I heard that there is now a bonafide Indian grocery somewhere on west side near Connecticut st. and one of the other Thai stores. And that it has been open for a couple months now.

What?! Really?!!!

Where is it? Has anyone seen it? (e:metalpeter), you live close, do you know its exact location? I now want to trawl all over the place in the snow to find it. But some of those streets can be a tad sketchy sometimes. Someone I met at the Indian grocery at Jackson Heights, and who recognized me from Pricerite told me about it... but I didn't quite catch its name, or its location.

at pricerite?

• 0.25 lb Jalapeno Peppers
• 4.54 lb Acorn/Buttercup/Kabocha squash
• 3.46 lb Zucchini (Green squash)
• 3 generous bunches of fresh cilantro
• 5 medium red onions
• 0.89 lb red bell peppers (2 peppers)
• 3.79 lb Vine ripened tomatoes
• 1.00 lb Plum tomatoes
• 5.53 lb Granny Smith apples
• 2.61 lb Bosc pears
• 2.07 lb Black Friar Plums
• 1 Gallon Skim Milk

Except for the plums, each item on that list came from NY farms. Not bad at all for 13/14* 100 ~ 93% local produce & milk. I checked . That is about as seasonal and local as you can get.

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Contrast with the sortie at (e:paul,55153)
Blasted thing won't post straight!

Now have a website!!! You know you want to click through:


They have most of their formerly mysterious wholesale catalogue online: I know for a fact it's not for restaurants alone. You can get fresh cases of salads and chocolate or whatever you like from them if you can consume that much. I have, in the past, eaten their mesclun salads with every meal for a whole month till I finished the case. :-)

And they carry the whole range of Ecce Panis Artisan breads: Now, if only they would take online orders and allow me to pay with credit, I don't have to trek all the way to Grant Street for my Guercio fix. :)

Yes, I really did go on a rampage. I have been eating so unimaginatively this past month. I had to break the pattern and went power-walking to Guercio's today. On the way, I thought I saw the (e:twins) ambling down the other side - but I was in tearing haste to beat the thunderstorm and didn't verify their identities - they could well have been these two. Who knows...

I got the most delightful looking aubergine at Guercio's. Apparently, it comes from Sicily.

But everybody knows it was grown near New Jersey. At least, I know I am 95% right because that is the % of things that claim to be from Italy but turn out to have some plebeian connection to all and sundry in NJ.

And I got the St. Dalfour orange marmalade sweetened with grape juice.

It's okay - not splendid. I should have got the Scottish brand. The frogs don't always get it quite right. Especially the old ones who probably devised the old recipe. Maybe it was a recipe of convenience and they didn't use the traditional bitter Seville orange? Still, it's probably better health-wise than the sugar-laden Scottish version, which probably has deep fried orange bits in it. One never knows, what with their obscene fondness for everything greasy and all.

Got the mascarpone once again. I swear I am becoming addicted to this awesome cheese. I especially like it with coffee. Hmmm... let's see, what else was exciting... Oh yeah, the Coop had purple bell peppers. They colour-matched the NJ aubergines so I had to get them. I also found that the Coop sells bulk wheat bran. I got a pound because I can then add it to my bread and pretend that it's more healthful for me. The Coop coupons are such a joke though. You think you save a dollar with the coupons, but really, they have marked up the prices to more than double the general market price of anything with a coupon. Very underhand.

Some old man wearing an open shirt with cut-off sleeves, many bead necklaces and some missing teeth thought I was an old acquaintance and gave me a thread bracelet with a plastic fish on it. I can't, for the life of me, remember where I have met him before.

Guercio's was magical, as always. I got this olive oil.

I hope it doesn't turn out as bland as the one I got last time. I have learned to stay well away from blended olive oils. They are a slap in the face of decent olive oils everywhere. Talking about olive oils, I noticed that there is a sign for a new store on west side of Elmwood near Lafayette that will apparently sell only olive oils and vinegars. Interesting... I wonder what their business plan will be. I hope not: "buy everything from Guercio's and sell it at an atrocious mark-up". That does seem to be the MO of everyone operating on the strip, in general. I saw Guercio's home-brand olive oil at the Coop - they were selling it for a whopping 60% more.

