Pink Noodles and Super Mayonnaise: Shopping at the Sunrise Mart

In the movie Hook, (yes, that Robin Williams debacle) there is a scene where Peter and the Lost Boys sit around a table with rumbling tummies and empty plates dreaming up the delicious treats they wish they could be eating. Their imaginations are so strong that it isn't long before the plates are piled high with cakes and meats and strangely colored porridges that they wolf down and flick across the table at each other as lost boys are wont to do. I've been thinking about that scene quite a bit lately since I started browsing the magnificent food por(n)tal, Tastespotting, during my lunch hour. I find myself wishing that, like Robin and the lost boys, I could will my average work cafeteria meals into some of the incredible dishes that stream by on that site.

I go there for inspiration, ideas, and pure entertainment. I'm completely dazzled by some of the images I see pop up and am quite proud to have had a couple of my own (mediocre) photos included in the line-up. While browsing the site a few days ago, my eyes were immediately drawn to a gorgeous bouquet of pink noodles. I followed the link to Cake Wardrobe's blog where I read her post about finding these ume plum udon noodles among the racks at a cool Japanese grocery store located around the corner from St. Mark's Place. Her descriptions were so exciting that I instantly decided to pay the market a visit.

I went on Sunday. After brunch with a friend in Chelsea, I made my way east towards the village. I had very vague directions, (only the name of the store and that it was "near St. Mark's Place.") and so it took a bit of wandering before I finally stumbled around a corner and found myself at the entrance to the Sunrise Mart.

The store is located at 4 Stuyvesant Street, right above the St. Mark's Bookshop. You have to take an elevator to the second floor and the moment the doors open, it's as if you've left New York. The store bustles with people: older Japanese men and women shopping slowly, NYU hipsters loading up on candy and fresh sushi, and a disproportionately high number of mom's pushing baby strollers (seriously, it's like a Japanese Park Slope in there). Even though I told myself that I was only there to buy some of those pink ume noodles, I somehow found myself reaching for a basket and checking to make sure they accept credit cards (they do). The basket filled up quickly, as I indiscriminately tossed in anything that struck my fancy. As everything is labeled in Japanese, it's almost impossible to know what you're buying without reading the mandatory English nutritional labels stuck over the back of everything (thank you FDA), but even then it's kind of a guessing game.

I love puzzles, so it was just the thing to get the ideas flowing. "I'll make green tea ice cream!" I thought as I threw in a pricey bag of ground Matcha powder. I followed the Matcha with a pound of ginger root, a bag of fiery-looking dried chiles, some rice flour and red bean paste to make daifuku (mochi cakes filled with red bean paste--an idea inspired by the cute little PacMan-like mochi on Peko's Kyoto Foodie blog). Never having actually tasted daifuku before, I made sure to pick out a plump little premade one from the fridge to serve as a guide. I also grabbed a little package of quail eggs (a dozen for two dollars--Whole Foods sells them at 1 dollar each), a package of pink noodles, and a little box of gorgeous cherry blossom tea that "blooms" when you pour hot water over it. From the snack aisle I picked out a box of chocolate candy sticks and a plastic container full of teriyaki flavored nori snacks. The item that I am most excited about, however, was found in the refrigerated section in the back: a squooshy squeeze bottle of "Super Mayonnaise." Super! Mayo! And it comes with a star tip! I'm already giddy about the possibilities...


The Details:

Sunrise Mart
Japanese Specialty Foods

4 Stuyvesant Street, Second floor
New York City, NY 10003

Hours: 11a-10p

Ginger Tea with Nutmeg

In high school I used to lure my best friends Vanessa and Sara over to my house with promises of comforting foods and home baked sweets. An obsessive (if still amateur) cook by the age of 14, I was constantly making a mess of my mother's kitchen with one concoction after another. While my brother and father were the usual guinea pigs for these experiments, I occasionally bestowed the honor upon my friends.

"So do you want to come over? I made chili last night," I'd say as we stood in our perpetually drooping knee socks waiting for NJ Transit bus #163 to pick us up outside our school.

Though undoubtedly a tempting offer, the girls always hesitated because they knew that accepting could potentially mean having to take a second bus home afterwards if they could not find another ride. Sara rarely needed more than a promise that she could nap on my bed to accept. (Always a remarkably sleepy girl, we nicknamed her "the dormouse" after the mouse in Alice in Wonderland who was always falling asleep in strange places.)

Vanessa, however, sometimes needed a bit more coaxing. Fortunately, I quickly discovered the one thing that would always get a yes:

"I'll make you ginger tea with nutmeg..."

To this day, the promise of ginger tea is often enough to lure Vanessa from her apartment in Queens to mine in Harlem.

Ginger Tea with Nutmeg
I learned this recipe from my mother who used to make it for me whenever I was feeling sick. This spicy tea is easy to make, and because of the strength of the root, can last you up to two days as long as you keep adding fresh water to the pot. Ginger Tea is perfect for sharing with friends on a cold winter's night and is definitely worth the long trip home (even on public transportation).

Ingredients

1/2 cup thinly sliced or chopped fresh ginger. (No need to peel.)
5 cups of water
brown sugar or honey to taste
milk*
nutmeg

1. Combine the water and fresh ginger in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 to 45 minutes, being careful not to let the water evaporate. Note that the longer you simmer, the stronger and spicier the tea.

2. When the tea reaches your desired strength, remove from heat and strain into big mugs.

3. Sweeten each serving to taste, and pour in just enough milk to turn it white. Finish off with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg and serve.


*If you would like to skip the milk, a squeeze of lemon mixed in with the honey will
serve to brighten the flavor.