Storing Chinese Cooking Ingredients

So I've mentioned that our CSA pork share often comes with ground pork, and that I have been trying to find recipes for it.

Some of these recipes take ingredients that I have been having trouble finding (even at H Mart, although there it might be an issue of having the wrong name, such as Chinese vs. Korean). But I have found some of them on Great Big South American River.

A number of them come in shelf-stable sealed packages. I'm wondering what is the best method of storing these once opened?

Specifically:

• Zha Cai (preserved mustard stems)
• Doubanjiang Broad Bean with Chili Paste

I presume Szechuan peppercorns get stored like any other peppercorns ... or do they?

Thanks for any help you can give!

Maybe I've Outgrown Ren Fairs?

So usually I have enjoyed Ren Fairs in a low-key sort of way. They're like cons, albeit not quite as good: the ratio of geeks to mundanes is not as favorable. Today I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with the Mr., and it just didn't work for me.

The weather was pretty good, although Saturday's soaking rain meant that the ground was still fairly (ha!) muddy. And the amount of smoking seems to have gone down (I get painful sinus headaches when I get a good snort of tobacco smoke).

But I didn't feel inclined to watch any of the performances, I was uninspired by most of the handicrafts (I think I've become spoiled by works like those from Global Odyssey Design), and the food was mostly cho-hostile.

I do let myself go a bit at events like a Ren Fair, in term of eating carbs. My type II diabetes is under good enough control to allow me to do thing like share a Fryed Peasant Bread (OMT) or an apple dumpling with ice cream. But I swear that in past years, the offerings have included at least a couple of vegetable things that I could use to cut the carb + fat that makes up the typical Ren Fair culinary offering (proteins are easy - I ate steamed spiced shrimp, but I could have also had a turkey leg or Steak on a Stake). I think the moment that I lost all my reasons for being in the Towne of Revel Grove was after waiting in a longish line in the sun for Thai Fried Green Beans with Curry Peanut Sauce, only to discover that the poor little things were not only fried, but also breaded.

:-(

Maybe a larger group of friends would have helped. But the Mr. didn't seem all that inspired either. He's usually an enthusiastic patron of handicrafts, but the only thing we bought between the two of us (aside from consumables) wa a single paperback book.