A quick after-work trip to the local "Oriental" grocery in hopes of scoring some interesting CNY specialities was thwarted by earlier shoppers who appeared to have bought out half the store. Having no real groceries to buy I ended up with a bunch of random food: fish keropok, frozen fish tofu and fish cakes, lemongrass tofu, choy sum, broccoli, green onions, Japanese steamed melon cheese cake, 2 types of tofu, 1 samosa and 2 spring rolls for a total of $16.04. This assortment gives you some idea of the range of stuff they have, which is pretty amazing for a store in a town of this size in the Midwest.
Impulse shopping at this shop is a real problem for me still. Having lived for three years in the South where there was no Asian grocery accessible by bus, the variety available here keeps tempting me to buy all kinds of junk. Today's spree was partly fueled by the desire to get something special for Chinese New Year. My memories of CNY food are of steamboat with family on Chinese New Year eve, and endless pineapple tarts, tapioca cookies, love letters and melting moments. This year like the last five will be spent far from family and these foods. I'll just have to console myself with all the angpao I receive :-)
Tried the steamed cheese cake tonight - it had a strong melon flavour which tasted vaguely artificial. No faint salty undertaste with this flavour as there is with the plain steamed cheese cake. Texture is slightly lighter and moister than the plain. I prefer the plain.
Dinner in front of the TV was
keropok
Earl Grey tea
honey tangerines
samosa
spring rolls.
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