Last weekend we met with family at Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant on St. John Street for a 5:30 dinner. We arrived early, and had planned to stroll through Buckdancer’s Choice. One of us was saddened to find that Buckdancer’s closes at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays, while the other was excited to have a bit of time to stock up on a few interesting grocery items at Makot Pech Asian Market.
My original intent was to purchase ingredients for a meal, but since I hadn’t planned ahead for this “field trip” I really did not know what to buy. Instead I just bought a jar of my favorite chili paste, some noodles, and a variety of other interesting snack items. So far my favorite is the shredded mango with chili, imported from Thailand. It has a nice combination of sweetness, spice and salt, and a chewy texture similar to a Fruit Roll-up.
We also tried some sesame candy called Me Xung Deo, imported from Vietnam, which I thought would be crunchy like a type I have had before. I was surprised by the texture: soft and a little chewy, sort of like Turkish delight with sesame seeds on the outside. I have only eaten one, but someone else in the house seems to like them, since the container is now about half empty.
The next product we tried were the fresh jujubes, made in Hebei, China. When I bought this product, I didn’t know what a jujube was, but thought it must be sort of like a cherry, based on the picture on the package. These “fresh” jujubes are very chewy and sweet, but they do not have a lot of flavor. I am not sure what to compare them to, but apparently another name for a jujube is a Chinese date. When I bought them, I thought I might chop them to put into a batch of homemade granola bars…
Did I mention we sampled these sweets after lunch on Sunday as a dessert of sorts? The fourth and final sampling were the sesame cookies, and I have to say that for cookies, they were not all that sweet. In fact, they reminded me of a sesame cracker I’ve had before, with just a hint of sweetness. This was actually a welcomed change of flavor after trying the other very sweet items.
The Koh-Kae Peanuts (coconut flavor) will be an adventure for another day, as will the noodles and chili paste…
