Erminskine Strip Mall

I'd never heard the term "strip mall" before we moved to Canada. Strip malls are neighbourhood shopping areas. Here in Edmonton they are typically  a row of low shops, usually running round 3 sides of a parking lot. Always uninteresting in appearance, this one in our new neighbourhood of Ermineskine is especially unattractive. 

On looking closer however we found that besides the usual Chinese restaurant, dry cleaners, mom and pop store, the shops were unexpectedly "ethnic". There is the Hong Kong Taekwondo College, Shirdi Sai Baba Mondir Temple, Masjid An-Noor Muslim Community Centre, a Filipino Papa June's general store, with kitchen (not sure what that means as we didn't actually go into the shop).

Further along, a shop called Serengeti turned out to be a lively South African grocery store run by a nice couple. It catered to both black and white customers and everyone was speaking Afrikaans! We bought a packet of Garum Masala (from Osman's Spice Works, Durban) which I'm sure will be better than the regular supermarket Garum Masala. 

We also bought two meat pies. It's hard to resist what looks like a meat pie in Edmonton. These two we purchased (and ate in the street) were a steak and kidney and a beef and mushroom. Aside from the filling being a bit dry and the crust being somewhat oily on the base, they were perhaps the closest thing to an Aussie meat pie we'd had here in Canada. 

Waiting in the long line to pay for our pies I was intrigued by the box of Jungle Oats which a lady in front of us bought. 

Quick before the pies get cold.