Yesterday's trip to the Saigon Oriental Market went well. I only made one wrong turn and was able to turn around and find the store. The store was in a bad area. I had forgotten about this aspect of the Asian culture in America. Everywhere we went in Asia, it was clean. I personally have been all over Japan and to China. Jeff has also been to Korea and Vietnam. The store I went to yesterday had an odor to it. A bad odor like a dirty bathroom. I never experienced that type of thing in Japan, stores, restaurants, even bathrooms were always very clean. Same is true during our trip to China. It is just such a shocking contrast. I guess you could say I am not in Japan anymore.
But, the people were very nice and the stuff I needed was all there plus a whole lot more. I found sweet rice flour - 1lb for 69 cents (compared to $3.79 at the Health Food Store) same with Tapioca starch and potato starch. I found a liter of soy sauce for 79 cents - the good kind not the crap at the grocery store. I found my favorite sushi rice vinegar. And I found MSG I bought a one pound bag of the white stuff!
Jeff went out to a Japanese restaurant with his work mates the other day. He came home very upset at how they had mangled the Japanese food. They were Japanese people running the restaurant and doing the cooking but it didn't taste right to him. He was very sad. Now that I have all the stuff I am going to hopefully be able to recreate some of our favorite things. Probably not, I am not the world's best cook.
Jeff did the relay for life last night. He has just come home and gone to bed. He was up for more than 24 hours. From what he told me he got a bit goofy and was the life of the party at the relay. I imagine he will sleep the entire weekend. All told the local relay for life raised more than $57,000 yeah. It is a huge thing for our community, another step toward recovery from Katrina.
Every day I hear people talking about Katrina. When I meet someone for the first time they always tell me their Katrina story. How much they lost, how scared they were, how long it took to rebuild, how long it took the insurance company to pay, how long it took to get a contractor, the loved places that were destroyed, etc. Everyone has a story. And then on the TV and radio they talk about annual events being held again for the first time since Katrina. Or they talk about the people who are still in FEMA trailers and why. And they talk about the evil insurance companies, the worst of which is State Farm.
I see their dumb commercial everyday and it really makes me mad. So many people in this community have been screwed by State Farm. They banded together for a class action law suit against State Farm. State Farm retaliated by refusing to create any new insurance policies for anyone in the state of Mississippi. Along with other companies. So everyday State Farm runs auto insurance commercials on our TV. I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be for the thousands of people still trying to get their money from State Farm to see those commercials. I wasn't even here and it makes me mad.
From the Oriental Market to State Farm I guess I am rambling today.
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5 comments:
What is a good brand of soy sauce? We have a spectacular asian market here, with probably 30 kinds of soy sauce. I never know what to buy.
Meno-I have no idea which brand of soy sauce is best. I guess I am making myself sound like some sort of expert. I don't like the way the ones in the local supermarkets taste, I really liked the way the soy sauce in Japan tasted. I ran into the same problem at the Asian Food Market, a shelf full of soy sauce and no idea which to buy. I bought the one that looked the most like the one I used to buy in Japan. In Japan the soy sauce bottles didn't have any English words on them and so I had a hard time telling them apart. The one I bought tasted good to me, it was in a plastic liter bottle and the writing on it was in Kanji. It was made in Taiwan. I am no expert on cooking, I say try different ones and if you find one you like use it!
Glad to hear that you made it to the store with only one wrong turn. Good for you. I've also noticed when I've gone to Asian markets here, they also have a bad odor in them, of course there are many market with bad odors, some restuarants too...wonder why? I usually buy tamari instead of soy sauce...less salt content. Would you go back to that store when you need the items again?
Lynn-Absolutely, I will go back.
Oh the Katrina stories and memories will go on for a couple generations. We still do the Camille stories and that hurricane was nearly 40 years ago.
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