The Veggie Man

I thought today I would write a post about something normal. Every Friday, Chris and I go grocery shopping, which includes stopping at Carrefour and the vegetable/fruit store. The highlight is not the spotless, buzzing, Wal-Mart-esque supermarket, but the quiet, hole-in-the wall store, which our friends took us to one of our first weeks here. There seem to be three men who run the shop. While I don't know their names, they are always anxious and helpful and greet us with smiles.

Every time we go in, they insist on finding the fruits and veggies for us. They pick through boxes, tossing aside of perfectly good looking food to find the greatest veggies and fruit there. A few weeks ago I wanted to get Tasmanian cherries, and he took me to the back, washed a few off, and let Chris and I try them before we bought 500g of them!

They always encourage us to expand our palettes as well. One of the first times we went in, they gave us rambutans. They look like alien fruit, and since we have been here, I have always wondered what they were. Our veggie man showed us how to peel them, starting our education. He gives us something different to try each week. Last week he gave us mangoes, and honestly, I have only had them dried--thus, I had no idea what to do with them. Friends told us to just peel them like a carrot... They were sweet and tangy and unbelievably juicy.

I think that the availabilty and quality of fruits and veggies is amazing. Things always seem to be in season, and we can always fill our cravings =D. Well, that's about all I have for now...hope you are doing well!

Lots of Love.