And now for something completely different.. something very yummy!
I stopped at Sunny Foodmart on Gateway Blvd because I needed something quick for lunch after a walk. I was amazed at what I saw. I have been in Asian grocery stores before but this was so much more.
below: Obviously she is over-dressed for the hot weather that we’ve had this week! Photos are from a couple of weeks ago 😄
below: Pani Puri originally from India or Pakistan, sort of like samosas but round. Fried dough balls stuffed with good things.
below: Quite a selection! Wasabi, soy sauces, teriyaki sauces, sukiyaki sauces, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and many labels that I can’t read.
below: More bottles, more sauces. Sesame oil, apple cider vinegar, and cooking wine too.
below: Filipino spaghetti sauce – I had no idea that that was a thing! And the packaging is bilingual English/French!
below: Chaat is another new word for me. It’s another food that originated in India and has spread as street food in many south Asian countries. In the freezer below you’ll find sausages, fish balls, Chicharon Bulaklak (pork ruffle fat), smoked herring, and dried danggit (a type of fish from the Philippines, also called rabbitfish or spinefoot fish). In case you’re wondering what ruffle fat is, it’s not actually fat… Chicharon Bulaklak is made with the mesentery (or the connective tissue that joins the internal organs together). It’s salty and crunchy apparently. No, I haven’t tried it!
below: Bags of dried hawthorn, dried orange peel, dried lily bulbs, and longan berries, along with white pepper, cardamom, and aniseed. One of bags is labelled as amomum tsao-ko which is also known as black cardamom.
below: Freezers full of goodies – corn on the cob, scallion flower rolls, assorted dumplings, and golden saba bananas (short stubby bananas from the Philippines).
below: More frozen food – udon noodles, lamb rolls, lobster rolls, and bean curd. Boxes of coconut milk are stacked on the other side of the aisle.
below: That’s a lot of hoisin sauce!
below: Floor to ceiling jars, bottles, and cans including cans of green jackfruit still in the box.
below: Pork pieces, feet and hocks
below: Colourful veggie jars. Red peppers, sliced pickled jalapeno peppers, pickled wild cucumbers, white asparagus, peas, pickled white cabbage, and roasted eggplant.
below: There were a couple of aisles of bags of rice stacked in piles on the floor. Thai jasmine rice is pictured here.
below: Marjan rice from the foothills of the Himalayas (Pakistan) as well as Basmati rice.
below: No grocery store would be complete without a candy section – orange, mango, peppermint and ginger chewy candies. Lollipops. Ricola in the original herbal formula. And don’t miss the Super Lemon or Super Cola candies!
below: Pizza snacks (very Asian!) and shrimp chips. Honey butter chips and sweet potato snacks. On the bottom shelf, want want crackers – part sweet and part salty and totally yummy!
My apologies. All photos were taken with my phone so the quality may be questionable especially after reducing the resolution a little before uploading them. I hope that you still enjoyed the tour!
as I walk Toronto 