I'm feeling a little geeky, a little crazy, a little excited, and very satisfied. As I was in the car driving home Thursday evening after a very long and tiring week, I reminded my cousin, since we were kinda on the way anyway, about that place Central Market. Every opportunity we had prior to this it was always too early or too late to shop there and today seemed to be nice timing.
Now, my aunt had taken me to this bourgeois grocery store about 4 years ago, and we had gone to the Dallas one earlier in the spring. While I was impressed with it each time we visited ~ somehow I totally forgot about their selection of seafood. Though I DID remember that their markets were alot like the San Diego grocery stores! Since I've been here I'm sure you've read about just how much I miss my seafood!!
My cousin and I rushed thru the isles (all I wanted was fish and only had $20.00 in cash, plus I was freaken' tired), As I walked inside I remembered that we went to one of these when he lived in College Station but it was a combo HEB and Central Market so it was a little more of a traditional market with isles and less like an IKEA.
I rushed past all the fresh fruits, stopping to inhale the scents of some of the more exotic fruits that are not found in the typical white bread Kroger's in our neighborhood. I stopped at the vegetables debating on if I should purchase baby artichokes (but left the baby's at the store) I started to smell that familiar scent ~ seafood!!!! Right before the fishie isles there was a small table full of Le Cruset cookware. More temptations!!!!! I picked up a small pan and heard the words 'Walk Away!!' I put it down and continued to walk forward. . .
Right in front of me had to have been around 100 feet of every type of ocean fish imaginable!!!!! Gulf coast shrimp, Red Snapper, Swordfish, Halibut, Albacore, Tuna, Flounder, Salmon. . . I had to stop the saliva from escaping (ok you didn't need that visual, but I'm not kidding, it really happened). I would name off more fish, but the nice fish butcher came up and asked if I needed any help.
I asked if he knew the lucky numbers to the lottery, which got no response. I quickly had to make up my mind about which cuts of fish to chose from. Now, since I am not to familiar with this market AND I was on a budget I couldn't just go all out and order everything l saw, so ~ I chose a fish that I knew I had a simple recipe for ~ Plane Jane Tuna. When I looked at the price per pound my heart skipped a beat. It was a bit more pricey than the skimpy selection at the Krogers, but it looked so mouth watering juicy and tasty that I justified to myself it was worth the cost.
I ordered a 6oz filet for myself and an 8oz filet for my cousin. The fish butcher asked if there was anything else I wanted, and I had to tell him that sadly that would be all for today. What he did next totally floored me!!! He weighed each of my filets, said one was a little under and one was a little over the weight I wanted and asked if that was ok. "Of course", I said. After that he wrapped them up, then proceeded to pack them in ICE!!!!
They don't even offer that service at Henry's in San Diego!!! In fact, I've only seen this done on TV!!!!! I walked away from the counter feeling so freaking special! I was giggling to my cousin about just how amazed I was with everything I saw and then went on to plan out what we were going to buy on the next trip. He reminded me that I need income, yea well ~ I can still dream about good food :)
I walked up to the cashier, she tallied up the fish ~ named out the price (which was incorrectly low). I exclaimed "THAT'S IT?!?!" My cousin kicked me but the cashier didn't even notice. I paid and we walked out of the store giggling even more! Was that wrong? Yes. Do I care? Not really. Do I feel guilty? No.
Sadly, I was not able to cook my meal that night. I didn't know all of the ingredients off hand so I ate home made chicken fried rice instead. Then, because of the tornados and floods on Friday ~ I settled for a chicken basket at Sonic. Now today, I was able to go out and finally do some real grocery shopping. I got the rest of the ingredients for my tuna steaks and wala:
Now, my aunt had taken me to this bourgeois grocery store about 4 years ago, and we had gone to the Dallas one earlier in the spring. While I was impressed with it each time we visited ~ somehow I totally forgot about their selection of seafood. Though I DID remember that their markets were alot like the San Diego grocery stores! Since I've been here I'm sure you've read about just how much I miss my seafood!!
