Witnessing petty theft at Starbucks

A plaque at the 9/11 memorial and reflecting pool in Weehawken notes more than 60,000 people were evacuated to this waterfront on the day the Twin Towers fell. The plaque also praises the role of township agencies in the operation, and lists all of them.

Editor's note: Today's buffet explores the wonderful food shopping and take-out available in North Jersey.

We went for a drive along North Jersey's Gold Coast and saw hundreds of new town homes and apartments in what still is one of the biggest construction zones in the metropolitan area.

We passed through Fort Lee, Edgewater and Weehawken, and entered West New York, most of the time along the Hudson River.

We saw the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line and its last stop opposite the ferry into Manhattan. 

On the way home Thursday afternoon, we stopped for coffee and iced tea at Starbucks, and to buy organic pasta, cheese, olive oil and other food at Trader Joe's, both in Edgewater.

At the Starbucks in Edgewater, the heavy set man on the right put a small bottle of orange juice in his red bag while waiting on line to order and pay for coffee.

At Starbucks, most of the outside tables were occupied by smokers, forcing us inside.

An employee said Starbucks tried to designate outside tables for smoking and non-smoking, but that didn't work.

When the cafe put out ashtrays, they disappeared, and a pole ashtray was used for garbage and set afire.

We ordered iced tea and hot coffee, and I brought them to our table opposite the counter before going to use the restroom. 

That's when my wife saw another customer steal a small bottle of orange juice while he waited on line to order coffee.

Starbucks, 457 River Road, in the Edgewater Commons shopping center, Edgewater; 201-945-5343.

Trader Joe's organic whole-wheat pasta is a relative bargain.

Good food, low prices

At Trader Joe's, we bought 16-ounce packages of organic whole-wheat spaghetti, fusilli and penne ($1.39 each).

They are 100% whole wheat and cheaper than smaller boxes of whole-grain pasta sold in ShopRite and other supermarkets.

One-liter bottles of 100% Italian and Spanish extra-virgin olive oil were $5.99 each, a 12.3-ounce jar of Whole Grain Dijon Mustard from France was $1.79, and a 20-ounce box of Trader Joe's Whole Grain Raisin Bran was only $2.79.

We also bought Applegate Farms antibiotic-free cold cuts, which are cheaper at Trader Joe's than at supermarkets.

Another favorite item is sliced Yogurt Cheese with Jalapeno ($4.79).

Trader Joe's, 715 River Road, Edgewater; 201-945-5932.

This beautiful plate of takeout food cost only $5.99.

Jerry's in Englewood cuts the price of Meals To Go in the late afternoon.

For a great dinner at home, I plated the fish and other food in this container, heated it up in the microwave, made a small salad and poured myself a glass of red wine.

Best take-out bargain

The restaurant-quality Meals To Go at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood are a bargain at $7.99, but they are an even better buy in the late afternoon, when the price is cut by $2.

Unfortunately, Meals To Go often sell out early in the day. 

But around 5 on Wednesday afternoon, I was lucky enough to find two Tilapia Francese dinners and another of Chicken Pizzaiola at $5.99 each.

I had the delicious tilapia fillet, which was unusually large; pasta and crunchy vegetables, including fresh fava beans. Magnifico.

Jerry's Gourmet & More, 410 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-871-7108.

Cubed radish kimchi from the source in Englewood.

For a change of pace from the usual cabbage kimchi, I picked up a large jar of crunchy Arirang radish kimchi from the small brick building in Englewood where it is made by hand.

A 5-pound jar is $10.99 at the factory. All-natural kimchi complements any meal, and it's a great snack. 

Arirang Kimchi, 191 W. Englewood Ave., Englewood; 201-503-1314.

I began the day Wednesday with fried organic eggs with pesto, brown rice and Korean side dishes from H Mart, above, and ended it with a big salad and vegetarian lentil soup I brought home from the Garden Cafe at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, where I volunteer. I added grated sheep's milk cheese, below, and drank a glass of wine.

Hospital salad bar offers pie

Image via Wikipedia
I took a good look at the ingredients listed on the package of my son's favorite ramyun.

Editor's note: This morning, I made a second visit to the cafeteria at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and stocked up on one of my son's favorite breakfasts.

You never know what you'll find on the cafeteria salad bar at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center -- besides salad, that is.


This morning around 9, the salad bar held more than a dozen slices of pie, and no salad. Although I don't eat pie, they looked as if they were filled with cream cheese.


The first-floor cafeteria -- called the Garden Cafe -- is used by doctors, nurses and other hospital employees, in addition to visitors and other members of the public.


On my initial visit to the cafeteria about three weeks ago, I saw a tray of whipped cream with fresh strawberry slices on the fruit salad bar.


Today, walnuts and small cookies were nestled in the whipped cream, in addition to fresh strawberry slices.


A doctor I spoke to after my first visit said the cafeteria is one of the biggest profit centers at the hospital. 


He also said that when the menu was revamped to offer healthier choices, many employees complained, and the person in charge of that effort was let go.


Korean ramen


One of my 14-year-old son's favorite breakfasts is instant Shin Ramyun Noodle Soup (Gourmet Spicy), a Korean version of ramen, but he ate the last one in the cupboard this morning.


