My Food Adventure

[Arcane]

so, every now and then i end up wandering into an ethnic grocery store (today happened to be chinese). i have a habit of buying "weird" food and drinks to try...however, this one stop and a desire to find red bean popsicles courtesy of Daniel (demonix), led me to drive to random grocery stores searching for interesting snacks. turned out to be an "adventure", because thanks to Hawaii traffic...it took an hour to drive 3 miles.

anyways, i started at noon and 6 hours later...here's what i got:

two different brands of almond tea...i didn't know which would be better so, i bought both (17 + 20 packets @ $5.99ea)
[attachment=4609:Photo-0118.jpg]

caffeine!! L to R:Bawls, Bawls Geek Beer, some kind of acai berry drink, coffee, and POG. ok, so the POG doesn't have any caffeine, but it's so good! and for those of you familiar with New Orleans or Disneyland...this is a famous coffee served at Cafe du Monde!
[attachment=4610:Photo-0119.jpg]

Snowpea Chips. Not new to me...they're delicious!
[attachment=4611:Photo-0120.jpg]

Dried Shrimp...in a bag. I'm actually eating this right now. It smells like fish food.....its weird, yet addicting. I can't stop eating it. Kinda disturbing.
[attachment=4615:Photo-0122.jpg]

Dried Fish covered with sesame seeds. Ummm....wow.
[attachment=4614:Photo-0121.jpg]


The following I didn't buy, but thought it was cool...

Bob Marley Cake!
[attachment=4616:Photo-0117.jpg]

and...well.....yeah....
[attachment=4617:Photo-0116.jpg]

[demonix]

lol did you buy the ding dongs like I told you to?
I'll post my tea later lol

[Vladimir]

Nice, so what is the weirdest thing you ate so far with this hobby?

[demonix]

[quote name='Vladimir' date='23 December 2009 - 10:37 PM' timestamp='1261633037' post='441429']
Nice, so what is the weirdest thing you ate so far with this hobby?
[/quote]

"Weird" is interpretive.
I'm sure in somewhere in China it would be odd to see someone eat a hotdog, as it would be to eat a bowl of Pho drowned in Siracha here.

RED BEAN POPSICLES WITH JELLO AND RED BEANS FTW

[duckah]

mmm... pho tai gan <3

[thatonethere]

Read bean popsicles are yummy!!! Try the mung bean ones as well. I like the cuddlefish jerkey (dried squid) with seseme seeds too. The wasabi peas are yummy as well.

I enjoy trying strange ethnic foods as well. I've grown a taste for Indian cuisine because of this. I love dhal with lemon pickle, rice, plain yogurt and naan. It's a meal fit for a king, or somebody on a budget, but it's very filling and healthy.

[demonix]

Jay forgot to note that I manage to drive to the store, buy what I wanted, wander around for 15-20 minutes, pay for my items by the time he got to the store...
We both live 3 miles from our respective stores...

[Arcane]

yep...hawaii traffic suuuuuuucks...

[Vladimir]

[quote name='demonix' date='23 December 2009 - 09:44 PM' timestamp='1261633443' post='441430']
[quote name='Vladimir' date='23 December 2009 - 10:37 PM' timestamp='1261633037' post='441429']
Nice, so what is the weirdest thing you ate so far with this hobby?
[/quote]

"Weird" is interpretive.
I'm sure in somewhere in China it would be odd to see someone eat a hotdog, as it would be to eat a bowl of Pho drowned in Siracha here.[/quote]

Of course it is, but for example I can tell you probably the weirdest thing I ever ate was Selo, basically pure pig fat, preferably slathered on bread with a little garlic (in Kyiv). And yea, it was pretty good, on the bread, I wouldn't eat it by itself again .

[Arcane]

hmmm...weirdest...i'm not quite sure....probably something called "pork organ gruel"...they were selling it at the pho restaurant. basically have everything inside the pig...everything...

it was actually really good though

[Arcane]

Round Two - Destination: India

So, as it turns out...the Indian store didn't have much in the way of "adventurous food". A lot of curries and spices that I've had numerous times....so, my haul wasn't as good.

[img]http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6294/photo0168g.jpg[/img]

L to R:
Back Row: Yogurt Drink. Pear Soda. Rose Soda. Darjeeling Tea.
Front Row: Raha with Pistachios, 2 boxes of Rahat Locum (looks like Turkish Delight to me)

Minus the Turkish Delight, I haven't really had any of this stuff. I'm hoping the Darjeeling Tea is good....and very interested in trying the Rose soda.

[bellydancerakn]

I love doing this, it's a lot harder here. We have one store I know of that sells some asian junk food. Mostly, its mexican junk food though since we have a steadily rising mexican population. And them crazy mexicans like to smother everything with chili peppar powder it seems. I like getting weird drinks though. I got this one asian soda that was melon flavored. You had to peel off this wax cap and push this marble down. It was crazy, but cool. I still have the bottle somewhere.
I basically like going to restaurants and getting the wierdest item on the menu, you get some good stuff that way. I'm going to try to find that soda though.



