For me, every time I go to the local Asian food market (sells Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai foods) with my wife (which isn'tt often, maybe just once every 2 or 3 weeks) I head straight for the Lao Gamma Black bean sauce. My wife goes to the market every week and balances shopping between the Asian market, a supermarket, Walmart, a shopping club etc. She often shops during the week while I work so I usually only accompany her on weekends. I love Lao Gamma and also the salty pickled vegetables that go in my congee ( she calls congee Zhou?..sound like joe to me so that's what I call it too. So what are your favorite indulgences that are only available at your local Chinese/Asian market or that you must have shipped to you from friends and relatives in China? And for you expats, what foods do you crave from the US that you seek out at specialty markets near where you live? I always wondered what US foods expats would have a hard time finding. Cheese (see my previous post about Xian) was one thing I saw missing/tiny choice from Chinese supermarkets. Best, True Black Bean Sauce Blue