Comments on: "It's Just That I HATE Vegetables"

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:54:36 +0000

And Nancy: thanks! Where’s “here?”

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:53:36 +0000

The mamster checks in! OF COURSE, we do all trek into the gates of hell occasionally, yours truly included. It’s weird though — everytime I do, I find less and less to buy. If I need basic staples like potatoes, fennel, etc., I almost always get them at my local corner bodega. The Mexican guys who run it are friendly, have great prices, and their stuff is not bad. Far from transcendent (as opposed to Mariquita), but really not bad. They probably get it from the same wholesale market as the bigger boys, but without as much overhead. If I have to get industrial produce, this is far preferable to the humungo chains.

And don’t get me started on the meat in the chains. I can’t even go near that section of the store; the smell–a combo of blood, bleach, weird industrial cleaner, and plastic wrap–squicks me out.

By: Matthew Amster-Burton

Matthew Amster-Burton — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:32:32 +0000

Another trick is butter.

Seriously, I’m not going to disagree with you about the virtues of great farm produce, but some of the industrial stuff is better than others, and it’s worth knowing that because everybody shops at the supermarket at least some of the time. Off the top of my head, the best bets in the supermarket produce section are fennel, kale, potatoes, and English cucumbers. And tomatoes (kidding!).

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:23:23 +0000

I just got The Breakaway Cook from Amazon. I managed to get some fennel – rare here – and made the miso-ginger-fennel soup. Then made it again, with some variations. Lovely, and worth the price of admission. Thanks so much for your fresh ideas, and for this blog, too.