#Chinese grocer

[formeryelpers]

Chinatown Supermarket, 3390 S State Street, #11, Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Chinatown Supermarket claims to be Utah’s largest Asian market, measuring 30,000 sq. ft. It is mostly Chinese, but I did see Vietnamese, Filipino, Japanese, Thai, and other Asian cuisines represented. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of Asian vegetables, fresh rice products, fresh soy products, and a deli with Chinese and Vietnamese food (e.g., BBQ duck, dim sum, banh mi). The selection of Asian snacks also was impressive.

You could even find the Propitious Mango and Peach fruit ice cream from China – in packs of three or sold individually.

They had a room with housewares – pots, pans, waffle irons, dishes, tea sets, etc. The meat/seafood counter was staffed.

The market looked older and not that organized. The stacks of potato chips looked like a giant heap. Prices are higher, but there aren’t as many options for Asian groceries in SLC.

I would check the freshness. The mochi looked moldy and old. The dim sum also looked terrible.

Open daily.

4 out of 5 stars

By Lolia S.

[nessvn]

my cousin is so so sweet he tries so hard to find kosher treats he's out here asking poor ethnic grocery store workers who barely speak english if their snacks are good for jewish people and getting met with complete confusion every time but he never gives up 😭

[naomiknight-17]

Why is it so hard to just get some fucking fish stock

[blacktailedfawn]

american tourists literally have no manners at all, they strategically fan out to take up the entire sidewalk while theyre walking slow as fuck

[phynali]

I was in a research talk this week with a researcher who is doing some stuff related to grocery retailers, and he mentioned -- off the record and anecdotally so of course I'm telling all of you here -- that the major grocery chains (Coles and Woolies, as above) have shareholders who saw ridiculous record profits during the lockdowns here, and now they won't let profits fall back down. They need that little bar on the graph to continue to increase, if not as dramatically, rather than allowing the more realistic regression to the mean, the decrease in profits and return to a steady state.

The farmers are on record saying "we're not charging the retailers more than we were a few years ago". The cost of food hasn't increased. The cost of groceries have because the shareholders' greed is endless.

Activists in Tasmania have stuck up more honest promo stickers inside Coles & Woolworths stores, the two dominant supermarket chains in Australia.

[intertexts]

tgifff :-)

[allsadnshit]

There was like 2 months this year where I was out of fish sauce in my kitchen and didn't feel like walking all the way to the grocer in a different neighborhood to get the gluten free brand one I was using and I told myself it didn't make a big difference in my cooking but oh my god... every since I 1. Switched brands to a better one 2. Have it in my kitchen again I am OBSESSED it's so good and I feel like truly no a taiwanese/Chinese dish tastes right without it!!! I've been using it in all my soups, stir fry, porridges, and curry and it brings everything to life for real

[wolfiemcwolferson]

Hi Logan 👋🏼 for the latest prompt game, could I ask for Piarles + running into each other, late at night, at a supermarket? Thanks! <3

Well.

Insomnia is not contagious.

Insomnia is especially not contagious when you don't even live with the insomniac any longer.

Insomnia is especially not contagious when you don't even live with the insomniac any longer AND you haven't spoken to them in over four months.

And yet.

And yet, Charles is stood in the juice aisle at a grocery store that he had to drive across fucking town to stand in because he can't sleep.

He maybe hasn't slept in four months - since he moved into that white, sterile apartment across town. The one with the bed without someone else to take up the space in and the one with the kitchen that always has clean counters because there's no one to leave protein powder out. The one with the grocery store that isn't open 24/7 that Charles can't stand in when he can't sleep.

Which...he thought would be a thing of the past. Because historically, Charles has had no problem sleeping. No, that was always Pierre.

Pierre would be the one tossing and turning and trying to sleep until Charles was woken for the sixth time and he bundled them up in the car to walk down to the all night grocer's to buy snacks they wouldn't eat, but it worked.

Pierre would sleep and so would Charles.

And he thought he had put this all behind him. A new apartment and a new grocer's and a new job and a new - everything. A new everything because he couldn't have the same Chinese take-out place that he had with Pierre and he couldn't have the same cinema and he couldn't have...anything.

And at first, he had thought well, it's just like this. It's quite sad when you leave someone you've known more than half your life.

But then Charles stopped sleeping.

Because...because he had fucked up.

If he's contemplating his entire fucking life in a grocer's at 3 AM in the juice aisle.

He had fucked up.

