Thursday, December 23, 2010

Nut Mixes And Blue Soda At Caspian Market

Fresh nuts are an easy way to introduce yourself to the Caspian Market -- a guaranteed find and an excuse to check out the yogurt, grains, meats and other Middle Eastern items at the Ellicott City grocery.

Right in the center of the store, Caspian sells two bulk nut mixes.  You scoop as much as you want into a plastic bag.  The mixes beat out any packaged mixes that I have bought at places like Trader Joe's -- and I love TJ's.

Caspian's nuts are so fresh.  Huge nuts in a mix that has a half doen varieties including pistachios, almonds, pecans, dried fruit and more.  Normally, I avoid walnuts because they can be bitter, but Caspian's mix was sweet from the walnuts to the Turkish delight.  That's right -- one of the mixes comes with a few bursts of candy among the nuts.  It's a delicious snack, but it is classy enough that you could fill a bowl for a party.

If you go to Caspian, you must try the Fard pistachio nougat.  Those candies remain one of my favorite HowChow discoveries.  Also check out the saffron ice cream.


And does anyone recommend Fanta Shokata?  It's a shockingly blue soft drink that Wikipedia says is flavored with elderflower blossoms.  They say its available in Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia.  Cool bottle shape.  Worth buying?

1 comment:

Barbi said...

Hi HowChow, Finally checked out Mimi's Kabob tonight with the family. You are right, great place to take the kids, my son (3 years old) couldn't get enough of the cheese pizza. We had the chicken and beef kabobs as well as the Mantu. I have to say the Mantu at Maiwand is better, more mint and lentils. Mimi's was missing the lentils, which I seem to enjoy and the mint was barely coming through. The Chicken was just as good, if not better than Maiwand, but the beef wasn't as good as Maiwand. Rice was ok, next time I will sub out the salad for the pumpkin or another side dish. Overall, good, but I prefer Maiwand. Mimi's is around the corner from our house, so it will still be kept on our list of places to visit. Thanks for the recomendation, as always, we love your advice!