Lifting my spirits at Costco Wholesale

Who knew? A slow cruise down Costco Wholesale's aisles in Hackensack led to the discovery of what is called "the purest salt in the world." Korean-Style Red Pepper Powder, below, is another product that caters to an increasing number of Korean-American shoppers.

More than a foot of snow followed by rain, fog and another sunless day.

I just couldn't get started on Monday, even after a second pot of coffee at mid-afternoon, so I jumped in the car, sure that my brightly lit Costco Warehouse store would lift my spirits.

Bad weather tends to keep Costco customers at home, and there were no lazy shoppers clogging up the entrance to the parking lot as they searched for a spot closest to the door of the Hackensack store.

Bad weather tends to keeps the crowds away.

I didn't have a list, but knew we were out of a few things. I also wanted to pick up fish for dinner. So, I took my time, and walked up and down most of the food aisles.

I've never heard of Himalayan Pink Salt, but liked that the pink, red and white crystals came in their own 13-ounce grinder bottle, great for cooking  ($4.49).

I didn't buy Kirkland Signature Organic Salsa, above, but did pick up fully cooked chickpeas in Asian Indian spices, below. Four, 10-ounce portions were $7.59.

I made sure I picked up a 42-ounce jar of Kirkland Signature Organic Strawberry Spread ($7.49), a pound of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix ($4.99), three half-gallons of Silk Vanilla Soy Milk ($7.39) and 2 pounds of Jarlsberg Light Swiss Cheese ($9.99).

We were out of low-fat organic milk, so I bought three half-gallons for $10.99. 

Two dozen organic brown eggs were $6.99, and Costco is the low-price leader on 3 pounds of bananas for $1.39.

I've never cooked with Kirkland Signature Parchment Paper, but it might be better for the environment than using aluminum foil, which may not be recyclable.

A pound of Kirkland Signature Smoked Alaskan Wild Sockeye Salmon is still $15.39, perfect for omelets or rolled up with a slice of reduced-fat cheese and dipped in mustard for a snack.

In the fish case, I found baccala -- salted Pacific cod -- for $8.99 a pound.

A few other food purchases brought my total to $109.97, but Costco doesn't require a credit-card signature on purchases under $200, up from $100.

Lotus Cafe feast is my calm after the storm

Filet Mignon Casserole with Chestnuts and Cellophane Noodles at Lotus Cafe.

Sizzling Jumbo Shrimp with Asparagus in Sweet White Sauce.

Lotus Cafe in Hackensack is celebrating the Year of the Snake (4711) with a special prix-fixe menu -- a bountiful four-course dinner for $28 per person.

You won't find snake on the Chinese New Year's menu -- which is being served through Feb. 24 -- but the food is seductive, nonetheless.

Late Saturday afternoon, after we had cleared our driveway and sidewalks of more than a foot of snow from a nor'easter, we set out for the unassuming BYO, which is only a couple of miles away.

I brought a chilled bottle of sparkling Spanish white wine that I bought in late December, but didn't open on New Year's Eve.

Fillet of Flounder in Ginger Sauce with Snow Pea Leaves.

Braised Half Tangerine Duck on soft pancakces.

After I popped the cork, the four of us started our meal with an appetizer of Lobster Spring Roll and  5-Spice Chicken Skewer.

I don't eat chicken and asked for two spring rolls (a $2 supplement), but was rewarded with twice as many tender, fresh lobster bits among the vegetables.

The second course was soup, either Pork and Winter Melon Consomme or Seafood Hot and Sour Soup, both delicious.

The special menu offers four entrees, and we ordered one of each. The portions were generous enough to be shared:

Filet Mignon Casserole with Chestnut and Cellophane Noodles, Fillet of Flounder in Ginger Sauce with Snow Pea Leaves, Braised Half Tangerine Duck and Sizzling Jumbo Shrimp with Asparagus in Sweet White Sauce.
 