Charles had lost touch with the things that he loved about Pierre. He got busy. He stopped looking at the things Pierre did that Charles loved.

He could only see the protein powder on the kitchen counters and he stopped looking at the boiled kettle that Pierre left for him.

He could only think about the hours of sleep he lost and he stopped remembering that some of his happiest, best memories were of the two of them - laughing about something at 3 AM together.

He only considered what it would be like to be in a bed alone - to not fight for covers - and he stopped considering that Pierre reached for him and reached for him and reached for him over and over every night they were under those covers.

Charles had gotten busy and he had stopped appreciating his life and he thought that the thing to do was to move on - to try and do it with someone else - but, god. He fucked it up.

"Cha -" A voice from behind startles him, and Charles jumps, turning to find Pierre at the end of the aisle, blinking at him.

He looks about how Charles thinks he looks which is terrible and like he hasn't slept in days and Charles wants to turn his face to god and shake his fist at him because Pierre is still fucking beautiful even when he isn't and Charles is a fool.

It's the sleep deprivation that leads Charles to laugh bitterly and press his fingertips into his eyes and mutter a holy fucking hell - a phrase he picked up from Alex.

He realizes too late that Pierre will take it the wrong way and he has to chase him halfway down the next aisle calling his name, only catching up to him because he starts to jog and Pierre looks worse up close.

Alex had told him that he wasn't doing well. But, that was about four weeks after Charles moved out and he hadn't really talked to Alex since then - considering Pierre was the one that got all the friends in the break-up. Which tracks. Because Charles is the one that fucked up.

"Pierre," Charles says, watching the way Pierre sucks his bottom lip between his teeth. "I -"

"What are you doing here?" Pierre asks, voice strained, staring at the place where Charles is touching his arm. "What are you -"

Charles - the fucking idiot - tells him everything in one breath.

"I can't sleep anymore because I have completely fucked up my entire life and I know I can't call you and ask you to take me back because I hurt you so terribly, but I hate my apartment and I hate the Chinese take-out and I hate the cinema and I stopped thinking about the way you make me tea every morning and I wish I could go back to six months ago and redo it all because I would do it differently."

Pierre yanks his arm free of Charles' grasp, anger on his face and in his eyes and Charles is ready for him to poke his finger into his chest, to tower over him in the way that only he manages to do and tell him that he isn't interested in anything Charles has to say, but what he isn't ready for is for Pierre to start crying - small, silent tears tumbling down his cheeks, getting lost in his beard.

"I am so incredibly angry at you," Pierre says.

"I know." Charles says.

"I have never," he scrubs his hands over his face, "I was steady. I was in. I was 100% with you and you just -" he waves his hands.

"I know." Charles says.

"I should tell you to fuck off and never come to my grocery store again." Pierre says, voice cracking.

"I know." Charles says.

Pierre breathes - deep and on an eight count like he's supposed to do during his sleep time meditation.

"I am so sorry," Charles whispers. "I know it's over, but I am so very sorry, Pierre. I am so sorry."

Charles knows it's over and maybe this was just a gift from the universe that let him have this - this few minutes where he got to tell Pierre that it was him, that Pierre was perfect, that Pierre was 100% just like he said and that maybe now Pierre can go on with his life and he can know that it was always Charles.

"I loved you and I liked you." Charles says, which is low and mean. "And it was never your fault, Pierre." And he drops his hand and then he stuffs his hands in his pockets and he turns - he's the one that practically runs from Pierre now.

He knows the layout of this place by heart - spent too many nights wandering the aisles - and he gets out quickly.

He had to drive because he lives all the way across the city and he's fumbling for his keys when Pierre catches up to him, catching him the same way Charles had in the canned goods aisle.

"You loved me? You loved me?"

Charles is officially done with this night. "Pierre -"

"You liked me?"

"You know that's not what I meant -"

Pierre cuts him off. "But that's what you said. You said I loved you and I liked you and that means you no longer -"

"You know I love you and you know I like you and -"

Pierre pokes him in the chest now - hard. Right in the center. "You'll bring me flowers - good ones. Tomorrow at work and then we will go out to that too expensive place you like and you'll pay. And after that, we are going to the park - two blocks from my place and you're going to talk. A lot. About what you did wrong and what you're going to do to fix it. And like, it might not work. I might never get over it, but I want to try because I like you and I love you even when I don't."

Charles' tongue is stuck to the roof of his mouth, but he nods, he nods because of course he will do those things for Pierre. Of course he -

"Goodnight, Charles. Do not be late." Pierre pokes him again and then he turns, walking towards his apartment building that Charles can see from here.

