99 Ranch Market

Last March, for my birthday, the College Kritter took me to this store. It was a surprise, and I had no clue where we were going; she drove and when we arrived, I was in heaven! We were transported into a different world, and spent over three hours browsing, exploring, admiring and trying to figure out what you would do with some of the stuff. We bought a cart full of groceries for about $40.00 and left happy, dreaming of all the meals we would make…

It is an Asian store, with tanks of live lobsters, crabs, shellfish and fish, with an aisle devoted exclusively to bean curd, with more varieties of noodles than in a Mediterranean market, with fruit and vegetables that we had to put on our Google search, just to be able to remember, let alone use. Most of the articles we bought still reside happily in my pantry, and I am proud to say, I managed to cook with all of the ingredients, including tamarind paste and banana sauce!

In the meantime, we ran out of red rice (we used to buy Himalayan red rice at a stall in Westside Market in Cleveland, but have not found source for it here, yet) and I took the Husband on an adventure, to the 99 Ranch Market!

I grew up in a country where fish is served with the eyes looking at you, where tripe, kidneys, liver, brain and tongue find their place at the dinner table more than occasionally, where chicken you are eating was clucking and gobbling up worms just a couple of hours earlier, before grandma wrung its neck, pluck the feathers and dumped it into a pot.

I was perfectly comfortable with chicken feet, pork liver, and goat’s testes, but I had to chuckle and envision a Fear Factor episode when we encountered duck tongues, boneless duck feet and pig uteruses! My American Husband, although somewhat seasoned by being fed in my mother’s  kitchen, and my culinary explorations throughout the years, asked me nicely not to buy anything with eyes, and to, please, keep on moving past the black sea cucumber, nicely packaged as it was. I obliged and remarked that next time I would have to come with the younger Beastie, who is going to appreciate completely what this store has to offer.

We bought: pork liver, frozen whole baby squid, maitake mushrooms, bunapi mushrooms, black rice, garlic-chili sauce, shrimp paste, frozen banana leaves, dark soy sauce, panko breadcrumbs, and coconut milk (it was dirt cheap!)