An appetizer of Lobster Spring Roll and 5-Spice Chicken Skewer.

Seafood Hot and Sour Soup.

Tender Snow Pea Leaves in a bowl of brown rice.

Owner Philip Su personally removed the duck meat from the bones, and plated it on top of thick, soft pancakes -- Peking duck style.
 
I gorged on the beautifully cooked flounder, tender snow-pea leaves and jumbo shrimp, and plucked chestnuts, caramelized tangerine skin, mushrooms, garlic and cellophane noodles from the other entrees.

This was another unsually good, belly busting meal from Lotus Cafe, a small, unassuming restaurant that has been pleasing customers for decades.

Ice Cream Filled Sweet Rice Mochi.

The front of the dining room at Lotus Cafe.

I have two small complaints: The spring roll was deep fried, but not drained properly, and tasted oily. 

I asked for fruit instead of ice cream for dessert, but the restaurant didn't receive its order of lichee and pineapple that day. 

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

BYO, large parking lot. Reservations recommended on weekends.

Related article

• The Symbolism Of A Chinese New Year Eve Dinner

5-minute flounder, pesto frittata, breakfast favorites

Flounder fillets in La Costena-brand Green Mexican Salsa with Della-brand organic brown rice, above, and a second helping without rice, below.

Bottled green Mexican salsa is the perfect medium for cooking fresh fillets of wild-caught fish.

The salsa then doubles as a sauce for side dishes of brown rice or whole-wheat pasta, and can be used the next day to poach an egg to eat with the leftovers.

You don't have to add anything to the medium-spicy salsa -- made from tomatillo, jalapeno peppers, onion, iodized salt and coriander -- though fresh lime juice wouldn't be out of place.

Two brands of Green Mexican Salsa or Salsa Verde are available at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street. Seasoned fish fillets go into the salsa when it starts to bubble, below.

 

Go fish at Costco

My wife picked up flounder fillets at Costco Wholesale for $7.99 a pound.

These fillets are thinner than the wild-caught cod and haddock fillets that are also sold at my Costco in Hackensack, and that means they are ready in about 5 minutes after you put them in the bubbling hot salsa and cover the pan.

You know the fillets are ready when they firm up and turn white, and they continue cooking in the covered pan after you turn off the heat.

I served them with Della-brand Organic Brown Rice with Organic Diced Tomatoes, both available at Costco, that I made separately in an electric cooker.

This frittata is made with reduced-fat cheeses, fresh and sun-dried tomato, and Costco's Basil Pesto. I served it with Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti, below.

Anytime frittata

For a pesto frittata, I mixed three whole eggs, liquid egg whites, shredded Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, low-fat milk and Costco's Organic No-Salt Seasoning.

I poured the mixture into a heated non-stick pan with olive oil and added sliced and sun-dried tomatoes, two slices of reduced-fat Jarlsberg Swiss Cheese and tablespoons of the refrigerated pesto.

I then put the pan under the broiler, on a "low" settting, for 10 minutes until the surface browned and set.  

I cut the frittata into wedges and served it with organic whole-wheat spaghetti in a sweet-pepper sauce, which I heated up in the microwave, and drizzled both with extra-virgin olive oil.

The morning after I made the flounder, I used the salsa to poach an egg in a non-stick pan and served it with leftover fish and brown rice. I ate everything with a spoon. Just wonderful, especially the taste of yolk and rice eaten together.

  

Leftover caramelized sweet plantains, above, went into my breakfast this morning, below, with flounder, stewed pollock, frittata and organic brown rice.

 

Roasted almonds dusted with tumeric, garam masala and cinnamon.

Spiced almonds

We once had a container of pistachios or other roasted nuts in our kitchen for snacks and to offer guests, but we wanted to cut down on our sodium intake.

Costco Wholesale also sells raw almonds without sodium in 3-pound bags, so I started buying them and roasting them at home (Roast/Convection Oven setting, 275 degrees, 1 hour and 15 minutes).

