Market Day

Today was market day. That means I give Mike a list of fruits and veggies and he reluctantly goes shopping at the big open market. He hates going but he seems happy enough coming back. Maybe it's cause our current vegetable man gives us nice produce, doesn't cheat us, and always serves him a cup of coffee while he chooses, weighs, and bags all our loot. Culturally, men do the shopping. It's really a man's world, and that REALLY applies in the vegetable market. Although I'm pretty sure most men don't get extensive lists from their wives. Anyway...

Today we purchased:

-3 kilos tomatoes (The price of tomatoes really fluctuates. Right now they're cheap, but in spring or summer they could cost four or five times the amount!)

-1 kilo bananas (we go through tons of bananas! I had another kilo in the fridge already)

-1 head lettuce (a winter treat!)

-1/2 kilo zucchini (the perfect vegetable to hide in any dish!)

-limes for 2 pounds (about $1)

-1 kilo potatoes

-1 kilo onions (My eyes HATE me when I peel the purple ones, so we pay a little more for the peeled, white variety)

-1 kilo cucumbers (they are so fragrant... like the Victoria's Secret lotion that was all the rage back in middle school...)

-1 kilo green beans (another winter treat!)

-a dozen oranges

-two bundles arugula (a cousin of spinach)

-1/2 kilo sweet potatoes (M hates these, but I love them, and hope H will eat some too.)

-1 kilo carrots

-1 bunch grapes

-2 apples

That adds up to over 10 kilos of produce! (22 lbs!). And we'll eat all this in less than two weeks. Yikes! That is a large consumption of (mostly) locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables! Gotta love that!

So, after I took this colorful photo, I spent a good chunk of my afternoon up to my elbows in color... cleaning, rinsing, drying, chopping, boiling, peeling, slicing, dicing, bagging, sauteing, straining, boxing, blanching, ice-bathing, freezing, pre-preparing, and refrigerating. All the while, watching a TV show on my computer, preparing tuna tettrazini for dinner (and there ain't no canned cream-of-mushroom soup here, honey!), doing a thousand dishes and trying not to step on my son.

Ugh. I'm tired.