Monday, August 15, 2011

Prosperity playground...


 Shopping fuel

 My weekend pretty much began with a trip to MT Supermarket, a huge Asian grocery store. I had read online that, for some odd reason, they carry Cafe Du Monde coffee. Being there felt like going on a super-quick vacation, reminding Steve of some of his time overseas and me more of Chinatown in San Francisco, as I have yet to visit any Asian countries (going to Europe a second time is much higher on my list, honestly). It was a perfect Saturday afternoon activity; there was so much to see and explore.
There were meat counters with giant fish, squids, and octopus, fruits I'd never even heard of before (some that looked like they might bite or stab you), yummy looking juices and sodas (like aloe vera-honey or coconut), interesting frozen ready-to-eat foods (dumplings, pumpkin cake...), dried snacks like plums and seaweed, Vietnamese beer, and much, much more.

We got our coffee, but picked up a few other things in the meantime, including an assortment of candies.
We stocked up on reusable chopsticks, because I can not stand when Chinese delivery places forget to bring any. This should be mandatory, mainly because I always forget to request them. I do not like to eat Asian food without them; it's not nearly as fun. ;)  
We finished up by sorting through the "mountains" of what I like to call "more exciting Ramen Noodles". It cracked me up how some of the packages said, "sauce flavor". Oh, why thank you for clearing that up. Now will someone explain what "sauce" tastes like? We picked out a few different flavors of instant pho, avoiding the packages that had 146% of your daily sodium. EESH!

Waiting in the check out line

Our stash. The coffee looks out of place. I will NOT be eating the wasabi peas, by the way.

Next up, a stop at a great used bookstore, which they about tripled in size since the last time we went. I guess they combined spaces with the lot next door. I was wearing my new red dress from Charlotte Russe, and was freezing to death. I'm normally cold anyway, but this store was frigid. I heard about 5 other people say the same thing. I did an elaborate search for "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" before my fingers were too numb to continue, but wasn't able to find it. Maybe next time. Still, we brought home the opening book to "The Boxcar Children" series, which I was telling Steve about recently (I couldn't believe he'd never heard of it), and a few books from Beverly Cleary's "Ralph S. Mouse" series - one of Steve's childhood favorites, which I had never heard of. Looking through the children section there is so nostalgic. They really have some good stuff (for super cheap), and we decided we need to try and go there more often, even just to look.

We curled up on the sofa for the evening, ate our big pot of spaghetti and meatballs that we made a couple days before, for just such a lazy not-in-the-mood-to-cook occasion, drank a little wine, and snacked on our international candies while watching the Iowa Straw Poll (recorded) and a cute Disney movie from a few years ago called "Sky High", about kids at a high school for super heroes.

 Movie snacks. I recognized the Pocky as soon as I saw it. Emily from Cupcakes and Cashmere has posted about how much she likes it. I just had to try some, and it is indeed good!

 I wont go into a lot of details about Sunday, because it pretty much consisted of not even really getting dressed (ok, I did put on my new, pink Hello Kitty t-shirt) and an excess of nauseating cuddling and smooches on the couch, in bed, in the kitchen. Steve cooked up a salmon dinner, and I drank a little too much chardonnay beforehand. The end.
Oh, yeah, I woke Steve up in the morning by elbowing him really hard in the head in my sleep, if that makes anyone less disgusted. :P

Our morning coffees hanging out

How was your weekend?? Hope this week treats you right.

P.S. Sitting crossed-legged on the living room floor, with my face coffee-table-height, and eating a bowl of pho while flipping through the latest IKEA catalog, might be my most favorite, relaxing weekend activity in the world. And the pho was actually not bad at all, considering the "instant" factor.

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