Fungus Among Us

Except for passing hurricanes, it's been a pretty dry fall. With every sprinkle, however, mushrooms pop up, the most varied we've ever seen...

Show-stopper

H-Mart

We were in the Bay area many months, 2010-2022--visiting daughter Rebecca, grand-parenting Penelope, basing ourselves for western travels, locking-down for COVID--and never found an Asian market we liked. There was a small one near Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park--it had everything--but then it closed by 2014 or so. We never found anything else that had the array of SE Asian ingredients we wanted. I even resorted to pinching kaffir lime leaves from the local nursery. But in Cary, Rebecca alerted us to the H-Mart, a mile from us, which turned out to be absolutely the largest Asian market we have yet encountered in the US. It even had kaffir lime leaves, although pretty browned and spoiled, but it was still an experience to behold here in NC. Turns out it is part of a South Korean chain, which explains its emphasis on Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese products...and its relative lack of emphasis on Indian, SE Asian, and actual Chinese products. Nonetheless, it was by far the best Asian market we've seen outside of Asia. And not without its curiosities and other items of interest.

Gotta have durian, even frozen; sine qua non

Enormous produce section

Sugar cane

Banana leaves!

Jujubes

Cow parts

C

Shhh...be vewy, vewy quiet...

Assorted bloods

Pork uterus...pork bung...stir-fry, sure, but the wine
pairing could be tricky...

Excellent source of potassium; does not taste like
chicken

Long aisle of cooking utensils, apparati

Entire aisle of seaweeds

Yum

Gotta try this

Gift boxes of dried anchovies

More seafood than probably all the Teeters of Raleigh combined...

Cary Incidents And Curiosities; On Foot

Cary is a suburb of North Carolina's capital, Raleigh, a city of a million or so. Cary itself is a suburb on steroids, sprawling over much of western Wake county, full of upscale residential areas, golf courses, public parks, shopping centers, business parks, etc...the Research Triangle, with Durham and Chapel Hill nearby. It is one of the greenest places we've lived, mature evergreens and deciduous trees everywhere, lining all the major thoroughfares, pocket parks and ponds here and there, all of it highlighted in the spring and summer with crepe myrtles, azaleas, and such. A nice place to live, although we both miss our urban European lifestyle.

Incredible as it may seem, and despite warnings, we are suburbanites without a car. Sans voiture. So far, this has been okay. We are committed walkers...6-7 miles a day...we enjoy the savings and certainly don't miss the many hassles of vehicle ownership. Despite the sprawl, we can get to most anything we want, on foot. Within a mile or so (as the horseflies) there are Teeters, H-Mart, Publix, Lowes foods, Fresh Market, Target, Trader Joe's and more. A neighborhood Walmart is a ten minute (free) bus ride away. Costco and Wegman's are a bit out of our range, but we could easily get an Uber or such if needed. Since we are in pre-Death Cleaning Mode we are not buying anything much beyond consumables. Anyhow, below are some incidents and curiosities from our first few months here. Á pied.

As noted in a previous post, Bond Park is only a few 
hundred feet away, and it and its trails and greenway
are our default hiking destination

In the middle of a major tech center, the area's population is quite
diverse...here we are in Bond Park watching a Commonwealth
baseball game, AKA cricket; for my personal insights into this
fascinating sport, read this

We have seen squirrels, rabbits, and even a few
deer in the park; this is our first and only copperhead
snake; so far

My inner southerner is enjoying the plentiful grits, a couple times
a week with breakfast, and with shrimp and andouille sausage...

Cary's extensive hiking and biking trail system; with
my newly rescued and restored bike I hope to see more
of it this spring

Rebecca, Penelope, and Vicki about to leave to go see Wicked in
Durham

After several weeks, we pooped out of the tai
chi and line dancing courses at the Senior Center...
too demanding, and we hate being on other peoples'
schedules

On one of our walks, Penelope spotted a feral kitten on the
apartment complex grounds and attempts to coax it toward her; 
later, with the assistance of animal control and her dad, she
captured it in a cage and saw it off to the adoption center; and
gave it its name, "Ginger"

August and September were pretty warm here...the nearby golf
course provided fans on some of the greens

We had a nice 60th anniversary-of-our-first-meeting dinner at the
Academy Street Bistro...

Vicki's duck; I had an ample bouillabaise

The highlight for me was my dessert sambuca, con la mosca

At the Cary Depot/Amtrak station; although outwardly stiff, the
locals are very friendly people; lots of outdoor sculpture...

Autumnal Abomination...please tell me they're not really making
this in France

Forks in the road are a commonplace worldwide, but
only here have we encountered a fork on the sidewalk

Out in the woods, a pillbox or possibly a dolmen?

Still processing this one...

And this

Yes, they do Halloween here, big-time

At a nearby "European" supermarket; we had high hopes, but 
nearly everything was labeled in Cyrillic; the shopping bag display
sort of explains

Penelope has gotten into jewelry-making and sales at several local
junior entrepreneurial fairs...making some serious bucks and also
winning several 'best in show' prizes

My study of French has not won any prizes, but
I am persistent, here extending my Duolingo streak
to 665 days; with appropriate attire, furniture, and
beverage