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Monday, July 19, 2010

I Feel Like a Produce Thief

Seriously...I feel like I've just stolen a cart of groceries!
Here's how it all went down...

Some of the gals at work kept talking about this place on Lawrenceville Suwanee Road called Super H Mart. I heard stories of how cheap their produce was and finally I just couldn't' take it anymore...I had to see this for myself!

So on Sunday, after church, Cory and I set off on an adventure to basically wherever the road took us. My only request was that we stop by Super H Mart in Suwanee at some point in time during the afternoon excursion. So after traveling north only to discover that Real Deals in Jefferson was closed (they're having a Christmas in July sale)...we wandered to historic downtown Commerce, GA (quite cute downtown)...where NOTHING was open. Then we hit I-85 south...after a stop at the Hamilton Mill Goodwill we proceeded to Super H Mart! Where the kid-in-a-candy-store experience ensued!

I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Majority of their customers are Asian and a large percentage of the writing on the packaging is in Korean (usually with the product description in English too)...but to me that seemed a bit intimidating.

As we enter the first thing I see is display of bright ruby-red cartons of strawberries...the SAME brand they sell at Publix...for an incredibly cheap price (2 cartons for .99 cents)! Those SAME strawberries are "on sale" this week at Publix 2 cartons for $5! I'm serious!!!

That sealed the deal....I needed to look no further...I'd just discovered my new hot spot for produce! We wandered around the store, sampled some beef dumplings in the food court (amazing!)....I was in 'new experience overload'!!! I had to look at every piece of meat, every fish, every soup, every candy....EVERYTHING! I couldn't get enough!

Our Sunday excursion eventually took us to Aldi and Whole Foods where I was simply not as impressed. I'd never been by an Aldi...heard they sell mainly generic name brands, but the visit wasn't nearly as intriguing as Super H Mart! Next stop was another Goodwill then on to Whole (Paycheck) Foods! Whole Foods is super cool, but it wasn't my first rodeo in the store, so the excitement level wasn't nearly as high. I did taste some pretty yummy marinated tofu that Cory picked out!

Next stop was my second request of the day...Mirko Pasta. I had no idea they'd opened a location in Buford, but boy was I excited to discover it! More on that another day!...

So...I decided to make a list, check it twice and head over to Super H Mart after work on Monday to load up on fresh produce and such!

I got ALL of this.....
For ONLY....
I'm in love....

I'm pretty sure the cashier thought I was a mad woman when my mouth fell WIDE open when I saw that the cart full of groceries cost LESS than $40!! (I almost said "are you sure...did you forget to scan something?...I feel like I owe you more money than that!")

I also stopped by the food court to pick up some frozen dumplings. (They're the same dumplings we ate yesterday...just frozen.)
So I spent an additional $11 on 34 delicious handmade beef and shrimp dumplings! And therefore...I feel like I've stolen a cart of groceries!
That cart of groceries cost me half of what I would have spent at the other local grocery store!


Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Blackmon Tomato Harvest Is In...

I've never claimed to have a green thumb.  This year I've learned my thumb is more brown than green. Hey...I'm learning!

With Cory's help, we planted our first tomato plant in the Topsy Turvy that my parents gave him for his birthday last year.  (Not sure why we didn't use it last year, but that's neither here nor there.)  So we carefully watched our tomato plant grow (upside down)...counted the blooms and anticipated about 10 or so tomatoes this summer.  HA....

The purpose of this not-so-interesting blog post today to show you our harvest....
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just.this.ONE.tiny.tomato!
Not exactly what farmers call a bumper crop.  Maybe next year...

Do you have any gardening tricks you could share with Mrs. Brown-thumb for next year's "harvest"?!?!?