Grand Central Market

I explored the Los Angeles public transportation today to get down to Grand Central Market, a mostly Latino Market in the heart of downtown. It took me two buses and a subway train, but I think in terms of sanity and cost of gas, I still came out ahead (a $3 all day pass bought me freedom from road rage and time to read a book).

After looking around a little, I settled on deep fried scallops and deep fried fish from Ana Maria's for my two tacos. Huge, and only $2 each. One is enough for a light lunch, though I suspect the non-seafood selections are even more filling because they can afford to put more meat on a taco than scallops.

Everything at Ana Maria's looked good, including deep fried whole fish. The drink in the corner is my juice blend from the smoothie stand: it's fresh squeezed carrot, beet, pomegranate, and pineapple juices. If only they'd had sugar cane. Sugar cane + carrot juice is a Taiwanese night market favorite of mine.

On the other side of the counter were big bowls of ceviche and a bar of six or seven kinds of raw seafood ready for different preparations.

I didn't know that selective cannibalism was a widespread problem in Los Angeles, but I do think it's an act to be abhorred rather than pitied. When tacos at Grand Central Market are $2 each, there's no reason to eat your grandmother with the bad hip.

Dinner was quickly thrown together since I got back later than usual. Oden is a Japanese hot pot made with a base of chicken stock, sake, sugar, hondashi, sesame seeds, and soy sauce. The ingredients usually include daikon, various kinds of tempura, han pen (fish cakes, but made from shark--incredibly tender and fluffy), seaweed, and my favorite--tofu skin purses stuffed with unsweetened mochi. Aren't they adorable?