Seafood City Banana selection
 

Had to stop by Seafood City to pick up some coconut vinegar and a few other things and I just happened to have my camera with me!

In the frozen aisle I found these steamed and then frozen Saba fruits next to all sorts of tropical fruits.


Found these blossoms in the produce section. It didn't say what kind they were, just that they were from Mexico. On average they cost about $4 for a good sized one.


And here is most of the banana selection they had today. I saw Manzano, baby banana, various Plantains, Saba, and Cavendish. Nothing all that interesting but plenty of them!

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Nothing interesting???
Try to live here and than repeat that again:ha::ha::ha:
:woohoonaner:

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Looked pretty good to me too.. :^) :bananas_b

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Or here. Only Cavendishes. :ha:

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I saw flowers in produce here just the other day -- first time I saw that.

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Nice selection, that's for sure... and nice job with the watermarks. ;)

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Thanks for sharing the pics!

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Nice watermark :ha::ha::ha:

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Why the wink, are you joking about liking my watermarks that help to protect my work against would be thieves?

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No offense, but are you SERIOUSLY THAT concerned about people 'stealing' (or for the rest of the internet users out there....'utilizing') images that you took in the grocery store??? I feel like there are much larger issues to worry about in life, again, no offense.

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I don't remember asking you, no offense.

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I like it... bravo.

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look at all those different bananas. Wow! Very cool. They have one small bine of little ones in my grocery store but it says "mini banana". It doesn't have the name. I should buy one and tast it for fun, but it would be more fun if I knew the name.

What do people do with the flower buds? Can u cook with them?

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What do larger issues have to do with a watermark??

Putting a watermark on a photo is stopping Mitchel from addressing a larger issue?

It is his photo, he posted as a contribution to the board (which I thought was interesting) he should be entitled to watermark his photos. This coming from a guy who has had photos used on Craigslist to sell bananas (with and without permission).

Adding "no offense" to the end of a statement does very little to truly indicate no offense.

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Just saying in this case, it's a bit over-kill. It's like putting a car alarm on a rusty geo metro...what's the point? They're pictures he took in a grocery store. I could fully understand him wanting to protect the security of the nice pictures he takes of his dogs, of the scenery in his area or of his plants. These are situations that would warrant a watermark since a lot of effort went into obtaining these shots.

And if you look at his response to Jarred's post....he's jumping on him for a wink, accusing him of joking about the watermark (which was meant to be an honest compliment). I really don't intend to insult anyone here (despite what some people think...I feel like people often misread my posts with inflections that were never intended), just make a point at the frivolous nature of this situation. Just wish people would lighten up a little instead of being so uptight all the time about little things. I mean, come on, learn to laugh a little and enjoy life, right?

I don't mean to downplay things here....I really do appreciate your photos and all your contributions on the site, Mitchel. And to get back on topic, that is an excellent selection that I would dream to have in my area. The only bananas I've seen in the grocery store here in STL are regular gran nain and organic gran nain. At least in Iowa we have baby bananas, red bananas and plantains at most stores. So what do saba bananas taste like, anyway? I've never even had plantains to be honest.

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What is the mini banana in the foreground? I see them at the Asian grocery store and love them but don't know the name. We think they have a bit of a floral taste to them.
Also, what would one do with the flower? How's it prepared?

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Great stuff you have out there Mitchel! I don't think I told you or anyone this story but..... on the flight out to my LA visit last March I re read ( for god knows how many times ) Dan Koeppel's book "Banana... the fate of the fruit that chnaged the world". In it he descibes how at a Whole Foods maket in LA he had found some mavelous tasting and expensive bananas that turned out to be 'Lacatan". Needless to say when I spotted a Whole Foods maket right by the farmers market( my favorite spot to visit in LA other than " the Crest... and your garden) some exploration was in order. I went in and right to the produce section and did see some bananas that were unavailable here in New Jersey( no lacatans though) so broke out the camera and took a few shots when one of the store employees obviously agitated came rushing over and in no uncertain terms told me that no pictures were allowed to be taken in the store causing something of a minor scene so I apologized and hurriedly left not even buying any of the bananas I was going to....... the funny part of it was though that all the while and in very close proximity this old homeless looking sort of guy was basically foraging and eating everything in sight.... not a peep about that though and this guy wasn't just tasting.... he had more than I eat in an average meal and just kept on eating withought a peep from the guy ushering me and my camera away from the produce.... like I said I left in a hurry before the anouncement on the loud speaker could say..... " you in the black t- shirt .... step away from the bananas now" !!!! Everyone has their priorities I guess!:ha::ha::ha:

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Glad this thread is back on track.. Don't pick at Mitchel, just cause he "won" the Ice Cream Banana Contest over a lil watermark... lol :^)

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Here in the Philippines, Saba is very similar to Cardaba, the latter being the more popular variety by far, since it has a little more size and flavor to it. When these are dead ripe they are also sweet and tasty eaten plain. These are both cooking bananas, being fried or deep fried in many ways here. I'm inspired now to take my cam to the local Mercado and get some shots of them for all to see.

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Yes Bob, that is exactly what they do at Whole Foods! I've been told the same story from others in my local photography group. They are very worried about photos being taken in the store. To get these shots at Seafood City I had to be very low key and quick about it which meant having my camera settings ready before entering knowing they have florescent lighting and some sky lights. I shot in RAW just in case I didn't get the white balance right and it was a good thing I did! The whole time there I had store clerks watching me. The photo of the banana aisle was taken 2 feet behind the produce man's back with another at the end that you can see, so I had no time for camera adjustments! I had my wife carry my camera bag for me so I could quickly get it and shoot while shopping.

