The quest

There are some things in columbus i really can't live without.  In order to survive in cincy, i will need to find reliable sources of the following:

1) Celestial Seasonings Moroccan Vanilla Red Tea - Surprisingly hard to find.  In c-bus, i get it at the giant eagle in marble cliff.  they have the best boxed-tea selection in the city.  Luckily the kroger on short vine seems to carry most of this stuff, so one down!

2) Herdez brand chile verde.  The jarred stuff is preferable but cans will do.  On the other hand, not finding it will force me to learn to make my own, which may not be such a bad thing. 

3) Super Cheap Avocados

A dollar a piece year-round at Las Maravillas, on 5th at Forsythe (near Victorian's Midnight Cafe).  Its also where i get the salsa above, and my steady supply of garlic, cilantro, and lime, just steps from my house and open till 10 pm.  Also their tomatillos, jalapenos, and poblanos are criminally cheap, although they don't always look great.  The cilantro, however, they keep in cups of water so its always nice and fresh.  Why would you order off a dollar menu when you could have an avocado with fresh garlic, lime, and cilantro for next to nothing within steps of home?

4) Oakvale farms Aged Gouda

A central ohio dairy farm with a stall at the north market where you can buy direct on saturday mornings from the ppl who milk the cows.  Also you can buy it all the time from curds & whey, the specialty cheese shop inside the building.  Plus they sell it all over the city, like at the whole foods in UA.  Their website says its also available at the whole foods in Cincy, plus at jungle jims.  looks like i'm only gonna get my fix about twice a year.  and forget about the habanero gouda, aleks's fav.  She's gonna be totally out of luck.  i'll have to bring some with me!

5) Eastern european food

and no, jewish delis dont count.  there is apparently a "baltic" restaurant in downtown blue ash (my old haunt) but the reviews are not all that terribly good.  our usual supplier here is the polish guys that run the poultry place in the north market.  

6) Tofu skin spring rolls

Honestly, i have really no delusions i will ever be able to find these in cincy.  my usual supplier is coco's grill, a chinese restaurant on 5th next door to the liquor store, the mattress store, the jimmy johns, and the burger king, near olentangy.  They definitely have mushrooms and cabbage in them, but i'm really not sure what else.  And the tofu skin?  You would never guess in a million years.  bears more in common to chicken skin than tofu (saying that actually turns my stomach a bit cuz i'm veggie, but its the truth).  They come three to an order, and i always get three orders.  they are best when you let them cool for about 15 or 20 minutes before you eat them.  they are like heroin-you can't freebase just one.  Plus those guys can occasionally be convinced to deliver if they have an extra guy around, making them the ONLY chinese restaurant i've found in columbus that delivers to me.  oooo and where am i gonna find singapore rice noodles?  damn!

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7) Bento Go-Go

there is no specific dish i can't live without, although their vegan curry is going to be rough to not have around.  its just bento as a whole--the aloe drinks, the bento boxes, their ONE flavor of bubble tea.  plus the super cheap sushi.  i guess some mixture of yum yum restaurant on race, and the new sushi conveyor place will have to do.  but what about miso?  or the egg flower soup at amelea (korean, down the street)?  thats what they call their egg drop soup, and it has sesame oil and mushrooms in it.  yum!

8) Jeni's

ok so graeters is my first love, and nothing can ever replace it.  jeni's is just a totally different thing.  where am i going to get pear riesling?  cucumber yogurt?  pistachio honey?  cherry lambic?  luckily i can get it shipped now--something tells me that's what i'll be asking for for my birthday....

there are a few things that closed that i'm hoping to be able to replace also--gourmet turkish food, and gourmet korean food.  sure you can find the fast food versions, but i miss both "turkish cuisine" and "korean restaurant"  and no, i'm not making up those names.  those were the real names of my two favorite, and now defunct, restaurants in the city.  they were both holes in the wall between campus and hound dog's on high street.  some of the best meals i've ever had.  maybe there is something acceptable in cincy.....