Monday, September 24, 2012

Lily Market (or... SCOOOOOOORE! And the Death of the Widow)

I've driven past a dozen times, always thought it was just a little hole in the wall convenience store. Until one night the urge for chocolate was too strong and I caved to the siren song of Baskin- Robbins. I'm weak, I know. But it was good, so bite me.

Anyway, back on track. I pulled into the parking lot and was stunned to realize that the "hole in the wall" Lily Market took up the entire building!


I could see the shelves of cooking pots and 50# bags filled with rice. I made a mental note to return and check it out. Sometime when I didn't have my take out dinner rapidly cooking in the passenger seat.

(I ate the ice cream. Cherries jubilee and chocolate fudge. And it was wonderful!)

The next day I stopped in after work. KNOWING that such a trip would be detrimental for RedneckWidow's respiratory system. Wide eyed and wondering I wandered. Aisle by aisle, smiling and taking it all in. Too much good stuff, too many things I didn't know, but would soon be Googling. (there's that verb again!)



Dried Betel leaves are apparently for addictive fun times*  (*Author's note- NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!)

You burn it and it smells pretty.

The shiny pots are very light weight aluminum and the cast iron pans with the divots is for  Takoyaki but it looks like it could be used for Aebelskiver.  

Stylized Tiffin Carriers super pretty.

Farther back into the actual grocery I found aisles of dried noodles on one side and gorgeous metal tea pots on the other.

And then there were the fun finds in the grocery itself. 

Chinese Chicken sausages with edible collagen casing, BellaBabe friendly. Though too sweet for Apocalypse.Mom who described them as more of a breakfast sausage.

These bags of Pho noodles are bigger than my head! I mean fresh noodles are awesome, but how many people do I  need to be serving in order to justify buying this???

This case contains the Durian and durian products. 

8.5 POUNDS of Sambal Oelek. I am afraid.

And in the very very far back (IE the side I could see from the opposite street)... The deli case! Filled with freshly made Thai dishes that made my toes curl! I've been back 5 times in 8 days! They are starting to recognize me. But the steamed buns haunt my dreams.



Today when I went in for more pictures (whatever!) I almost wept because the woman in front of me ordered the last two steam buns. But that's fine, I'm mature. I only pouted a little. But I will be back, oh yes I will be back. Likely on Friday when they roast young coconuts packed with sweet rice. Mmmm yes, I will be back.


** A brief moment of humor. After that first trip I got home and was greeted by RedneckWidow and Apocalypse.Mom who wanted to know where I had been and when I was going to take them. So of course we went back that same night! And I warned RedneckWidow about the spices, don't let her claim I didn't! 

 ***Secondary note. I just checked out their website... There are apartments over the market!! If they allowed pets I would kill to live there!!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Lily Market… Or “Oh god, my eyes my eyes!!!”


There are very few places in this world that ward off the evil that is the Redneck Widow with any real effectiveness. While Thai food places and Fubonn or other Asian places strive to set my allergies off, none of them are places I can’t actually go into.

Lily Market wins!!!!

As I parked the car in the small parking lot, my nose plugged up and my eyes began to water. I got out of the car and looked at the restaurant and my eyes began to burn and itch; before I even got into the store itself. Going into the store I began to sound like I had a cold, then like I was in danger of losing my voice. The slight tickle in the back of the throat started less than five minutes in. By ten minutes in I could no longer breathe, was starting to hack and cough, and my hands were starting to tingle.

I gave up. The store had defeated me. I retreated to the clean (ish) confines of my car, which ironically is named Lily Rex. And even there I had to re park the car to a place not in direct wind path of the front doors. Then use my inhaler and hope SleepyGinger and Apocalypse.Mom didn’t take too long exploring their new find.

So, I recommend Lily Market to anyone who likes authentic Asian markets… It was a great place for the ten minutes I was there. Also, It is right next door to the Baskin and Robbins that sells the soy free chocolate ice cream. (Another awesome find for SleepyGinger)

The evil that shall not be eaten


So, the large family we have all decided to take a day out and go to the beach for Labor day weekend.  And so far I am the only one brave enough to blog about our horror. One the way home, we decided to just stop in at some out of the way place we found along the way… while sometimes this is fun and adventurous. This is not always the case.

