Archive for the ‘Considered opinions’ Category
Good evening, Dear Readers:
Wow, has it been ten days since I posted? Sorry about that, I’ve been busy. And sleeping. I try to get up early EVERY morning, but sometimes I have long days, and I end up taking a nap. Despite my best efforts, I gotta sleep–and that messes up everything. It’s what happens when you have no set routine, or let go of one. If I won the lottery and were self-funded for life, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Anyway. . .
The HeatCageKitchen garden is in need of a good weeding, but I don’t feel like going out there right now. It’s best to do that kind of thing after the sun goes down, or first thing in the morning (as if!) so that it’s not burning hot. The three Meyer lemons are still there and growing bit by bit, but I can’t find the little lime buds anymore–I’m guessing snails or possums, which roam the property and go pretty much wherever they like. I think they really like my place, but I can’t seem to catch them to let them know they’re not welcome.
The eggshells have helped but are not infallible for deflecting slugs, so I put a border brick under the pot holding the basil. Looks like the basil is getting big enough to where it’s too hard for them to <burp> feast on the pungent leaves. I have more eggshells to crush up and drop outside, I just haven’t done it yet. But I’ve been watering, much as I can, and everything is doing fine.
Yesterday I picked my first two strawberries! Yes! And they were delicious! Check it out:
Aren’t they beautiful?
Granted, they are the size of the top digit of my little finger, but they were delicious. The plant has more buds, flowers and berries in various stages of development. They look weird, but they’re really strawberries. Maybe the additional sunlight will make them grow in normal.
So, last week I was making some food in the HeatCageKitchen and realized that I am running low on a particular salt/spice blend that I used to, ah, “import” from Louisiana. In other words, when I went to visit, I’d buy three or four of them and bring them back to use. Time to order more. However, over time, like a lot of things called “Cajun” will do, this particular item has started to appear in Houston, and I thought I’d seen it one day, but couldn’t remember where.
Guess what? It’s available at my HEB, along with the crab boil!
Straight from Metairie, Louisiana, Cajun Land Cajun Seasoning with Green Onions
The Cajun Seasoning with the green lid is the one I like. I’ve been buying it for years, but the last time I imported some was. . .2008, while i was there after evacuating for Hurricane Ike. So it was time to buy more, although I’m not completely out yet.
What I thought I’d be doing is ordering it online, which you can, if you can’t get this in your local grocery store. HEB will order something unusual for you if you fill out a form, but they will also ask, “will you buy a case of it?” However, it’s also easy to order online (There are also recipes using their products on the site.) You can see all of their products at their website, as well as the parent company’s website, Deep South Blenders. I’ve bought products from Deep South Blenders as well, but it’s been a while. It’s a local brand, so it’s in every grocery store in the Metropolitan New Orleans area.
As you can see, Cajun Land Cajun Seasoning is NOT grossly expensive, either. That’s a 15 ounce bottle.
NOTE: How much you use is up to you, but don’t dump a lot into your food until you know how much of it you’d like at one time. It’s got a bite, but it’s not too spicy. But too much of anything with heat can burn you. Unless you grew up in Texas eating jalepenos and Scotch bonnet peppers for breakfast. . .go slowly until you find how how much you like.
My favorite way to use it is on frozen veggies right before I put them in the microwave. A sprinkle of Cajun Land, a touch of salt, some butter, olive oil or unflavored coconut oil on top and it’s perfect. I add salt, because I don’t want to add too much of the Cajun Land to get the salt taste. And I started doing the unflavored coconut oil when I had to do the yeast-free diet many years ago, and I just keep doing the same thing, because it’s so good.
Note: Zatarain’s WAS a local New Orleans brand, but is now owned by McCormick’s. If you don’t believe me, go do a search for it.
So I decided to ring the company, which, I didn’t realize, is 1.4 miles away from where I used to live in Metairie. No kidding! They’ve been there for a long time, and I walked in that neighborhood for 7 years and didn’t even realize they were there. DUH.
So what is this magic mix? It’s a salt-based spice blend, with dehydrated onion, garlic and green onion (you know, what everyone else calls “scallions”) paprika and red pepper, as well as what they call “spices.” It’s salty, it’s spicy, but not burning hot like hot salsa is. A nice rounded flavor with a little bit of bite.
Now, one ingredient is called “spices.” You know what that means–it could be anything, right? So I rang the company and asked about it.
Any guess what the first question was?
