Fast Cars, Large Supermarkets: Meringues and Old Supermarkets

I imagine for most of us, the first real experience we had with the modern world of chain stores was the local supermarket.  And depending on how isolated your  hometown was from the cosmopolitan world of multiple market offerings, when you discovered another market, very different from the one you grew up with, you were stunned, disappointed, perhaps awed, or maybe none of the above.  Were you one of those children who ate only white food?  Maybe the culture of the aisles of offerings was not something you can summon from your childhood.  I think because food is such a primal link, I can still 'see' the visual differences between the markets of my childhood, and can remember feeling disappointed when a chain would expire and another would take its' place.  Even in today's real estate marketplace, one of the largest physical aches a neighborhood can feel is the loss of a large grocery store that no retailer feels the need to scoop up, leaving an empty totem surrounded by prairie-like concrete expanse.
     I lament the loss of uniqueness in the marketplace.  It feels like today's modus operandi is to make all stores look alike.   This copycat method is so uninteresting to me.  It has a numbing effect, driving me to avoid this experience however I can.  One of the pleasures of a vacation is stumbling upon the local, wacky leftover store from days gone by and taking advantage of the unusual offerings, sort of like going shopping in a foreign country and buying food in an unintelligible tongue. 
     I had an online flirtation with Fresh Direct, the new virtual supermarket whose huge trucks might be clogging an intersection in your NY metropolitan neighborhood as you read this, and I am not won over.  As much as I lament the loss of the visually arresting supermarket moment, I am not ready for the search by sub-heading, postage stamp photo approach.  I want to spend less time in front of my computer, not more.  Not that I want that time to go out and shoot an elk for dinner, but I want to see the food, and perhaps be prompted by the sight of something I have never bought before.  That is the siren experience of your local green market, colors and smells command your attention, tightening their grip around your wallet as you try to eek past.
     As much as I am waxing on about  an old-time religious supermarket vision, we all know that supermarkets did some things awfully, and have irreparably affected our vision of this food forever and ever.    I enter supermarket exhibit #1:  Meringues.  I always thought they were colored cardboard puffs, until I made my own, rather unconventional ones.  Last week I supported the WFMU fund raising, phone-answering troops with some of these, and heard hurrahs all around. 

Chocolate Almond Pecan Meringues

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.  I now use a pan with a slight rim, or else be careful when pulling these from the oven, the parchment paper has a tendency to slide off...Bake the meringues for 2&1/2 - 3 hours without opening the oven.  Then turn off the oven, and leave them in there for at least 15 minutes.  Cool completely before removing from pan.  Meringues will turn out softer or firmer, depending on the humidity (it's nearly impossible to beat egg whites when it is drenching out).  Store them in an airtight tin lined with wax paper.

6 egg whites (separate them when they are fresh out of the fridge, then let them come to room temp before beating)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons of super quality cocoa
1/3 cup of almond meal
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped pecans

1. Sift together : powdered sugar, cocoa, salt.  Add almond meal to bowl     and mix well.

2.Beat together the egg whites and vanilla at high speed until they form stiff peaks.  Fold in sugar-nut meal mixture followed by chocolate chips and pecans.

3. Drop by tablespoon onto prepared baking trays. Bake as above.

Comments

[Denise]

I don't know if you have ever been to Supremo on Palisades Avenue/Ferry Street in Jersey City, but I recommend a visit. If it's a chain, I've never seen another one, and it carries every spanish grocery item available in North America and more. The fish department is pretty spectacular, and Emily marvels at the phenomenal display of Cup O Soup every time we are there.

[Dennis]

I didn't get a chance to give you my hurrah on those meringues last week, so here it is: HURRAH! Mine was dee-lish.

[Dale Hazelton]

Ditto for book stores and hardware stores. I was going to add record stores, but that's another animal. I could go for a can of that Lucky brand pop right now (yes, I said "pop"). Those meringues sound dee-lish. But 3 hours? Can't open the oven door? I wouldn't be able to resist a peek.