I was in the Fresh Market a few days ago and happened to see some small eggplant that were smaller than most, but just the size that I think is “right.”. I took one of them and walked over to a nearby scale and weighed it. It was about a half a pound. Since they were $1.99 per pound, I thought it was worth a dollar.

I love a good, battered, fried eggplant with a little tomato sauce, but I’ve never been able to fix this at home and I have tried several times. It has turned out bitter, or mushy, but nothing like the good experiences I’ve experienced a few times is a few different restaurants (I guess mostly or all Italian restaurants.). Salting the cut eggplant is supposed to leach out some moisture and reduce the bitterness and it did, but the finished product still turned out limp. *I have put the cut eggplant in a blender and made a sort of eggplant cake, and that was good, but it was also “heavy.”

One thing I noticed were some bright packages of “Garden of Eatin'” corn tortilla chips. I recognized the brand because I had bought some “Garden of Eatin'” Blue Corn Tortilla Chips at Wegman’s. Sorry, I may have been thinking of the Wegman’s “Get Dippin’ Blue Corn Tortilla Chips” that are actually shaped like little scoops. I didn’t see any blue corn chips or taco shells at the Fresh Market.

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There are several other items I like from the Fresh Market.

One is the “Wasabi Soy Cashews” and I bought a package of these, but the Wasabi Soy flavor packet I get from Amazon is more pungent so I buy the cheaper cashews at Food Lion and add the powder later.

I also like the Okra Chips. These are the actual okra pods which have been processed by cooking them at low temperature at high pressure for a time. The process removes most of the moisture and you are left with a brittle, dry, flavorful pod.

And, I also like the “Mixed Summer Vegetable Chips” which are probably produced similarly to the Okra Chips. They have a few okra chips, some tomato chips (my favorite) and both green and yellow squash chips, although the green chips might actually be zucchini chips. This mix doesn’t include beet nor green bean chips, and I don’t think either of those are as flavorful, even though I like sliced or whole beets in a sweet vinegar base.

Not this time, but in the past I’ve seen and bought some really good looking Red Swiss Chard and put it into a soup or cooked it up with some Borlotti/Cranberry/Roman beans. Some grocers have even labeled it as “Ruby Chard,” which I think is more poetic.

Oh, and I’ve bought Nueske’s Smoked Liver Pate, assorted cheeses, and I like several items off the olive bar. Roasted garlic, Castleveltrano olives and assorted pickled peppers.

ANNASSIDE: I fixed some red cabbage slaw, with onion and Mung bean sprouts (Dukes Mayo & some Half-n-Half & Splenda). I also made a simple dish of diced English Cucumber with Spicy Chili Crisp, Toasted Sesame Oil and Red Wine Vinegar & Splenda. I love the flavor of the Spicy Chili Crisp with a little sweetener. It makes a bunch of different things really interesting.

I finished the diced English Cucumber, but was left with the Spicy Chili Crisp liquid so I mixed in a little of the red cabbage slaw. It was good. I mixed in a little more cabbage slaw, and it continued to be good. This is something that I would repeat.

Oh, and I had these two sides with some of the HT Rotisserie Chicken that I had heated up in the microwave.

I have put the Spicy Chili Crisp on steamed green cabbage and steamed cauliflower, and like it that way. Originally, I was looking for something to spice up my stir fry meals, and when I found this, it took control. I love it straight out of the jar, and I like it on many, many, many different things. [end]