Winter Shopping and Island Dreaming

Basted eggs atop a sea of elegance Recipe

‘At this rate, I may never get home’ I thought.

My car drifted to the right, then the left, before catching in a groove of thick, sandy snow. I was following a line of cars bobbing this way and that. We were wedged between glittering, snow banks, which towered to implausible heights on either side of the road. Gothic streetlamps illuminated us with quiet beauty, though they themselves hung droopy like wilted flowers. My fingers had finally warmed, but the un-melted snow on my boots sent my toes throbbing to the beat of winter.

“BRRRRRRR” I said forcefully, though I was alone in my car.  The grocery store fluoresced like a city on vacant horizon.

‘I might as well shop until the traffic settles’ I thought, and turned my wheel to the track that led into the parking lot.

It wasn’t my normal grocery store, but it was a popular one. Having no real agenda, I cut myself loose to wander. I picked up a dry, bulb of garlic, the paper thin skin began to shed in my hand. It felt hollow inside, like it had been sucked clean of its delicious, spicy, juice. I threw it back into its bin, sighed and rolled on. The squash was pale and lifeless. The cucumbers were waxy. The fennel was brown. The lemons were freakishly large, weighing in as the size of grapefruits…

..but the price was right.

The prices at the local co-op are outrageous compared with this market, and yet it seems that the alternative requires that I accept a meal of mealy tomatoes. It’s no wonder that so many people in this country choose not to eat vegetables. A deep nostalgia pulled me by my roots and I found myself pining for farmers market season, when vegetables are abundant and cheap (in comparison).

I longed for the best of both worlds, but instead I skipped over the vegetables and wandered to the “ethnic” aisle in search of an island getaway in a can. A tribute to its popularity, coconut water has been turning up everywhere these days (it seems), so I was not too surprised to see that only a few cans remained. To what do we owe the sudden popularity of the coconut in American culture? After spending years banished in the dark shadows of the low-fat cloud, what forces have ushered the coconut back into the light?

To be continued…