So far so good.
Altogether I bought 1 bag each of : Dark Espresso Decaf, Colombian Decaf, Organic Sumatra and Dark Mexican.
I grind mine fresh each morning, (and often afternoon), using half regular and half decaff.
I like it just fine. I still feel like I got away with stealing!
Enjoying the Italian roast this morning and it’s terrific. May need to go back for more.
They still have it in the bulk bins for $10/lb but those big bags are long gone. Glad you were able to take advantage.
I headed out to the two Russian delis in Meyerland recently, looking for an interesting mustard, some good bologna and maybe some wieners. The Russian General Store on Hillcroft is the most convenient; it’s very cramped, very well stocked and carries a wide range of products. On many products the only thing in English is the nutrition label stuck on the back. I have found the staff to be only minimally hospitable but there are comments on the Facebook page indicating some people have had very different experiences.
RGS has probably one of the largest selections of salamis in town, likewise unpackaged wieners and bolognas. I’ve given up on the salamis - the number of selections is overwhelming - and the lady working at the deli slicing meats was moving at glacial speeds and there was a line waiting so I left without getting any meats. But I did pick up an interesting bread, some cinnamon, poppy seed and cardamom rusks discounted for quick sale and some of their store made sour pickles. The Crusty Wheat Rye Paraboiled Bread from Andrew’s Bakery intrigued me. I think Andrew should have used the word parboiled and I wish he had a website but I think this is probably a local product. According to a certain online oracle, parboiling flour before baking causes it to become sweet and the longer the time lapse between parboiling and baking, the sweeter the result will be. This was a noticeably sweet bread with a texture approaching pound cake. The label also lists sugar and apple jam as ingredients.
I was addicted to the Cardamom Toasts from the Swedish Bakery in Chicago but the owners retired last year and the children didn’t want to carry on so I’ve lost that source; these rusks are not anywhere near as good but I was glad to find them and should rush back to get more before they’re all gone.
I also picked up some canned sturgeon in olive oil. i think this is the product. There was also buckwheat, more than half the contents by volume. First time I’ve ever tried canned sturgeon; next time I’ll go for the sturgeon in it’s own juices; it’s almost 10 bucks a can. I’ve had to toss my can after eating the contents - it was stinking up the house royally.
A few days later I headed over to Golden Grains on Birdwood, a couple of blocks behind Belden’s, run by an older couple from Armenia. I think this was the original location of RGS. The store is maybe slightly larger, the shelves not as overloaded, and it’s not as well lit as RGS. The people usually don’t speak until spoken to but they try to be very helpful. There is a problem understanding them, both because of accents and because they sometimes have trouble coming up with the English words necessary to explain something. A minor irritant is that the meat, cheese and pastry cases are not lit. The ones at RGS are well lit and many products have signs both in English and Russian. There is almost no English signage here.
I’ve been following the thread on condiments and feeling very inadequate with regard to the number of ketchups I possess, so I grabbed this bag, partly to assuage my feelings of inadequacy and partly because it was one of the few products in the store I could guess at the contents without searching for some English on the package. There are paragraphs in 9 different languages on the reverse, none in English and all difficult to read because of the dark print against a dark red background. The only English I’ve found is www.maheev.ru. It’s a very simple tomato ketchup, without all the spices and seasonings of Heinz. I like that. It may be useful to have around in a food fight, although a simple squeeze bottle would probably be better 
.
I got some of their sour pickles and the jarred product, according to the nutrition label pasted on the back, is ‘Wild Garlic (garlic arrows), salty, barreled, “Caucasian,” sterilized.’ Very firm, like you might expect pickled haricots verts would be. My fridge is so stuffed I’ve had to put it in the deli meats and cheese drawer and out-of-sight I haven’t remembered to use it, only snacked on a few pieces out of the bottle. I presume it’s used like pickles.
There are freezers in the last section of the store, some commercial type units with glass tops and some just home chest freezers. One was full of different brands of frozen manti/dumplings and I picked up a package with the largest dumplings with lamb as a filling. I was asking the proprietor how these are served and he was saying to put something on the plate (couldn’t understand despite having him repeat it three times), then the dumplings, top with sour cream and mix them up. I decided a few days later he was saying browned butter but I haven’t tried them yet.
He gave me a sample taste of a bologna and I was sold. If he said the name I didn’t catch it; I assumed it would be printed on the label but only the store name and price is printed out. This was around $6/pound. I had 2 slices of white bread from my visit to Willow recently and some Del Dixie pickles and Duke’s mayo - I fixed myself a might fine baloney sandwich!!! This ain’t Oscar Mayer.
Both stores make a Russian potato salad, labeled as such or just as potato salad or Olivier salad. Characteristically, they have vegetables in addition to potatoes and some minced meat. Here at GG they use small tidbits of bologna; RGS (they didn’t have any in stock when I visited) usually includes ham while the one at Phoenicia usually has beef. I used to like these better but over the years they seem to have diced the potatoes smaller and smaller and included less and less of the other vegetables and meat.
I’ve been pondering a lowly fried balogne sandwich recently…
I finished off most of this just snacking on it by itself.
Oh yes, with regard to the mustard, which led to this quest - in recent years my tastes have turned toward milder mustards and all the ones I saw at these two places included horseradish or looked like they were bolder, brown mustards. I passed on all of them.
Where have you been all my life? Recently discovered at HEB. It’s really good.
Well darn, the photo upload function is not working. Later. 
Lets try this today. Here’s what I bought:
Success!
I slept fitfully all night wondering what this was. What a relief 
.
Hey. This means I can fix my favorite Whataburger breakfast at home!
It used to be called Breakfast on a Bun Ranchero, just listed as Breakfast on a Bun now - sausage patty, egg, cheese and a generous dollop of salsa on a Whataburger, Jr., size bun.
Tasty comfort food for breakfast in a convenient form, and spicy too.
I’ll be looking for this.
Yaaas! Tastes just like it and cooks up juicy and somewhat spicy.
Two for seven dollars bacon wrapped scallop skewers, six total pieces at MY HEB Bunker Hill.
Thirty minutes in the toaster oven and feed.
Delicious.
Let me see… where’s my circular for this week? Oh, that’s right, I still haven’t gotten it. I did look it up online (thanks for that suggestion), Tuesday night around midnight, actually, but I didn’t notice that.
It’s not in the circular, they just showed up.
I came over here to see when I bought this coffee - April 28. Today is August 20. We will finish this 10 lbs of coffee this week, it was a 4 month supply it seems. I’ll miss it. I’ll get back to Sprouts and see if the bulk is the same.
I bought exactly two Malpeque oysters for a buck each at MY HEB. The shells were small but the oysters were bigger than I thought they’d be, very briny which I like but pretty much overpowering the flavor of the oyster. There was lots of liquor and I’ll get them again if I see them.
I also got more stuffed mushrooms which we’ve been eating the heck out of. We’ve tried four and have settled on stuffed mozzarella and spinach, fifteen minutes in the toaster oven for a nice snack or side. Very juicy.
Finally Italian meatballs with prime beef and pork which I’m about to sautee in olive oil and finish in good Rao’s marinara, will report back.
Back again today for five more Malpeques at 99 cents each for a total of 6.25. Sensing I was being ripped off I slammed my fist on the counter, ok I didn’t, I’m always extremely polite knowing firsthand what jerks people can be to those in retail/grocery.
Anyway I pointed out the mistake and William said .99 x 5 = 6.25 right, um no. I got it corrected.
I also got two bacon scallop skewers for 7 dollars. We’ve had them before and after thirty minutes in the toaster oven are quite good.
Now I’m hungry.
Bye.
William needs more maths.
