Omari's Blog

I am home in Denver for Christmas.

While in DC, occasionally there are items I want from supermarkets that are somewhat obscure. For instance, I like popcorn. I make it on the stove in a pot, just like my dad used to do (apparently my mom has now assumed the popcorn-making duties from my dad.) Popcorn is perfect with popcorn salt--just finely ground salt, which sticks to the kernels. Ordinary table salt is too coarse; instead of sticking to the popcorn, it bounces around it and sinks to the bottom of the bowl.

I could not find popcorn salt in any DC supermarket.

Another thing I needed recently was malted milk powder. "Cook's Country" magazine had an interesting recipe for homemade pancake mix--I almost never buy boxed mixes from any store, as buying them makes me feel like a failure. I will admit, however, that there are some boxed products that I cannot (yet) replicate in my kitchen. My chocolate cake is much better than anything that comes from a box, but my yellow cake can't quite match the Duncan Hines stuff.

Previously this was true for pancakes--my homemade pancakes turned out just a bit heavy and flavorless. Then I found this recipe in Cook's Country. Its secrets include cake flour (to lighten them up) and malted milk powder (to add tangy sweetness.) Yep, malted milk powder. Cook's Country helpfully had a photo of the stuff--their specimen was from Carnation, in a curvy bottle resembling dairy creamer.

I could not find malted milk powder anywhere in DC.

The solution for me was the Internet, where I have ordered both popcorn salt and malted milk powder. For both, it was so worth it: my pancakes were the best ever (better than any box!) and when eating popcorn I always keep my popcorn salt shaker at hand.

Now here I am, in Denver, and I was at Albertsons. While in the snack aisle I saw popcorn salt in a small shaker. My face lit up. "Wow! Right here on the shelf!" They also had white popcorn, which I never see in DC (this I cared less about, as I don't really like white popcorn all that much. I always pop yellow.)

So then I went over to the coffee and tea aisle. I found the chocolate milk mix. Sure enough, nearby was malted milk powder! It was Carnation, in the nice shapely bottle.

I am starting to think that DC supermarkets are just smaller than your typical new supermarket. Something's gotta go so that everything can fit. I guess a lot of people would miss something if the store decided to carry 7 kinds of Oreo cookies rather than 8...or, maybe the store would miss all the slotting fees that Nabisco pays for all those Oreos...so, out goes the malted milk mix, white popcorn, and popcorn salt.

posted at: 17:00 | path: / | permanent link to this entry