My cousin and I rushed thru the isles (all I wanted was fish and only had $20.00 in cash, plus I was freaken' tired), As I walked inside I remembered that we went to one of these when he lived in College Station but it was a combo HEB and Central Market so it was a little more of a traditional market with isles and less like an IKEA.
I rushed past all the fresh fruits, stopping to inhale the scents of some of the more exotic fruits that are not found in the typical white bread Kroger's in our neighborhood. I stopped at the vegetables debating on if I should purchase baby artichokes (but left the baby's at the store) I started to smell that familiar scent ~ seafood!!!! Right before the fishie isles there was a small table full of Le Cruset cookware. More temptations!!!!! I picked up a small pan and heard the words 'Walk Away!!' I put it down and continued to walk forward. . .
Right in front of me had to have been around 100 feet of every type of ocean fish imaginable!!!!! Gulf coast shrimp, Red Snapper, Swordfish, Halibut, Albacore, Tuna, Flounder, Salmon. . . I had to stop the saliva from escaping (ok you didn't need that visual, but I'm not kidding, it really happened). I would name off more fish, but the nice fish butcher came up and asked if I needed any help.
I asked if he knew the lucky numbers to the lottery, which got no response. I quickly had to make up my mind about which cuts of fish to chose from. Now, since I am not to familiar with this market AND I was on a budget I couldn't just go all out and order everything l saw, so ~ I chose a fish that I knew I had a simple recipe for ~ Plane Jane Tuna. When I looked at the price per pound my heart skipped a beat. It was a bit more pricey than the skimpy selection at the Krogers, but it looked so mouth watering juicy and tasty that I justified to myself it was worth the cost.
I ordered a 6oz filet for myself and an 8oz filet for my cousin. The fish butcher asked if there was anything else I wanted, and I had to tell him that sadly that would be all for today. What he did next totally floored me!!! He weighed each of my filets, said one was a little under and one was a little over the weight I wanted and asked if that was ok. "Of course", I said. After that he wrapped them up, then proceeded to pack them in ICE!!!!
They don't even offer that service at Henry's in San Diego!!! In fact, I've only seen this done on TV!!!!! I walked away from the counter feeling so freaking special! I was giggling to my cousin about just how amazed I was with everything I saw and then went on to plan out what we were going to buy on the next trip. He reminded me that I need income, yea well ~ I can still dream about good food :)
I walked up to the cashier, she tallied up the fish ~ named out the price (which was incorrectly low). I exclaimed "THAT'S IT?!?!" My cousin kicked me but the cashier didn't even notice. I paid and we walked out of the store giggling even more! Was that wrong? Yes. Do I care? Not really. Do I feel guilty? No.
Sadly, I was not able to cook my meal that night. I didn't know all of the ingredients off hand so I ate home made chicken fried rice instead. Then, because of the tornados and floods on Friday ~ I settled for a chicken basket at Sonic. Now today, I was able to go out and finally do some real grocery shopping. I got the rest of the ingredients for my tuna steaks and wala:
celantro, jalapeno, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, olive &
sesame oil, fresh lime juice, lime zest & sugar
I used my *new* food processor that my aunt gave to me for christmas. This thing ROX, it's the three cup capacity model from Cuisinart and it's perfect!!! I went to taste a sample, shared some with my cousin and um, we had a hard time not eating it all before the steaks were done! LOL
sea salt, fresh ground pepper, olive oil & tuna
Because of the two days of not being able to do any real grocery shopping, I stuck the steaks in the freezer. They almost didn't thaw out in time but thanks to ziplock bags and cold water ~ they thawed just in time to take their sea salt and fresh pepper bath. I couldn't resist and cut out a small chunk and ate a bite before cooking. OMG, it melted in my mouth!!!! In the future I'll be trying to make my own sashimi. . . The only thing I'm missing is a *really, really, really* nice knife.
more like, there's nothing left!
Seriously, my camera is lacking the color justification that was on the plate. The avocado, the soy vinaigrette, the seared tuna (salad with sesame garlic dressing not pictured), the wine, everything. OMG it was all so good, and yea ~ there were no leftovers.
It was all so filling there was no room for dessert (good thing I didn't make any ..). And yea, it was the best *ahem* underpriced tuna I've ever had!
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