Salad-bar spinach omelets, kimchi rice and fresh wild-caught fish

Fresh spinach from the cafe salad bar at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, where I volunteer one day a week, and reduced-fat Swiss Cheese from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack are terrific for stuffing egg-white omelets. Here, I served the omelet with sweet potatoes mashed with extra-virgin olive oil, cinnamon and other seasonings.

This morning, I used the last of the salad-bar spinach for another egg-white omelet, this one made with grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese from Costco Wholesale, za'atar thyme mixture and Aleppo red pepper, the last two from Fattal's, 975 Main St., Paterson.

An easy snack uses leftover organic brown rice, which I prepared in an electric cooker with organic diced tomatoes, and Arirang Kimchi, made and sold in a storefront at the H&Y Marketplace, 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield.

My wife seasoned and pan-fried fresh whole croaker she bought on Sunday for $2.99 a pound at the H Mart, 28 Lafayette Ave., Englewood. Whole papaya, Kabocha squash, mustard greens and scallions also were on sale.

She also purchased two large wild-caught red snappers for $5.99 a pound at H Mart. She seasoned the fish and prepared it in a covered pot with fresh thyme, sweet peppers, onion and garlic. The light, flavorful sauce included extra-virgin olive oil, fresh lime juice and the liquid the fish gives up during cooking.

My wife cut up, seeded and boiled the Kabocha squash, including the dark-green skin, then mashed it with extra-virgin olive oil and seasonings. This morning, the mashed squash was a great bread substitute with two organic eggs from Costco with shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese and Aleppo red pepper.

--VICTOR E. SASSON

Window shopping at pricey Mitsuwa, stocking up at Korean markets

The belly meat of even farmed blue-fin tuna goes for $79.99 a pound at Mitsuwa Marketplace, the Japanese supermarket and food court in Edgewater. The portion shown here is only 1.6 ounces and costs $8. Meanwhile, store-made sushi rolls contained added sugar and some salad dressings I saw listed high-fructose corn syrup as an ingredient.

Wagyu Beef, named for a Japanese cattle breed, is heavily marbled with flavorful fat, and priced at $44.99 a pound.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On my rare visits to one of North Jersey's most expensive supermarkets, I buy cheap sake for cooking and a couple of over-sized cans of Japanese beer.

But I spend most of my time gawking at the ridiculously high prices Mitsuwa Marketplace shoppers pay for what is billed as premium fish and beef.

Anyone who thinks Whole Foods Market is expensive will get a reality check at Mitsuwa.

Over the years, I've splurged at this Japanese supermarket on ices delicately flavored with fruit and mackerel sushi rolls imported from Japan.

On Friday night, I picked up a 1.5-liter bottle of Yaegaki Sake brewed in California ($6.99), a 25-ounce can of Kirin Ichiban 100% malt beer ($2.99) and a 1-liter can of Asahi Super Dry ($3.49).

I briefly contemplated going to my favorite Japanese restaurant, Hiura on Main Street near Anderson Avenue in Fort Lee, with the giant can of Asahi, but then how would I drive home after consuming all that beer?

Mitsuwa Marketplace, 595 River Road, Edgewater; 201-941-9113. America Express credit cards aren't accepted. 

In contrast to Mitsuwa's prices for raw fish and meat, stands in the food court offer complete meals for under $10, above and below, and seating at tables with a view of the Hudson River and upper Manhattan.

Plastic representations of food-court meals look good enough to eat.

Shoppers at Mitsuwa Marketplace have the Hudson, but at H Mart in Little Ferry on Sunday, customers found a flooded parking lot entrance full of hidden potholes.

From the Hudson to the Hackensack

At the customer service counter of H Mart in Little Ferry, the young woman apologized for the flooded, potholed parking lot, but said the Korean supermarket chain has no plans to fix it until spring.

I've spoken to other customers who believe the shabby store, which occupies less than half of a large, otherwise empty building near the Hackensack River, will be torn down eventually.

Meanwhile, the store offers some of the best free samples on weekends, making lunch unnecessary.

On Sunday, I tried three or four kinds of fresh and dried fruit, a seafood pancake, cooked octopus slices, green tea noodles and fish cake in hot broth.

I picked up a box of Shin Ramyun, a spicy instant noodle soup, with 16 4.2-ounce portions for $9.99 with a store card, a savings of $7.

Two big heads of leafy baby mustard greens were on sale for 88 cents a pound (regularly $1.69 a pound).

H Mart, 260 Bergen Turnpike, Little Ferry; 201-814-0400.

Arirang Kimchi 

From H Mart in Little Ferry, I drove to Arirang Kimchi in Ridgefield, and purchased a 64-ounce bottle of Mahk or Cabbage Kimchi ($10).

