Shopping while hungry

I can attest to the axiom, "When you shop when you're hungry, you'll never know what ends up in the cart."

I went a local Asian market located in a little strip mall surrounded by various Asian restaurants. At the market, I stopped by the bakery and picked up a couple items.

A Baked BBQ Pork Bun with more bread than filling and an interesting neon red filling. In a pinch, it's okay, but have had much better.



A sweet cream filled bun with a light (very light) sprinkling of coconut.



It the same strip mall is a Vietnamese restaurant that advertises Vietnamese sandwiches, Bahn Mi.

My first exposure to Vietnamese sandwiches was in college with a Vietnamese classmate. When he would go home for the weekend, he'd end up bringing a sackful of sandwiches for his fellow Vietnamese classmates. I was offered a sandwich and was amazed at the different flavors in the sandwich and the textures. The bread has a light crunchy crust with a soft, faintly sweet interior. The filling usually started with a layer of butter, a few shakes of Maggi seasoning, a pate, Vietnamese cold cuts - chicken roll, ham and another slice that seemed to resemble headcheese. The sandwich was dressed with cilantro, vinegared carrots and cucumber and sliced jalapeno peppers.

I enjoyed every bite of that first sandwich. The great French bread, the tart veggies and heat from the peppers. It wasn't a meat loaded sandwich, but with was loaded with flavor. Also, the price was right, $1. I promptly added my name to the sandwich list for his trip home.

This sandwich was okay. No jalapenos and it had mayonaise which made the sandwich seem heavy. The meat filling consisted of pate and chicken loaf. Chicken loaf is just a finely pureed chicken meat that is steamed(?).


After all of the "junk" food, I bought fresh spring rolls to lighten up my meal. My salad course. lol.

Rice paper wrapped with lettuce, bean sprouts, rice noodles, shrip and chicken loaf.
The dipping sauce varies from place to place. Typically, it's a thick sauce consisting of hoisin sauce and peanuts.

This dipping sauce was a little more watery. Hoisin sauce, peanuts, vinegar, carrots and fish sauce?



Shopping when hungry = My dinner for today. :-)