Shopping at Tang Frères in the 13th: priceless

bay leaves, 25g: 0.30 €
package of 3 udon packs: 1.85 €
ground cinnamon, 100g: 0.78 €
instant coconut milk powder, 60g: 0.39€
fresh Chinese noodles, 400g: 1.60€
"Cock" brand fish sauce*, 200ml: 0.64€
mushroom soy sauce, 430ml: 1.35€
sesame oil, 80 ml: 2.35€
sesame nougat candy, 200g: 1.71€
rice vinegar, 250ml: 0.47€
can of Orangina: 0.47€
paprika, 50g: 0.65€

*I almost got "Squid" brand but this was smaller...who says size doesn't matter?

Now how much would you pay? For you, 12.64€!!

I had to go get apartment insurance, and I wanted to go Asian food shopping in the 13th, so I found a branch of the insurance place in the 13th. As usual, that was a whole raft of errands. They would only take a check or a money order, I had to go to the post office to get a money order, but it turns out you have to have cash for that, they won't just swipe your card, so I had to stand in line twice...etc. Anyway, it's done.

And I am so glad I went to Chinatown. This store, Tang Frères, is a veritable institution, and is next door to another big Asian supermarket, the cryptically named "Paris Shop". I heard a number of languages being spoken all around...that was fun. It was strangely comforting to see a lot of East Asian people walking around, I hadn't realized how used to it I am, I guess from the other cities I've lived in.

I had been looking for miso paste ("pâte soja"), and found only very large (1 kilo or more) packages of red miso. That's all right, in the end, because I know that the little market by Js has little packets of miso. But it's funny how marginalized the Japanese food is here. It's really all about Vietnamese and Thai. I couldn't even find Japanese rice.