Saigon Asian Market

 Adam and I regularly need items from a South Asian market -- Pakistani/Indian foods. They sell the tea items for my chai and the spices Adam prefers to cook with. Today we drove to Wilmington, NC for various "to-dos," and visited the Saigon Market. It's the best Asian grocery we've ever found.

 First, I was hunting a good tea base for my chai. I've used this (above) for the past couple of years, and the bag was getting low. I found two more bags. This will last me at least five years.

Adam found both course and fine semolina flour, a Middle Eastern flour he's never found before, and has needed for several breads he wants to make. He was thrilled!

Also below you see whole star anise, which I was nearly out of, a ginger powder drink, and (in the tin) lots of whole nutmeg and part of a bag of mace he bought. Mace is the husk of a nutmeg. It has a lovely scent, a little milder than nutmeg.

They also carried the first tea base I ever bought for my chai, an Assam, so I bought a small bag of it also, and below you can see the mace again. It's so interesting looking!

Adam found some soy sauce (we were out) too. I was tempted by so many items, but restrained myself. Wilmington is only two hours away, and I'm sure we'll go back sometime. I loved the tiny Asian bowls there -- like little finger bowls. They sell all the whole spices I love to keep on hand: allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom. Having a kitchen with bags of all these spices makes me feel ridiculously wealthy. Asian markets sell these spices in quantities that show they are food, and meant to be eaten more than a 1/4 teaspoon at a time, ground up as we Americans buy it. If you have an Asian market in your town, be adventurous and go roam their aisles. You may find something to love.

We had other adventures in Wilmington today, and I'll share those with you next time --