How do you say "om nom nom" in Cantonese?
Nov. 9th, 2009 04:11 pmLooking for something to do today, I went down to the Asian Supermarket to wander around. Here's a tip for you, if you decide to go: Give yourself a good amount of time, and don't go on a Sunday, 'cause last time I was there was a Sunday and I was informed that that's the day when most Asian Americans do their grocery shopping -- it was PACKED. Today, it was just fine, not crowded at all.
One thing I discovered today was that shopping at an Asian market is better done with a guide, someone who has eaten a lot of this stuff before, so they can tell you what stuff is. Some things have English translations on the label, which is great, but even with that, a lot of times, the thing you're looking at is totally foreign, something you've never come across, so you have no idea if it's sweet or savory, chewy or hard, good for a snack or just for cooking, something you might like or an acquired taste. Then, of course, there's the fact that like in any other market, there are multiple brands. I can tell you which kind of brownie mix I like best, or which brand of butter, but how do I know which type of frozen shiu mai is the best one?
In the end, I stuck mostly to buying things I know -- a couple of bags of frozen dumplings, a package of moon cakes, and one thing that I hadn't tried, some sort of sesame candy. It looked like sesame, and it says "white sesame cake" on the label, and the ingredients say mostly sesame, some sugar products. It's pretty tasty, though pretty hard and impossible to break apart. And it was cheap, so if I didn't like it, no real risk there.
That's another thing about Asian markets -- not only do they have a wide variety of things, both interesting and usual (Nesquik, Skippy peanut butter, etc.), and usually fresher than regular stores, but most of the stuff ends up being a really good value -- either it's cheap, it's super-fresh, it's a good deal for the amount you get, or any of all of the above. I wandered around picking up things, and in the end, I only spent like ten bucks. Not bad at all, especially since I probably got enough frozen dumplings to last me all week for dinner, if not longer. I think, given time and experience and a bit of experimentation, this place could become my hypothetical weekly grocery run place. Why not?
One thing I discovered today was that shopping at an Asian market is better done with a guide, someone who has eaten a lot of this stuff before, so they can tell you what stuff is. Some things have English translations on the label, which is great, but even with that, a lot of times, the thing you're looking at is totally foreign, something you've never come across, so you have no idea if it's sweet or savory, chewy or hard, good for a snack or just for cooking, something you might like or an acquired taste. Then, of course, there's the fact that like in any other market, there are multiple brands. I can tell you which kind of brownie mix I like best, or which brand of butter, but how do I know which type of frozen shiu mai is the best one?
In the end, I stuck mostly to buying things I know -- a couple of bags of frozen dumplings, a package of moon cakes, and one thing that I hadn't tried, some sort of sesame candy. It looked like sesame, and it says "white sesame cake" on the label, and the ingredients say mostly sesame, some sugar products. It's pretty tasty, though pretty hard and impossible to break apart. And it was cheap, so if I didn't like it, no real risk there.
That's another thing about Asian markets -- not only do they have a wide variety of things, both interesting and usual (Nesquik, Skippy peanut butter, etc.), and usually fresher than regular stores, but most of the stuff ends up being a really good value -- either it's cheap, it's super-fresh, it's a good deal for the amount you get, or any of all of the above. I wandered around picking up things, and in the end, I only spent like ten bucks. Not bad at all, especially since I probably got enough frozen dumplings to last me all week for dinner, if not longer. I think, given time and experience and a bit of experimentation, this place could become my hypothetical weekly grocery run place. Why not?
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