Craig Barron, a family member of this 40-year-old family-owned company, said, “Let me go talk to my wife. She’s the food scientist.”
Dear Readers, that’s REAL NEW ORLEANS. No kidding. And Craig is a really nice man, answered all my questions and he didn’t mind me asking, either.
Craig came back to the phone and told me that although the proprietary spice blend is indeed gluten free, they do have some wheat in the facility, and the possibility of cross-contamination does exist, however small the amount. So, if you are highly sensitive to gluten, use at your own risk. But as anyone who looks for gluten additives will tell you (and Dr. Davis, the Wheat Belly guy) it’s always better to ask. Many prepared food products, including spice blends, use gluten or gluten components for filler, thickener, or some other chemical purpose. Anyone who has ever had a reaction from “just a little bit” knows what that means.
Craig spoke proudly of their 40-year history, and the work they do to have Cajun Land products in places like Houston, and they are working on having the products available in more stores, like Kroger and Food Town.
While their website is functional, they are also working on a complete update, so that’s it’s a little more modern. It’s functional, but, a bit, well, 1990’s (by Craig’s own admission!) The day I called they were doing some work on the network, so I tried not to tax him too much.
Turns out his brother Kevin Barron is also a food blogger in South Carolina and also has a company called Muffuletta Media. I hope Craig wasn’t too offended when I laughed at the name–I just thought it was cute, nothing more. If you’re not familiar with the New Orleans classic meal, well, it’s a great big sandwich. No, the muffuletta is NOT gluten free, either. I can’t tell you the last time I sunk my teeth into one, and thank heavens I don’t live there anymore. Writing about it there would send me to the French Quarter to get one.
I can just see folks in South Carolina trying to pronounce that. In New Orleans, most (including me) say “muff-ah-LAH-tah,” but there are a few other pronunciations around, too.
So if you’re looking for a little something new to add to your spice rack armory, consider Cajun Land Cajun Seasoning with Green Onions. Inexpensive and easily available, it might just be your next big thing.
Happy Dining!
Happy Tuesday, Dear Readers:
I hope everyone had a peaceful Memorial Day yesterday. Here in Houston, it was OK first thing in the morning, but as the afternoon wore on, the clouds started coming through and eventually we got some serious rain. It’s great, we needed it, only the timing was off. It rained pretty heavy this morning, too, although it receded when I went out to bring my sewing machine to Hancock Fabrics.
Oh, I broke it last week. I took it to Hancock Fabrics for repair; there’s a gentleman who picks them up every Tuesday and repairs them, then returns them a week later. I did NOT intend for that to happen, but it did. Oh, well.
At least the HeatCageKitchen garden is happy with the rain.
Yesterday I had my first mojito. That’s a Cuban cocktail with lime and mint and rum. . .and sugar. I used Suzanne Somers’ recipe from her Cocktails book, and sweetened it with SomerSweet. I could only get key limes yesterday at Food Town, but that’s OK. The recipe calls for vodka or light rum; I had vodka left from making vanilla extract, so that’s what I used, along with mint from the garden.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a regular thing–I just felt like having a good cocktail, and this mojito doesn’t have any sugar. After binge-watching 7 seasons of Burn Notice out of order, I figured a mojito would be great to try. Delicious! But more on that later.
In my kitchen, not in Carlito’s.
Two things I managed to complete this weekend were carpet cleaning and tidying up the pantry. The pantry in this place is a floor-to-ceiling corner cabinet with three doors and five shelves that is deep enough that you could get lost in it. The pantry measures 8′ high, 22″ wide and 21′ deep, with some wasted space above the top shelf. More on that extra space later.
In one of my prior reorganizations, I labeled each shelf to categorize things and keep it organized. Over time (particularly when I don’t have time to be neat) the organization kind of took a nose dive, and it looked like this:
It took a while to get this bad.
The bottom part of the pantry, which sits on the floor, looked like this:
That’s the extra stuff that ended up being jumbled in there.
I actually couldn’t close the pantry doors. That’s great, because I have plenty of supplies.
I couldn’t close the door. That’s a kitchen laundry bag.
I added these door racks when I moved into this place, and they too are full of spices and wraps.
![IMG_0500[1]](http://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_05001.jpg)
Can you tell I love my Brother P-Touch label maker?
I do this pantry re-org every so often, when I really have to, and it’s usually an all-or-nothing thing. I take everything out of the pantry, wipe down the shelves, clean up any spills, and put it all back.
