Ethnic Shops

I headed out on a mission with The Blog Tech yesterday to go to some ethnic food shops. I really wanted to go to a Russian store but was running out of time and it was too far away. Maybe next week! But I did stop at a wonderful Polish shop first. I bought a pound of this Krakowska podsuszana. Think Polish Canadian bacon. Sorry to my Turkish friends but this was a pork outing.

I love to cook with dried mushrooms and this store had bags of all kinds of different ones. The Polish sure like mushrooms. I remember my father telling me how he would get up before sunrise to go to the forest and pick mushrooms with his father.


This is another item that Eastern Europeans eat a lot of. Spreadable cheeses. In the Czech Republic, everyone we visited served slices of baguette spread with cheese and topped with a slice of sausage. This tub is seasoned with chives and cucumber. I like to eat it spread on rye and topped with radish slices.


And though this might not look too appealing, it is wonderful. The lighter sausage is Polish wedding sausage and the dark one is Forest Smoked Kielbasa. Both are mild, smokey and delicious. The difference in color is due to the type of wood used in the smoking process.

I have never made Polish bigos. Bigos is hunter's stew. They were selling it frozen so I thought I would try some. Haven't gotten around to it yet but I am looking forward to it.


I had to get some mustard for the sausages.


And some super pikantny ketchup. Check out how the tomatoes have flames coming out of them.



Polish markets are good places to pick up caviar. I see scrambled eggs with truffle oil and black caviar on my menu.


I can't wait to try this butter too. i will cook the scrambled eggs in it.



They also were selling freshly made mushroom soup. It sure was good! Mushroom soup has been a lifelong favorite of mine.

Only in this neck of the woods would you see this and realize instantly that the KM means that this container is full of kraut and mushroom pierogies.


A dozen big fat pierogies for 9.00. Easter time is pierogie time. The Blog Tech and I will be making our own soon.


You just pop them in a skillet over medium heat and cover for 10 minutes and they are ready to eat.


Then we headed to a huge Asian market. They had these wonderful coffee flavored spongecake rolls.


I bought rice cakes for a recipe I will be trying soon.


Asian stores carry a great selection of candies. I bought these boxes of chocolate covered macadamia nuts.


Daikon to slice paper thin and pile on buttered rye bread with cracked sea salt. I can't wait to plant my French breakfast radishes to eat this way too. Fresh ginger which I can never seem to have enough of and green onions which cost 39 cents a bunch which would cost three times more in my regular grocery store.


Asian stores also have a great selection of seeds this time of year. And they carry some good varieties you can't get anywhere else.


And they usually have the translation on the back. It was a good shopping trip.