Arirang is in the small H&Y Marketplace shopping center, where I picked up Marinated Tofu ($4.99) and Jun's Wild Sesame Tofu ($5), both made in that Korean supermarket.

Red bell peppers were on sale for 79 cents a pound.

H&Y Marketplace (Han Yang Mart), 1 Remsen Place, Ridgefield; 201-943-7100. Free food samples on weekends.

So Gong Dong, a popular soft-tofu restaurant where a complete meal costs $10, is on the second floor of this Broad Avenue building in Palisades Park. My final stop on Sunday afternoon was to pick up takeout for dinner.

Fruits of my Korean food odyssey at my front door on Sunday.

Chinese New Year food delivery, taking comfort in sweet potatoes

On Sunday night, as snow fell, we belatedly celebrated the Year of the Sheep, which began Feb. 19, with delivery from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack, including a special Chinese New Year Dinner of fresh fish and snow pea leaves.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Another snowstorm put a damper on our Sunday night plans to celebrate the Chinese New Year at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack.

Luckily, we live within the restaurant's delivery zone, and I picked up the phone and placed our order.

We ordered one Year of the Sheep Special (hold the lamb), a four-course meal for $29.95, and supplemented that with three other dishes.

A second helping of Lotus Cafe fish and vegetables, without brown rice, included snow pea leaves, Chinese broccoli and crunchy snow peas and water chestnuts.

Our Chinese New Year Special, a fixed-priced four-course meal, included a Lobster Spring Roll and Chinese mustard.

Fish, vegetables, brown rice

For the Chinese New Year Special, I chose Hot and Sour Seafood Soup and Flounder with Snow Pea Leaves.

Other entree choices were filet mignon, duck either of two ways or jumbo shrimp.

For an appetizer, we got a Lobster Spring Roll and Grilled Chicken Skewers. Dessert was ice cream.

We also ordered Beef with Mustard Greens and Chili Pepper ($14.95), Prawns with crunchy Snow Peas ($16.95) and Chinese Broccoli with fresh garlic ($9.95).

All of the food was delicious, and I washed it down with the bottle of Yuengling Original Black & Tan beer I was planning to take to the Hackensack Avenue BYO.

And we have leftovers for breakfast and dinner today.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 201-488-7070. BYO.

I boiled three large sweet potatoes from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack (a 6.5-pound bag was $5.79), and fistfuls of peeled Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic (a 3-pound bag was $6.39) to mash with extra-virgin olive oil and a multitude of seasoning, including sea salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, red-pepper flakes and curry powder.

Sweet potatoes are less starchy

Sweet potatoes, baked or mashed, are a cornerstone of the no-bread, no pizza, no meat diet I've been following for five years.

They're less starchy than yams or conventional potatoes, and widely available at ShopRite, Trader Joe's and Costco Wholesale.

The first two offer both conventional and organic sweet potatoes, and Trader Joe's has the best deals.

I often eat sweet potatoes for breakfast to supplement prepared food from Korean supermarkets and homemade dishes.

A baked sweet potato accented with Mexican-style salsa is a filling side dish at breakfast. The whole egg omelet is stuffed with reduced-fat Swiss cheese and grated Pecorino Romano, a sheep's milk cheese from Italy.

Another bread substitute is a steaming portion of organic whole-wheat linguine dressed in bottled Victoria Marinara with skinless-and-boneless sardines, part of a satisfying homemade dinner of pasta, salad and red wine.

Earthbound Organic Spring Mix and Sunset-brand Romana Tomatoes dressed in organic extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Comfort food from the Jamaican kitchen includes fried sweet plantains and boiled green banana as foils for the hot peppers in a breakfast of ackee (a bland fruit) and salted Alaskan pollock.

Plating leftovers from the Korean, Jamaican, Chinese and American kitchens for breakfast (clockwise from the top), stewed tofu from H Mart in Little Ferry, homemade ackee and salt fish; crunchy snow peas and water chestnuts from Lotus Cafe; and sweet potatoes and garlic mashed with extra-virgin olive oil. Other breakfasts have included Korean mung-bean pancakes and batter-dipped squid, both from H&Y Marketplace in Ridgefield.

When it comes to food, green -- not greed -- is good

Garlicky sauteed water spinach delivered by Lotus Cafe in Hackensack and plated the next morning with a homemade cheese-and-smoked-wild-salmon frittata and organic brown rice. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

A new buffet restaurant opening soon in my hometown of Hackensack? That leaves me cold.

Eating as much as you can just to get a good deal seems like greed to me, and it can make you feel awful (see previous post).

Now, green is another story. In food, green is good -- even the mold added to blue cheese.