It was ALL OVER my kitchen. Which is fine, because then I can see what’s stuffed where:
That’s one batch
Ran out of room on the countertops, so I used the floor:
From the bottom of the pantry, the spare and storage area
And when I ran out of room in the kitchen, I moved it out:
The end of the unpacking
I’m low on baking soda, almond milk, kosher salt and nearly out of quinoa. I’ll live without the quinoa, of course, and I’ll get more soon. Normally I have a large jar full of quinoa, but I’ve been using it and not replacing it. Now I’m nearly out. See why your pantry needs to be tidy?
I tossed some things that were way too old that I didn’t realize I still had, like 10+ year old packets of star anise and pennyroyal. (I’ll find a place for that big apothecary jar that used to hold the packets, maybe in another cabinet.) I also consolidated some things, like three containers of Herbes de Provence:
Central Market Herbes de Provence
Now, longtime readers of this blog may remember my column last year on the old Suda Salvage store in River Ridge, Louisiana. I bought this bottle of Central Market herb mix on one of my last trips to Suda.. If you’ve never been in Central Market, you won’t know that this bottle sells for about $7 or $8 in HEB and Central Market. The contents of this unopened bottle and another small, partial bottle went into a larger bottle of Herbes de Provence from Phoenicia. Saved a little space, and really, I don’t think it’s going to make that much of a difference. Dried herbs are pretty good for a long time anyway.
Now, because the pantry is as deep as it is wide, stuff gets stuffed way back in there, and you don’t realize you’ve got a jar of curry paste and three unopened jars of French chestnut creme bought on sale at Williams-Sonoma right after Christmas after Nigella Christmas came out.
It took pretty much all afternoon. Between consolidating, tossing stuff I don’t need anymore, and figuring out what goes where, it took about six hours. No kidding. I was too tired to clean carpets when I was done, that’s why I was doing it Monday.
Did I mention two broken sewing machines? Anyway. . . .
I did manage to make more of my favorite sugar-free Barbecue Rub I told you about last week, using up the thyme in the fridge. (The thyme was in one of those cups like the ones you get cold coffee drinks with whipped cream in at Starbucks, with the hole in the top.) I also have two very large containers of chili powder, after running out one day and not realizing I’d already bought some. Time to start making more chili.
![IMG_0508[1]](http://heatcagekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/img_05081.jpg)
The easy-to-make barbecue rub. No sugar or toxic additives.
How hard is it to miss this?
The canister holds a nearly-full bag of . . .decaf coffee. I got the canister several years ago when they were selling them at HEB with a pound of regular Community Coffee shrink-wrapped to the front. I gave the coffee to someone else, just so I could have the canister. You can’t buy it on their website right now by itself, but it is available as part of a set.
I got the scoop at the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in Houston in 2011 from the Community Coffee reps, who had plenty of fresh hot decaf on tap and gave these babies away. You can buy them for 50 cents on Community’s website. (You can see my pictures from the food show with this link on Facebook.)
Maybe one day I’ll write a blog post about my coffee cups, coffee and stuff, and the French press pots I use. I’ll give that some thought. I’ve got a lot of coffee in the back of that pantry, along with the tea. Need to start drinking it again. I did make some iced coffee, but going up and down the stepladder had a lot to do with that.
Another thing I discovered a surplus of is. . .SomerSweet. I’d bought a case of 12 during a sale, and another case of 12 during another sale, and had some already, but didn’t realize it. Once I’d pulled everything out, I sorted these cans by expiration date. Now, it’s a dry powder, and it’s in a sealed can, so a sell-by date doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad. But there are three cans that I will use first, (the ones with check marks on them) and the rest in time.
I have a stockpile, not a stash:
That’s a total of 25 cans of delicious, natural SomerSweet, not counting the open can in the fridge. Time to start making some sugar-free delights!!
I happily made myself a delicious sugar-free mojito last night using SomerSweet. Took a little more SomerSweet than the recipe required, but that book was written when the cans were very small. Now SomerSweet is cup-for-cup with sugar, so you multiply the old amount by 5 or use the sugar equivalent.
I’ll be doing that again one day. Maybe soon.
Now, you’ll notice that there is a lot more space above the SomerSweet, wasted space. Last time I had wasted space like that I put in some wire shelving that held extra stuff and emergency supplies. I have considered adding it here, but I’m not ready to do that just yet.
