I don’t know about you, but when I’m sick as a dog I strap my baby in a stroller and wander deliriously through downtown Salem.
I get it in my head that I need to drop $25 on hardback literary fiction RIGHT NOW and I set about looking for a copy of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Good Squad, hailed in numerous reviews as the best rock novel ever written.
(No dice).
Then I spend the whole afternoon poking around Salem stores as my temperature rockets to 102 degrees and discover some secret slices of Salem that I was often too harried, too distracted, or too busy, to notice.
Discovery number one: Downtown Grocery.
New to you? No. It’s been around since early May, when it opened to much small-town state capital fanfare — read: a few blog posts, a Statesman Journal article, and a rush of murmur that heralded it as the Thing Downtown Has Been Missing.
I don’t know about that.
What I do know is that the Downtown Grocery carries some awesome middle-eastern and European products and offers the kind of other-world-in-your-own-backyard shopping experience that I haven’t really had since I was living on Mt. Pleasant Street in the El Salvadorean district of our nation’s capital.
If you are one of those people that can’t recognize a cardamom seed pod by its face, then you are in luck. The staff at Downtown Grocery can help you sort your spices in a way that is oh-so-satisfying for the home cook with a curious streak.
I’ve heard from friends who are obssessed with the store’s sandwich counter — and its gooey, layered baklava — but have yet to hear from anyone who goes out of their way to buy some of the other packaged, processed stuff that lines the aisles.
Unless you’re talking about fava beans.
If you read this blog, you know that I’ve become wildly enamored of these little green guys after first working with them in California last year and then discovering at my produce paradise at E.Z. Orchards.
Sadly, favas don’t last forevah.
But now I have something akin to that in the canned broad beans (you cheeky Brits!) available for purchase at downtown grocery. No, they don’t have that fresh, green, plucked from the Matrix snap that fresh favas have. But creamed together with some tahini, olive oil, garlic and lemon, it makes a nice hummus.
Don’t forget that you still need to remove the fava bean from the pod before blending!
This one’s for you, Amber. Now you can eat your favas without thinking about Anthony Hopkins.
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has been supporting DSS’s advertisers this month. We have raised $75 so far to help feed hungry kids. And the month’s not yet over!
Hi Emily -
Just went into the DT Grocery last Friday. They do have a fun and eclectic selection. I bought some seedless tamarind paste to make tamarind martini’s and also for an Indian sauce that I use with appetizers.
Great to meet you this morning at Word of Mouth. That was a fun surprise!
Have a great week – Cindy
I love meeting fellow bloggers out and about. I’m pretty sure there was a Tamarind section — something like a dozen recipes devoted to its use as an ingredient — in a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Sounds like yum.
ten clicks for ya
loved this post. just found a grocery store similar to the one you’re describing and finding it certainly made my day (okay, probably week.)
Where are you these days, Brittney? I’m getting your newsletter — man, you’re burning up the blogosphere!
Love it! And love the idea of combining it into hummus! And not thinking of Hannibal! Seems like a win-win.
On another note, did your blog class get rescheduled? I want to attend.
Yes, I think it’s going to be on Sept. 27 at 6: p.m., but haven’t heard back yet from the Clockworks organizers. Something fell through with the August classes and they had to reschedule the entire term. Those growing pains again!
I’ll put up a post with the new schedule pdf once I get it from the cw coordinator.