Spinach, bok choy, collard greens, kale -- it's all good.

H Mart and H&Y Marketplace, two chains of Korean supermarkets in Bergen County, are great places to find greens -- as many as 20 are offered in each store.

Baby bok choy and stewed tofu, both from H Mart, served with homemade organic quinoa. The bok choy was on sale for 68 cents a pound.

Chinese takeout is another way to add healthy greens to your diet.

We've switched to delivery from Lotus Cafe in Hackensack after the people who answer the phone at Zen Kitchen in Teaneck tried to add a ubiquitous brown sauce to nearly every dish.

The Lotus Cafe order of sauteed water spinach delivered along with a few other dishes on Friday night was filled with slices of fresh garlic -- one of our favorite preparations.

I brought home fresh baby spinach from a salad bar in the cafe at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, blanched it in boiling water, drained the pan, and added sesame oil and garlic powder. Here, I served it with leftover wild-caught haddock fillets from Costco Wholesale ($8.99 a pound) prepared in coconut milk with sweet pepper, garlic and onion.

Baby bok choy from H Mart with organic brown eggs from Costco Wholesale, above, and haddock in coconut milk over organic quinoa, below. The eggs are from cage-free hens that do not receive hormones or antibiotics.

There is nothing like fresh, leafy collaloo, a spinach-like green, served as a side dish with many a Jamaican meal on that sunny island, but here in New Jersey we have to make do with chopped and canned callaloo in brine (salted water).

This morning, we had callaloo prepared with salted cod fish, sweet pepper, onion and garlic.

Collaloo with salted cod fish, fresh tomato, sweet pepper, onion and garlic, left.

Taking small bites out of the Garden State

Imported from Italy, Organic Whole Wheat Shells from Whole Foods Market's 365 Everyday Value brand are $1.39 a pound at the Paramus store. They are thick and shaped to catch the sauce, in this case bottled marinara with sweet pepper, onion, garlic, anchovies and sardines.

Fresh Icelandic haddock fillets were $8.99 a pound at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. Here, we prepared the wild fish in coconut milk with organic diced tomatoes, sweet pepper, onion and garlic, and served it with a baked sweet potato. Haddock, a member of the cod family, cooks in about 5 to 8 minutes, and flakes beautifully.

I went looking for Kirkland Signature fruit, seed and nut bars and found this: Nature's Bakery Fig Bar in three flavors. They are non-GMO, kosher and dairy free. A 3-pound box with 24 twin packs was $8.59 at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack. I carry snack bars with me so I can skip lunch.

A cart full of favorites from Costco: smoked wild sockeye salmon ($15.59 for 1 pound), Jarlsberg Lite Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese ($8.59 for 2 pounds), sodium-free almonds ($12.99 for a 3-pound bag), fat Persian Limes from Mexico ($4.99 for a 5-pound bag), and Sunset-brand hothouse cucumbers from Canada (2 pounds for $3.49).  

I cooked Japanese buckwheat noodles in Kirkland Signature Organic Chicken Stock, and topped them with chopped kimchi from H&Y Marketplace in Ridgefield and Kirkland Signature Roasted Seasoned Seaweed.

On champagne, coffee, cocoa and more

Champagne and other holiday bubbly at Western Beverages in Hackensack.

Looking over the price for Veuve Clicquot champagne in a sales flier from Total Wine, I wondered if I could beat it at Western Beverages in Hackensack.

Western Beverages is a small liquor store with a limited selection inside the Costco Wholesale warehouse on South River Street, but you don't need to be a Costco member to shop there.

I usually buy a bottle of non-vintage French champagne once a year, and Veuve Clicquot Brut (Yellow Label) is my preferred sparkling wine.

Total Wine in River Edge lists Veuve Clicquot at  $41.17 through Dec. 30, 2012, but I was surprised the same 750ml bottle cost more -- $43.99 -- at Western Beverages.

My bottle of Spanish sparkling wine in the cooler.

Then, I decided I really didn't need a bottle of authentic champagne. 

So I purchased a 750ml bottle of Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut for $8.09 at Western Beverages, compared to $8.17 at Total Wine.

It's a good thing I look at my credit-card receipt before I leave a store, because the Cordon Negro rang up at $8.69, but Western Beverages was happy to refund the overcharge, plus four cents tax.

Still, that's sloppy, and I wonder how many customers before me had overpaid for Freixenet, and didn't realize it.

A pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend was on sale for $9.95.

Hot coffee and warm milk are a great way to start the day.

 

I found a pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee beans on sale for $9.95 -- a discount of $5 -- and asked the woman behind the counter for a Turkish grind.

With a Turkish grind, I get a powder that exposes more of the coffee to hot water in my small, drip coffeemaker and produces a robust brew.

