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Food investigations [food]
Jul. 22nd, 2024 09:42 amI ran out of tortillas, and I was not impressed by the bready things carried by the nearby SproutFlower (so named because for a while we couldn't remember if a particular thing was a Sprouts or Sunflower; IIRC Sprouts bought out Sunflower at some point, which was probably for the best).
So! Time to go visit Food City.
The Food City that used to be near where S used to live, on Apache, is closed and gone. But there was one closer to the town of Guadalupe. I hadn't realized that Basha's owns Food City, but apparently, they do. This is not particularly surprising, but does argue in favor of going up at some point to visit the Mexican Ranch Market. I think the thing is, the Greater Phoenix Suburb-o-Politan area is vast and populated enough that it's possible to find pretty much anything here, so long as one is willing and able to make the drive.
Food City had so many delicious-looking juice mixes and juices, but they all had all kinds of weird ingredients in them. Titanium dioxide? I mean, I guess that gives a juice some extra sparkle, but still. I guess I'll stick with Tang.
I see that one of the things about Salsa Roja Molcajeteada is that it does not contain extra acid, so as-is it can't be canned. But I think I'm going to modify the recipe and make a big batch, to can some. I happened to find a style of canning jar I really like while in a hardware store, so as long as I have the jars, well... If I roast ingredients and add acid, the result would wind up turning out very much like the roasted tomato salsa I've made in the past while living in Texas. Delicious stuff. I just need to figure out where to obtain the tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic. Most likely Food City; the Fruit Barn where we once managed to get 10 pounds of organic tomatoes for $10, appears to be basically closed for the heat of summer, and there weren't a whole lot of tomato pickings at the Downtown Phoenix Farmer's Market, either. It's a bit of a shame to have to use inorganic* ingredients, though.
Poking around some more, Haji-Baba is still where it always was, thank goodness (locally owned and just wonderful), and India Plaza is now called The Dhaba. Those are Middle Eastern and (east) Indian grocery destinations, and unlikely to have much in the way of organic tomatoes and peppers anyway.
Some of these changes are to be expected, because the locations are right along the light rail corridor, and property immediately along the light rail corridor is lucrative enough to drive out some of the trailer parks and low-budget motels.
I can't quite tell if there's still a produce market in the town of Guadalupe anymore, or not.
It has been interesting to look at the prices of bread and butter here, too. Both seem rather expensive, as in New York and California, so I probably just have to adjust my expectations and eating habits. The good news is that grocery store bread is expensive enough to the point where I feel better about continuing to just get bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company, where the loaves are pricey but also excellent enough to justify the cost.
Anyway, better get back to paper-writing, now that I have tortillas.
*Yes, I know they're still technically "organic."
So! Time to go visit Food City.
The Food City that used to be near where S used to live, on Apache, is closed and gone. But there was one closer to the town of Guadalupe. I hadn't realized that Basha's owns Food City, but apparently, they do. This is not particularly surprising, but does argue in favor of going up at some point to visit the Mexican Ranch Market. I think the thing is, the Greater Phoenix Suburb-o-Politan area is vast and populated enough that it's possible to find pretty much anything here, so long as one is willing and able to make the drive.
Food City had so many delicious-looking juice mixes and juices, but they all had all kinds of weird ingredients in them. Titanium dioxide? I mean, I guess that gives a juice some extra sparkle, but still. I guess I'll stick with Tang.
I see that one of the things about Salsa Roja Molcajeteada is that it does not contain extra acid, so as-is it can't be canned. But I think I'm going to modify the recipe and make a big batch, to can some. I happened to find a style of canning jar I really like while in a hardware store, so as long as I have the jars, well... If I roast ingredients and add acid, the result would wind up turning out very much like the roasted tomato salsa I've made in the past while living in Texas. Delicious stuff. I just need to figure out where to obtain the tomatoes, onions, peppers, and garlic. Most likely Food City; the Fruit Barn where we once managed to get 10 pounds of organic tomatoes for $10, appears to be basically closed for the heat of summer, and there weren't a whole lot of tomato pickings at the Downtown Phoenix Farmer's Market, either. It's a bit of a shame to have to use inorganic* ingredients, though.
Poking around some more, Haji-Baba is still where it always was, thank goodness (locally owned and just wonderful), and India Plaza is now called The Dhaba. Those are Middle Eastern and (east) Indian grocery destinations, and unlikely to have much in the way of organic tomatoes and peppers anyway.
Some of these changes are to be expected, because the locations are right along the light rail corridor, and property immediately along the light rail corridor is lucrative enough to drive out some of the trailer parks and low-budget motels.
I can't quite tell if there's still a produce market in the town of Guadalupe anymore, or not.
It has been interesting to look at the prices of bread and butter here, too. Both seem rather expensive, as in New York and California, so I probably just have to adjust my expectations and eating habits. The good news is that grocery store bread is expensive enough to the point where I feel better about continuing to just get bread from the Great Harvest Bread Company, where the loaves are pricey but also excellent enough to justify the cost.
Anyway, better get back to paper-writing, now that I have tortillas.
*Yes, I know they're still technically "organic."
