My Chopin Liszt for Tonight

Chopin Liszt:

1. gallon of whole milk


2. yellow mustard


3. spaghetti sauce without meat in it


4. 1/2 lb. American cheese


5. pop. Probably Diet Pepsi


6. Hot dog buns

Searching for a picture of American cheese, I found this government website that asks you how many servings of food a typical "serving size" looks like, then tells you how bad it is for you. I'm having fun with that.

Grocery Art

If I weren't a composer, I'd be an artist. If I were an artist, I'd probably make art just like this. It's ketchup and mustard on canvas. The mustard comes in from the right, the ketchup creeps in from the left, and they meet in the middle to make vivid orange. Beautiful.

Almost Enough Condiments

Another great find from the Google ads on the right: Condiments from Minimus.biz. Wow. If you're ever at a loss for what to get me for my birthday, there are so many Heinz sauces I've never even seen.


These google ads are getting better and better. Click them so I can go see George Clinton next month.

Oyster Sauce

I saw a google ad for Oyster Sauce on the right and I realized that I've never had it, even though I am a condiment afficianado. I didn't even know if it was made from oysters or for oysters. So I looked it up on Wikipedia. And do you know what I learned? A tablespoon of it makes plain Chinese noodles less ordinary.

What happens if you eat oysters with oyster sauce? Is that like eating a tomato with ketchup? Is that like eating your egg/oil soup with a dollop of mayo? Is that like putting ice cream in your milk and mixing it up and having a milk shake?

Save-A-Lot

The other day, I bought two bags of hushpuppies from Save-A-Lot for $1.29 each. I think there were 29 hushpuppies in each bag. They're better than Long John Silver's. I deepfried them. I also got a box of pierogies (19 pierogies) for $0.99. Braunschweiger is cheaper at Save-A-Lot than at Price Chopper and most other stores, and it has less saturated fat, and still tastes better than Kahn's. It's $1.39. The brand is Hargis House. 28% of your fat, 30% of your saturated fat for the day. Kahn's at PC is $2.99 and has 24% of your fat and 43% of your saturated. PC has a brand that has 23 andd 30, but it's still $2.99. I also got a bottle of yellow mustard for $0.59 at Save-A-Lot and a jar of mayo. I don't remember the price on the mayo, and I don't have the receipt. I charged it, and Jazmin, the cashier, only gave me the total receipt, bogarting the itemized one. I make the best sauce with mayo. I'll get back to that later. I also bought lots of tuna pouches (3 oz. for $0.79). I had > 250% of my protein for the day thanks to that. I ate 6 or 7 pouches in the last 24 hours.

My sauce:

Mayo, ketchup, ranch dressing, soy sauce. I got my soy sauce at Price Chopper. It was on sale for $1.19, down from $1.99. That's why I picked Kikkoman over La Choy. La Choy was still full price. The sauce is GREAT with the hushpuppies. It's also good with pierogies. Really good. I put Red Hot or Chili Dog mustard on my tuna. Sometimes both. Soy sauce once.

I hope this isn't a Trader Joek

Curbed is reporting that Trader Joe's is opening next month!

The shelves are already stocked. The $2 wine is going to cost $3. That's all I know that they sell--$2 wine and hummus. I hope they have an inspired condiment section.

Braunschweiger Comes to West Bushwick!

I found braunschweiger at the Key Food on Grand St. today! I used to have to buy it at the Union Square Food Emporium or the Associated/Morton Williams on the corner of Bleecker and Greene. What s shock!

Carbon Monoxide Beats Meat Oxidization

Woah! The NY Times has an article about meat packers treating their meats with carbon monoxide to prevent oxidation. The two pictures of meat I just posted on the right are the same age. The red one was treated.

Supermarket chains including A.&P. and Pathmark do not carry the treated meat, but it is showing up with increasing frequency elsewhere. In New York City, it is sold at 30 Gristede's stores, at D'Agostino markets under the labels Laura's Lean Beef and Creekstone's, and at the Morton Williams stores in the Associated chain. A spokeswoman for Safeway did not respond to phone calls and e-mail messages about sale of the treated meat there, but it was available at a Safeway market in Bethesda, Md., earlier this month. SuperTarget stores are also selling it, and Wal-Mart reports carrying it in 150 stores.

I don't know how I feel about that. If the meat is still fresh, I think I'd rather it be treated with something to keep it looking fresh. If it's not fresh, I don't want it to look fresh.

I hope someday science invents something that makes food look like it is.

75% Off at Key Foods!

More Than Donuts has an account of his neighborhood Key Food going out of business and putting everything 75% off. Amazing! It's being replaced by a drug store, which I guess is a step above Key Food in the gentrification chain. I hope Cat Pee goes out of business next.

Why You Should Make Sure Your Prices Ring Up Correctly

Besides it being illegal and wrong, you should make sure your prices ring up correctly because people like me are more likely to not say anything then go home and write about it in their grocery store blogs. Which I am doing. C-Town's chicken hot dogs are supposed to be $0.99 this week but rang up as $1.59.

I did get a whole chicken for about $3. Whole chickens are on sale for $0.79/lb. Tonight Debussy might cook chicken with a lot of cloves of garlic.

A box of Apple Jacks is $2. Apple juice is $1.29. Elio's frozen pizza is 2 for 1. Prego spaghetti sauce is 2 for $3.

There's a reminder taped to the cash register that says "Keep Clean and No Food in the Draw's." A phonetic spelling of the New York pronunciation "drawer" combined with apostrophe abuse results in something that is technically correct. The apostrophe is replacing the missing letters to capture the true New York sound of the word. How fortunate for them. They don't need my wrath twice in one post.

Ten Days Until Lent

And fish cakes are on sale for $0.99 at Key Food. They're usually $2.39.

I need some suggestions for what to eat for lunch on Fridays during Lent. I bring a sandwich every day with a meat and a cheese from the deli department of C-Town or Key Food (usually C-Town. I'm a big fan of their combos). I've thought of tuna salad or shrimp salad (C-Town's shrimp salad used to be $5.99/lb while it was $10 or so at Food Emporium at Union Square), just the cheese part of the sandwich, or peanutbutter and jelly. A spaghetti sandwich might be good. Any other ideas?

Deals at the Gourmet Garage (SoHo)

It's a really windy day today, but it was the deals at the Gourmet Garage that nearly blew me away! Blood oranges were on sale for $1.99/lb (usually $2.99). Party dips (horseradish, blue cheese, mushroom, or jalapeno) were Buy One Get One Free ($2.99 each.) Best of all, now I know where to buy blood oranges.

Krys of Amusing Bouche and I decided we should collaborate on a book of punches, and I assure you we will pull none! She was going to make a punch with blood oranges tonight but couldn't find any. This post is dedicated to her. Happy Strokeversary, Krys!