From Karaoke to the Ukraine!

Yes, driving drunk is bad. But so is the "I was responsible" forty minute bus ride to pick up your car the day after you belt out The Girl Is Mine at a karaoke bar (Paul, I think I told you. I'm a lover, not a fighter!).

After about 25 minutes of whisper-screaming into my cell phone (I know, but I get bored on the bus) I hopped off right in front of a little ethnic market and produce stand on 105th & Greenwood. It was fate! Seriously cheap fate, it turns out.

I had already browsed my corporate neighborhood grocery that morning, foraging ingredients for the night's Indian themed dinner. A package of dried, whole, red chilies was going for $5, and I flat out refused to pay it.



But here at Lenny's Fruits and Vegetables/Ukraine International Foods, dried whole chilies are yours for a cool 79 cents!!

For $5.36 I got:



(dried shitake mushrooms, rice stick noodles, a bunch of fresh cilantro, dried peppers, and a huge sack of black sesame seeds)

Oy! I love a bargain! And an ethnic grocery. Even if I have no idea what to do with the countless jars of shrimp paste, lychee in syrup, and mystery cans of Vietnamese surprise.

The nice thing about this particular little treasure (I can't type that expression without snickering), is that if you happen to hate all Asian and Mexican foods (which not only brands you a fool, but a racist as well) there is a full-on Ukrainian deli in the back! Meat tubes of all shapes and sizes and glorious cheeses as far as the eye can see! And it's common knowledge that no one, and I mean no one, can turn down a Ukrainian meat tube.