Farmer's markets and giant ice-creams!

We had a great day shopping yesterday!

First we went to Locke st to go to the big Asian Grocery store there. We got black beans and soy sauce, chilies, lime-leaves, bean noodles and tins of Thai curry paste. We had a little bit of time before the next bus so we wandered further down Locke st and found a really great little ice-cream place.

The girls there were really enthusiastic and gave us lots of samples. We both opted for the waffle stack which was $3.50 each and turned out to be HUGE (requiring two-hands). Ben had caramel and chocolate fudge and I had mango, strawberry and lemon gelato. We decide to walk into town rather than getting on the bus because we were worried that we might cover the other passengers with ice-cream! The ice-creams started melting before we could finish them and we had to stop so that I could eat leaning forward. I dropped ice-cream on my feet! In the end I couldn't eat the last little bit...

Next we went to Jackson square, which is always a surreal experience. I think Lumpy has mentioned it before, but it's a huge mega-mall most of which is empty. A lot of the shops which are occupied have little cheapy stores selling plastic toys or tacky dresses.

We went to the "Asian Market" which is a sprawling section on the top floor containing an Asian grocery type thing (where we got some more curry paste and some mirin), and some Indian/Pakistani type clothes. I bought a cute skirt for $10 (needs a little fixing).

Then we went to the Farmer's Market which is in a kind of multi-story car park next to the library. There was lots of fresh fruit and veggies, and people selling spices. There's something very calming about being surrounded by healthy food in bulk! We found an Indian guy selling curry paste which he assured us was better than Pataks being made by an Indian company. So we bought some of that.

We also went to Denningers to see if we could find Russian Caravan tea and to have some lunch. They have German style hot-dogs and so on (a healthy food day ; p ). But NO Russian Caravan.

This morning I looked on the Twinings site and the only place where they definitely sell loose leaf Russian Caravan is AUSTRALIA!! Not the UK, not the USA, not "international". (The Russians *MAY* have it, I can't be sure because I can't read Russian, but I think it's Traditional Afternoon tea not Russian Caravan.)

Crazy, but true.