The food markets I can walk to are either convenience stores (attached to a gas station)
or international markets owned by South (East) Asian owners (one Vietnamese and the other I think Indian?)
. Supermarkets are not in walking distance, so I go to supermarkets only once or twice a month and supplement with smaller international markets that has green onions (青ねぎ), Japanese radish (大根), and Chinese cabbage (白菜).
So the other day I had a craving for ramen ('Chinese noodle' evolved into original dish in Japan) and as there's no ramen restaurant around here (the nearest would be in Boston, almost 2 hours drive away...), I went to one of the international markets. I expected to buy 'Top Ramen' (generic U.S. instant ramen in a bag less than 15 cents in Hawaii) or 'Sapporo Ramen' (close to Japan taste but costs about 50 cents in Hawaii), but what I saw in the mart were
many kinds of Vietnamese and Thai noodle bags. Well, basically everything is in foreign language other than one line description like "Artificial Spicy Pork Flavor." So reading the photos and that one line I selected a few bags, and today's lunch was one of them. I should have known better, but I bought this hoping it'd be mildly spicy. And it was
extra spicy(>o<), just with the basic soup powder without the additional spice bag or oil bag that came in the bag. I should go for non-spicy rice noodle next time...
These international markets also proud a large selection of frozen fish. There're some fish packs directly imported from Japan (frozen dried さんま, frozen dried さば etc.), but are rather pricey. As they are often on sale (these probably don't move much due to the price), I buy them too, but
what're really affordable there are with foreign language description again. So with just my intuition as my guide, I bought this pack of fish called "yellow stripe trevally," product of Vietnam. I had no idea what the fish was, so I did google search (the dictionaries didn't help me). It is called "Salay Salay" in the Philippines, and more widely "yellowstripe scad." With another search for a Japanese name, it was "ホソヒラアジ." Now I know this is a kind of aji. I also found that it has lots of small rib bones, and as these fish I bought are small, I will fry it so I can eat crispy bones. Without Internet I'd be totally lost!
So the other day I had a craving for ramen ('Chinese noodle' evolved into original dish in Japan) and as there's no ramen restaurant around here (the nearest would be in Boston, almost 2 hours drive away...), I went to one of the international markets. I expected to buy 'Top Ramen' (generic U.S. instant ramen in a bag less than 15 cents in Hawaii) or 'Sapporo Ramen' (close to Japan taste but costs about 50 cents in Hawaii), but what I saw in the mart were many kinds of Vietnamese and Thai noodle bags. Well, basically everything is in foreign language other than one line description like "Artificial Spicy Pork Flavor." So reading the photos and that one line I selected a few bags, and today's lunch was one of them. I should have known better, but I bought this hoping it'd be mildly spicy. And it was extra spicy(>o<), just with the basic soup powder without the additional spice bag or oil bag that came in the bag. I should go for non-spicy rice noodle next time...
These international markets also proud a large selection of frozen fish. There're some fish packs directly imported from Japan (frozen dried さんま, frozen dried さば etc.), but are rather pricey. As they are often on sale (these probably don't move much due to the price), I buy them too, but what're really affordable there are with foreign language description again. So with just my intuition as my guide, I bought this pack of fish called "yellow stripe trevally," product of Vietnam. I had no idea what the fish was, so I did google search (the dictionaries didn't help me). It is called "Salay Salay" in the Philippines, and more widely "yellowstripe scad." With another search for a Japanese name, it was "ホソヒラアジ." Now I know this is a kind of aji. I also found that it has lots of small rib bones, and as these fish I bought are small, I will fry it so I can eat crispy bones. Without Internet I'd be totally lost!
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