Another thing I discovered was a supply of canned salmon. At $2 or $3 a can, it’s great to keep on hand for quick meals and for emergency backup food. However, now and again, I make some salmon salad, just like tuna salad, and put some things like garden parsley and celery in it. I also have a couple of other recipes that use a can of salmon, and I’m always looking for more that taste good. Right now I think I have 15 cans, and you know I’ll eventually buy more. (I don’t like salmon croquettes, however.)
So, when I had everything sorted, organized and neatly returned to the pantry, this is what it all looked like:
The neat and tidy HeatCageKitchen pantry
The “spare” area at the bottom is also tidied up. But the little cans of cat food are still on the stove. Maybe I’ll find space another time.
And look–now I can close all three of the pantry doors!
No more open door and stuff spilling onto the floor every time I need something.
Seriously, I should have done that a long time ago. Like a lot of things, I put off dealing with the pantry.
I am also a big believer in dumping my purse occasionally and tidying that up, too. Because I’ve been interviewing, I have a nice purse I bought in December just for interviewing, and I’m also using a cloth purse I made just for short trips like the library or the grocery, so I’m aware of everything in my purse. But over time, stuff accumulates, gets heavy and gets lost.
Dump your purse regularly, and you’ll be able to lighten the load a bit, and keep from losing things, too.
When I was at Boeing, I had a BlackBerry, along with a wired headset for long meetings and a Bluetooth headset for traveling. One day I took the all-black Bluetooth off and stashed it in my black purse, “just for a little while.” For a couple of weeks, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I knew I hadn’t lost it, but couldn’t remember where I’d stashed it. I was about to tell my boss I’d lost a piece of equipment, and found it when I dumped my purse. It was in there the whole time, I just couldn’t remember where I put it in a hurry thinking, “I’ll get to it later.”
Whew!
Men, you are not off the hook–tidy up your wallet now and again, and make sure there aren’t any “ex” pictures in your wallet, OK? And you don’t want to sit on a big lump of whatever’s in there, right?
I’ll get my sewing machine back next week, I hope, and I’ll be happily stitching again.
Yes, I know that there is a grocery store by the name of Pantry Pride. There used to be a huge chain, but they’re gone now, and the only one is in St. Mary’s, Ohio. I looked it up, and figured it was safe to use it for a title.
Meantime, have a great week, and Happy Dining!
Good evening, Dear Readers:
I’ve got a busy week this week, and possibly next. Five, possibly six interviews–something’s gotta hit, right? Cross your fingers.
It’s late at night, so I could make a big boo-boo. It happens. Still trying to get up early in the morning, and now my head is telling me to go to sleep. I will, shortly.
Today I went into Wal-Mart for a few things, and, while I rarely shop there, I went in out of convenience–I had just returned from my second interview today, and it was easy. While I frequent Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond and other stores that carry housewares, I am often fascinated at Wal-Mart’s varied and interesting culinaria. (Kitchen stuff.) They carry the famed breakfast sandwich maker, but I am no longer interested in it, even though it’s a neat little item. No, today’s fascination is with a weird little item that takes frozen bananas and turns them into a dessert resembling ice cream. No kidding, check it out:
Yo, what?
I didn’t form much of an attachment when I saw that price tag, but if you have someone in your household who has a dairy allergy, or just can’t stomach regular store-bought ice cream (get it? stomach?) this little item might be just what you need.
Let me point out that one of the reasons I don’t mess with bananas anymore is because they are very high in starch, which translates into sugar–very important for diabetics, too. I guess you could toss some cocoa powder in, too, and make. . .chocolate banana frozen dessert, too. Like I said, I didn’t fall into mad love with it, so I probably won’t be getting one even if I do find myself working soon. But I’m passing along this info to my readers for anyone who might be interested. I’m sure you can find them at nearly any Wal-Mart in America.
Oh, and my current gotta-have-it food is now. . .popcorn. Yes, for some reason, I’m now in love with hot-air-popped popcorn, and I eat plenty of it. At $1.88 a bag at Wal-Mart, and likely less elsewhere, it’s an affordable indulgence. Contrast that with my former can’t-get-enough, dark chocolate Mounds bars, and you’ll see that I’ve moved up. I went about 2 weeks without one of those bars, and then had one, and now can’t stand them! Last time I was in Wal-Mart I got one of their double-sized packets for $1, and I gave the second pair to Neighbor K who had just finished a grueling semester. And that’s it, I don’t want Mounds or Almond Joy anymore.
