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khiemtranSo, I'm in Hurstville on a quest to obtain three treasures: hot pot makings; dried abalone (a useful, but expensive soup ingredient); and a "small" box of mooncakes.
The hot pot makings should be relatively easy. I have my favourite shop where I can get everything from enoki mushrooms to frozen lotus root, plus fish balls and Fortuna brand "silken firm" tofu.
The abalone, I know, will be more of a problem. It's a rare ingredient to find and, since it's very expensive by weight, it's often going to be somewhere behind a counter. I do know that the last batch we had came from Hurstville, but it was bought for us by my wife's sister, now in the U.S. and it's quite possible that the store she bought it from has closed.
The "small" box of mooncakes is also going to be a challenge.
"I don't think I've ever seen a small box," I say to my wife, when she gives me my assignment, thinking of all the big decorative tins we usually get mooncakes in. But she makes a small box shape with her hands and says she's seen boxes that size in Sydney. So, off I go.
First I start at the favourite shop for buying hotpot ingredients. What are the odds I'll be able to find all three treasures in my first dip? Yep, didn't think so. They've got the hot pot ingredients, of course, but not a hint of dried abalone and, despite a whole wall of decorative tins of mooncakes, no "small" boxes.
Not to worry, plenty of shops to try in Hurstville.
Um... Yes.
So, plenty of shops later, I still only have only of the three treasures. I ask at each shop where I can find dried abalone, but the responses vary from "Not here. Try Chinatown" to once, from a mysterious stranger, "The shop just around the corner" (whereupon I went around the corner, and, Lo, there was no grocery shop there, or at least none that I could detect).
Eventually, I concede defeat. If dried abalone is indeed available in Hurstville, possibly from shops only visible after saying the right incantation or passing through the right portal, then it is beyond my powers to find it. And, no "small" box of mooncakes, either, except ... what's that?
On a shelf in the last supermarket, I spot some pig-shaped cakes amongst the mooncakes. Not a small "box" exactly, but at least smaller than a normal box. I've seen them in some of the other shops, but I wasn't sure if they even were mooncakes. But I check and sure enough they are a different type of mooncake, shaped to honour the Year of the Pig.
So, two of three treasures obtained, I can consider my quest a "high fail" if not an actual success.
And maybe next time, I'll find that dried abalone.
The hot pot makings should be relatively easy. I have my favourite shop where I can get everything from enoki mushrooms to frozen lotus root, plus fish balls and Fortuna brand "silken firm" tofu.
The abalone, I know, will be more of a problem. It's a rare ingredient to find and, since it's very expensive by weight, it's often going to be somewhere behind a counter. I do know that the last batch we had came from Hurstville, but it was bought for us by my wife's sister, now in the U.S. and it's quite possible that the store she bought it from has closed.
The "small" box of mooncakes is also going to be a challenge.
"I don't think I've ever seen a small box," I say to my wife, when she gives me my assignment, thinking of all the big decorative tins we usually get mooncakes in. But she makes a small box shape with her hands and says she's seen boxes that size in Sydney. So, off I go.
First I start at the favourite shop for buying hotpot ingredients. What are the odds I'll be able to find all three treasures in my first dip? Yep, didn't think so. They've got the hot pot ingredients, of course, but not a hint of dried abalone and, despite a whole wall of decorative tins of mooncakes, no "small" boxes.
Not to worry, plenty of shops to try in Hurstville.
Um... Yes.
So, plenty of shops later, I still only have only of the three treasures. I ask at each shop where I can find dried abalone, but the responses vary from "Not here. Try Chinatown" to once, from a mysterious stranger, "The shop just around the corner" (whereupon I went around the corner, and, Lo, there was no grocery shop there, or at least none that I could detect).
Eventually, I concede defeat. If dried abalone is indeed available in Hurstville, possibly from shops only visible after saying the right incantation or passing through the right portal, then it is beyond my powers to find it. And, no "small" box of mooncakes, either, except ... what's that?
On a shelf in the last supermarket, I spot some pig-shaped cakes amongst the mooncakes. Not a small "box" exactly, but at least smaller than a normal box. I've seen them in some of the other shops, but I wasn't sure if they even were mooncakes. But I check and sure enough they are a different type of mooncake, shaped to honour the Year of the Pig.
So, two of three treasures obtained, I can consider my quest a "high fail" if not an actual success.
And maybe next time, I'll find that dried abalone.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 07:03 am (UTC)Just for curiosity, I googled "The shop just around the corner" because there was some sort of memory mixed in with the trivial, mental dust bunnies in my old brain. It turns out to be an old movie. The_Shop_Around_the_Corner
I also see that there are actual stores that call themselves "the shop around the corner" (with variations)... perhaps he meant it literally and not in the way of directions. Maybe check you city directory, or go on line? Some folks like me, sometimes speak in these esoteric and cryptic fashions :o)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 07:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 12:48 pm (UTC)Me, once I learnt what it was, I knew why it wasn't on my radar as 'foodstuff'.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 09:22 pm (UTC)True, but sometimes it's more about getting the chance to learn and talk with people and getting cryptic clues from mysterious strangers...