Two New Grocery Stores

I have been having a terrible time finding chickpea flour, and I prefer not to order food from Amazon.  Yes, I know it's safe, but I don't trust the packages not to break in transit.  So I searched for Indian grocery stores on my way home from work one day.  It was more of a detour than I expected, and I was not really in the mood to shop, but I got my chickpea (besan) flour for a better price than I was expecting.

What had not occurred to me was all the other things I would find at the market.  Of the two aisles in the shop, half of one was giant bags of spices and blends, like a pound or more each.  There were teas, 25 pound bags of atta flour and rice, every Indian legume you can imagine, and quite a few other things I didn't pay attention to because I was there for one item.  They didn't have as much produce as I was expecting, but they did have those cute egg-sized eggplants I like.

I forgot to take photos, and I'm not going to go back without a shopping list and much more energy.  Not the store's fault.

The other new store I tried was a supermarket that just opened near me.  With grocery prices these days, I have stopped being loyal to one store and go where prices and products match my list.  Although, I did just win a $50 Albertsons gift card from one of their promotions; loyalty rewards can pay off.  Super King is a local chain with only a few stores.  This is the first within shopping distance.  Off their ad, I saw cherries for $1.29/lb and butter for $2.  I figured I'd scope out the place and pick up $5 of groceries.

It's a wonderfully open floorplan, with half of the space devoted to fresh produce.  The cherries were terrible, so I passed them up, and they were out of the cheap butter.  I still spent $18.

So this is now a haul post.  For fresh produce, I got two Persian cucumbers and a bunch of radishes to make a quick-pickle salad to have on taco night.  Total for that was 73¢.  They had decent strawberries for $2 a pound that I got instead of the cherries.  They also had the baby eggplants, but I didn't have a plan for them and let them be.  I figured I was done, but kept walking around.

I had been under the impression that Super King was kind of like a Sprouts that catered to a partially Hispanic market.  Not at all.  Yes, there are south of the border foods, but I'd say close to half of the inventory specializes in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and South Asian groceries.  That means I don't have to trek to Westwood anymore.  I found four brands of frozen fava beans, the ones I had been looking for in March.  Got one package.  I did not get the frozen parathas.  Still trying to decide if I want to attempt to make them.  There was also a monthly special on store brand avocado and olive oils.  I've never bought avocado oil, simply because it's expensive.  $6 each for 750ml bottles.

I would call both shopping expeditions successes.  I learned about myself and what I would like to have in my pantry.  Passing up an ingredient is just as important as what you buy.  And if I see an unusual ingredient in a recipe, I now know where to find it.