Today's Adventures
Jan. 25th, 2025 09:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithWe went up to Champaign-Urbana for shopping.
First we stopped at Cheese & Crackers. They actually had the scamorza that my partner Doug has been hunting for years, a cheese that melts like mozzarella but tastes more like provolone. We bought some aged white cheddar to go with it. We plan to make a quiche and some grilled cheese sandwiches.
The same strip mall had some other interesting places. We stopped at Panera and bought a bag of mini chocolate chunk cookies. There's a Chinese restaurant that smelled so good and had lots of things I like on the menu, worth remembering for the future.
Grove Stone is a lovely little gourmet shop that has tons of specialty oils and vinegars, spice blends, and nibblements. They have some gorgeous serving items. Also a little ice cream cooler. I sampled the acai sherbet, which was quite good -- kind of like blackberry or mulberry and neither too sweet nor too sour. Definitely something I want to buy on a warmer day. I picked out two spice blends. Santorini Citrus has thyme, Greek oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, orange zest, and lemon zest. It seems ideal for chicken or fish. Little Italy Pizza has oregano, basil, garlic, onion, thyme, fennel seed, red bell pepper, crushed red pepper, parsley, and marjoram. We plan to make an Italian quiche with this. There were lots of other spice blends too, some standard ones, others various house blends like these. I also bought four tiny dishes with base colors of red, green, yellow, and blue. One has a camel, one has a woman's face and birds, the other two are sort of abstract floral mandalas. The motifs are a mix of African, Indian, and Mexican made by artists in Africa. I have no idea what I'll use them for -- they're probably meant as sauce dishes -- but they were so gorgeous I just couldn't resist. :D I love discovering new stores.
We also stopped at Natural Gourmet, which has moved into this strip mall from its previous location. It's mostly for supplements and herbal remedies, but has a few other goodies. We found a bottle of pure pineapple juice for making smoothies later and a dark chocolate bar.
Then we went to Plant Mode, one of several plant shops we intended to explore. It included houseplants, artwork, and records. It was okay, but the prices were on the high side and they didn't have more more than average plants. I did buy a cute little string of pearls, though.
Our next stop was Planted, which turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for: a little room crammed with fascinating plants and things for growing them. :D I was delighted to find that they have everything from very basic plants like air plants to very advanced ones like pitcher plants in a big glass case full of things that need higher humidity. They also had pots, from very nice affordable plastic ones to pricey and elegant ceramic ones. I picked out two air plants and a spritz bottle of air plant fertilizer. Who knew you could buy fertilizer for air plants? I'd never seen it before. But then I got to thinking, most epiphytes come from the mid-to-lower levels of a jungle, rarely the top. That means as the rain falls, it hits the canopy and picks up nutrients on the way down, so they're used to getting watered with what amounts to liquid fertilizer. Clever to replace that. I also got a tiny pot with several different colors of polka dot plant. I like exploring different things to grow and see what works for me.
I'll need to do some repotting this spring, but I want to count and measure things to see if I need more small pots than the stack I recently bought at Big Lots. I have a bunch of plants still in the cheap little pots I bought them in, and some others that need a bigger pot, so I'll be able to do some exchanges. There were other things I saw but skipped this time, like the planters shaped like dinosaurs ("Curse your sudden but inevitable treachery!") and a type of kalanchoe that puts out babies like a spider plant. :D So hippie. It seems to be a walking kalanchoe, and ironically is related to the mother-of-millions that I looked for but didn't find. I will definitely go back there to look for more houseplants.
I spotted an Italian grocery store, Martinelli's Market. It has a grocery section and a deli section. We bought sun-dried tomatoes in oil and some pepperoni for the quiche. It looks like they make amazing sandwiches; we both want to go back and try those, maybe something from the dessert counter which also looked impressive.
We meant to visit Ashar to pick up some more Reggae juice, but the shop was temporarily closed. We wound up in La Morenita Mexican store that shares the strip mall. I found a big bag of saffron for $1.30 and I'm not sure what kind it is. Certainly not the kind I'm used to, which is sold in minute quantities for much more money, and consists of long red-orange threads. This is clearly floral but much fluffier and more of a pinkish-orange. So I'm curious how it will taste, and whether it is the kind intended by the recipes that call for a freaking teaspoon of saffron. I also picked out a keychain with a couple of cobalt eye beads, an elephant with a blue saddle, and a long blue tassel. That'll go up on the planter with my other protective charms. It was on a rack with a bunch of saint medallions and such. I looked for the red chili pepper but didn't find one.
We also wanted to check out H-Mart but that place was mobbed. The parking lot was almost completely full, and the store was so packed that there was a line out the door. :( So we gave up. We'll have to try again, maybe mid-day on a weekday when hopefully most people will be at work. Admittedly it's a good sign of quality to see that many Asian folks cramming themselves in there when we already have at least 2 other Asian stores and several international ones in town.
We made a pit stop at Walgreens. I spotted a bag of honey-roasted cashews. I plan to chop them for use in cookies or quickbreads. :D
For supper, we ate at Tres Nopales. We split an order of paella. The combination of meats is amazing, and the flavor is excellent, but it's at the edge of my spice tolerance. The queso was too hot for me this time also. :/ But for future reference, we could get paella to take home and just put my portion over plain brown rice. That ought to cut the heat down to a more reasonable level. For dessert we split a slice of cheesecake, which was plain but came drizzled with honey, dark chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It made me think of the flavored caramel sauces I make, like apple cider or ginger, which would be great with chocolate sauce on cheesecake.
