Belated weekend food roundup

A pretty lazy weekend here at Pod Klonem, which was capped off by me coming down with something which right as knocked me out all day yesterday. But before that happened, we did get out and do some shopping. I'm coming to realise that Andersonville really can fulfill quite a number of our gourmet needs; we just have to be willing to visit a half-dozen shops. So in addition to the necessities (like whiskey and smokes) and the luxuries (such as cat food), here's what we picked up:

• Korio Forest Honey I figured if anyone would know their honey, it would be Lithuanians. But I've been underwhelmed. The texture is interesting--sort of semi-solid, which makes it better for spreading--but the taste is too subtle for this crude palate. It's not noticeably more interesting than the stuff in the bear-shaped bottle, which is not what I'm looking for at this price point.
• Burçak Kepekli I took one look at these and was like, "Turkish diggy biscuits!" They're made with bran (kepek, hence the name) but also with bits of prune, fig, and raisin. All in all, it looked like a pleasant way to keep me regular and I found them fondly reminiscent of the Scottish oat biscuits we picked up last year at something like three times the price.
• Fleur de sel de Guérande monshu suggested we try the little olive oil boutique for this, and I'm glad they stocked it, given that I could've sworn all they had on our last visit was sel gris and some Hawai'ian shit. The also had our previous brand, the one from the Camargue with the cork lid that had the name of the salt harvesting dude on it, but we decided to give something new a try. Too early to tell if there's any discernible difference beyond the mysterious way in which fleur de sel simply tastes better than any other sea salt.
• Candied ginger Four local stores didn't have this--why didn't I think to try Middle Eastern Bakery earlier? Again, that was monshu's call. This is their house brand and it is fabulous. Finally, I was able to make my dad's gingersnaps the way I wanted, though the results were disappointing for reasons which I think have more to do with the egg and the pans. I plan to replace both and give it another go!
• Whole grain red rice Again, the house brand. I'd put this on the shopping list for New Year's Eve thinking it would make for an interesting twist on hoppin' john, but our decidedly non-gourmet local groceries let us down. They also have a mix of this with black rice, green wheat, quinoa, and I don't know what-all else which I think will make an interesting substitute for our next rice dish.
• Queen Elizabeth Cake A traditional Canadian delicacy, or at least so I'm led to believe, baked by my friend M³. monshu was initially lukewarm in his endorsement, but I noticed this morning that it's half gone already and I only had two pieces. It's oddly like a spice cake without any spice, and derives most of its sweetness from chopped dates inside. Neither of us could bring ourselves to eat it like M³'s grandma--i.e. drenched in heavy cream--but I think it would make an excellent trifle--if any survives to the point of drying out!

I also darted into Women and Children First for some classic chick lit, but I think that deserves a Post of Its Own. (Yes, I should be slapped for that.)

Where is my Androcles?

Oh my god. Just got off the phone with Despina. Don't know how she tracked me down, but, well, she always finds me some way. Turns out she nearly died, lost her job, moved to Indy, had an epiphany, bought a house, got rehired at twice her salary, and is gung-ho about launching a new glossy about religion. ("Imagine the National Enquirer sodomising the Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic, and Vogue.")

And that's just in the past year.

Still a ginormous whore though. Tried to get me to log onto a hookup site so I could see her nude photos, but I begged off. We're friends on Facebook though, so, well, I don't know what that'll mean.

I may have more to say later, but right now I'm still trying to absorb some of it without turning soggy.