The garden is humming along, although our erratic rain amounts means I water a lot, and even then sometimes, it’s not enough. I forgot to take a picture of the hanging basket, but the replanted strawberry plant is producing flowers. I hope it grows out of the pot and gives me lots of berries, but we’ll see. The mint plant is doing well:
Mojito, anyone?
No kidding, that’s like a foot high. I’d better cut them and do something with it, right? Admittedly, some weeding needs to be done, and soon, but for now I gotta keep watering.
My longtime web friend R didn’t take my advice and put his mint in a container. Now he has a carpet of it in his backyard. Good thing it’s a big backyard! He could make mojitos for a week and still have a lot left over.
I have two pepper plants, one bell, one Anaheim, and so far, so good:
Peppers–I hope! Garlic scapes just to the left.
Now, if you’re wondering what that white stuff is, it’s very simple–that’s crushed up eggshells to keep the snails out. They won’t cross them, because the sharp edges can cut them. I don’t mean any harm to any snails, but I want them OFF my plants, darnit! Anyway, I also purchased a pod from Lowes’ that was guaranteed to grow lettuce, and it’s starting to sprout, finally:
Lettuce. From a pod
To the left is a little green stem that is the regenerating remainder of the previous lettuce I planted there that I. . .ate recently.
Next up: BASIL!!
Pre-pesto
Got smart, planted more than one seed, I want a bumper crop this year. The snails got to them before, so I have to make sure there are no spots for them to crawl through safely. By the time these little seedlings make it to two feet, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.
My little citrus plants are doing the best they can in pots:
Lime and Meyer Lemon trees
Unfortunately, while I do have four Meyer lemons with one on the way, many of my little lemon sprouts fell off, leaving me with four. I’m guessing that the swath of blooms didn’t all get pollinated, so that’s why I’m left with. . .four. Take a look, I’ll at least get some this year, although I can’t say when.
An unripe Meyer lemon. When ripe, it will be four times that size and yellow. The surprise flower is just above my hand.
Check out the closeup of my lime tree–yes, it’s going to produce, too!
See the tiny limes? So far, I’ve counted three, but you can only see the two in the middle in this picture.
Next up, my four-year-old batch of regenerating spring onions, complete with weeds:
Green Onions, fresh anytime!
I know, I know, I need to get some weeding done. I’ve been busy, OK?
What I forgot to take pictures of were the three containers of garlic with huge, long green scapes, and the rosemary plant, which is now pouting because I moved it to the corner. It gets plenty of sun and water, it’s just not right in front of me.
This week I received the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, and in one of the pages of short blurbs, there is a small article on garlic scapes, those long green things that grow out of the ground. Wait, let me explain it this way: you know how when you keep garlic in the fridge a long time, it starts to sprout? That’s called a garlic scape, and it can be used just like regular garlic. Yes, you can plant them, but you have to be very, very patient. I might have accidentally dug up one of mine while checking to see if it was ready to harvest. It wasn’t. Darnit.
Anyway, the blurb said that Martha pickles the garlic scapes. Well, go for it. . .I’m waiting for the darn garlic to be ready to harvest. But I do go out and nibble them occasionally–they’re not as strong as regular garlic, and it’s right tasty. Just don’t expect anyone to snog on you until you use some strong mouthwash, OK?
I am still being a good, gluten-free blogger, haven’t been tempted in some time. That’s OK, I’ve got plenty to tempt me in-house. I over-shopped while I was working, so that I wouldn’t have to buy too much when the unemployment was done. Just things like milk and eggs, and popcorn, for now.
Cross your fingers.
While I don’t do much to promote this humble blog, it has a following, and I have actually told a few folks about it in interviews, mostly because there is an expressed interest in writing, or writing is part of the job description. I do have a few more topics to tell you about, like the chorizo I tossed into a meatloaf, but. . .maybe tomorrow or this weekend. I took pictures of that.
And for those of you above the Mason-Dixon line, please sit tight, spring will be at your door in about a month, and you can put away your snowshoes and heavy coats, finally. If you’re lucky. Stay warm until it does.
As always, Happy Dining!
The Fresh Market is Clear Lake’s newest gourmet grocery store, open now.
