My Kind of Shopping

I spent more time physically shopping for "things" while I was in India than I normally spend in a year. Most of my "thing" shopping at home is done on the computer. There was a little withdrawal in India when I knew that I couldn't order something on Amazon and have it at my door in a couple of days. How long would it have taken to reach that door?


My shopping is done for food. I love to find and buy the best that is available. I buy fresh meat: line-caught fish, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, and pork in any form. I buy hard cheese, soft cheese, sliced cheese, cheese that stinks, cheese that melts like butta'.

Okay, so much for my arteries. But I also shop at the Pasadena Farmer's market and Bristol Farms to find the best fruits and vegetables available.



Yesterday I finally got to go to the farmer's market. I arrived home on Saturday the first weekend and last weekend I was at Karen's rather than at the farmer's market.

I had a wonderful time. June is a great month for the market. Everything is available. I bought:

• Strawberries from Harry's Berrys. They are from Camarillo and are absolutely the best. Every berry is plump and sweet. We had those with yogurt last night.
• Raspberries from the same area. I also got figs to be stuffed with cheese and wrapped with proscuitto. And little red currents. I'll probably make raspberry tarts today. With little currents on them.
• Patty pan squash from the 10 different types of squashes available. I stuffed them with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, bread crumbs and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then baked them with tomato sauce and more grated parmesan.
• Asparagus and cauliflower. I baked the asparagus and ate it for breakfast. I love that with more parmesan cheese. I'm baking the cauliflower tonight with garlic and olive oil.
• Rhubarb will be cooked and added to the left over strawberries. We'll probably have that with yogurt, too.
• Lettuce and basil and arugula. This will go into the salad that I'll be fixing to go with salmon for tonight's dinner. That and the cauliflower.

After I left the farmer's market, I dropped by Howies to pick up a couple of steaks for the 4th and got some beautiful king salmon. It was just a short hop to the Italian grocery store so I could pick up a plethora of starches (Adrian's words after seeing the foccacia, rolls - for the freezer, and breadsticks.) I also stocked up on Italian pork products for my freezer. This place is Claro's and they make the best sausages and lasagna. I also got some good olives to go with all this food.

As I drove home, I realized I hadn't had breakfast. Maybe that's why I bought out the town. So I stopped in San Gabriel, home of the area's best Asian food, and picked up some bao from a Chinese bakery. They were still hot from the oven.

I'm home. I'm shopping. Now, maybe, I can figure out how to get back in the groove at work and help make things run well for the consolidated help desk. I wish that were as easy as finding good raspberries.