Starbucks Christmas Blend tastes good black -- not a trace of bitterness -- but I usually add warm, foamy non-fat milk to it.

A 2.5 pound canister of Starbucks Hot Cocoa is $13.89.

  

Another Starbucks product -- Hot Cocoa Classic -- is $13.89 at Costco Wholesale.

The canister contains 56 servings for just under 25 cents per serving, not counting the cost of milk.

Salads, fruit and other healthy food on the New Jersey Turnpike.

I didn't think there was much healthy food at the Thomas A. Edison Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike until Monday, when I discovered a refrigerated case with salads, fruit and other nutritious food.

The case is between Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits and Sbarro, which sells pizza and other pricey Italian-American fare.

Only the food court in the northbound lanes is open (between Exits 11 and 12). 
 

How many ways can you say, "Thank you"?

 

If you want to learn how to say "Thank you!" and "How are you?" in different languages, you'll find a lesson above the entrance to H&Y Marketplace in a shopping center on Washington Avenue in Bergenfield.

In almost every way, this Korean supermarket is inferior to any of the H Marts, so the lesson is just about the only reason to go there.

The early bird gets the turkey

A festive display at Whole Foods Market in Paramus.

Boxes of  Spanish clementines were piled high at the Paramus ShopRite.

This morning, on the way home from the gym, I finished the food shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner.

As we've been doing all week, I went to stores early to beat the crowds.

I stopped at the ShopRite in Paramus for another Golden Pineapple ($1.99), a 5-pound box of clementines from Spain ($4.99) and four bottles of 100% sparkling Apple Cider, also from Spain, at the lowest price I've ever seen, 2 for $3.

I also picked up half-gallons of ShopRite lactose-free milk ($3.39 each) and 1.5 quarts of Breyers ice cream ($1.99). 

At the Paramus ShopRite, Lactaid milk was on sale, but not the store brand. What appear to be gallons of Lactaid (bottom shelf) are only 96 ounces, not a full 128 ounces.

 

My next stop was Whole Foods Market, less than a half-mile from the ShopRite.

The store had a festive air, and I saw chestnuts from Italy, Brussels sprouts and other fall items in the produce section.

I headed for cold cases opposite the butcher counter to buy a Niman Ranch Petite Ham, which is boneless and smoked, to supplement the antibiotic-free turkey parts we picked up last week at the Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff.

The ham ($7.99 a pound) is uncured and contains no preservatives, and comes from an animal that was raised on vegetarian feed and never received antibiotics and growth hormones.

At checkout, a woman ahead of me told Whole Foods employees she was going to the poultry farm for her turkey, but would have to wait on line for 2 hours.

I mentioned Goffle Road Poultry Farm is selling duck eggs for $1 each, and the workers said Whole Foods charges 99 cents for a duck egg. 

The front label of a Niman Ranch ham at Whole Foods Market.

  


On Monday, my wife stopped at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack and I returned on Tuesday for farm-raised U-15 Black Tiger Shrimp (4 pounds for $41.99); 3 pounds of sodium-free raw Mexican almonds to roast at home ($12.99); corn and crab chowder, lobster bisque, seedless red grapes, Bartlett pears, organic brown eggs, multi-grain bread, and organic salad mix.

Sunset Gourmet cucumbers at Costco are shorter, but the price is higher ($3.99).

H&Y Marketplace

About 10 days ago, I stopped at H&Y Marketplace, a Korean supermarket on South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, and noticed all of the price signs had the words "Healthy & Young" on them.

That's a stretch.

The floor of the store was worn and torn up in places. Live lobsters were displayed on ice, not in a tank of water.

Produce, prepared foods and other items didn't look as fresh and appetizing as they do at H Mart, the supermarket chain once known as Han Ah Reum.

And the prices for everything at H&Y Marketplace appeared to be slightly higher than at H Mart, and the quantities smaller.

The H Mart in Little Ferry has seen better days, but it's a more pleasant shopping experience than the Bergenfield H&Y Marketplace, as is the freshened Englewood H Mart.


24 Hour Fitness

I've been going to 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus since January, because I get a free gym membership as part of my AARP Part B Medicare health insurance.

And on the way home, I can stop at ShopRite and Whole Food Market.

The gym is a huge, impersonal place, where early morning employees seem more intent on getting large cups of coffee than on doing their jobs.

After my usual 30 minutes on a recumbent bicycle on the upper level of gym, I went over to a paper-towel dispenser so I could wipe down the equipment with a disinfectant spray the gym provides.

Most of the dispensers were empty.

Downstairs, I called over to an employee carrying a large cup of takeout coffee and said most of the "paper dispensers" were empty.

"What's empty?" she replied.

Your head, I thought.