Good evening, Dear Readers:
Well, I’ve had a little good blogging news this week–I have a number of new followers on WordPress! Welcome to my humble little blog, which I do little to promote at the moment. It consists of opinions, observations, recipes, and a whole lot of what I think of as wisdom. You, however, may call it something else–but please, keep it clean. This is a family blog. Swearing is reserved for driving around Houston, particularly during our long, hot summers.
Contents
The Fresh Market In Clear Lake
So today our Fresh Market opened up, and finally, we get a little more gourmet in the Houston area known as Clear Lake. We’re near the NASA facility, and up until recently, was a thriving space community. The space program is, for the most part, winding down, and the population is doing the same thing. While space program people are mostly moving away to jobs in other parts of the city, for some reason there is some serious building going on. Fresh Market is part of that. Although we have Kroger, Randall’s, and some very nice HEB stores, we have a hard time finding some gourmet items in this part of Houston–despite our diverse population.
And now, we have Fresh Market. Woo hoo! I hope they stick around.
Not The First Fresh Market
There are a couple more of these stores in Houston. Namely, the one in the Post Oak area that I have forgotten to stop into when I have been in town. It’s not exactly near the Montrose Trader Joe’s, but I could have gone once or twice. Now that ours is open, I’m glad I stopped by. I went at 8:00 pm, because I figured all the free samples would be gone and I wouldn’t be tempted, and I was right. It’s because I am trying to avoid sugar all week, in fact, completely. Well, I had some coffee and a small cup of orange juice (which I normally only drink on airplanes.)
Let me iterate that I didn’t spend a lot of money this evening. I have gone to Half Price Books this week three times to sell some books, so I had some cash on me. It wasn’t a fortune, but then again, I didn’t spend too much, either–even though I could have easily spent $100 more. (Ask Neighbor K, she knows!) When I start working again, I might buzz over and drop $100. But I’m not in need of that much of anything right now.
Coffee, anyone?
First up: you can get a cup of coffee for $1, all day, any day. (This is great since the GER won’t go into Starbucks, and he can stop there if he wants some good coffee, not the rotgut from his local petrol station.) I had a sample of their decaf Kona, which was wonderful, but before that, a sample cup of hazelnut–which, unfortunately, was not decaf. Oops! Good thing I didn’t drink a whole 8-ounce cup. So it’s a nice place to stop for a coffee if you’re not near Starbucks or don’t want to go in with the crowd.
Fresh Market also sells their own brand of bulk coffee for $11.99 a pound, every day. The hazelnut was wonderful, and so was the Kona. They also have almond amaretto, which I think I saw in decaf. I’ve got plenty of coffee for now, and I hardly drink it, mostly I drink tea these days. But a half pound of decaf hazelnut might be on my first big trip over there.
Oh, but this is one I’m not sure I’d be trying even if I was on the regular:
And look–it’s on sale!
My favorite flavored coffee is, not surprisingly, chocolate raspberry. Non-flavored, Kenya AA and Sumatra coffees. Caramel Pear? Oh, I don’t know about that. But hey, what I think smells like Raid is going to smell like heaven to the lady standing next to me.
PG Tips And Other Teas
Speaking of tea–you’ve probably seen PG Tips tea in your local grocery store, but have you ever seen PG Tips in decaf in your grocery store? Me either, until now.
Um, no, I don’t belong to the Cuppa Club.
Fresh Market has 40-bag boxes of PG Tips Decaf tea in their regular tea section, along with most other teas you can find most places. YES!! I’ve been ordering it for 3 years now from Amazon.com. It’s so good. I grew up with Lipton tea. But I bought a box at HEB after a British lady introduced me to it. It’s very delicious tea, #1 in Britain, but the regular has so much caffeine. The decaf has all the flavor and none of the caffeine, thank heavens. Now I can get it in Clear Lake.
Salt
Another thing I got is another box of Maldon Salt, the flaky stuff from the UK that’s also enjoyed by many chefs and foodies. The box I bought three or four years ago is nearly empty, but if you go to Williams Sonoma to buy it, it’s expensive. Right now on their website, it’s $10.95 a box, but I think it’s like $12 or $13 in the store. In Fresh Market, it’s $3.99. Of course I bought some! I’ll use more of it too.
Ordinary frozen veg, but good enough for today. And nice wooden floors, too.
Limes are 2 for $1 there, but they’re high everywhere; I’ll try HEB or Food Town soon. I did get a couple of super-sized lemons and two nice grapefruit, as well as a small container of their store-brand half and half for coffee and tea. Their milk products are not treated with rBGH, but not all organic; HEB does the same thing. There is a fair amount of USDA-certified organic product, but there are also containers of Cool Whip in the freezer next to the organic frozen fruit.
