off to market we go

i have some photos from last night at eZe where the Brazilian band was playing, but they are on my phone. we'll download them later on veronica's laptop. in the meantime, i want to keep up the blog. so even if the above picture is not timely, i thought it worth posting. it's a shot of me in Janet's supermarket. things i now take for granted are still worth pointing out. for instance, notice the hanging banana stalk. here at the supermarket, bananas are on their stalk. you use a knife to cut off the bananas you want - usually a really dull knife that the supermarket provides and is often hard to find nearby. so there are no neatly prepared bunches of 5-6 bananas all set up for you. it's tough to get the bananas without them getting somewhat peeled during this operation. it also can be challenging to find a fully unbruised banana. that's the fault of the crappy roads here which make for lots of dented cans, fizzed up soda bottles, and bruised produce arriving at the stores.

here's another shot of the produce section as i think it's quite amusing how different it is from a produce section at Star Market - and certainly one at Whole Foods. Note the "green" tomatoes and the herbs come with their roots still attached and with much dirt still on them.



we do get fantastic fresh herbs here at super cheap prices - basil, dill (mispackaged recently as anise!), mint, and of course cilantro.

the last shot here is one of a very common sighting here - the little trucks that deliver produce to the stores.



the produce is sometimes in plastic crates but often is just tossed in and piled up in the back of the truck. slightly unsanitary for sure with all the dirt and everything that gets kicked up into the truck while it is driving on the road. this truck is out in front of the german grocer, which is chock full of overripe produce -- not the place we tend to go to.

v made a trip to janet's today to pick up some items for a bean salad we wanted to make for tonight's BBQ party being thrown by Johanna. she is a Belgian woman who lives most of the year in Naples, FL but has a place here at Ocean Dream. looking forward to some good food on the grill and an evening poolside!