Now, I have started to mix the bland almonds with powdered spices, including Costco's sweet-hot Ground Saigon Cinnamon, and garam masala and tumeric from an Asian Indian grocery.

The 21-item Organic No-Salt Seasoning is coarsely ground and settles to the bottom of the almond container.

Mirrors, signs, floors and more

The French bakery in Englewood has a small retail store filled with delights.

Stopping for baguettes at Balthazar Bakery in Englewood doesn't sound like it would be risky, but on Wednesday I found a broken telephone-pole-mounted mirror at the exit that didn't show approaching buses, trucks or cars.

I had to inch my car out of the small parking lot as I tried to peer around parked cars for traffic bearing down on me on narrow, one-way South Dean Street, which is something of a raceway.

For many years after the wholesale bakery's retail store opened in late 2002, customers took their lives into their hands driving out of the lot.

The round, convex mirror was installed two or three years ago.

I called the bakery today and was assured someone would be sent outside to fix the mirror (214 S. Dean St., Englewood; 201-513-9717).

At Bergen Town Center in Paramus, personal improvement, home improvement; and smoking, drinking and eating fried food are all available at one exit off Route 4 east.

The new sign at Giant Farmers Market in Hackensack is too small for the full name. I prefer to drive out of my way to shop for fresh fish and produce at H Mart in Little Ferry.

 

The floor at Han Yang, a supermarket in Bergenfield, is clean in spots and badly worn in others, above and below. Prices seem higher and produce and prepared food don't look as good as they do at H Mart, the Korean supermarket at the Little Ferry Circle.

Mandu as a lure

Han Yang in Bergenfield is trying to attract new customers with the grand opening of a Mandu Factory inside the Korean supermarket.

Mandu, also spelled "mandoo," are Korean dumplings filled with kimchi, noodles, meat or vegetables.

I spent 30 minutes in the store on Thursday while my son was across the street taking a piano lesson.

The mandu weren't the small dumplings I've eaten in the past, but what one woman referred to as "king mandu" or large, steamed buns. 

I told the woman behind the counter I don't eat meat and she said I could buy the mandu with kimchi, but after she took the money, I asked again, and she said they contained a little pork.

No sale.

The king mandu were $2 each or three for $5.

One intriguing non-food item I saw at the checkout counter was Bamboo Salt Toothpaste from LG, the same Korean company that makes cellphones, TVs and home appliances.

On two visits to Han Yang, I've bought a 5-pound box of Spanish clementines for $5.99 and a large canteloupe for $1.49. Both items were on sale.

On Thursday, the box of Bagu Clementines was $7.99 (433 S. Washington Ave.; 201-384-8288).
  

What do you put in your smoothie?

A three-berry breakfast smoothie, above, with almond butter and low-fat yogurt, below. I also added Tropicana orange juice, juice from half a lime and organic vanilla soy milk.

Editor's note: Today's post discusses smoothies, two great takeout places in Englewood, the Paramus ShopRite and what's in those coffee pods.

I bought 4 pounds of frozen wild blueberries and another bag with three frozen berries from Costco Wholesale -- blackberries, raspberries and blueberries -- and started making smoothies in an old blender.

Other ingredients have included orange juice, low-fat yogurt, almond butter, lime juice, low-fat milk and soy milk.

I forgot that I had black chia seeds in the refrigerator I could have used.  

Pure, 100% apple juice would be another good ingredient, as would fresh fruit, including bananas and strawberries.

 

Cheese, bread and meat samples at Jerry's Gourmet & More in Englewood. The dark Mountain Gorgonzola from Italy, bottom left, is a powerful cheese.

A small mountain of butter for croissants at Balthazar Bakery in Englewood.

Englewood food

On the way home from Englewood on Wednesday, I stopped at Balthazar Bakery at 214 S. Dean Street for crispy baguettes.

