2 of 2 new favorite markets in a weekend

Hadn't made a trip to the Middle East grocery on Foster in quite some time, and this is the first time I went with a list that included gum aspic, rosewater, pomegranate molasses and sumac-- which enabled me to value this place all the more (had everything I was looking for, and inexpensively at that). The owner told me about how he used to get gum aspic straight from the seam of an old tree when he was a boy in Jerusalem, and before I left I was packed up with some additional supplies of fresh-baked 7 grain pita (excellent toasted), some sheep's milk cheese and homemade, mega-garlicky fool madamas.