Midweek Meanderings: Impulse Purchase Edition - Stuff from North Park Produce, Awash Market, Molokhia from Nijiya, Costco, and guess what we brought back from Rhodes?

Here's a bunch of odds and ends and even some recent surprises.

An impulse buy form North Park Produce:

I've kinda stopped doing posts on markets and grocers, though perhaps I should do a few more. Though I shop at North Park Produce biweekly, I've starting taking a bit more time to really check things out. I've noticed some very interesting items and the weekend we got back from our trip I saw something that surprised me. I just had to buy it......

Recognize it?

Yep...it's kuru patlican! Dried eggplant, one of items I mentioned in my last most recent post on Istanbul! I was quite surprised to see it, though I've been noticing more products from Turkey recently.

Now I've just got to figure out what to do with it.

North Park Produce
3551 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

An impulse buy from Awash Market:

We recently walked into Awash Market on El Cajon Boulevard. Folks there we really nice. We ended up buying a selection of Ethiopian Beer and Honey wine.

 

The guy behind the counter was quick to tell us that "honey wine is what Jesus made from water!" I was also told that they make their own honey wine as well. I'm sure we'll be eating there in the future. I really enjoyed Meta Beer, it has a honey finish, might even go well with baklava.....

Awash Market
2884 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

Molokhia from Nijiya? It's true:

One of the more interesting and delicious dishes we ate in Tunisia was served in a buffet. It was this black and somewhat viscous stew of beef. We were told it was made with dried molokhia. No one else was eating it....the Missus and I had seconds and then some. The Chef de Cuisine was so delighted he came to talk to us. It was made from dried molokhia, a type of corchorus and totally foreign to us. The chef told us that molokhia reflected the arab side of Tunisian cuisine.

So I was absolutely astounded when we dropped by Nijiya to grab some groceries and saw.......molokhia!

Not quite sure what I'm going to make....I'm open to suggestions! Man, Nijiya is full of surprises. Last year it was the fresh chanterelles, this year molokhia! I can only imagine what's next.

Nijiya Market
3860 Convoy St Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

What we brought back from Rhodes:

You're going to laugh at this one........

I think I covered the Missus' love affair with the very dry, twice baked bread called rusk, which She just couldn't get enough of during our visit to Crete. During our stay on Rhodes, we decided to have a light dinner. There's a pretty good market within the city walls of Rhodes, but they had no bread. When we returned to our room I set things out on the private, not so little patio, which we had all to ourselves.

The Missus came back and told me the mini-mart had also sold out of bread. She then held up a bag....of rusk, telling me, "but they had this!" How convenient. Funny thing was, I really liked it. And it was from Crete as well.

At first I thought that perhaps it was a combination of the bottle of wine and the beautiful Rodos sunset.

But we bought most of the package of rusk back with us....and you know what? I really do like it...what can I say?

Lychee from Costco:

We went to Costco for our quarterly toilet paper shopping trip and I was surprised to see Lychee.

 There was an open container so I checked it out...weight was good, it felt tender but not mushy, there was no space between the peel and the flesh, so it didn't seem frozen. Yeah, I know, first I'm petting my uni, now I'm feeling my lychee...what's next "dogs and cats living together"?

This was better than the stuff we've recently had from various Asian markets around San Diego. The Missus has been enjoying it with......a homage to Her, ahem, delusional Greek roots....Greek yogurt. She says it's quite good. I'll just let it go at that........

So, what interesting impulse buy have you made recently?

Comments

[Food detective]

Find me a thick molokhia stem and I'll plant it for you.
Were the lychee sweet?

[caninecologne]

hi Kirk, just bought several cans of ketchup flavored Pringles during our Canada trip. Yes, Ketchup, a very popular flavor here. Also bought Spicy Ketchup (Ruffles Brand) and Old Dutch "baked" ketchup chips (they look like the Fresh and Easy or Lays baked potato chips).

[Dennis]

Nice collection of stuff Kirk! Curious about the dried aubergine. Let me know what you end up using it for.
There was a huge Molokhia boom in Japan several years ago for health (and weight loss I think). But anyway, you see it everywhere in Japan now.

[kat]

great post! I couldn't comment on your Istanbul post for some reason but am glad you went again!

[PedMa]

Ped Ma here again...

Molokia was in an issue of Gochiso...see link:

http://www.nijiya.com/gochiso/english/2011/#/4/

Enjoy!
Ped ma

[Lynnea]

Matthew and I just picked up lots of Indian Snacks at mira mar cash and carry. they have a really big selection of snacks which are impossible to resist =)

[Lynnea]

And I also totally loved that Nijiya had fresh Chanterelles. Let's hope they have them again! =)

[Kirk]

Hi TFD - I'll do that. The Missus thought the lychee was decent, better than what else has been available.

Hi CC - We used to buy that back in Hawaii!

Thanks interesting Dennis. I'm wondering if I can find the dry stuff.

Thanks Kat!

Thanks for the link PedMa.

Sounds great Lynnea.....I'm hoping they have fresh chanterelles again too.

[kirbie]

Eeee, lychee at Costco! And they do look way better than what I've been seeing at the Asian markets. I'll need to make a trip this weekend to look for it. I love lychee.

[Kirk]

Hi Krbie - We got these at the Mission Valley Costco, just in case you were wondering.

[Janfrederick]

Although not an impulse buy, the effects on me are similar. My wife's coworker gave her a nice big bag of calamansi. Hmmm....ribs?

[Kirk]

Sounds great Jan! Filipino BBQ also sounds good.....

[ed (from Yuma)]

I love the miscellaneous posts. But the picture of the sunset has to be the most beautiful moment of your Rhoad trip.

[Kirk]

I dunno Ed.......we had some pretty neat moments on Rhodes.

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Wahib's in Alhambra has an Egyptian stew called molokyia that's served on Saturdays. It looks a lot like the one in your picture. I haven't tried it yet though.

Those lychees look way better than the slightly browned ones I've seen at the Asian grocery stores.

That sunset looks surreal!

[Kirk]

That sounds like the dish WC! Hope you have a chance to try it. We were surpised to find lychee, and even more surprised how good they were.