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May 25, 2013, 10:03am

Any Port in a Storm :: Dockside Dining :: On the Menu :: Post Message

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Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 25, 2009, 10:13pm

Today was market day in Zaachila. Here's what I bought. Hope this isn't crass, but I figured some people might want to know, so I show the prices for each item. My total expenditure was 255.5 pesos, or 19.31 US dollars. (a peso is worth @7.557 US cents today).
Some of the things I bought not because I'm out of them, but because they're not always available at the market when I'm there, i.e., the peppercorns and coffee.
[image]

(forgot the garlic -- to the right of the poblanos.)

I wanted dried, powdered shrimp in order to try out the lovely Asian salads discussed here in #s 5 through 8, however it was not available. Instead I bought these little mystery shrimp, which are already cooked and meant for salad. They smell kind of funky. I think they're boiled in heavily salted water and left to lie around until sold. We shall see.
[image]

More or less real size: [image]

Posted by kerouac2 on Jun 25, 2009, 10:22pm

Do not fear strong smelling shrimp. But do not be surprised if you are not constipated the next day.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 26, 2009, 5:55pm

The shrimp were okay, but a bitch to peel. They were extremely salty. I first poured boiling water over the peeled meat, then let it set awhile in lime juice. I made a version of that SE Asia fruit & vegetable salad & boiled down the peels to make the dressing.

Where is everyone else's take from shopping? I wanna see!

Posted by kerouac2 on Jun 26, 2009, 6:09pm

I'll do some shopping this weekend.

Posted by imec on Jun 26, 2009, 6:27pm

Around here, you would pay more than that just for the mezcal...

Posted by casimira on Jun 26, 2009, 6:28pm

Big time expenditure,mezcal! Are the peppercorns grown there? I know they need a mountainous climate.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 26, 2009, 7:13pm

See that you do, Kerouac.

Imec, there are many, many small producers of mezcal around here. There are people walking around every market selling it. You see that the bottle (1 liter) has no label. I could get it even cheaper at that market, but the people (a husband & wife) I buy from have a consistent, good product. One has to be discreet about this, but quite a few of the little general stores in neighborhoods sell mezcal under the counter. It's also sold door-to-door.

Huh! Good question, Casimira. I never thought to ask about the peppercorns. I'd love to have a vine of it. Will try to find out.

Posted by Don Cuevas on Jun 27, 2009, 12:29am

I stayed home today, and made spnach and basil pesto from the espinacas and albahaca (guess!) I bought in the Pátzcuaro mercado yesterday. Also bought a 1/4 kilo of white, cultivated mushrooms, even though the season is beginning for wild mushrooms. At the moment, "hongos del llano", or field mushrooms are available, but I just ddn't want to deal with them at this time.

Also a kilo of tomates verdes, also known as tomatillos, but they were intended to stretch the remaining carne en su jugo of wednesady. But there's so little of that left, i'll find another use for the tomates verdes.

Also, pimientos morrones de colores, or sweet capsicums in various colors.

What else? We bought two half baguettes with sesame seeds, and a few donuts from the new Bodega Aurrerá supermarket. To our delight, the pan baguette is quite good and the donuts are the best we've ever eaten in all of México.

Another surprise at Bodega Aurrerá were the pepinos criollos, small cucumbers, not the overgrown seedy ones grown locally, nor the long, English variety, but of a size just right for pickling. As they have a light wax coating, I've scrubbed then the best I could and am attempting to make a half gallo of Kosher Dill Pickles. At 1 peso apiece, these are not the cheapest, 3 kilos for 5 pesos as seen in the mercado, but of a higher quality.

Posted by kerouac2 on Jun 27, 2009, 7:59pm

Today I bought mushrooms, radishes, vine tomatoes, cherries, green bell peppers, duck breasts, sliced chorizo, cured ham, crème fraîche, babas au rhum and strawberry fromage frais, among other things.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 27, 2009, 8:38pm

But no batteries for the camera, apparently.

There are people here (well, me) who'd enjoy seeing the strawberry fromage frais, for instance.

Posted by imec on Jun 27, 2009, 8:47pm

Jun 27, 2009, 8:38pm, bixaorellana wrote:

But no batteries for the camera, apparently.

There are people here (well, me) who'd enjoy seeing the strawberry fromage frais, for instance.

Like me for instance.

