The Real Shopping Cart 25-02-06
Image description: a blue plate on a wooden table. on the plate are layered eggs with sesame seeds and green onions on top and various vegetables in between. shredded carrots spill out of a middle layer.
HIGHLIGHTED MEAL OF THE WEEK
Spicy layered egg omelet
INGREDIENTS
butter
carrots
Chinkiang black vinegar
garlic cloves
ginger
Egg batter (Gouchujang, 7 large eggs, toasted sesame oil, Shaoxing cooking wine, soy sauce)
green onions
Daikon aka green lobok or radish
Roma tomato
Sesame seeds
soy sauce
sweet mini peppers
white pepper
yellow onion
COST
$5.67 for 2 people; $2.84
BLOOD SUGAR LEVEL
5.4
DISCUSSION
Image description: 5 small bowls: 1. metal bowl with cooked chopped onions . 2. metal bowl with red, orange and yellow mini pepper rings. 3. blue glass bowl with chopped tomatoes. 4. stoneware brown bowl with minced daikon radish. 5. blue bowl with shredded carrots.
Rabbit hole alert
I don’t know if I have ever mentioned how Charles and I cook together. We love this time together and treat it as a social and intimate part of our lives. We are fortunate to be able to slow down and savour our time together. I know this is not a common experience today. If you are able to do this with a loved one or a cherished friend sometimes, it is something I highly recommend as a way of coping in this shitebox of a world.
Charles is the primary cook and I am the sous-chef. We read through the recipe together, talking about any potential issues we may have, including plans to reorder what we do when, if something is complicated. I get out all the ingredients and equipment. Charles does the chopping. I prepare sauces. I also put stuff away as we go. We have a small kitchen and do not have room to have everything all cluttered on the counter and cutting boards. We laugh when I put something away too soon, which alas is often! We sometimes put on a song if there’s some reason for it to come up.
This is an extremely elaborate, fiddly and time-consuming but delicious dish Charles has made for lunch about three times now. It takes over an hour to make.
Before my diabetes diagnosis his thin light and divine crepes were one of the meals we had regularly on weekends. Charles honed his skills with the crepe pan on these weekly meals. This dish is a great replacement. He uses a crepe pan to cook each layer of eggs. He puts our two plates in the oven to keep them warm. He makes a layer of eggs, tips each egg layer onto each plate, adds a filling, then carries on. Before embarking on the eggs, he does all the chopping and preparation of the five fillings. And this is also very elaborate. He wants each layer to offer a different taste and he wants a variety of textures. Here are all the layers and their various flavour additives:
Chopped onions cooked with minced ginger.
Mini pepper rings cooked with minced garlic.
Raw tomatoes with salt.
Raw daikon radish.
Raw chopped carrots with soy sauce
We eat at the dining room table, something we rarely do and which I love. On top of the eggs is Chinkiang black vinegar, which we got for really cheap at Kowloon, sesame seeds and green onions. This is really an ode or celebration of Kowloon and all the other Asian grocery stores in Chinatown. With all this buy local/buy Canadian talk, I think it’s important to sing the praises of these great stores. They have very affordable foods, especially produce. I think it’s important to support these wonderful businesses and also for those with financial difficulties to have affordable stores within walking distance. I feel very grateful. Did I mention how fucking delicious this meal is? It was also a celebration of Lunar New Year.
This Week’s Cart
Stores considered this week were Metro.ca, Massine’s, Isabella Loblaws, Kowloon and Farm Boy, which are within walking distance, and Walmart, Real Canadian Superstore, Metro Rideau. Rideau Loblaws and Food Basics, which are accessible to us by public transit.
If we could get the cheapest price at all the stores, the total amount would be $140.58.
By combining delivery from Walmart, and the Real Canadian Superstore, plus a few strolls to local stores, Charles has obtained a price of $142.64 for this week’s shopping list, only one percent higher than the cheapest price if we could shop all the stores.
In this week’s chart each store on its own will cost a shopper anywhere from twenty-three to forty-five percent more or an extra $62.88. Any store that provided less than twenty-five of the twenty-eight items we were looking for was disqualified.
I wish you nutritious, delicious and affordable meals, lingering conversations with loved ones, joy and whimsy.
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