EDIT: Found it, all i had to do was google asian soda with marble [url="http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html"]http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html[/url]
Apparently it is called Ramun. I can see some drunk asian dude slurring it and saying ramen. lol Edited April 17, 2010 by bellydancerakn

[Arcane]

i had that soda on my layover in narita...it tastes like sprite....but, according to the employees at the store it was "soda" flavored...

Me: What flavor is this?
Employee: Ahh....soda.
Me: I mean, what flavor?
Employee: Soda.
Me: Hrmph...
Employee: Soda...talks to another employee in Japanese.....Soda.
Me: Damnit.
Employee: Sooooda. Edited April 17, 2010 by Arcane

[bellydancerakn]

Well I can't read whatever language they use, so the pretty pictures help lol.

[Jeff_T]

[quote name='bellydancerakn' date='17 April 2010 - 12:56 AM' timestamp='1271490998' post='464046']
EDIT: Found it, all i had to do was google asian soda with marble [url="http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html"]http://www.asiagrocery.com/sodapop.html[/url]
Apparently it is called Ramun. I can see some drunk asian dude slurring it and saying ramen. lol
[/quote]

I'm pretty sure Cost Plus World Market carriers this soda product. My gf got one a year or so ago, and it wasn't bad if I remember correctly. I mainly just remember pushing the marble into the soda...

[thecyrax]

Abali is actually fairly decent Dough which is hard to find in the states. Used to be able to find it most anywhere in Houston, but it's disappeared for some reason as of late.
i like the mint flavor the best.

[Hassouni]

[quote name='thecyrax' date='19 April 2010 - 02:39 AM' timestamp='1271659167' post='464238']
Abali is actually fairly decent Dough which is hard to find in the states. Used to be able to find it most anywhere in Houston, but it's disappeared for some reason as of late.
i like the mint flavor the best.
[/quote]

A big HELL YES for doogh/ayran/shineena/whatever you call it

I prefer the homemade persian doogh, that's left out a few days to naturally carbonate slightly. Commercial doogh's bubbles are too harsh.

Also, the ayran in Turkey is out of this world, it's the creamiest stuff ever...

[thecyrax]

[quote name='Hassouni' date='23 April 2010 - 06:48 PM' timestamp='1272066534' post='465174']
[quote name='thecyrax' date='19 April 2010 - 02:39 AM' timestamp='1271659167' post='464238']
Abali is actually fairly decent Dough which is hard to find in the states. Used to be able to find it most anywhere in Houston, but it's disappeared for some reason as of late.
i like the mint flavor the best.
[/quote]

A big HELL YES for doogh/ayran/shineena/whatever you call it

I prefer the homemade persian doogh, that's left out a few days to naturally carbonate slightly. Commercial doogh's bubbles are too harsh.

Also, the ayran in Turkey is out of this world, it's the creamiest stuff ever...
[/quote]

Yeah, that's one of my fav things about going to Iran, always have a fresh pitcher of Dough in the fridge

[thecoalition]

i wouldn't consider bawls or geek beer to be ethnic or rare in any case. compusa sold bawls for years before they closed down. most 7-11s have sold it since.
geekbeer and bawls have also been sold on thinkgeek since the dawn of time.

if you want some really ethnic type stuff you need to just find the places that speak no english and get them to recommend some stuff.

[Arcane]

[quote name='thecoalition' date='24 April 2010 - 05:49 AM' timestamp='1272124194' post='465239']
i wouldn't consider bawls or geek beer to be ethnic or rare in any case. compusa sold bawls for years before they closed down. most 7-11s have sold it since.
geekbeer and bawls have also been sold on thinkgeek since the dawn of time.

if you want some really ethnic type stuff you need to just find the places that speak no english and get them to recommend some stuff.
[/quote]
never did i say either drink was rare or ethnic....i just happened to pick it up while perusing ethnic stores in chinatown....

so, if you'll kindly shit on someone else's thread....i'd appreciate it. Edited April 25, 2010 by Arcane

[agunn1231]

[quote name='demonix' date='23 December 2009 - 10:44 PM' timestamp='1261633443' post='441430']
[quote name='Vladimir' date='23 December 2009 - 10:37 PM' timestamp='1261633037' post='441429']
Nice, so what is the weirdest thing you ate so far with this hobby?
[/quote]

"Weird" is interpretive.
I'm sure in somewhere in China it would be odd to see someone eat a hotdog, as it would be to eat a bowl of Pho drowned in Siracha here.

RED BEAN POPSICLES WITH JELLO AND RED BEANS FTW
[/quote]


I love pho. There are some bomb pho places around where i live...and most of the places are good home made genuine pho. its soooo tasty