Shopping, cooking, and eating: day 1

So, my friend J. requested a week's worth of diary entries to explain how I shop and cook (I added the eating part). I think she'd like to cook more, so she wants to see how it works for me, logistically. I'm rilly lucky to have a flexible work schedule (I mostly work from home), and a standing appointment that brings me two blocks from the Berkeley farmers market every Tuesday afternoon. (I also like to spend Sunday mornings squeezing fruit and ogling vegetables at the Temescal market, but usually that's more recreational than practical. Hey, you can stop laughing now.)

So I am obliging J.

Shopping for today (all at the farmers market; sometimes I stop at Berkeley Bowl afterwards if I need olive oil, toilet paper, whatever—but today I didn't):

• a couple pounds of fingerling and yukon gold potatoes (it's frackin' cold and wet today, I'm thinkin' stew or roasted veggies) from Arthur Davis, who also raises free-range chickens that lay lovely eggs
  
• a loaf of Russian sourdough from Vital Vittles, my bakery of choice (they use all whole grains)
• two tiny little blocks of firm tofu from Hodo Soy (their tofu is great and priced the same as most other organic tofu you'll find in the supermarket; their prepared foods are amazing but way spendy—I do recommend splurging on the tofu meatballs or the sesame tofu strips every once in a while, though)
• some brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and kiwis from Swanton Berry Farm, the only strawberry farm in the U.S. that's both organic and union
• some tangelos from a far whose name I don't remember, but Oh My Gawd these are some of the best citrus things I have ever eaten
• a bunch of red chard and a bundle of parsnips from Riverdog Farm
• a 20-pound bag of brown rice from Massa Organics; I first had their rice when I got some through Eatwell Farm, which was my beloved CSA before I was able to get to the farmers market regularly—it is the best rice ever, and you can scoff at that description until you taste it

So far today I have eaten:

• two unbelievably delicious eggs that my new friend D. gave me from her very own chickens (thanks, D.!), fried sunny-side up in a little California-produced olive oil I bought at my local overpriced grocery store, with two pieces of cornbread toast
  
• a bottomless cup of wild berry plum green tea (not as fruity as it sounds)
• a tangelo from the same farm I bought from today (though this was the last one from last Tuesday's run)
• a navel orange I bought Saturday at the Ferry Building in San Francisco while on a farmers-marketing date
• an old, old apple with some peanut butter smeared on it

My friend J. (a different friend J. from the one who requested the diary...maybe I'm going to have to start making up names for my friends) is coming over for dinner; my plan is for us to roast a bunch of veggies (the cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and potatoes I bought today, along with a sweet potato and some broccoli I already have) and eath them with rice and maybe some tempeh. But who knows? We might make a tofu curry, some beans n' greens, or something else—or we might go out. Stay tuned.