As we pulled into The Logger… somewhere along highway 30… and that is as close to a location as I feel safe giving you as we hope and pray our readers are not inflicted with such culinary horrors. Do you see how much we love you, our dear readers?

As per usual, I tried the Chicken Fried Steak.  I do have to say, I have never had a chicken fried steak that was sweet and tangy. I am not sure how to make country gravy sweet. I swear it tasted just a little like lemon. The fries were ok though… the ones that didn’t have gravy on them. Sleepy Ginger got a hamburger steak… at least that is what the menu called it. It came with packet gravy, mushy onions and rice pilaf the consistency of baby food.  And Apocalypse Mom had a seafood platter. Half of which was burned beyond edibility and the other half has been referred to as “deep fried death from the sea.” The kidlets got a variety of burgers. But the biggest testament to the horror that is The Logger… Not one of use escaped this particular dining experience without some type of digestive problem that haunted our next few days.

So, if you are driving the length of Highway 30, dear readers, and you see the small restaurant at the blinking caution light in the middle of nowhere… keep driving… I promise there is better food choices on your path. 

Cartlandia...


First, I only had one goal for this day…. Known in my brain as that Saturday we all went out to shop and ended up eating out of street carts.  It is a widely known fact, I absolutely dislike food carts. I had a bad experience… (BTW do not eat Tacos de Ojos. They pop when you bite into them and if you are the friend sitting next to the guy eating them, you can hear them pop…) in Mexico.  So, my goal was to see “Snow White and the Huntsman”. I had been attempting to make time to see that movie since opening weekend. (And yes, I finally saw it… Last weekend… at home.) So, when we drove past the Cartlandia and we all agreed to stop, I was already not caring… so long as we got to the movie on time… I was good.

Second, It isn’t really that food carts turn my stomach, or that I think they are unclean or anything like that. It is very simply that my food tastes run rather simple and most of the time, in my experience, food carts screw up the whole burgers and fries thing. After all, there is a reason that I am named the REDNECK widow… So, all of that being said… I really enjoyed my lunch there.

I followed the girls through most of the area until my body just wouldn’t do it any longer. It wasn’t too long though as my arthritis got the better of me and I needed shade and seating. Which lead me to the seating area. It was nicely shaded with a pop-up… ten by twenty if I’m not mistaken. Under it was a lovely set of table chairs and a picnic tables already taken by a nice family.

I decided that the all-beef hotdogs and fries sounded right up my alley, so I headed over to Relish Gourmet Hotdogs. So for around five dollars, I purchased a giant (and delicious) hotdog with as many of the fixings as possible. With it came a huge basket of fries, so much so that I couldn’t finish them alone. In fact, even with the help of BellaBabe, PainterLady and SleepyGinger, we still couldn’t finish them.  We ended up donating them to Kanegermin.

So, all in all I loved Cartlandia (Don’t tell SleepyGinger… I’ll never hear the end of it.) And I actually look forward to going there again. I sincerely wish the lovely couple at Relish Gourmet Hotdogs the best of best wishes in their upcoming nuptials and suggest everyone I know go to Cartlandia and tip them well. Weddings are expensive! 

Fubonn... or How NOT to act in public...


SleepyGinger convinces us to go to the large Asian market in town, so off we go. First of all, you probably shouldn’t have the overly excited one drive, especially when the other two are hyper paranoid of cars. J Secondly, I think it is only fair that there be some kind of Asian food with no soy, onion or peppers.  

Allergies suck!

So, SleepyGinger had been to Fubonn before and in her experience she told us we should eat before shopping because shopping hungry makes you buy stuff you may not need. So first we looked at the grill place. But while having food cooked at our table might be nifty, due to the combined food issues of Apocalypse.Mom and myself (suddenly we sound like super heroes “With our issues combined…”) it wasn’t actually possible to eat there. So, to the other side of the mall we went.

There we had a great dinner, Apocalypse.Mom had something with fish and I had the rice with meat… because that is what I am able to have at Asian restaurants… Beef or Chicken with Rice. The plainer the better. Depressing right? But the food was great and the service was awesome. The overall experience was welcoming and I would return often if given the options.