Then, I continued on South Dean for about a quarter of a mile and went into Jerry's Gourmet & More for an appetizer of free cheese samples and three complete, restaurant-quality Meals To Go ($7.99 or $5.99 each after 4).

The samples included a powerful Mountain Gorgonzola and a melt-in-your mouth buffalo-milk mozzarella.

One of the dinners -- entree, pasta, vegetable and salad -- included deliciously light potato gnocchi in a light tomato sauce.

The baguette from Balthazar -- still only $2 -- is a "living" loaf of bread.

The crust is crispy in reverse proportion to the humidity, so the two loaves I picked up on Wednesday shattered under the knife at home.

I'm on a no-bread diet, but allowed myself the guilty pleasure of two "heels," the ends of the slender loaf, with my dinner salad.

The sign said $2.99, but the Golden Pineapple I bought rang up at $2.50.

Low-fat and regular Goat Milk at the ShopRite in Paramus.

Lactose-free milk

Lactaid-brand milk is priced higher than other non-organic, lactose-free milks, but it was on sale for $3.49 a half-gallon at the ShopRite in Paramus, only 10 cents more than the store brand.

When I got it home, I compared a teaspoon of it to ShopRite's lactose-free milk, and could taste no difference.

Lactaid usually costs $3.99 a half-gallon. ShopRite's lactose-free milk is $3.39, and rarely goes on sale.

I have yet to find any place serving coffee -- whether Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts or McDonald's -- that has lactose-free milk.

At the Paramus ShopRite, I also picked up a Golden Pineapple for $2.50 and two 1-pound packages of strawberries for $4.

Turkey Hill Rum Raisin Ice Cream was on sale for $2.50. 

At Target in Hackensack, I read the ingredients on one of those coffee pods that seem to be all the rage, and ran for the exit. See photo below.

A package of Cafe Caramel coffee pods.

H Mart helps me make a quick dinner

Prepared Korean food with homemade, stir-fried collard greens.

Dinner on Monday night was stewed, wild-caught Alaskan pollock; thin, pan fried slices of whiting, stewed tofu and collard greens -- all from H Mart in Englewood.

The Korean supermarket has a terrific selection of prepared food, fresh fish and an array of fresh greens for stir-frying.

The stewed pollock and tofu are made with red pepper, but the whiting is so bland it needs gochujang, a red-pepper paste in a squeze bottle, and it has a few small but annoying bones.

Pan-fried whiting with gochujang, tofu and store-bought guacamole.

Pan-fried whiting, left, and a variety of Korean pancakes.

H Mart's kimchi selection, but I prefer to buy Arirang Kimchi where it is hand-made a couple of blocks away at 191 W. Englewood Ave. in Engflewood.

On Sunday, my wife picked fresh, wild-caught whole sea bass for $5.99 a pound at the Englewood H Mart at 25 Lafayette Ave. in Englewood.

I seasoned mine, rubbed the skin with olive oil and fresh lime juice and roasted it in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Reduced-fat cheese, lettuce and smoked wild salmon.

On Monday, I picked up bulgogi marinade and two heads of red-leaf lettuce for a Korean barbecue dinner the meat eaters in the family were planning to have.

My wife thinly sliced free-range Nature's Reserve whole beef tenderloin for filet mignon, which she is marinating before cooking it on a stove-top grill. 

The cooked beef slices are dipped in gochujang and wrapped in lettuce, along with rice and kimchi, before they go down the hatch. 

I sometimes grill shrimp as a substitute for the beef. 

You can use lettuce wraps for other dishes, such as canned fish salad with diced celery and apples, Dijon mustard, lime juice and ground cumin.

Or just use lettuce to wrap slices of reduced-fat cheese and smoked wild salmon with whole-grain Dijon mustard. 

H Mart's stewed tofu and pan-friend whiting are $6.99 each, collard greens were 99 cents a pound and stewed tofu usually is $4.99.

Lettuce wraps with canned fish salad.