No shopping this weekend as we're trying to get rid of everything perishable as we'll be gone in six days.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 27, 2009, 8:51pm

And I thank god every single day that you are not the sort of person to rub that in. :-*

Posted by kerouac2 on Jun 27, 2009, 8:55pm

The reason for no photos is that I went to the supermarket and everything ended up in plastic bags or containers. I weighed the tremendous importance of getting everything out and photographing it against the idea of all of the unwrapped items rotting before I was ready to eat them in this torrid weather, and my miserly ways won out.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jun 27, 2009, 8:57pm

Oh, okay. Considering the vast amount of beautiful, entertaining, and informative photos you provide to AnyPort, I guess it's all right just this once.

Posted by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2009, 7:18pm

Today I bought a pomegranate (Israel), bananas (Martinique), green papaya (Thailand), cailan (Thailand), white aubergine (Thailand) and cilantro (France).

[image]

Posted by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2009, 7:24pm

What gorgeous produce! Are the white eggplant the same as the little ones HW shows in his meal photos? The greens are cailan? How is that cooked?

Posted by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2009, 7:29pm

It is sautéed (at least that's how I did it, in oil, nuoc mam, soy sauce, lime juice... and beer (since I could see it needed more liquid and I was holding a can in my hand).

Yes, the white eggplants are the same.

Will no one mention the size of the pomegranate? (compare it to the bunch of bananas, which are full sized bananas, not dwarf ones) It is the size of a large grapefruit.

Posted by deyana on Jul 22, 2009, 7:32pm

Those vegetables look so good K. And cilantro is my favorite herb, it's used in Indian dishes frequently. My mom grows that, as well as others similar herbs in her garden.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2009, 7:32pm

>> WHAT A BIG POMEGRANATE!

Posted by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2009, 7:35pm

And it's all mine!!!!!

Posted by bixaorellana on Jul 22, 2009, 7:38pm

Don't worry. If I had only one pomegranate, I'd still give it to you. Except for their beauty, I see no use for them. Would it be cruel to tell you that plastic cups full of cleaned pomegranate seeds are sold everywhere here?

Posted by Don Cuevas on Jul 22, 2009, 8:18pm

Our neighbors, across the street, have a pomegranate tree in their yard that bears fruit much of the year.
We can have all we want, pero no me encantan. (they don't charm me). I jutht can't thtand the pith.

Posted by Don Cuevas on Jul 22, 2009, 8:19pm

Jul 22, 2009, 8:18pm, Don Cuevas wrote:

Our neighbors, across the street, have a pomegranate tree in their yard that bears fruit much of the year.

We can have all we want, pero no me encantan. (they don't charm me). I jutht can't thtand the pith.

I'm not buying any produce this week as we'll be in Mexico City for over 3 days this weekend.

Posted by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2009, 8:40pm

At other times of the year, the pomegranates (and the limes) in France are imported from Mexico.

Posted by Don Cuevas on Jul 22, 2009, 11:19pm

I don't know what happened at # 27

Posted by casimira on Jul 23, 2009, 12:17am

Beautiful shot K., worthy of a still life painting. Our pot luck host last p.m. is an artist and his early work was mostly still lifes of fruits and vegetables. I never tire of them.

Posted by hwinpp on Jul 23, 2009, 4:48am

Yeah, good one, K!

For those still studying/living in Europe/poor craving cheap greens:
Cailan is broccoli, but bred not for the flowers but the leaves.

Another thing, kohlrabi greens are excellent stir fried as well (shred them a bit, remove the leaves' stems, use K2's recipe). When I was still a student I sometimes went into supermarkets and asked for them and got them for free.

I think tomorrow is our market day.

Posted by bixaorellana on Jul 23, 2009, 4:57am

I had to go to the supermarket in order to buy a wedding gift. (supermarket = small appliances)

Didn't get anything exciting in the way of food, except that I finally got the ground dried shrimp I've been wanting to experiment with for the Asian salads. I was going to buy peanut butter for those salads as well, but I refuse to pay three bucks for 340 grams of Skippy.

I did get a beautiful bunch of cilantro and some very fresh, very small zucchini.

Posted by bjd on Jul 23, 2009, 8:42am

I have a small lime tree on my balcony so I don't have to import them.

Skippy peanut butter is terribly expensive here too. I don't eat the stuff, but my husband sometimes likes it. He goes to a Chinese-run store in the neighbourhood of African shops and buys it there much cheaper. Dutch peanut butter is a lot cheaper than Skippy too.

Posted by spindrift on Jul 23, 2009, 4:32pm

I've just found this thread. I like it! I might take a pic of my purchases later.


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