Oh and the Coop was giving out samples of their merchandise in the morning. I sampled something called the Tofu-cashew spread. What a cool idea. I am making up my own recipe for this - but with almonds or maybe chick-peas or maybe sunflower-seeds... (e:leetee), if I blunder ahead with this, the recipe will be dedicated to you. :-) I wanted to go and hang out at the harbour, but the weight of the groceries dragged me back home.

So (e:lilho), there you have it. I shall be joining the mini-me's now.

I want to be evil... little evil me!
I want to see some dissipation in my face...
And in the theatre, I want to change my seat
So I can step on everybody's feet....
Just as mean and evil
As I can be....

Pricerite now has Blue Diamond Almond milk (Original, Unsweetened and Vanilla) at $1.99/0.5 Gallon.

I am swimming in a Sunday bliss induced by mango tea in almond milk, reading several engrossing articles on mitochondrial mysteries and writing my IRB protocol while broad beams of sunlight from my flat windows caress my bald head. And that is a run-on sentence with very poor form that I am trying to avoid in my technical writing.

Ah. Perfection. (Or will be perfection, if I finish this IRB protocol and a good part of my background and specific aims for the analysis I want to carry out.)

But, Pricerite, I do love you. And that justifies the terrible grammar and deplorable lack of structure in this entry.

I went hunting for Parchment paper today (and by hunting, I mean wandering about aimlessly through the aisles at Pricerite till I see something vaguely interesting that I can pore over). I didn't exactly find Parchment paper but I found a roll of something called Pastele paper.

Someone had put a produce sticker on the roll of paper so that it was priced by the pound, had an expiration date and had directions for refrigeration. I thought it was curious, and was carrying it around to ask someone what it was.

However, in a moment of absent-mindedness at the checkout queue, I forgot about how weird it was and bought it before I remembered I didn't know what it was. Does anyone know what it is, though? Can it serve as a Parchment paper substitute? Or is it just wax paper in disguise? Should I return it?

Chowhound has a thread on Pasteles - apparently they are a Puerto Rican specialty comfort food. But it doesn't tell me if the paper is inflammable in the oven.

Anyone have a clue about the combustion physics of Pastele paper?

I know some folks view Pricerite as an evil walmartish-variant grocery but I am writing this journal to thank the store for setting up shop in downtown Buffalo and being there for me heavy rain or yucky snow. The employees at the store beat even Wegmans at being super-nice and courteous.

My fridge was completely empty and depressed-looking half an hour back and now I have extremely fresh, large and juicy tomatoes.


For 89c a pound without the pain of waiting for a bus in the cold, without owning a car and without planning the trip for an hour. This is what a perfect daily grocery-shopping experience should feel like. Thank you!

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PS: They have more Latin American produce and stuff than any other major grocery. I do wish they had more Chinese greens though. I guess they must have done some intense market research and decided that west and east Buffalo would be their most prominent clientele.

Me: (to very happy-looking matronly but slightly intimidating tall Latino (HLMSITL) woman picking out the last piece of odd-looking squash that I wanted to try) Ah, so you like that squash?

HLMSITL woman: (waving the rather sizeable squash about as if it were made of sponge) I do. VERY much.

Me: How, would you say, is it different from Acorn squash or Butternut squash?

HLMSITL woman: Hmm... its firm.

Me: You mean firmer than butternut?

HLMSITL woman: Yes, and also (pointing to the acorn squash) this one.

Me: (persisting in the hope that she may realize that I have never tried it and maybe, just maybe give it away) Firm in what way? More fibrous?

HLMSITL woman: No, firm as in even after cooking you feel like it could get caught in your throat and choke you to death while eating it. (Makes a choking gesture at her neck with both hands and rolls eyes around, manages to look rather alarmingly like she is actually choking.) Like THAT. And I LOVE that, you know?

Me (to myself): Nopes, I definitely don't know.

Me (to HLMSITL woman): Wow. How fascinating! *Smile Smile. Edge away*

(e:JBeatty), have you seen Pandan at any store in Buffalo city?


From this

I really want to make Pandan-flavoured milk but I don't know where to find it... Any ideas?

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PS: Pandan smells like a rustic wonderful variant of natural vanilla. Vanilla essence just doesn't reach the subtlety that is Pandan.

Really? Is there a Wegmans on Prospect Avenue as Google Maps seems to think?



Why have I never seen it? This is the parking lot at the back of the Tops Building. Maybe Weggies has a storage unit there? Does anyone know?