I bought this soup for him a few years ago, because it has one of the lowest sodium contents of such instant soups -- 43% of the recommended daily allowance. 


This morning, after cardiac rehab at the hospital in Englewood, I stopped at H Mart to pick up more. 


The Family Pack offered five 4.2-ounce packages for $4.99 or about $1 each, so I bought a box of 20 for $14.99 or about 75 cents each. They weren't on sale.


Using a Japanese-made soup spoon with fork tines, my son usually eats all the noodles and a little of the soup, throwing away much of the broth.  


The ingredients list is long, but "no MSG is added." 


Some of the ingredients are wheat flour, palm oil, powdered beef fat and beef stock; carmel, corn syrup, dehydrated vegetables, garlic, ginger, powdered sand-lance concentrate (a fish), sugar and tocopherols (antioxidant).


The ramyun is made in the U.S.A. by Nongshim America Inc., and has a "best before" date of November 2012.


I also picked up two H Mart prepared items, stir-fried vermicelli noodles with vegetables ($3.50) and radish kimchi ($2.75), each in a 16-ounce package.


I get the impression H Mart prepared food is cheaper than items from Jinga in Maspeth, N.Y., that are sold by the supermarket chain.


H Mart, 25 Lafayette Ave., Englewood; 
201-871-8822. Open seven days.


Related post

• Looking for healthy food in the hospital (doyoureallyknowwhatyoureeating.blogspot.com)

Looking for healthy food in the hospital

Image by Sifu Renka via Flickr

Although you can't stop the destruction of the giant bluefin tuna, you can refuse to buy
 any at Mitsuwa, the Japanese supermarket in Edgewater, and at Japanese restaurants.

Editor's note: Today, I discuss my search for healthy food in a hospital cafeteria, urge you to boycott a Japanese supermarket's bluefin tuna festival, note higher prices at Costco Wholesale and offer a recipe for a mayo-less canned fish salad.

Sliced strawberries nestled in whipped cream? For breakfast?


I stared at the tray on the fruit-salad bar in the cafeteria of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, and wondered what hospital administrators are thinking.


In September, I had tests and then open-heart surgery at the hospital, and was served a series of healthy but awful meals during my recovery: no salt, no sugar, no caffeine and no taste.


Since I started cardiac rehab a few weeks ago, I had walked past the cafeteria on the first floor without going in, so on Friday, I walked through and did the same on Monday morning.


The cafeteria is open to the public as well as to the staff, including doctors and nurses, but the chances of finding healthy food are slim. 


On Friday, just after 9 a.m., the first salad bar I came to had only a few shrink-wrapped platters of pale, farmed salmon with vegetables or salad, but on Monday, the same bar was empty.


To the right, there were bananas and two other kinds of whole fruit, plus buttered rolls, big Jersey bagels, pastries, muffins, sugar buns, cookies and pound cake. 


The Boar's Head Sandwich Bar was self-service, but you can be sure the only cold cuts served there are from animals raised with antibiotics and growth hormones, and cured with preservatives.


A grill offered an "all-natural" hot dog without nitrites for $2.66. The hamburger and cheeseburger are a mystery, however.


A steam table offered two or three kinds of hot cereal and scrambled eggs, plus greasy mystery bacon, sausage and corned-beef hash.


At the fruit-salad bar, fruit salad was 50 cents an ounce -- or $8 a pound. I guess the sliced strawberries and whipped cream cost the same.


I'm on a no-bread diet, so if I wanted to have breakfast there, I would have to satisfy myself with coffee or tea and fruit salad or maybe some eggs without anything else.


Tuna-boycott time


It's time to boycott the Giant Bluefin Tuna Festival on Nov. 19-20 at Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater.


Please stay away from the Japanese supermarket's three "cutting performances," in which beheaded fish weighing hundreds of pounds are reduced to sushi and sashimi by a small army of workers.


The magnificent giant bluefin tuna is an endangered species, but the Japanese have a voracious appetite for the fish, despite its extremely high mercury content. 


In 2009, Mitsuwa sold sashimi from the belly of the fish for $60 a pound. 


Women of child-bearing age and children should not consume any blue-fin tuna.


Higher Costco prices


In looking over my wife's receipt on Monday from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack, I noticed a couple of price increases.


Two pounds of Jarlsberg sliced, reduced-fat Swiss Cheese are now $9.49, compared to $8.99.


Two large containers of Greek Yogurt are now $6.99, and 1 pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix is $4.89.


The Roma plum tomatoes are from Euro Fresh Farms, but they are grown in the United States and pesticide free ($4.99 for 2 pounds).


Canned-fish salad


I chopped up red onion and sweet yellow pepper, opened up two cans of pink salmon, two cans of Moroccan sardines and a can of light, yellowfin tuna.


Everything, including the liquid from the cans, went into a plastic container, and I mixed it all up.


Then I added lots of Dijon mustard, ground cumin and fresh lemon juice to taste, but no mayonnaise. 


A big mound of the canned fish salad made a nice breakfast over red-leaf lettuce dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with olives on the side.