I know, they have to appeal to a wide range of folks, but anybody who puts Cool Whip on organic fruit of any kind just needs to head over to Wal-Mart and stay there. (That was my snarky opinion coming out.)
Oh, and speaking of dairy, they also have their own store brand of refrigerated almond milk! I’ll try that another day.
Gluten-Free
You know I was looking for this, and sure enough, they do gluten-free.
A good selection of gluten-free products, not only here, but in the freezer case as well.
They’ve even got their own house brand of gluten-free products, and as you can see, they’re marked as such so it’s easy to find, and there are many products located in different parts of the store. However, as Dr. William Davis warns in Wheat Belly, much of it is made from corn flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, and other ingredients that have a high carb content and can give you an insulin spike. So, that’s something to take into consideration; you must read the labels.
Condiments
If you like chutney and fancier versions of peanut butter and jelly, you’re in luck, they’ve got lots of it:
Whatever your heart desires here.
And then inspiration struck (or maybe it was the coffee.) There’s a recipe called Rapid Ragu in Nigella Express that I put off making until recently because I couldn’t find something called onion confit. I did find it a few months ago, in Central Market, but at $10 a jar, this imported French stuff that doesn’t last in the fridge too long isn’t practical to keep around (and it’s more on Amazon!) However, while I didn’t buy it this time, I wonder if this will do the trick, and I can get it at Fresh Market for a lot less:
A possible replacement for hard-to-find Onion Confit?
I’ll get it when I start working and I can drop the occasional $100 at the grocery store again. Not today–the recipe also calls for ground lamb, which is, shall we say, more than ground beef. I can wait for it, as well as another gluten-free cupcake from Frost Bake Shoppe.
And for the “I don’t have time to cook” crowd, a little shortcut:
Wash the jars and get rid of the labels and no one will ever know. . . .
The International Section
In addition to many familiar products, they also have a fair amount of stuff you might not see in your regular grocery store, unless your regular grocery store is Korean:
I have never had a Korean mother-in-law.
Again, as wide of a range as you can get. I think I’ve had it once, and like sushi, was quite enough. I’m not slamming anyone’s cuisine–but I’ll pass on this kind of thing. I grew up in New Orleans, lived in California in the 80’s and acquired a taste for Mexican food. I’ve been in Texas for 15 years, and love the varied cuisine, especially barbeque.
I’m just reporting it today.
Other Essentials
Don’t judge me, I only took a picture and didn’t purchase any:
I have no idea what they will do, and I don’t wanna flunk a drug test.
Another section nearby this one has olive oils left and right. But I just know everyone is waiting on pins and needles to find this.
Just in case you really, really, need to know about this stuff.
No, I didn’t buy any of this, either. Heck, I didn’t even pick it up to see if it was imported from Italy, France, Greece or Croatia. Maybe if I invite a sophisticated gentleman for dinner.
The GER couldn’t care less if it was this stuff or Wesson. He’s nice like that.
Bagging It At Fresh Market
Now, folks who know me know about my grocery bag collection–I’ve got several from East Coast chain Publix, HEB, Central Market, import store Phoenicia, Safeway, Trader Joe’s,and a bunch of other places in between. Fresh Market has some insulated tote bags like the one I got from Trader Joe’s a while back, but not as big. I passed on theirs as well as these, but I almost gave in.
Aren’t these cute?
This is, obviously, for buying bulk goods so you don’t need the plastic bags. Again, I passed on them, but there will be a day where I get a few. Not only are they reusable for shopping, there’s probably a few things I can use them for at home.
The Cat’s Gifts
Even Jezebel the step-kitty got a little something:
OK, she didn’t get any of the salt.
I’ve never bought Newman’s Own cat food. In fact, I didn’t know they had it, and I’ve never seen it. That one, as you can see on the far left of the picture, is USDA certified organic. The one on the right isn’t, not that I saw, but since it was a rabbit, I bought it as a treat for Jezebel. I put out half a can, and she went after it. I’ll give her the other half tomorrow, and save the Newman’s Own for another day.
Both, as you can see, are also grain-free, which I try to buy much as I can. I’ve also given her some cat food from Trader Joe’s that she likes, but this stuff is grain-free. Normally, it’s Fancy Feast; the vet’s office feeds that to their boarded cats.
