adventures at the MT
I went to the MT Supermarket, a fabulous Asian grocery store, over the weekend. This store is a far cry from the small, cramped Chinese grocery where my mom used to shop: the owner didn't speak much English and few items had English packaging, so my mom just figured it out as best she could. The MT is full of sights and smells, and, thankfully, mostly bilingual labels. I saw: huge incense sticks, thicker than a pencil and a couple of feet in length; statues of Kwan Yin, Confucius, and the Chinese laughing Buddha; more green tea than I've ever seen in one place; fascinating produce (dragonfruit! yucca! taro!); every kind of smoked or processed fish you can imagine; thousands of sauces; a multitude of noodles and rices; brightly colored asian candies and cookies; rice steamers, pots and bowls; and more.
I bought fabulous lemongrass and thai curry tofu, bean sprouts (a childhood favorite I haven't had in ages), black rice (something new to try), Honey Ginger tea, frozen rice balls (sesame and red bean), millet, barley, nori, and a beautiful offering bowl.
I had two problems with the market. One, I didn't understand how it's laid out, so I couldn't find anything (I was looking for umeboshi and soba. (I didn't find the umeboshi by that name, but I did find some pickled, salted plums in a jar. I wonder if that will work.)) I don't know if they organize the goods by nationality or what. Second, I only recognized a very small percentage of what I saw. So many interesting things, and I have no idea what they are, what they taste like, or how one would cook with them. I need a native guide! Or a class on popular Asian cooking. Or both.
I had a blast, but the dizzying array of items overwhelmed both of us after about a half hour. We walked through the entire store despite that. I'm thinking that my next foray will be to the Fiesta, because it's Asian section is larger than Central Market but smaller than the MT. And then the library, for some cookbooks -- and then back to the mecca of the MT.
I bought fabulous lemongrass and thai curry tofu, bean sprouts (a childhood favorite I haven't had in ages), black rice (something new to try), Honey Ginger tea, frozen rice balls (sesame and red bean), millet, barley, nori, and a beautiful offering bowl.
I had two problems with the market. One, I didn't understand how it's laid out, so I couldn't find anything (I was looking for umeboshi and soba. (I didn't find the umeboshi by that name, but I did find some pickled, salted plums in a jar. I wonder if that will work.)) I don't know if they organize the goods by nationality or what. Second, I only recognized a very small percentage of what I saw. So many interesting things, and I have no idea what they are, what they taste like, or how one would cook with them. I need a native guide! Or a class on popular Asian cooking. Or both.
I had a blast, but the dizzying array of items overwhelmed both of us after about a half hour. We walked through the entire store despite that. I'm thinking that my next foray will be to the Fiesta, because it's Asian section is larger than Central Market but smaller than the MT. And then the library, for some cookbooks -- and then back to the mecca of the MT.