The More You Know

Well, I made it to the Asian market yesterday. I meant to go on Tuesday, but life happened, and I had to deal with some stuff that involved lots of being on the phone. I listened to enough muzak to last a lifetime. I have low blood pressure normally, but there's something about muzak that really makes my blood boil.

This is the entrance to the whole plaza. There's a Chinese buffet restaurant, a vitamin shop, a noodle restaurant, and then the grocery. Look at the mountains in the background, so beautiful. I feel like I will never be used to being surrounded by mountains, and seeing them so clearly. It sometimes almost takes my breath away. Sorry, I know that sounds corny but it's true.

They have a little store before you go to the grocery that sells all kinds of cool stuff. Decorations, toys, vitamins and herbs I've never heard of, as well as lotions, face masks and other potions.

I've never seen such a big can of coconut milk!

They had so many different brands of coconut milk! And such great prices too. I thought Trader Joe's had the best deal, but I was wrong!

So much tofu!!!

More tofu, and also cooked vital wheat gluten and vegan chicken!

They have so much tofu! It will take me forever to try it all! They also have these tofu sausage things that feel really firm, like no tofu I've ever felt before. They have baked tofu, marinated tofu, all the tofu!

Whole jackfruit!!

The first durian I've ever seen! Those spikes are SHARP!!

A wall of noodles and ramen!

They had a whole wall of various dried meats and fish, and I'm super glad plant jerky is included!!
Now, on to my haul. This store has amazing prices, and I got everything for fifteen dollars, which is awesome!

Jackfruit, green onions, spicy corn snacks, fried tofu, trumpet mushrooms, and vegan mochi

 

I've been seeing some recipes floating around for pulled mushroom sandwiches, and apparently trumpet mushrooms can be shredded. I've only seen that type of mushroom one time at a regular grocery, and they were really pricey. These were two dollars for a pound!! I'm super excited to experiment with these.

I only ever knew of rice cakes as the crunchy circles that you put peanut butter on. Then I saw someone on YouTube (Cheap Lazy Vegan) eating this dish with these chunky noodle-y looking things, and she said they were rice cakes! They come in the tube shape that I got, and they had ovals, and other shapes. I love when I learn stuff as I'm food shopping. The dish you make with the shape I got is called Tteokbokki, and it also uses my new favorite condiment, Gochujang.

Rice cakes, watercress, cilantro, oranges, vegan ramen, coconut milk

Drink your greens!

I made this delicious green juice with celery, cucumber, watercress, apple and orange. Watercress and celery taste really good together, another thing I learned yesterday.
I'm so grateful that  this market is close enough for me to get to. One of the things that can get boring about being on a budget is not feeling like you can experiment as much as you would like. I'm grateful that I was able to find several new to me items that are in my budget! I needed that, so I am super grateful.
Happy Thursday!