"Sunflowers!" Charles shouts after him and laughs when Pierre raises a middle finger in the air because it's so...it's so him.

Charles has no idea where he's going to find sunflowers in October, but he'll do it.

.

Insomnia isn't contagious, except maybe when it is. But it's okay when there's someone else in your bed. And even though they no longer live close enough to an all-night grocer's, they do lay in the grass in their tiny garden and stare at the sky and Charles never stops looking at the boiled kettle and the beautiful laughter they share and the way that their bodies pressed together is the best sleep meditation they have.

Insomnia isn't contagious, except maybe when it is. But it's okay when it's shared with someone you love.

[livingmeatloaf]

Reference Reviews - #1

Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton: Lives of Mississippi Delta Chinese Grocers by John Jung

[ID: a photograph of the book on a blue blanket. More details in alt. End ID.]

I really love buying and reading non-fiction books to learn about the world. Recently, I've been buying a lot of books I think can teach me things I can use in fics. In one part to encourage me to read them faster, and in another part to share these books with others who may be interested in the same topics, I've decided to write reviews of each one once I finish them.

My overall rating: 5/5 stars. An engaging and informative read that is easy to understand.

This book covers a piece of American history I never knew about and was fascinated to experience through the words of those who lived it. Covering from the 1870s to the early 2000s, it follows the lives of Chinese immigrants from Guangdong, China, who settled in the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is an area of Mississippi and Arkansas that stretches over 150 miles south of Memphis, and 70 miles east-west from Greenwood to Greenville. Factual narration is intercut with interviews of the descendants of those initial immigrant workers, both those who still live in the Delta and those who have moved away from it. I enjoyed this structure: it really let me feel the struggles and victories they went through, and the economic, social, and emotional challenges they faced. Comparing the pre- and post-Jim Crow law days, as well as putting other world events into the context of this one area, showed off the nuance of each aspect it focused on. I really appreciated all the old documents and photographs displayed throughout the book.

The tales of these Chinese grocers is entirely unique to their time and area, yet they resonate with other histories around the country.

Stats:

Published: 2008

Pages: 222

Format: Paperback

Price: $16.36 USD on Barnes & Noble, available in the Archive.‌org Open Library

[luigisghosts]

Thinking about polyglot Luigi.

Luigi who grows up fluent in English and Italian, yet also picks up words and phrases from the other immigrant families in his neighborhood. Becoming an appreciator of languages and their beauty and complexity.

Choosing Spanish as a class in high school. It has a similar structure to Italian so he learns it rather quickly, easily keeping up in conversations with native speakers. One of the cashiers at the local grocers speaks Portuguese, and he realizes it’s also alike to Italian and Spanish, so he starts learning that too. The cashier is touched and gives him advice and new words whenever he stops by.

He and Mario were into Japanese anime when they were younger, and he’d make the connections between the subtitles and the audio for a while until he started to teach himself properly. While not necessarily too similar, Chinese and Korean came as a natural response. Luigi’s a little nervous trying it out with the neighbors, but they’re impressed at his dedication and assist him as well.

Luigi would get sucked into a language for little to no reason sometimes. Heard a pretty song in French; learn it. Accidentally set a movie’s language to Swedish and didn’t change it; learn it. Friend wanted a buddy to try Arabic together; learn it. Saw a Hindi vocabulary book on sale one day; learn it.

Some languages would stick more than others due to lack of use or resources, but he makes the effort to retain what he does know. Writing notes to himself in Portuguese, quietly insulting people in Arabic, etc. When he’s not with Mario or reading up on plumbing, mechanics or engineering, he’s sprawled out over a language book—mumbling words, highlighting important notes, writing his own examples on the side.

It’s a talent that persists in the Mushroom Kingdom. At a large multi-kingdom event, he’s drawn in by the sounds. Such unique and glorious voices he doesn’t know what to focus on. The sharp and guttural color of the Koopas? The flowing and musical tone coming from the Beanbean group? The staccato and bright sound of the Sarasaland representative? It’s nearly heaven for him.

Luigi spends a lot of time scouring for texts of their language or even writing to their rulers and asking for books himself. They’re all more than happy to oblige, some even setting him up with tutors. He takes to them just as easily as languages from Earth, and it doesn’t take long before he’s endearing himself to the natives with his knowledge of their tongue. It definitely helps him and Mario out a lot on journeys where people may not be as well versed on the common language throughout the worlds.

