This week I took a trip to a local Asian market, hoping that it would be at least comparable to the ones we had back in Seattle and we were not disappointed! 1st Oriental Supermarket on W Colonial (I swear to God that’s what it’s called…I couldn’t make that shit up) gets two enthusiastic thumbs up.
We were greeted by the bakery counter as we entered and some amazing dragon decorated cakes – these would be such a huge hit at birthday parties – I clearly need a fancy occasion to warrant that much awesomeness!
The store turned out to be huge and well stocked with all sorts of goodies. They have a nice produce section with all the basics plus a bunch of exotic fruit and vegetables that I am really not sure what to do with….. research will clearly be required. I picked up some fresh bamboo shoots and various mushrooms for my attempt at summer rolls that evening.
I was delighted to find quail eggs also which prompted a desire to make sushi too. Not a issue since I had no problem finding nori (seaweed wrappers) and a tub of masago (fish roe).
The fish section was fantastic – all sort of fresh fish and shellfish available – along with a few things I am definitely not brave enough to cook, like eels – I have eaten them many times in restaurants, but not sure I could eat them if I had to do the prep work. Definitely the largest fish selection I have seen here in Orlando.
There was a fantastic section for cooked food also with ducks and geese hanging up looking crispy and delicious – it was hard to pull ourselves away…
We must have spent an hour wandering the aisles and marveling at all the good stuff – I got my favorite “tempura wasabi seaweed chips” – not sure what they are actually called but these things are like crack cocaine – you cannot stop eating them once the bag is opened.
Also picked up some fizzy sake, dried shrimp, cool sodas in a clear plastic “cans”, frozen hum bow – for my teenager who could live on dim sum – shrimp dumplings, rice paper, rice noodles, jars of pickled cabbage, fish sauce, plum duck sauce, sweet chili dipping sauce, sirracha sauce (long live the rooster) and a variety of other things that we couldn’t leave the store without….including some green apple pop rocks that jumped in my cart at the register – hello 80’s
That evening I planned to amaze the family with my sushi making skills and yummy shrimp and pork summer rolls – unfortunately, although delicious, they were just not photo worthy. I need to practice wrapping the rice paper tighter – they were a bit floppy and messy looking – but dipped in the sweet chili sauce with eyes closed they tasted great.
My teenager quickly decided that all those vegetables were not working for him so he made his own rolls with shrimp and noodles only – in a stoke of genius he decided to pour the chili sauce right inside the roll so he didn’t have to waste time dipping LOL
We had a fun interactive dinner and leftovers made a decent stir fry the next day – now I have a pantry full of random stuff I need to get some recipes for LOL