First Visit to the new International Market in Long Reach

   I finally got over to the new international supermarket in Long Reach yesterday.  I mistakenly started out with a hand basket which I had to switch after about 10 minutes to a regular grocery cart as I had already picked up too many items to carry in the hand basket.  The supermarket is heavily oriented to Asian food and carries many of the same items as the Korean supermarket on Route 40.

 

The other concentrated food items were Hispanic. The one difference and a bit of a disappointment was the produce section which carried the same produce that you would see in a Giant supermarket.  The Route 40 supermarket carries more Asian produce items.

   The diversity of people shopping there was amazing.  The variety of races and nationalities reflects the changing face of Howard County.  For those of us that have campaigned for a village center to embrace the international model Long Reach seems to be headed in that direction.  I have blogged on how the Safeway never seemed to have many people doing their weekly shopping when I had been there.  With the new market it was amazing how many cars were in the parking lot.  The supermarket was as busy as any Giant in town.  Bon Appetit, the Korean bakery, has a presence in the supermarket which gives me a closer location for all of their delicious red bean donuts that I craze.  I think I will be gaining weight from what I bought at the bakery yesterday.

   Now to the food.

 I have become addicted to the aloe drink that you see at many grocery stores these days.  But here they had the regular drink but also had the drink with mango and peach.  I bought the aloe mango and it is fantastic.  I even added half milk to the drink and a little sweetener and it made a good smoothie in a blender with some crushed ice.

They carried the Bulgogi sauce and Korean BBQ sauce that is used with many meat dishes in Korean restaurants.  Lime teriycki  made a great dipping sauce when mixed with a little balsamic vinegar.  Mango pickle relish had a somewhat bitter (tart?) taste and not what I expected.  I could see it going well when mixed with another condiment to temper the bitterness. Kiwi juice was another unusual item that could be a unique flavor when added to a Coke instead of a lime or lemon.  Custard dumplings and mocha peanut dough balls are addicting.

     Better work extra hard today during spinning class!

P.S.

Something to put your day in perspective