While he does have his own bookshelf of his own personal collection, Peach decided to invest in a section of the local library dedication to language learning. He loves it. Luigi himself assists with deciding what to choose and which books would be the most useful. He even teaches some of the toads when he gets the chance to.

TLDR; Just, Luigi knowing a bunch of languages and people adoring him for it.

[maikabishop]

starter for @noaandreas location: chapman's grocer

Maika had reached the point in the week that their fridge was almost entirely bare and there was nothing but some rotting strawberries and a can of diet coke left on its shelves. Although the temptation to give in and order Chinese food was strong, she willed herself to Chapman's to pick up the essentials, hoping to make the trip as quick as she possibly could.

Now that their shopping list was nearly complete, the only thing left to grab were some eggs. Reaching for the carton closest to them, Maika's had only just begun to lift the package into the air when she noticed a hand next to hers. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Turning to meet the other with an apologetic gaze, Maika felt herself freeze, hand releasing the carton just as she could begin to process the sight before her.

"Fuck." As the eggs fell to the floor, there was a large crack that paled into comparison to the thundering in her chest. While Maika knew that they would run into Noa sooner or later, they had hoped it would be when she was well and ready to confront perhaps the only person she owed an explanation for her disappearance.

[formeryelpers]

Great Wall Supermarket, 5665 Rosemead Blvd, Ste 100, Temple City, CA 91780

Great Wall (GW) Supermarket took over the Kmart space. The market feels huge, but it does lack a deli/freshly prepared food and in-store bakery. However, it has everything else you’d expect from a Chinese supermarket, including an extensive seafood department with live seafood and fish cleaning service, a wide variety of Asian vegetables, housewares, toiletries, and lots of interesting snacks. The tofu from a local vendor was still warm. The produce prices were pretty good.

Like other Asian markets, the veggies are sold in plastic packages (i.e., you can’t pick and choose).

There were a few stalls at the front of the store, most of which were empty. There was a travel agency.

My picks:

Lay’s Mala hot pot chips

Kabocha ($0.50/lb)

Charcoal toast ($2.99)

The shop was clean and had a security guard at the entrance.

4 out of 5 stars.

By Lolia S.

[millycooks]

Our bodies hurt, but B and I have made, just, so many dumplings.

We used this recipe cos it was simple and required the least amount of ingredients to buy. At first B hand pleated and I used the dumpling mould, but we soon changed over as it became apparent that I could crimp better than B. To be fair to B I should have gotten him to watch a video of it before, since the instructions weren't clear to him, whereas I've seen dumpling videos many many times.

Most of them are in the freezer and I will divide them up tomorrow. These ones will be cooked today after we've had a bit of a rest.

I am quite impressed at myself for my crimping, I didn't expect to get it down that quick. We will see whether they actually hold up though when cooked.

I feel really lucky that my area has some really good Vietnamese supermarkets, grocers, and butchers. Whilst Coles and Woollies are getting better at stocking international foods, they still lack many things, and what they have tends to cost more (even though it's the same brands). Also it's nice to shop at smaller family owned places, and now I know exactly which place to go to get dumpling and hot pot supplies.

[vulpiximisa]

I tried making my own Japanese chashu for ramen the other day but either the cut I was given was bad (from Chinese grocers) or I just didn’t cook it right because it was tough as hell 😩😩😩

[riverofmolecules]

I go to the Chinese grocer (as a Chinese person with Chinese grocery needs) but I also try to make sure to swing by the Korean grocer for kimbap.

[shoezuki]

my parents THOUGHT they didnt like indian food because like. their experiences were basically limited to the random curries offered at white boring restaurants or canned curries. but recently i made a butter chicken recipe for dinner that they fuckign LOVED. like straight up my mom was obsessed w it and wanted the recipe i found. unfortunately i had to make some adjustments cuz at the time i didnt have much money to buy some things n didnt have the time to go to one of the indian grocers in my town.

but now im like. i have discovered a new Cooking Goal to make more dopeass indian and south asian dishes as authentically as i can. cuz its fuckign good and i already have an established love for japanese/chinese and other asian foods but havent delved too far into indian foods beyond like. pakoras and samosas.

but the issue im having is that me and my mom have WILDLY different tastes in foods and spice levels and many vegetables. like i love peas but they make her nauseous. i love a good spicey kick but shes not partial to it. i cant stand peppers or onions or mushrooms, she loves all those. its a fucking battle