River Market

Today I got to engage in my favorite passtime. I went to the local farmer's market. Though we have several small ones sprinkled around town, I prefer to go to the big one downtown in the River Market area. I especially like this one because in our notoriously segregated town, this is one of the few places where you can really see a microcosm of our city. The Vietnamese vegetable vendor in her cone shaped hat, selling her wares next to the Amish woman with her tidy little bonnet selling baked goods. The spice vendor bags up little scoops of spices as his wife shrouded head to toe in Muslim garb stands watch. I picked up dill, bay leaves, cinnamon, dried hisbiscus flowers (for tea) cumin seed and dried cilantro. I found some beautiful yellow tomatoes, some peach amarillo preserves, and fat little green cucumbers for making tatziki sauce. I also bought blueberries before the season escapes for another year, and fresh baked pita bread from the Mediterranean bakery. I shop with a wicker basket that I carry atop my head when it becomes to heavy to hold by the handle. I love the sensory experience of a natural basket full of fresh produce and flowers. I go early, buy my fresh produce, baked goods, and spices, then find a little nook to sit and watch humanity go by. I usually go to a funky little retro restaurant called Succotash that serves up a great breakfast, but this morning I selected the Habashi Market. I ordered grilled pita with hummus and rice, and a side a baba ghanoush. It turned out to be an excellent choice. I sat, ate the best darn baba ghanoush I've ever tasted and enjoyed the sights and sounds of humanity. A guy with long hair and mustache played country music and his violin (or should I say fiddle?) nearby while I noshed on pita bread and inhaled the smells of freshed brewed coffee from the coffee shop next door. I selected a nice bouquet of flowers to deliver to my favorite cousin (today is his birthday) along with a redvelvet cupcake from a shop called Babycakes for us to share. My Saturday morning trips to the River Market are one of the best thing about my so-called big life.