Super H Mart in Atlanta, complete with local gas-guzzling SUVs

As I mentioned yesterday, I had to make an emergency trip to my parent’s house in North Atlanta. So I left some of my farmer’s market produce and froze the meat I had bought in Brooklyn. So today I ventured out, in a car….. to collect what I’d needed here in ATL and get the other things my parents had on their list. I don’t have receipts to scan or a scanner this week, so you’ll have to take my word for it. My father has been raving about this new Korean market down the road, Super H Mart (pictured above w/SUVs included) where he finds tons of fresh veggies, great seafood, and lots of Korean food he has no idea what to do with. I found a cool cut of meat I’d never seen - shaved, super thin ribeye. I think I’m going to wrap it around my eggplants, see what happens. I also found my palm sugar which I need for my curried soup on Friday. The Whole Foods here is stunning, so well stocked, and people are super friendly. The prepared food guy asked how my Sunday was, and my initial response was, “Excuse me? I didn’t hear you correctly” - I was taken aback by an actual interest in the customers from the employees. I also had my heart set on having duck this week after I bought it in Union Square and had to freeze it, so I bought a whole duck for only $2.99/lb! And the butcher offered to cut it into pieces for me! I was practically floating through the store. I had to get a couple expensive dairy items, but my parents also have a very well stocked pantry and kitchen so I think things even out. So here’s my rough/combo total for this week’s groceries:

Union Square Greenmarket:

2 Red Bell Peppers, 3 eggplants - $6.30

Green Beans - $2.00

Broccoli Rabe, 2 bunches kale - $5.00

Bread - $4.75

2 Acorn, 1 butternut squash - $5.50

Shallots - $2.50

NY State Apples - $3.00

Super H Mart, Atlanta, Ga

King Oyster Mushrooms - $3.99

Shaved Beef Ribeye - $5.09

Palm Sugar - $1.49

Whole Foods, Atlanta, Ga (not Union Square where I have most of my disappointing grocery experiences)

Bananas - $.57

Turkish Figs - $4.69

Creme Fraiche - $3.89

Fontina - $8.28

Whole Duck - $14.86

Grand Total: $71.91/2ppl/10 meals = $3.60/person/meal - Unfortunately Johnathan won’t be enjoying my food until Thursday or Friday, and has to fend for himself back home, but my mom is helping me eat the other meals this week. Part of being prepared for us is being able to get Johnathan frozen Fresh Direct meals if I’m out of town….an expense we have to factor in occasionally, luckily my food is WAY better than theirs.

An appropriate symbol of my afternoon

On this Saturday afternoon I suddenly find myself at LaGuardia Airport staring at the overpriced gourmet snack stand waiting for a flight to Atlanta. I was finishing up my farmer’s market shopping for the week - and I had planned to buy everything from the farmer’s (sorry TJ’s and WF) - a new experiment and challenge. Well, I got a call from my Dad, asking if I’d come down to Atlanta for a few days and help my Mom, who hurt her back this week while he was at a large business conference. So here I am, stuffing kale, broccoli rabe, red bell peppers, and NY State apples into my luggage so I can continue to bring you the best recipes, and no food goes to waste. However, I did leave behind the duck legs and fresh baby back pork ribs in the freezer, as well as fresh butter and cheese, and hopefully my awesome parents will contribute to this weeks groceries once I get to the ATL. I wasn’t planning on this week’s menu being as structured as every other week, and wanted to get inspired by what I saw at the Saturday Greenmarket, have a set ($80) budget, and see what I could make of what I bought when I got home. I had a little bit of time to collect my culinary thoughts, and once I pick up a few things in Atlanta, I’ll have a budget total for the week, minus what I left in Brooklyn in the freezer (I’ll add the value of those items next week when I use them). Here’s what we have so far:

Monday: Kale, and hopefully a duck cut of some sort. Johnathan and I have started a group circuit training class with some friends, and our homework this week from the trainer is to eat kale.

Tuesday: Eggplant, maybe roasted?

Wednesday: Tagliatelle with Broccoli Rabe in a cheesy cream sauce (A staple in our house, and I was inspired to make this again when I saw the beautiful broccoli rabe at the market)

Thursday: Something SUPER easy - I fly back to NYC at 3pm, and go to the Food Network Wine and Food Festival at 8pm that night.

Friday: Curried Butternut Squash Soup - I was invited to a wheat free/gluten free/dairy free dinner party, and my contribution is the soup course. I’m a bit skeptical, but I know my friends will cook some amazing food - I’m just so thankful I don’t have those dietary restrictions!

Saturday: (!!!! - hopefully a good extra meal, making 12 meals instead of 10) Stuffed acorn squash - I think I need to try Quinoa as a stuffing.