On Thursday we received phone calls from our moms urging us to blitz to the nearest Costco to stock up on rice because of the Thai fiasco, and it happened at the worst time as I had just dropped our last two cups of rice into the rice cooker. Unfortunately due to some special circumstances, I was impeded from my Costco travel plans until Friday, and when I arrived, the rice section had vanished! No more rice! What happened?! By this time, a bead of hot swet began rolling down my forehead. Could this be it? Is this the end of our Chinese meals? Do we need to now opt for Spaghetti, Clam Chowder, PB&J Sandwich, and Spam?
For dinner, I had to drop by Uwajimaya to get some fish heads (Karen’s favorites), and lo and behold, they had rice! Well, $19 for 20 lb Thai Jasmine is definitely pricy, but if spending that $19 will bring back the savory Drunken Chicken and Pork Blood with Intestines, then so be it. So I dropped one into my cart, along with the fish heads, and worked my way to the checkout stand. The person in front of me saw my bag of rice and decided to get some as well, but his bag was $50 for 50 lbs. But then his wife, whose innate Asian nature caused her to snoop around behind the piles, discovered a what should be out-of-stock bag of Shirakiku which was $23 for 40 lb! Now why didn’t I think of checking between and behind the rice bags? I’ve been witnessing these type of maneuvers with my folks, so it should have been second nature to me. Have I been so Americanized that when I buy milk, I just pick the first one I see that expires the next day without looking at the date, instead of the last one in the back of the fridge that expires 2 weeks from now?
After I checked out, I decided to do a little treasure hunt of my own, and to my bewilderment, another Shirakiku was found! I immediately loaded it in my cart, as the envious bystanders looked on, and returned to the checkout stand. This was a Japanese brand, Calrose, and … no washing required?! Okay that last part sounds a little fishy, but otherwise this looks legit. Definitely not made in China.
So the morale of the story is, when the item you wanted is sold out, don’t just hang your head low and walk away. Dig behind the stack or piles with fervor! Better yet, comb through the entire store! You never know if you might find that “last” hidden treasure hiding somewhere.