Sunday was about as perfect as a day could possibly be without ninjas or ice cream.

I went to Jungle Jims!

For those of you not in the Cincinnati Area, Jungle Jim’s is basically a sort of Chuck E. Cheeze for foodies.   I mean, there are other grocery stores. 

And there are other grocery stores with huge international Markets.  Or wall upon wall of hot sauce. Or an olive bar which features more than two selections.

There are probably other stores this far away from the ocean that have this much of a selection of fresh seafood, including these big “bioponds” where the live stuff just swims about all devil-may-care.

Or 364 different varieties of honey.  Or am “interesting” meat section.   Or international produce.  Or a knowledgeable staff, including cashiers that can correctly identify things like daikon and lemongrass without a PLU code.

I’m absolutely sure there are other big foodie paradises with all of that stuff.   But I doubt any of those OTHER places have animatronic cereal boxes hoisted above the aisles giant mechanical Elvis-cat things serenading you near the tapenade.

Or a frikkin monorail.   WHO has a monorail?

So I go THERE.

It is so exciting that there I have actually composed a song.  I try to sing this every time I visit, adding verses as needed.  Sadly, I forgot the “gonna grab food with all my limbs” line in this rendition.

So what did i get?

As you might have inferred, pork products were involved.  My favorite chorizo, some babyback ribs, and a surprise for Thursday I’ll write about later.

And this.  Fancy Serrano ham.   While very similar to prosciutto, it has a slightly drier texture but a much more even taste.   Sort of a porcine cotton candy, a sliver on your tongue just melts away, leaving behind a rich, fatty… piggyness with just the right amount of salt.

The lady behind the counter proceeded won my heart by offering me a taste of Jamon Iberico,after I told her that “I write about pork products.” I think this counts as my first official piece of adahp swag.

Then the cheese.  I found this stuff called Morbier, which I recognized from my cover of my French Cheeses Encyclopedia, and, yes, I own one of those.  It was dense and ashen, very good with the pork.  Plus some Mimolette, Gruyere, and local-ish cheddar.

I picked up some cherry-vanilla granola, which is my favorite thing in the world. I first discovered the stuff at Burlington’s City Market last summer while visiting Beth. 

Please also note that now I have enough fancy ramen to keep Mr. Penguin very happy.

This just might qualify as my best 3:40am snack ever.  Grilled cheese on homemade bread with Serrano ham and Mimolette.  

YU-uM