At this phase of life and the pandemic, going to H Mart in Burlington counts as an adventure. Lots of other people had the same idea today — packed parking lot, busy fish counter, many, many vegetable and noodle buyers.
I wanted to get the ingredients for this delicious looking Ottolenghi salad (above) — to try something new. I managed to buy red and Napa cabbages, but forgot cilantro and limes. Oh well! Next time. Maybe if we go at 8 am on a regular weekday, it’ll be less crowded.
The good news is that Asians as a rule wear masks.
How fun it was! The exotic dragon fruit, the wall of tofu, mushrooms of every variety. I picked up some pumpkin-colored miso, a pack of soba noodles, a huge bag of rice, some potstickers, and star anise. Also: soy sauce, Korean BBQ rub, and rice vinegar.
The star anise imparted a spicy fragrance to the car on the way home. Lovely!
I bought a couple persimmons three weeks back (shown in the bin above) but they rotted before we could eat them. Oops! I know from my research that the enslaved made a delicious molasses from them. And a woman in Wegman’s who stopped me to ask where I’d gotten them, told me she eats them raw and unadorned. “But let them get good and soft first.”
It’s been friend catch-up time. I can motor along in my life (my fairly isolated life) and forget how good it feels to connect. Even before the pandemic this was true.
Today I was treated to pix of two new grand babies. A few nights ago, there was a really nice 70th birthday party (everyone tested beforehand). Tomorrow: lunch with two friends, one of whom I haven’t seen in person in years! Monday, I’ll see another friend who has been busy driving to upstate New York and Vermont to see her grandchildren.
I’ll close with a photo and paragraph about Pele.
“The ambition should always be to play an elegant game.” I like that.
Dee~ Starting at the end…what a beautiful quote and way to see the game! Barbara Walters passed tonight.
I had never heard of this store…so I went looking. I liked the meaning of the H in the name 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_Mart
That salad looks so good. I love cilantro.
“The “H” in “H Mart” stands for Han Ah Reum (한아름), a Korean phrase meaning “one arm full of groceries.” Who knew? I saw that about BW. She was 93.
On this last day of 2022, may 2023 hold many delightful adventures for you Dee in every way imaginable. You certainly had a good way way to end 2022 by gong on a food adventure. Naive as it may seem, if we all could share a table and each others foods, and eat, talk, laugh, sing and especially, dance with each other,what a world we could have…
Your H Mart reminds me of the 999 Seafood Supermarket in Albuquerque. R discovered it coming back from one of his appts at the VA. He came home excited and wanted me to go back wit him where we found a place that has foods and products from China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and India. They claim to have over 50,000 items and from the size of the place, totally believable. They also have a deli and restaurant and stock, besides many different kinds of seafood, Peking Duck and roast pig. Aisle after aisle of spices, noodles, rice of every color, candy, cookies, restaurant supply items, pottery, woks, incense and the produce, so reminded me of the Farmer’s markets that we used to go to when we lived in Maui; they even had lychee nuts.
For instance, I had never seen turmeric in the raw. We bought some lonnnnnnnnnnng Chinese green beans, a tempura mix and assorted items for our tempura: giant shrimp, Japanese eggplant, colorful peppers, yams and they also had white yams, something I had never seen, baby bok choy and broccoli. I could not resist getting some Japanese Pocky sticks, thin bread like sticks covered in chocolate, strawberry or other flavorings..
From the ages of 2 to 4, I would spend one month every summer, in San Francisco, with my twin grandchildren. Once a week we would walk to the botanical gardens or visit Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park and on our way back, would pass by a Japanese Mom and Pop store. My grand kids would always want to go in and over time, the owners got to know them and offered them a Pocky stick. From that moment on, nothing would do but that we always stop by where once in a while, I would, buy them Pocky sticks as we visited with the owners of the little shop. All those years later, seeing the colorful Pocky boxes, filled me with happy memories and joy.
May 2023, contain for all of us, moments of happy memories and joy to carry us through our days.