Anyway, it was quite a bit of work to process the RAW files and get the colors accurate in post process, but hey, I love to share my work.

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I have had the blossom with Vietnamese soup before. It was shredded into a veggie to put on top. I don't recall to much taste to it though.

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Saba is my personal favorite based on taste and versatility. Pan fried green (tostones), pan fried ripe, eaten out of hand ripe, boiled green (eaten like a potato) and of course microwaved (20 – 40 seconds)/baked ripe with frozen yogurt. I have also had them steamed ripe (not my favorite).

With respect to the banana blooms we occasionally sell them to one of the local Asian markets. Nice Pommelos in the pic.

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As we drove past my local Whole Foods store this a.m., on the way to the hospital for my colonoscopy, I told Mike we gotta go there soon - he'll love it there. Now, after reading this, I will go there sooner & take pics of their produce & see what they have in the 'nana' section LOL. SPREAKING OF......
Good news...I got a hand of nam wah nanas from Mitchel yesterday (Mon) - 13 in all. Put a big smile on my silly face! :) But, I could not eat anything all day yesterday except jello, for this YUCKY colonoscopy today!:( All I could do was look at them... no energy to pm Mitchel to say I got them. This a.m. I told Mike to have one & tell me how it tastes .. (he LOVES nanas) & he made the mistake of offering me a bite just before we left for hospital. THE NERVE! They musta gave me a elephant tranq cus I was there over 4 hrs, & Mitchel, that first banana was SOOOOO GOOOOD LOL. My son came over & had one & loved it - esp when I said it was home grown in L.A. by a friend!! Seems they are perfectly ripe too.
Still feeling woozy, but a note on watermarks: I remember several years ago at GW forums where they made a not of telling all that any pics posted became their property. A lot of people were angry & said they wouldn't post pics anymore unless they watermarked them.
When I post pics here, it comes from photobucket & they are not watermarked by the org. I don't store pics here cuz it seems more time consuming for me. Pics I put on threads here don't have any watermark - not even from the org. Only pics stored here are watermarked. At the GW forum, ANY pic posted became their property & like I said, ppl did not like it.

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Just be quick about taking pics there Patty or the fun police will be after you.

Glad to hear the Namwah fruit got there and I hope your feeling better!

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I can hear the "Mission Impossible" music now! Go get 'em Patty! :goteam:

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Saba Banana Integrated Development Program
YouTube - Saba Banana Integrated Development Program (AVP)

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Wow, interesting video! I see some products that I'd like to try. I wonder what an OFW is?

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Hey thanks for posting this great video! I've learned quite a few things about other banana growers here on the island I'm on thanks to you!

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An OFW, my friend, is an "Overseas Foreign Worker" and is considered by many to be the one of the top exports of the Philippines; filipino workers who go abroad sending "extra" money to families back home amounted to nearly $16.4 billion US dollars (ABS-CBN news). ABS-CBN further states that, "The Philippines is one of the world's leading sources for skilled and unskilled workers with up to nine million people, about 10 percent of the population, living and working in 140 countries.

Their remittances have become a major pillar in supporting the economy contributing to about 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product."

My wife is one of 8 children, 2 sisters of whom now work abroad, a nurse in New Zealand and a caregiver in Canada. Since there is no useful social security here, the children are usually the major source of livelihood for elderly parents. My sister-in-law, the RN now in New Zealand, was making the equivalent of $5/day US in a hospital here while waiting for her work visa clearances; pretty hard to live yourself let alone take care of parents as well with those kind of wages.

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Kudos to you and your wife Mitchel for getting these shots! I have the whole scene pictured! :ha: I've never seen flowers for sale around here, that is so cool!

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There's a new store with the same name that opened recently in the Southcenter Shopping Mall area, south of Seattle, with the same name. My sister-in-law told us that this is a Filipino store. My wife went shopping there yesterday and came home with nothing but, guess what? Seafood! She thinks that the prices are competitive with Ranch 99 chain. But she said that the place was HUGE! Now she's got a new place to waste her time and spend her money.

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Yeah the seafood selection is crazy there! I wanted to get pics of that too but there were way too many workers watching me walking around with my camera.

I want to try those Saba fries with some banana ketchup! :)

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Now, that that's truly being a banana fanatic! Way to go!

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Interesting....most places call them OFW's....but here in this country, we call them 'illegal immigrants.' Truly interesting.

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At the hospitals I've worked in here, the percentage of Phillipino RNs is higher than any other 'OFW'. And they're good!

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That's a quite a crude and ignorant statement. The majority of these OFW's have legal visas and they work in environments that you and I would not. Sure there are some that are illegal but imagine going abroad and sending 75% of your income away to support your family. I know of some OFW's that saw their kids once in 5 years.

I've been deployed to Iraq 4 times and the Filipinos and Africans are hired to do crap jobs (i.e. clean the porta johns, wash endless pots and pans, deliver fuel, etc etc).

Their help is greatly appreciated. Otherwise, we'd have to do that work!

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Almost all OFW's from The Philippines are documented in their host countries. Very few of them are illegal. A majority of them are not immigrants either. Just temporary workers. I'm a naturalized citizen from The Philippines myself. So, I try to keep up with immigration laws in this country.

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OMG....it was a JOKE....please lighten up!