Fresh as Can Be

A lot of the time, grocery shopping makes me anxious. It all started when I found out Walmart price matched...

I tried to make things easier on myself and not be too annoying to the employee who had to ring everything up. I put all of the price matched items together. I had a list ready in case the cashier had questions. I even put little sticky notes with the new price on every single item. No matter what I did, when I got to the front of that checkout line it was the same.

I don't know what it was. Worry about the overworked and underpaid cashier? Maybe guilt for getting two generous weeks of produce for $15? Whatever it is, China hasn't made it go away. It just has given me new reasons.

Would you like to see my "grocery store"?

Welcome to the entrance! Those various bins you see on the ground to the left? Those contain live fish, water snake things, and other creatures of the sea.

There are five different vegetable booths inside with most of the same things. We know one lady always has red bell peppers and another special orders beets for us (needed thanks to my Venezuelan doctor's order to drink a carrot-orange-beet smoothie every day)

We made the mistake of getting meat from these guys our first time. They grabbed the meat with their bare hands, threw it on the scale, put it in a bag, and gave us our change--all with those same meat-juiced hands. mmm. We now order from a booth next to this one with a "refrigerated" section and a much more sanitary girl (who speaks English!).

The Chinese love to have meat that is fresh--needless to say, I do not buy our chicken meat here.

What a clean little place, hmm? Looking at this picture, I told mister I would have never imagined myself actually shopping here. Ever. Thanks to our sanitization system, we have yet to get sick!

I'm a little hesitant to buy beans or rice out here...I don't know if I can be that adventurous.

In addition to markets like the one we shop at, trucks sell produce on the streets. The truck prices are usually better, but the selection is smaller. Can you guess what fruit we bought this week?

I can always walk down the streets to find out what is in season! Cabbage and radishes? Here's to hoping I can find some great recipes...or that our market will still have some variety as it gets colder.

Despite my apprehensions about going to this fresh market and buying produce on the street, I sure do love this place.

I spend way too much some time keeping a mental list of all the things I am excited for when we get back to the US. This little market will be on the other side of that list: the What-I-Miss-About-China side.

I didn't think I'd have anything over there. Here's to change. :)