Now, food was out of the way and the store wandering began. There were movies, books, clothes, and of course the main market. The main market was amazing! Everything a girl could ask for…. Soy filled poisonous death…. Which, by the way, gets you glared at a lot if you shout it in the middle of the store. Again, I apologize to the small boy with his grandmother. I am sure the ENTIRE store is not filled with soy covered poison.  There were also some lovely fresh fruits and vegetables.

The highlight for me was the non-food items… for obvious reasons. But they had some really great things in there and the only reason I haven’t been back is because I will spend way too much money on things I have no room for.  So, officially, Fubonn market: Great… The rest of the trip is just a giant allergy trap… but still ok. 

Missing Posts


Hello dear readers, 

Sorry for the long distance between posts. I have been very busy and sometimes slackerdom attacks and I get lazy. So, I am hurriedly going back through my notes and furiously writing up my reviews and posts, under the watchful and demanding eyes of our slave... I mean web... mistress... SleepyGinger. Well, she's across the table anyway.  

So, I hope the following few posts make up for my long absence from this blog. Hopefully there aren't too many posts at once, as I would like to believe that people (Somewhere... our three or so readers... ) benefit from our "adventurous" natures.

I apologize for the barrage of information that is forth coming and wish you happy readings. 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Captain Recipe

     So, I guess it is about time I told you about Fubonn.  We tried the one BBq place first.  Very expensive but would likely have been a fun eating experience for a second date.  As it was we were 3 overheated women who did not need to heat the place up more by cooking the food at our table.  So we went to the other place where I had the #44?  Seafood, tofu and noodles.  It was ok.  I ate on it for a couple of days.  Leftovers are my friend.  I will return to Fubonn.  Not for the dining experience but, for the grocery shopping.  I found lots of great produce and fun foods there.

     I am not much for the going out.  I have food allergies so I think I will tell you more about my home culinary adventures.  First you should know that my arch nemesis in the kitchen is  Captain Recipe.  Every time I try to follow a recipe I mess it up.  Especially if I follow it to the letter.  Between that and my food box surprise upbringing I experiment..... Often.  In the last    week my family has enjoyed the new dish I call stewlash.  It was fun.  But, like most of my meals I can give you a general idea but, it will be different every time I make it.  

     Tonight the rest of the family had corn dogs and tator tots.  It was shopping day so I did not have a lot of cooking time.  That and I have to come up with my own dinner.  I can't eat pork or beef.  So, my main protein sources are chicken, shrimp, beans and some fish.  I saw that I had a can of diced tomatoes with chiles.  I put that in a pan with a can of black beans and strips of grilled chicken.  Heat and eat.  I opted out of the tortilla.  Bread is not my friend.     I added a little hot sauce from a leftover packet of sauce from Taco Time.  It was pretty good and filling since I had it along with an awesome green salad.    Then there was a small adventure with Sleepy Gingers curry...... I will allow her to tell that story if she chooses to.  

Saturday, September 8, 2012

King's Omelet

Another lazy weekend morning + some errands that needed to be done + bloggy breakfast. Also known as find a new breakfast spot and try something new. Usually I would Google it (isn't it fun how that is a verb now?) but the sign for King's Omelet has been taunting my morning commute for weeks now. Time for some tasty payback.

Remembering the wait I had at the Gateway Breakfast House I scurried out the door as soon as I was dressed. And a good thing as there was a line, but only a 10 minute wait for a single.

Walking in the door one is greeted by a an Asian style altar/ shrine in a display case covered with family pictures and at least a dozen military photos of young men and women in uniform. On inquiry I learned that the owner/ head cook's son is a Marine. Clearly there is a lot of Marine pride in this establishment. I'll have to take RedneckWidow with me next time.

King;s is a family run establishment with a clear crowd of regulars from the retirement village down the street. One gentleman opted not to take his leftovers home and was swiftly surrounded by the patriarch/ head cook and his older sons all demanding to know what was wrong with it. It was all in jovial good fun and quite amusing to watch. Sometimes people watching is better than the food.

Gladly this was not the case here.

My coffee cup was always full by the very attentive wait staff and my meal was quick in coming. I wanted something sweet so ordered the strawberry crepes with a ham steak on the side. The crepes were light, oh so fluffy and simply packed with sweet fresh strawberries. The ham steak was nicely grilled and slightly browned on the outside. Excellent.



I loved this place and am looking forward to going back again.