Eat Your Greens
It's funny the foods that are harder to find here in Hong Kong. This being a tiny urban nation, most everything is imported really. Economics would say that it is all based on supply and demand, and that the more popular items are the ones that will certainly be imported while less popular ones will not. And yet, I guess it isn't that simple.
Park 'n' Shop carries jalapeno-flavored Cheetos, but not regular ones. Even from grocery store to grocery store (of the same name) the products available vary. One thing I would really love to find, but never have, is real spinach. Not even in canned or frozen form have I seen it, though I haven't looked at the fancy (expensive) Western stores.
Last week, I finally decided to try a different green as a spinach substitute, something called Chinese water spinach. To my knowledge, I've never eaten it before, but I suppose I could have had it in some restaurant's veggie stir fry. I've certainly never cooked it before, but it was a positive new experience.
When I bought the spinach, it was still on the stems, so it required a lot more preparation than regular spinach. It came in a plastic bag, probably a pound or so, and it cost less than $1 US. Crazy. I decided to use it in a tomato-based pasta sauce, and it was a nice addition. The Chinese spinach is quite tangy and zesty, sort of in a lemony or cilantro-esque way, which I'm sure goes well with other Asian flavors. But, it was pretty good with Italian ones, too, which is why I've frozen the extra to use another time.
Park 'n' Shop carries jalapeno-flavored Cheetos, but not regular ones. Even from grocery store to grocery store (of the same name) the products available vary. One thing I would really love to find, but never have, is real spinach. Not even in canned or frozen form have I seen it, though I haven't looked at the fancy (expensive) Western stores.
Last week, I finally decided to try a different green as a spinach substitute, something called Chinese water spinach. To my knowledge, I've never eaten it before, but I suppose I could have had it in some restaurant's veggie stir fry. I've certainly never cooked it before, but it was a positive new experience.
When I bought the spinach, it was still on the stems, so it required a lot more preparation than regular spinach. It came in a plastic bag, probably a pound or so, and it cost less than $1 US. Crazy. I decided to use it in a tomato-based pasta sauce, and it was a nice addition. The Chinese spinach is quite tangy and zesty, sort of in a lemony or cilantro-esque way, which I'm sure goes well with other Asian flavors. But, it was pretty good with Italian ones, too, which is why I've frozen the extra to use another time.
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