You know I've really had a change of heart about being Asian when I go in search of all things Asian in my hometown - the place where I rejected everything yellow about me and my family while growing up. I'd even go so far as to say I've become a sinophile. I have yellow fever, and I'm loving it. This visit to Vancouver my mom introduced me to one of the greatest chain stores on earth, Yoko Yaya 123. A Japanese dollar store. Or rather more accurately, two dollar store. All fans of Muji on a tight budget with a taste for the offbeat, run, do not walk to this fabulous store.
While the second greatest chain store is T & T Supermarket. Here you can find an enormous selection of ingredients and prepared Asian food from a variety of Asian cultures set out in attractive and easy to find wide aisles that you can even navigate both strollers and shopping carts with ease.
And just look at their selection of fish balls! Okay I don't eat the stuff, aside from the fact that I'm vegetarian, I've always found the texture a little weird, but that's what so great about this. The weirdness. The Asianess. The exoticness. I want these stores in New York!
