I finally drove across town to Lee Lee Market

Eat globally at Lee Lee Market

on New Years Day.

There is no steam table with prepared foods to go. There will be two restaurants within the market — one a BBQ and the other a Vietnamese restaurant but they are not open yet.

My friend Kate came with me and we walked up and down the aisles in awe pointing at this and that, reading the labels. Aisles were labeled Thai, Korean, West African, Middle East, Japanese, Caribbean…I didn’t walk the whole store because I became hungry about an hour into it then hit sensory overload.

I’ll be back says me and the Governator.

The place is light, bright, huge, and sparkling with neon signs. Seventies music blared in the background. Green onions were only 29 cents/bunch.

I wish I had a tour guide. One thing I am going to be looking for soon is a Chinese or Korean or Thai cooking class as I’m jazzed to learn some new and healthy food techniques. If you know of a class, please let me know.

One thing I remember is — I never knew there were so many different varieties of coconut milk!

The photo above is what I purchased. Look at Karyn’s eclectic tastes. Let’s start from the upper left:

• Noni tea bags from Vietnam. I chose this tea because I have a friend named Noni and will give her the tea.
• The Noni tea is resting on a large tub of Springfield old fashioned oatmeal; it was such a low price I could not resist as I eat much oatmeal.
• Next the Taiwan raisin custard bun which was mostly bun but still yummy. It would probably be good with the Noni tea.
• I bought a big can of Middle East six beans. Beans are a dominant protein in my life and I eat them frequently.
• Some like it hot and I sure do — mango/chile/garlic paste from Thailand. A little dab will do you.
• Baby bananas from Ecuador called my name as they were like the puppy of bananas. I’m waiting for them to ripen a bit.
• Trans-fat free tropical cassava/yucca chips
• Ube cake, purple cake from the Philippines. This is a cake roll, should be pretty when sliced. I’m taking it to a potluck; I love the purple color. I hope everyone else will too (they did!).
• Fried soy bean cake or that’s tofu to you which was enhanced with black fungus and leeks. It tasted delicious heated with a smear of the mango/chile/garlic paste.
• Low-sodium soy sauce
• Two bottles of aloe vera drink with honey were refreshing and more delicious after we squeezed lime into it. The texture was a bit odd because of the slimy aloe vera pulp floating in the glass but we liked it.

I bought a virtual United Nations of food.

By the way, my kitchen counter is bright red laminate and the walls are painted green. It feels like cooking inside a surreal apple.