Mexico Cooks has written two posts about fresh summer vegetables purchased at Mexican street markets. Her photographs are always as good as her recipes. These are no exception.
But what struck me most is that she has included prices. And I am glad she has. I was beginning to worry that the food budget I had put together for my Mexico adventure was far too low. If I stick with fresh vegetables and fruits, I should be fine.
Her prices also reminded me how expensive our local farmers' markets are. I will start with the proposition that the fruits and vegetables I buy from our street markets have far more flavor and nutrition than most of the items I find at my local Safeway.
Years ago I stopped buying nectarines (one of my favorite fruits) at any chain grocery store. They were inevitably as hard as baseballs. When I found some softer ones this week at Safeway, I bought them -- only to have my hopes dashed. They were soft because all of them were rotten. Lesson to remember: no more fruit from Safeway.
So off to the Saturday Market I went today. Black cherries. Yellow cherries. Golden nectarines. And in their prime. I bought five nectarines and less than a half kilo of cherries. You can see my haul at the top of this post.
Fruit, like freedom, isn't free. Nor is it inexpensive. Ten dollars! American! Admittedly, the dollar will not buy much overseas. But I really expect to get more for my money than a handful of pit fruits.
Rant done. The cherries were delicious, and the nectarines willingly gave up their -- well, nectar, I guess -- on a pristine bed of Häagen-Dazs vanilla. Hmm. I wish I had bought those fresh raspberries now.
