Wednesday, January 5, 2022

We Are Going Where?

 On Christmas Eve, we were visiting our youngest daughter Katy in Austin. She was up early preparing for a big dinner party that evening. She said.”come on Mom, I need to go to Central Market”. Don’t know about where you live, but grocery stores on Christmas Eve here can be a nightmare! Although it is a favorite place for my husband Tom. He has always trekked to the grocery store Christmas Eve. He thinks it’s festive! I should have sent him..

Maybe you have never been to a Central Market…It is a Texas gourmet specialty store owned by HEB, which is a family owned Corporation. I don’t know how to explain it. It is a treat to the senses. You walk in the door and you are met by display cases full of chef prepared ready to eat food. Set up like a European market, you will find thousands of cheeses, wines, bakery items, flowers, prime cuts of meats and extremely hard to find produce, amongst the aisles of groceries.There is a place to dine inside and out and several nights a week a band on the patio. Did I mention their cooking school?


Here in  Ft. Worth, it is my closest grocery store. Tom and I go there several times a week for a cup of chef prepared soup at lunch. 

Sorry I do get a bit too wordy. Back to the trip with Katy…to her Central Market.

The thing that shocked me the most (other than the crush of people) was the fact that they are growing their own mushrooms! Because of the crowd I didn’t have time to read what kind of mushroom this is. One of my followers can tell us though, as her husband is a world renowned mushroom expert.
This case had tiny ones,
and this case had ones that were so strange …That I had to know more. 
So here ya go.. it's called Lion’s Mane. Have you ever heard of them? Not me!
Anyway…I actually enjoyed going to the store with her, and was amazed how efficiently they  handled the crowd. If you are ever in Texas, check to see if there is a Central Market. I consider it a tourist attraction!

9 comments:

  1. Oh, I wish we had something like that here! I would love it! And I have researched mushrooms to try to ID some we've seen and I remember seeing the Lion's mane...how interesting! Fun post! Wish I was there!

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  2. Dearest Janey,
    What a surprise and we sure WISH we had such a Central Market chain here in Georgia.
    Well, they don't totally grow those mushrooms but they must receive those inoculated, pressed blocks (sawdust or something similar) from a grower. Than they let them develop the fruit bodies with some air handling system for humidity and temperature control.
    Your top photo shows the King Oyster or Pleurotus Eryngii and they come in different colors.
    The other one is Lion's Mane or Hericium erinaceus.
    Pieter captured a good photo of them in Taiwan on his trip as a delegate of People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.
    Might have to do a short post about the two species and linking back to this post... πŸ˜‰
    Did wait till Pieter got home from the dentist so he could reply!
    Hugs,
    Pieter & Mariette

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    1. Thank you Pieter and Mariette always nice to have an expert in my pocket…as they say πŸ™‚

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    2. You're quite welcome Janey and I'm working on a post for January 12 in which I've linked this post.

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  3. We have a huge farmer's market in our town whose fame has spread far and wide. There is a man who attends who also grows lots of different types of fungi. I do recognise the first as being Oysters as he grows them too.

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  4. Farmers markets are always nice to visit. We have a weekly travelling open air market here with all kind of fresh products.

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  5. I will put that on my list of places to visit. It sounds wonderful. I have never heard of that strange mushroom. Our gourmet market is AJ's and I shop there quite often. They have great meat and fish.

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  6. The thought of going to Central Market on Christmas Eve gives me heart palpitations! I hate crowds. Btw.. we went to a restaurant in Mexico that was fabulous. They are opening a restaurant in FW. The name was Quince. I don't know whether that will be the name of the new one. Happy New Year, dear Janey. I hope to meet you in person if this darn covid goes away.

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