Namaste from INDIA!

Namaste from Kerala, southern India!!

We are on a vacation, celebrating my 50th birthday (which actually doesn't come until mid-June, but it never hurts to celebrate early, eh??).  We have never been to India before and have been amazed at the sights, sounds, tastes, and colors that surround us here.  We traveled through a few northern cities and have now come down south to finish out the holiday.

One thing we love to do when traveling is, you guessed it, SEE THE LOCAL GROCERY STORE!!  Here in India we have been fortunate to see some MARKETS, which are absolutely amazing.  We even went to one, Crawford Market, where they MAKE SPICES.  By that, I mean they take the spice blends that the women bring (yes, it seemed to be all women ordering them), roast them, then GRIND THEM into the types of spices you and I would expect to see in a jar on a Trader Joe's shelf.  I was fascinated and could have easily stayed at that stall for hours observing and smelling.  Heaven!

Spices, having just been roasted, now resting on a burlap bag in the sun waiting for their turn to be ground

A long queue of spices on a Sunday at the spice market, all waiting to be ground

A grinder!  These large pistons slam down very loudly onto the spices, grinding them very finely

Most people here seem to shop at markets, but I also wanted to see an Indian GROCERY STORE.  Locals never understand my desire to check out the groceries, but I really think it is a great way to learn something about a culture!!  What cookies do they eat??  What drinks?  What CONDIMENTS???  There is a lot to learn in a grocery store!!

So we popped into one in Mumbai.  Let's just say, it was NOT a Trader Joe's :).

First off, no air conditioning.  And this is the HOT season here, record highs actually.

Secondly, they have STATUES in their grocery store.  See, here is a Ghandi one!!!!!  Isn't it great?  I have never seen anything like THAT at a TJ's.

Look, a Ghandi bust in aisle 1! 

Thirdly, the sample lady was giving out WHOLE CARTONS of Greek yogurt, not little cups of it.  Oooh-la-la!!  They also took our photo after we tasted it.  David did a funny face where he was spitting some of the yogurt out as if it tasted super disgusting.  I bet they don't use THAT in their marketing campaign.

Fourthly, the snack food section had FAIRY LIGHTS over it!!!  You know the ones, the fancy twinkling Christmas lights!!!  Cuz nothing says EAT SOME CHIPS like FAIRY LIGHTS!  It was pretty fabulous.

Snacks and fairy lights, a great combination!

We were glad we persevered and figured out where the heck the hidden grocery story was.  We crossed some crazy Mumbai streets, dodging traffic, to get there, but it was worth it.

We didn't buy a bottle of "Thums Up" soda  but we probably should have, eh?

Day 226 - Smoked Paprika

This is the second spice to be reviewed in this blog (the first was the amazing 21 Seasoning Salute which you can read about on day 184).  We don’t buy spices very often – does anyone??  A jar lasts us forever it seems.  But we needed some Trader Joe’s products that were not perishable to come with us on a month long adventure where we would not have easy access to TJ’s, but would have a kitchen to cook, so spices seemed to fit right in!

This smoked paprika is really nice!  We have had it on yellow squash and it was delish (squash, olive oil, smoked paprika, freshly ground salt, and fresh Meyer lemon juice (reviewed on day 3 of this blog, and I think NOT in stock at the moment at TJ’s but we got this one at another store) (total side note:  we are now trying to grow our OWN Meyer lemons!  More news on that if it works…). 

Look at all the fruits we are hoping to get!

SEE!  Meyer Lemon is one of the fruits on our new FRUIT COCKTAIL TREE

We also had this paprika on top of a cottage cheese that David makes just like his mamma used to make (my mom, may she rest in peace, “made” cottage cheese by opening a container of Robert’s Brand Cottage Cheese and PLOPPING some on a plate.  Maybe she added salt and pepper, I can’t remember.  But I thought THAT was cottage cheese until I started hanging out with David!  His mamma’s version is muuuuch better – veggies chopped up into small pieces (celery, carrots, green pepper, tomato, whatever is on hand I think!) and all mixed in with the cottage cheese, topped with paprika. 

Here you have it - from the Spices of the World Collection at Trader Joe's

Anyway, my point here is not meant to be cottage cheese, it is meant to be this Smoked Paprika.  If you are going to buy paprika, this one is fine.  I am not a spice snob so I cannot tell you if it is better or worse than another paprika, but I CAN tell you that the jar is big (1.6 oz) and the price tag is not.*

Now that we have this jar I am sure we will not need to buy another one in over a year, that is, unless David decides to make his mother’s cottage cheese every other day for the rest of the year.  And I might be able to support that idea. 

*DAMN!  I just Googled this product and I see it being sold on EBay for $5.99 PLUS $1.50 shipping???!!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/111583897007   That is highway robbery!  Man, if you do not live near a Trader Joe’s and you NEED this spice, let me know and I will hook you up for much less than that.  J

Price - $1.99

Rating - 4

Day 184 - 21 Seasoning Salute

Not gonna lie, I bought this seasoning blend only because of its NAME.  21 Seasoning Salute – could there BE a cuter name for a spice??? 

SUPER CHEAP AND REALLY TASTY!  You should totally get some.

We do not usually buy herb/spice BLENDS.  The only blend we ever use is a Montreal Steak Blend that my parents gave us approximately a dozen years ago – a huge tub of it that has slowly been used and has taken up prime real estate in our cupboard since it was purchased at Costco or Sam’s or whatever big box store they got it at. 

Years ago David made me an amazing spice rack.  It is wooden and there are slots to hold glass test tubes, each one filled with a spice.  I would show you a photo here but we are not home right now to snap one, so you will have to imagine it.  Anyway, that spice rack has never had 21 Seasoning Salute in it, but when we get back home it will!!

So far we have tried this spice blend on zucchini (good!) and chicken (also very good!).  I think it would be a safe bet to shake onto most anything (well, not, like, coconut cupcakes, cuz that would just be gross, but most SAVORY items would be happy to be sprinkled with it!).  The label tells us “It’s hard to believe that this much flavor comes from a salt-free blend” and I would have to agree!  In fact, I didn’t know it was missing salt until I read that.

This is what it looked like on our cooking chicken bits.

Here is what is has:  onion, spices (black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander), garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato granules, lemon juice powder, oil of lemon, citric acid.  Hey – now that I count that up that are 22!  But it is called 21 Seasoning Salute…  Are they perhaps not counting the citric acid?  Or maybe counting the two lemon bits as one entry?  

However they count it, this is a good product.  I am guessing we will go through it much faster than the steak seasoning J.  And this is CHEAP, cheap, cheap compared to any spice/seasoning at any other grocery store.  Get a bottle and try it.  

Price – $1.99

Rating – 5