22nd And Irving Market

The other night Vic and I went to the 22^nd and Irving Market, a large and popular market for cheap produce. When I go to these kinds of places I always think of my Auntie Lee. This was her kind of place. There is always a bargain to be had—not that she bought more than a few vegetables. I never saw any fruit in her house other than maybe a few bananas. She was always encouraging me to go to these kinds of markets right around the time I was really getting into shopping for organic produce and natural foods.

It was 6 O’clock when we got there and they were already starting to break things down. I imagine it is a huge project every day to set up and break down. There are no aesthetic elements, just a lot of large conventional produce displays. Vic and I went into the grocery part of the store and started looking around. There were lots of ethnic foods and a very multicultural staff. Vic of course wanted to buy some pasta so I picked up some orzo and pastichio—one of my favorite pastas—like spaghetti but with a hole in the middle. There wasn’t a lot of junk so feeling nostalgic I picked up a bag of mixed nuts to take home and roast. I thought the kids would have as much fun as we did when we were kids standing around my dad while he cracked nuts for us. Victor wanted a snack too and oddly enough picked out a large bunch of celery. There was no beer unfortunately.

The cashier was very friendly, flirting with Victor a little, but he was impatient for that celery so we moved along quickly. When we got Vida from soccer she ripped into the celery too.

Vic’s Snack--celery