Asian Market Finds

We had to go into the city for a few errands this weekend, so we stopped by one of our favorite places; the Asian Market. To celebrate Cinco de Mayo. (Kidding! That was my kids' comment...) Anyway, I love the place because I always find all sorts of inexpensive, yummy - and vegan - goodies.

Just thought I'd post some pictures of our favorites...

Here's my daughter's first choice: Vegetable Dumplings (or steamed buns) filled with mushrooms, cabbage, bok choy, leeks and TVP - just steam and serve... simple, low-fat and filled with veggies my kids will actually eat - always good in my book!

Next up: Look at these boxes!

They are Japanese, marketed just for tofu storage, and they were 50 cents each! It's a 3-pc. set consisting of box, lid and mesh insert to hold the tofu. They fit my bricks of fresh tofu nicely (which I also get at the market, in bulk). I'd always had a problem with decent storage for bulk tofu though; ziploc bags were drippy and a pain, and I hadn't found any plastic containers that were a good fit - but these are perfect - and reuseable! The insert helps you pick up the tofu up out of the water without fishing around breaking the tofu and making a mess with water draining all over the place. Yes, I have these problems sometimes, you probably don't. Anyway, as you can see, I immediately put them to good use. (I know, I get WAY too excited over simple things...)

Korean sesame candy - usually this stuff comes in a big bag; dry, crunchy and individually wrapped, but this stuff's made fresh! Chewy, nutty candy made primarily with peanuts and white or black sesame seeds, it tastes a lot like very nutty peanut brittle. Oh my gosh, I could eat this stuff long after it was good for me. (though sesame seeds are a great source of calcium and protein, so I figure that's a great excuse!!).

Canned mock meats and coconut milk. The mock meats seem weird in a can, I know, but they're surprisingly very good! Read the labels of course but these are just chunks of seitan in a broth - great in stir-fry or curry.

Then there's this: "Seattle Ramen". You gotta LOVE it!!

It's the store's own brand of "Top Ramen" noodle soup (which is just the model health food, I realize), but the 'Hot and Spicy' variety here happened to be vegan, so we couldn't resist picking up a few packages...