Central Market Love

Last night after working out, Maksim and I ventured over to Central Market. If you don't know what Central Market is, then let me elaborate. Central Market is a mecca for foodies, and a foodies is a person that likes to cook and eat food. CM is not large, but it has everything you could possibly want in a grocery store. Their produce is abundant and they have every variety imaginable, from asparagus to zuchinni, portabello to porcinni- they have it. Not only do they have it, but it is going to be big and fresh and plump and juicy. It will appear that they were retrieved from God's personal garden. I purchased already peeled garlic cloves, zuchinni, avacado, and pistachios from the produce section.

Getting to the Meat of things...

Once you move through the produce section, you will find yourself in the meat department. Two large 40 feet long stainless steel refrigerators house beef and chicken on your left and fish on your right. So many varieties of fish, so many cuts, it's amazing. I chose some Ginger Peach Glazed Salmon, 2lbs. of Tilapia, and from the beef section, a spinach, cheese and pine nut stuffed sirloin. I mean really, where else can you get a piece of meat that is stuffed and rolled with those ingredients?

Next Stop, Bread and Cheese

Currently my diet doesn't allow fresh baked bread and my wallet doesn't allow of exotic cheese so I had to by pass both of these tempting temptations. There are at least 500 different kinds of cheese in this store, and probably 30 fresh baked breads. I could have made some serious grilled cheeses if I had been so inclined.

The Central Market Deli

Central Market's deli is not like other Deli's. The Deli case is a large square and the employees are trapped in the middle like cows. They will allow you to sample anything in the case, but the sample portions are miniscule. the first time I asked to try a cucumber bowtie pasta salad in a dill dressing I was given one bowtie, no cucumber. I was a bit perturbed when they were so miserly, but I realized that they probably give samples out all the time and they are probably told by management to skimp so that they don't lose money giving out generous samples. Last night I asked to sample the tuna and then once I decided to buy half a pound I asked if I could sample the Apricot Almond Chicken Salad, the sample portion was much larger- I think it was because I had bought some of the Tuna that she felt that I wasn't just there to graze, therefore, she gave me a larger sampling.

CM also has normal grocery store products, but the varieties are not as vast as their food selection. They have all kinds of imported cookies, and snacks, salsa's and teas. Their wine selection is astouding, but I am not a wine connoisseur so I have no idea what is good and what isn't and how does one go about learning these things anyway?

After I got home I was starving, well starving is an overstatement, I don't have flies orbitting my head in a third world country, nor do I have 0% body fat due to malnutrition, but I was really hungry. I sliced up my zucchini and some yellow squash I already had in the fridge, tossed in some sliced onion, some olive oil and Tony Sacheran's seasoning and in minutes I had some delicious sauteed vegetables. I also slapped my Ginger Peach Salmon in an adjacent skillet and cooked it to perfection. I am trying to cut back on carbs or I would have made some yellow saffron rice to complete the meal, instead I doubled up on the serving of vegetables. The Salmon was OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! I couldn't believe the quality. I have bought Salmon before from Albertson's and paid almost the same price, then when I cooked it, it was so fishy that I didn't even want to eat it. This salmon was better than Pappadeaux's!

Needless to say, Central Market is always a fun experience, and the food quality is remarkable. February 1st I am going there with my sister and her husband for a knife skills cooking class- don't that sound fun!

Gotta run!