It's been a great day.
First we stopped at Cheese & Crackers. They actually had the scamorza that my partner Doug has been hunting for years, a cheese that melts like mozzarella but tastes more like provolone. We bought some aged white cheddar to go with it. We plan to make a quiche and some grilled cheese sandwiches.
The same strip mall had some other interesting places. We stopped at Panera and bought a bag of mini chocolate chunk cookies. There's a Chinese restaurant that smelled so good and had lots of things I like on the menu, worth remembering for the future.
Grove Stone is a lovely little gourmet shop that has tons of specialty oils and vinegars, spice blends, and nibblements. They have some gorgeous serving items. Also a little ice cream cooler. I sampled the acai sherbet, which was quite good -- kind of like blackberry or mulberry and neither too sweet nor too sour. Definitely something I want to buy on a warmer day. I picked out two spice blends. Santorini Citrus has thyme, Greek oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, orange zest, and lemon zest. It seems ideal for chicken or fish. Little Italy Pizza has oregano, basil, garlic, onion, thyme, fennel seed, red bell pepper, crushed red pepper, parsley, and marjoram. We plan to make an Italian quiche with this. There were lots of other spice blends too, some standard ones, others various house blends like these. I also bought four tiny dishes with base colors of red, green, yellow, and blue. One has a camel, one has a woman's face and birds, the other two are sort of abstract floral mandalas. The motifs are a mix of African, Indian, and Mexican made by artists in Africa. I have no idea what I'll use them for -- they're probably meant as sauce dishes -- but they were so gorgeous I just couldn't resist. :D I love discovering new stores.
We also stopped at Natural Gourmet, which has moved into this strip mall from its previous location. It's mostly for supplements and herbal remedies, but has a few other goodies. We found a bottle of pure pineapple juice for making smoothies later and a dark chocolate bar.
Then we went to Plant Mode, one of several plant shops we intended to explore. It included houseplants, artwork, and records. It was okay, but the prices were on the high side and they didn't have more more than average plants. I did buy a cute little string of pearls, though.
Our next stop was Planted, which turned out to be exactly what I was hoping for: a little room crammed with fascinating plants and things for growing them. :D I was delighted to find that they have everything from very basic plants like air plants to very advanced ones like pitcher plants in a big glass case full of things that need higher humidity. They also had pots, from very nice affordable plastic ones to pricey and elegant ceramic ones. I picked out two air plants and a spritz bottle of air plant fertilizer. Who knew you could buy fertilizer for air plants? I'd never seen it before. But then I got to thinking, most epiphytes come from the mid-to-lower levels of a jungle, rarely the top. That means as the rain falls, it hits the canopy and picks up nutrients on the way down, so they're used to getting watered with what amounts to liquid fertilizer. Clever to replace that. I also got a tiny pot with several different colors of polka dot plant. I like exploring different things to grow and see what works for me.
I'll need to do some repotting this spring, but I want to count and measure things to see if I need more small pots than the stack I recently bought at Big Lots. I have a bunch of plants still in the cheap little pots I bought them in, and some others that need a bigger pot, so I'll be able to do some exchanges. There were other things I saw but skipped this time, like the planters shaped like dinosaurs ("Curse your sudden but inevitable treachery!") and a type of kalanchoe that puts out babies like a spider plant. :D So hippie. It seems to be a walking kalanchoe, and ironically is related to the mother-of-millions that I looked for but didn't find. I will definitely go back there to look for more houseplants.
I spotted an Italian grocery store, Martinelli's Market. It has a grocery section and a deli section. We bought sun-dried tomatoes in oil and some pepperoni for the quiche. It looks like they make amazing sandwiches; we both want to go back and try those, maybe something from the dessert counter which also looked impressive.
We meant to visit Ashar to pick up some more Reggae juice, but the shop was temporarily closed. We wound up in La Morenita Mexican store that shares the strip mall. I found a big bag of saffron for $1.30 and I'm not sure what kind it is. Certainly not the kind I'm used to, which is sold in minute quantities for much more money, and consists of long red-orange threads. This is clearly floral but much fluffier and more of a pinkish-orange. So I'm curious how it will taste, and whether it is the kind intended by the recipes that call for a freaking teaspoon of saffron. I also picked out a keychain with a couple of cobalt eye beads, an elephant with a blue saddle, and a long blue tassel. That'll go up on the planter with my other protective charms. It was on a rack with a bunch of saint medallions and such. I looked for the red chili pepper but didn't find one.
We also wanted to check out H-Mart but that place was mobbed. The parking lot was almost completely full, and the store was so packed that there was a line out the door. :( So we gave up. We'll have to try again, maybe mid-day on a weekday when hopefully most people will be at work. Admittedly it's a good sign of quality to see that many Asian folks cramming themselves in there when we already have at least 2 other Asian stores and several international ones in town.
We made a pit stop at Walgreens. I spotted a bag of honey-roasted cashews. I plan to chop them for use in cookies or quickbreads. :D
For supper, we ate at Tres Nopales. We split an order of paella. The combination of meats is amazing, and the flavor is excellent, but it's at the edge of my spice tolerance. The queso was too hot for me this time also. :/ But for future reference, we could get paella to take home and just put my portion over plain brown rice. That ought to cut the heat down to a more reasonable level. For dessert we split a slice of cheesecake, which was plain but came drizzled with honey, dark chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It made me think of the flavored caramel sauces I make, like apple cider or ginger, which would be great with chocolate sauce on cheesecake.
It's been a great day.
