I had to make an appearance in the office today
(the second time this year! slavedrivers!) and
so I hit a Mexican food store near work. It seems
like it's in decline -- many fewer items on the
shelves and a decided increase in Filipino goods.
It's in a run-down shopping center which already
has a small shop specializing in Filipino foods
and an adjacent Filipino restaurant which is
unbearably hot in the summer.

I saw three things I'd never seen before, all
from an importer of goods from Central America.

Loroco -- looks like green buds. Offered pickled
in a glass quart jar. It was nearly five bucks,
so I didn't buy it, which I now regret. According
to Wikipedia, it's used with cheese and masa
to make pupusas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusas

Pacaya -- looks like corn tassels, but actually
it's the flower of the date palm. On the label,
it recommends using them in omelets. Also offered
pickled in a glass quart jar. Also nearly five
bucks, which is beyond my budget for experimental
and black programs. Said to be somewhat bitter.
I don't regret not buying it.

Ollucus -- some sort of colorful edible tuber,
offered in a can. This appears to be the same product
I saw in the store.

https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/s...22&catalogId=1

I forget how much it was.

I'm thinking that the next time I'm invited
to a party at the house of my vegetarian friend,
I'll make a loroco/pacaya/ollucus salad. He's
something of a foodie, and it would be quite
an achievement to make a salad that didn't
contain a single ingrediant he would recognize.

I also saw in the fresh produce section
a variety of tomatillo I'd never seen before.
They were purple, and about the size of a
marble. I didn't buy any because they were
only offered as a large quantity (probably
about a pint) in a mesh bag, and they didn't
look really fresh. I think they were $2.99
per bag.

And on the way home, I saw something else
I hadn't seen before. It was a bus with an
"Out Of Service" sign on it. I've seen those
before, but what was different about this one
is the sign was electronic, and it was
programmed to alternate "Out Of Service"
with "Sorry". I recommend they reprogram
the sign to say "Really Sincerely Sorry".
Just "Sorry" doesn't cut it with me.

Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> Ollucus -- some sort of colorful edible tuber,
> offered in a can. This appears to be the same product
> I saw in the store.

Ah! Here's the Wikipedia entry on this tuber:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulluco

Mark Thorson wrote:

> And on the way home, I saw something else I hadn't seen before. It was
> a bus with an "Out Of Service" sign on it. I've seen those before, but
> what was different about this one is the sign was electronic, and it was
> programmed to alternate "Out Of Service" with "Sorry". I recommend they
> reprogram the sign to say "Really Sincerely Sorry".

I think that only alternates with the Level 2 OOS message: "Frequently Out
Of Service For Weeks At A Time".


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Need a new news feed? http://blinkynet.net/comp/newfeed.html

Mark Thorson wrote:
> I had to make an appearance in the office today
> (the second time this year! slavedrivers!) and
> so I hit a Mexican food store near work. It seems
> like it's in decline -- many fewer items on the
> shelves and a decided increase in Filipino goods.
> It's in a run-down shopping center which already
> has a small shop specializing in Filipino foods
> and an adjacent Filipino restaurant which is
> unbearably hot in the summer.
>
> I saw three things I'd never seen before, all
> from an importer of goods from Central America.
>
> Loroco -- looks like green buds. Offered pickled
> in a glass quart jar. It was nearly five bucks,
> so I didn't buy it, which I now regret. According
> to Wikipedia, it's used with cheese and masa
> to make pupusas.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupusas
>
> Pacaya -- looks like corn tassels, but actually
> it's the flower of the date palm. On the label,
> it recommends using them in omelets. Also offered
> pickled in a glass quart jar. Also nearly five
> bucks, which is beyond my budget for experimental
> and black programs. Said to be somewhat bitter.
> I don't regret not buying it.
>
> Ollucus -- some sort of colorful edible tuber,
> offered in a can. This appears to be the same product
> I saw in the store.
>
> https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/s...22&catalogId=1
>
> I forget how much it was.
>
> I'm thinking that the next time I'm invited
> to a party at the house of my vegetarian friend,
> I'll make a loroco/pacaya/ollucus salad. He's
> something of a foodie, and it would be quite
> an achievement to make a salad that didn't
> contain a single ingrediant he would recognize.
>
> I also saw in the fresh produce section
> a variety of tomatillo I'd never seen before.
> They were purple, and about the size of a
> marble. I didn't buy any because they were
> only offered as a large quantity (probably
> about a pint) in a mesh bag, and they didn't
> look really fresh. I think they were $2.99
> per bag.
>
> And on the way home, I saw something else
> I hadn't seen before. It was a bus with an
> "Out Of Service" sign on it. I've seen those
> before, but what was different about this one
> is the sign was electronic, and it was
> programmed to alternate "Out Of Service"
> with "Sorry". I recommend they reprogram
> the sign to say "Really Sincerely Sorry".
> Just "Sorry" doesn't cut it with me.

Very interesting finds. You make me want to go exploring!

--
Jean B.