I already had a trip planned to Costco for coffee which is a necessity. I went to Neihu and saw the cars wrapped around the block and then decided to drive on to Xizhi. It was still very crowded but much better than the Neihu store. I saw mountains of toilet paper disappear in minutes. I do think toilet paper will be gone soon for at least a week or so. Other things seems to be OK but we all know there will be a run on green veges.
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Just left the Guandu/ Beitou Costco, 6pm on a Friday night. Never seen it so empty before! I guess a walkthrough COVID case a few days ago will do that.
No imported deli ham. No good blocks of cheddar. Extra virgin olive oil gone. Small frozen meat pies back. Didn’t check toilet paper. Food court tables gone.
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Potatoes! Where are the Russet?
Was in xizhi this evening, slightly smaller than usual Friday night crowd.
None in XiZhi 
Oh come on, you can’t blame this on COVID. 
We both know that Costco hasn’t had any good cheddar for months!
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I’m not! Didn’t intend for it to be read that way. That, like the meat pies, was just a stocking update. The absent extra virgin olive oil, however, I do suspect is COVID stocking issues. Dunno what’s going on with the ham. Haven’t seen that in a while now.
But my main source of amusement was just how empty it was, I guess because of a COVID case who went there a few days ago.
I still hope that the missing good cheddar is a COVID-in-the-UK issue, and it’ll return when this is all over.
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I think someone asked and heard it’s not coming back.
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Are you talking about the large plastic bottles? I was looking for that in the Zhonghe branch on Monday - it was also gone from there.
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I hope you’re wrong.
Large plastic bottles, or still large but smaller glass (Spanish?) bottles: yup, none of the extra virgin stuff. They did have giant plastic two-packs of regular olive oil, as well as grapeseed oil.
Also no torta rolls. Haven’t seen those in a while now.
I saw you were typing, and had a half-memory of “Wait, didn’t @tempogain ask a while ago and learn that it wasn’t available right now due to COVID, but it may come back later?” Apparently that is not something you once posted, and far too much of my imagination is devoted to sourcing of cheese.
Well, I got kale instead, darn it!
That doesn’t make me feel better.
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Did anyone ever get that weird Cyprus cheese
Halloumi? If you mean that, I’ve still got a block of it in the fridge. Works well sliced and cooked in a grill pan.
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I saw that on the package, but I’m not sure why I would want to cook cheese in a grill pan.
Yeah, I’m guessing you mean halloumi?
If so, it’s pretty good. You should definitely initiate yourself!
It lasts ages too - I also still have a block in the fridge.
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I cooked up something like this on a barbecue in Canada a couple of summers ago. Went over surprisingly well. Not unlike, I dunno, the way you can get firmer tofu with some vegetable dishes here.
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OK, I’m getting it now! I’ll give it a try
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We got some cheese, fresh cheese, in the old country we eat also pan fried. It retains its chewyness, does not stretch like mozzarella. Is it something like that?
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Very much like that. You cook it and it don’t do nuthin: just gets grill marks and warms up and tastes a bit less squeaky, but no melting or stretching.
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Sounds awesome.
Um, don’t get your hopes up. I think tofu’s a decent analogue. Lots of other cheeses I could quite happily gnaw off the block slice and simply serve on crackers. Halloumi is going to at least need some salt, and probably other food to serve with it. Texture variation and all that.