Our food day

Today was a good day for food.

Our first stop today was at Lina's Italian Market (2202 Centre St NE). We love Lina's but don't go there much since we moved to suburbia. We loaded up on supplies like cheeses, Italian bread crumbs, saffron, and risotto. We also got some goat cheese flavored with star anise and pepper, some serano ham, and some pastries we did not care for at all. But if you don't try, you never know.

Then we went downtown to Chinatown. We went to the Golden Dragon Bakery for some ham and green onion buns, to Can Fung Market (215 1 St SE) for dried noodles, curry sauce, wonton wrappers and fried onions. And a stop at Chuen May Food (227 1 St SE) for some frozen dim sum - pork spring rolls, chicken dumplings, and crab claws stuffed with crab, prawns and pork.

We were in a bit of a hurry, since all these stores are a long way from home. But when we were at Chuen May, Scott noticed a Vietnamese Sub shop next door that had a line up out the door. And the line just kept getting longer! Neither of us had ever had a Vietnamese sub before, and it looked like we wouldn't today either, as we had no time to wait. But on our way to our last stop, we came across Trung Nguyen Vietnamese Submarine (#10-132 3 Ave SE), a very cute and teeny shop. We decided to split a sub before heading home. Scott grabbed one of the 3 tables, and I ordered a Satay Chicken sub and a root beer from the very charming man running the register. After confirming with me twice that I did not have a peanut allergy, he asked me if I wanted my sub "loaded" with carrot, cilantro, cucumber, hot peppers and onions. Sounded good to me! The tab for the sub and pop? $5.50! After a less than 5 minute wait, our sub was brought to our table. After our host re-arranged our purchases, and made sure that we had no peanut allergy (why would someone with a peanut allergy order satay in the first place?), we were left alone to eat what was probably the BEST sub I have ever had in my life. The bread was crusty and warm, the chicken was tender and coated in a spicy satay sauce. The addition of the carrot, onion, cuke, and hot peppers was SO good. We wolfed that sub down in no time flat, and it was not a small sub. As you should always do when you have an amazing meal, we made sure to thank the (husband/wife? co-workers?) before leaving and tell them how great the food was.

Sometimes it's nice to get a reminder that great food does not need to be fancy or expensive to be wonderful.