Wish I could have given some of this to Catmandu, but he did get Blue Buffalo duck a few times. On the other hand, as fussy as he was, he might not have eaten the rabbit. Jezebel appreciates the good food. But she’s now enjoyed samples of my cooking to the point where I can’t make tea without her demanding something. She nearly climbed in my lap the other day when I was eating some chicken. My bad.
As You Check Out
Now, this is an interesting site at the checkout lane:
What a good idea for at-the-checkout!
Although Fresh Market has a collection of natural toiletries like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods does, this is a great idea. Well priced and convenient, I like this the best out of all the stores I’ve been in. I have plenty of lip balm and hand sanitizer at the moment, so I didn’t get any. But when I run low, I know where to go, because I try to keep hand cream and hand sanitizer in all my bags, including my purse, just in case. And the lip balm is less than Burt’s Bees–good, since summer isn’t waiting for anyone. Except way up north, where some of my friends report a wind chill factor this week.
More Great Things From Fresh Market
Oh, I forgot to mention the deli, bakery, meat department, and the dining area at the front of the store! DUH–and I didn’t take any pictures of those, either. Sorry about that–I should have at least glanced at their takeout. (I did see sushi.) You can get some lunch or coffee and have it at a table and chairs, much like Central Market in Houston. It’s a smaller area than Central Market’s but quite nice.
The only bad thing I can say about Fresh Market is they don’t carry those Mynts that I love from Trader Joe’s, but I think I can live with that. I’m stocked up for a while, and I’m sure I’ll be at Trader Joe’s again one day. Plus, I can order them from Amazon if I really need some.
Verdict: a pretty good gourmet place to shop!
Not A Big Store
Their store is about the size of Trader Joe’s, not really big like Central Market or Publix. Fresh Market has a fair amount of store-brand products. But they also carry a fair amount of national brands, too, along with some imported things. I can see myself spending some money in there and saving money on petrol in the future. Or at least in for some takeout or a forgotten item one day.
If you’re lucky enough to get one of these, go during their grand opening if you want to sample delicious things. If not, do what I did and wait until 8:00 pm (they close at 9:00 pm.)
Note: even The Woodlands doesn’t have one of these, although they have Trader Joe’s. But even the New Orleans area has four of them, one on St. Charles Avenue. Traffic must be a bear.
Our Fresh Market is next to the Lifeway Christian Store across from Baybrook Mall, just behind Zoe’s Kitchen. That’s another new addition to our area, which I should write a review for soon. I’ve enjoyed food from Zoe’s a few times, although not in a while. Neighbor K likes them too; she visited the one in San Antonio when they opened a couple of years ago. Heck, if you’ve got a Zoe’s in your neighborhood, you’re lucky on that one as well.
Happy Dining!!
Good morning, Dear Readers:
I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but I have to step away from blogging for a little longer while I job hunt. I have a few topics in mind, but right now, I don’t feel like writing. The words escape me.
I haven’t yet written about the grocery chain Aldi, which is growing by leaps and bounds. We have several new stores in the Houston area, including two close to me. Their new flyer indicates that they now have their own gluten free line of products. More on that later.
Also haven’t mentioned Fresh Market, another grocery chain moving into Houston. I keep forgetting to go into the one in town, but we have one opening up this week in my little neighborhood. Report when I get over there.
My garden is also doing pretty well; I’ll be getting some Meyer lemons soon, and if all goes well, limes. I buy and use them all the time–and now they cost a fortune! You’d think that a country would protect one of their cash cows, but I guess limes aren’t Mexico’s most profitable export.
So I’ll give you this picture of Jezebel the step-kitty in the garden, where I found her hanging out in the nice weather this weekend.
The new lime tree is on the left, and the Meyer lemon tree is on the right. The little green orbs will become a crop for me to pick and enjoy. Won’t be a bumper crop, but it’s a start from a paint bucket, right?
Yesterday I made Nigella Lawson’s Corsican Omelette for breakfast, and look what I got!
That rarely happens to me, but it’s nice when it does. Also used up some of the productive mint from the garden.
That’s Texas style–because I can’t fold it into thirds and end up with anything other than scrambled eggs. Then again. I didn’t learn to cook in Europe. I learned in New Orleans.
Well, anyway, I hope to be back blogging a little more soon. Cross your fingers.
Happy Dining!
