the Cathedral.

greek festival

It's a bird! It's a plane! Its...SUPER H MART!!!!

We're lucky enough in this neck of the woods to have access to the Super H Mart, a chain of Korean grocery stores. They seem to be scattered around the country, where ever there's a large Korean population. It's not a speciality store, but a full service grocery, featuring many imported items from Asia, along with a full American staples.

One of the teachers I work with runs a Japanese Culture Club for the students. After I mentioned Super H Mart to her, she decided she wanted to take them there as a field trip. As I mentioned, it's chock full of food from all over Asia, not just Korea. When I made sushi with my International Studies classes last spring, this was where I went to get supplies. So I took her there so she could scope it out and see if it was appropriate for her students.

While we was there, I snapped a few pictures:

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Mmm...free samples... We ended up buying several bags of these to take home. In fact, I still have some in my freezer. I think I know what dinner is tonight...

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One of the best parts of Super H Mart is the food court. It has fast food selections from Japan, Korea, Thailand and China. I have never been able to go without stopping in for a treat.

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This one promises both Chicken AND Joy. How can you top that?

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My coworker, who worked in a Korean restaurant while in college, ordered a Korean dish who's name escapes me. It was steamed rice, veggies, and a raw egg cracked over the top. You stir in the egg and the heat from the rice cooks it. It also comes with kimchi and hot sauce, which are mixed in to your preference.

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I got a steaming bowl of pho with steak slices. Not the best pho I've ever eaten, but still very good. And you can't go wrong with a bowl of soup big enough to stick your head in.

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We also ordered Thai spring rolls as a side. Again, I've had better. But I've also had worse.

The first few times I visited a Super H Mart, it seemed like I was the only white person there. However, with their super low prices and huuuge produce section, it seems like there were more this time. Many people are discovering that ethnic grocery stores have unbeatable deals if you're willing to drive a little further and endure a little culture shock.