Familiar Foreign Food

For only the second time in 30 years, I made a trip recently to my favourite Asian supermarket...Uwajimaya. Say it slooowwwly with me... "you-WA-gee-maya." See? That wasn't so hard. A basic rule of thumb with Japanese words is that the entire set of letters in a word is pronounced, unlike idiotic and utterly useless English language bits such as the silent e.

Anyway. I used to frequent Uwajimaya back in the 70s, when it was a single, fairly small store down in Seattle's International District. I bought a great Bruce Lee t-shirt there that I treasured. And then I moved to Texas, where Asian groceries carry of lot of Thai and Vietnamese ingredients, as well as a bit of Chinese. Generally, though? Asian groceries in Texas are OFTEN Indian..as in East. In fact, that's where my love of Bollywood started, renting videos from the Indian market in Austin. But that's not what this is all about today. This is about a return to the glorious shopping experience that is Uwajimaya.

See, I'm one of those people who feel my security is ensured if my pantry is bulging. And not just the mundane things of life, either. I mean, sure. I have peanut butter and tuna and pasta and rice a-plenty, but it's the really cool stuff that makes me all warm and fuzzy. Stuff such as pickled ginger, a bottle (and a back up bottle) of my favourite DARK Chinese soy sauce and one of the light variety. Things like lop cheong (a hard, dried Chinese sausage), or the myriad of varieties of rice and seaweed and wasabi snacks that I so love! Uwajimaya is a Superstore now, with a fabulous selection of ALL things Asian, not just food. I try VERY hard to stay away from the book/cd/art supply section, but can't resist at least one Re-ment toy, a complete addiction for someone who loves miniatures as I do. I would KILL for the furniture and room boxes...

And I haven't mentioned the insane food court at Uwajimaya, either..starting to drool here.

So, a couple of hundred dollars and two ferry rides later, I am one very happy girl.