Russian Groceries

I visited Siberia, a Russian grocery store in downtown Nashua that I've driven by dozens of times. Earlier in the week, an acquaintance had mentioned something about Russian cakes, and since I was nearby I thought I would check out the Russian pastry scene.

It was a small store, but packed with all sorts of boxes, bottles, and cans with Russian writing all over them. I saw jars of eggplant spread, a collection of museum-quality dried whole fishes, and lots of candy. Some older people browsed the isles, speaking amongst themselves in quiet (I assume) Russian. This is probaby the first time I've heard it spoken natively, and I was struck by what an interesting sound it has...kind of brusque with a lyrical edge to it.

I got some of the bulk candy, at $4.99/lb, for Halloween. As I was checking out, the proprietor heartily approved of my selection, and in broken English directed me to some cookies I should try next time I came back. American cookies, she gestured, just did not have the right smell. She also pointed out some of her favorite candies. It was utterly charming. Most of the candies were pretty good...they were a little dusty tasting, but were generally really good. Nothing really bizarre, except for the one that tasted like a chocolate-covered omelette. I have yet to try the pie with writing on it...I half expect to find it's something that pregnant and nursing women eat. Or given to babies on their first birthday. Or that it's filled with a hearty blend of minced herring, cabbage, and beets. I can't tell from the way it smells what's inside.

I especially want to try some of the Kvass, which I'm told is a kind of sasparilla / root beer. My sister also mentioned that the sausages are probably really good too.

Siberia
259 Main Street, Nashua, NH
also
100 Willow St, Manchester, NH

Iron Wok Jan

My sister passes this link along: Iron Wok Jan. I haven't checked it out yet, but it seems to be another cooking manga, like Yakitate! Japan. Browsing through it a bit on Amazon's "look inside" feature, it seemed a little on the creepy side, whereas Yakitate! Japan is a bit more on the weird side.

The excerpt of Publishers Review says:

Take the concept of television's popular Iron Chef, add a few remarkably well-endowed men wearing snug cooking gear, toss in some gratuitous violence, and you've got Iron Wok Jan.

Hm, personally I can do without the "well-endowed men" part, but YMMV. Check it out at Comics Worth Reading or Amazon.

Nougat!

From a specialty chocolate store near my sister's house. She'll doubtless fill me in on the full story of its origin. Fantastic nougat...didn't know I was a nougat fan until I had this stuff.

UPDATE FROM MY SISTER:

That is from the fabulous Garrison Confections, and is called their Ultimate Nougat Bar. It’s the brainchild of Andrew Shotts, one of the top 10 artisanal chocolatiers in the US and they use a lot of interesting ingredients, as well as premium E. Guittard chocolate to make these little marvels.

I also agree with my sis that it's not unlike a Snicker's Bar in constitution: peanuts, nougat, caramel. However, in comparing the taste of the Ultimate Nougat Bar to Snicker's, give me the UNB. It's a better balance of sweetness, texture, and rich chcolate flavors--not that waxy stuff you get with most US bars. And if you find Snickers too sweet, you might like the UNB also...it seemed less sweet to me. I wonder if you can get them by the case?

Mmm, Curry

I love curry, especially the mild Japanese-style curry. Curry is possibly my favorite food even over dark chocolate. Mmm. And I do enjoy my dark chocolate.

I decided that it would be a good idea to save some money by cooking at home, by preparing huge simmering pots of curry to be eaten over a few days. The cost per prep is about 10 bucks, making 12 servings. The savings would be staggering!

Of course, the problem is that I love curry, and end up eating most of it before the day is out. I need to make something disgusting like cold cabbage soup with pickled pigs feet and leeks if this is really going to work.

On the plus side, I was able to make a banner for the davidocracy section finally. I'm limited somewhat by needing to have whitespace at the top of the image so it fades nicely into the category selector.

So here are a couple of pictures from the shoot. Yes, I see the smudge on the chopsticks, and it's driving me nuts; I'm trying not to go back to touch it out ( om mani padme om, etc). I did three different sets with different bowls, shooting about a hundred pics total. Ended up with about 10 to work with. As a bonus, I got to eat each set after I was done shooting it! I'm feeling a little queasy right now.