CS - Wednesday, June 20, 1984 - Nerth Shore News

A grand selection for Madam

NCE IN my life, many years ago, I was
taken to one of those ritzy dress salons
where it is unthinkable that Madam should

be put to the inconvenience of ‘‘trying on’’ and
possibly mussing her hair-do. Rather, discreet in-

quiries elicit Madam’s needs,
dispatched to parade hats,

Madam ’s approval.

For a young woman used
only to the options offered by
Eaton’s catalogue —
maroon, dark green or
brown! — it was a heady
experience.

1 was reminded of this
brief, frolic in the lap of lux-
ury when invited to visit the
new improved show-room of
foodstuffs, drinks and
gadgets belonging to Na-
tional Importers, in their
premises on Main Street.
Most of my grocery-shopping
is done just as yours is done;
from a list, same old stuff,
soap for dishes, stewing-beef
and onions, margarine, oil,
foil, maybe a new rubber

and models are
dresses, coats for

spatula.

Once in a long while |
think | can afford the time to
visit Robson Street, or
Powell Street, Commercial
around Third Avenue, or
Famous Foods, where | can
revel in label-browsing, and
sniff and caress and query
and indulge my eyes and nose
in unusual ingredients.

But this big, bright display
room, ranging through basics
to the extraordinary, offers
Powell Street, Commercial
and Robson Strasse all in one
package, as it were. German

chocolate, deep sea snails
from Chile, vanilla beans
from Madagascar, Indian

chutneys, and edible rice
paper from Holland. Look
here at Kahlua Coffee can-

the kitchen
ranger

“by Eleanor
Godley

dies from the U.S. of A.,
Spanish pimientos,
Australian soy beans and
Irish fruit’ preserves. Korea
sends us chocolate covered
ants! If all it takes is Pool’s
Chow Chow to cure your at-
tack of New Zealand
homesickness, there it is.
Cheeses, curries, pickles and
wafers, cough candies and
the kind of gravy browning
your old mum in Portsmouth
used to use — it’s all here.
Of course it all finds its
way to your grocer’s shelves,
where he corralls them in the
‘“‘Gourmet’’ or ‘‘import”’
section. But unless experience
leads one, or one is recklessly
daring, the concentration of
bottles and jars is quite
bewildering. I felt particular-
ly indulged, therefore, to be
allowed to look, to be given
things to taste and try, to ex-

amine products I’d_ never
heard of.
For a simple one, it was

news to me that Fort Langley

is marketing a mineral water
under the label ‘‘Silvan’’,
which is available in the
natural state, or slightly car-
bonated (my choice), or with
a crisp lemon-lime flavor.
And zero calories. Their
sodium content is also very
low, good news for restricted
diets.

New to me too was bottled
garlic, one with a Canadian
label, one from our
American cousins. It’s Just
finely minced garlic stored in
soybean oil, and you're guid-
ed by the statement that half
a teaspoonful is equal to one
clove. It makes adding garlic
very simple indeed, though |
am such a dedicated garlic
user | am not yet ready to say
it’s ‘tas good as’’.

An all-purpose seasoning,
called ‘‘Cavender’s’’, | urge
you to try. Best get the or-
dinary small shaker first, but
once you have tried it and
been captivated by its capaci-
ty to complement a wide

mibrar am ALY dh

range of food, you’ll pro-
bably want the large size.

The label describes it as
Greek, but don’t restrict it to
your moussaka and
avgolemono because its thir-
teen ingredients can put the
finishing touch to almost
anything, from eggs to fried
fish and tomato salad.

But the best of all was the
coffee — at last, as they say
in the ad, I’ve found my
game. Eduscho, with the ac-
cent on the ‘‘U’’, comes from
West Germany, and provides
the drink that all other cof-
fees promise. The decaf-
feinated, which has been br-
inging joy to my mornings, 1s
as rich and dark and smooth
and full of flavor as ever one
could wish. It’s more expen-
sive, but for someone who
drinks coffee but once a day
for breakfast, the pleasure of
the perfect cup justifies the
extra cost.

Madam was,
least, delighted.

to say the