We had a nice day today shopping for fresh produce. I had been meaning to take pictures in this shop for a while but somehow I never got the nerve up to do it. Excuse the bad quality as I took them with my phone. Very stealthy too! I don’t know why I always feel weird about taking pictures inside stores. Maybe it is because I get enough stares here as it is. For whatever reason I get stared at all the time. So I figured might as well give them something interesting to look at!
This is a lovely Italian produce store. They have rows and rows of delicious fresh fruits and veggies. It is a little more expensive than the supermarket but it’s totally worth it.
The strawberries are in season now and they had baskets upon baskets full of them. I had a taste though and they weren’t as good as the ones I bought by the field a few days ago. I am sure they are local but they weren’t as sweet. My husband still got a kilo though. He wants to eat fruit for dinner. I wanted to get cherries but those are expensive at the moment! 7.99€/kilo Yikes! No thanks. I will wait a couple weeks or so when they taste better and are a bit less expensive. I got some pears instead.
I made the silly mistake of not having a shopping list with me. So I didn’t get some veggies I meant to get. I will need to think about my recipes tomorrow and go to the store on Monday to buy whatever else I missed.
Watermelons are now here and my husband was so excited. He was looking all over to find them. He fell in love with watermelon a couple summers ago and now he looks forward to it every year. He can have it for dinner only and be totally satisfied. Aren’t those tomatoes awesome? They look like little pumpkins. I will need to buy them at some point and see if they taste any different. I can imagine they would look great stuffed with rice or couscous. Presentation-wise they are very pretty.
They not only have fresh produce but a ton of other items as well. Most comes from Italy so all the labels are in Italian. Which makes me feel like I am in Italy whenever I visit this store (and also a bit confused trying to figure out what the hell I am trying to buy!). The cheese section is full of delicious stinky cheeses! I went on a shopping spree here once and got 6 different kinds of cheeses just to try them. Some made me turn purple from the smells and I had a very upset stomach afterwards. I looove cheese but even I had some I just couldn’t stomach.
Aside from the cheese they have freshly made pasta, variety of yogurts, sausages and cold cuts fresh from the butcher and fresh eggs. It is so old school, I really love it! They also have a small international section with a lot of items from Asia and Mexico. So whenever I feel like cooking something I can at least count on finding some of the items and spices there. A bit on the pricey side but it’s not something I buy every day/week.
By the checkout lanes, you will find the wine aka elixir of the gods!..lol I was just commenting to my husband that this is such a grown up store. Normally at other markets you find the snacks and candy by the checkouts to lure the children when you are trying to pay. But here, I hardly ever see children. It is mostly couples (young and older) or singles shopping for their produce. So it makes sense they try to lure us all with wine at the finish line..lol I have to be honest though..their wine selection is delicious. Yes, we normally don’t leave there empty handed. They also have a section for drinks with many imported beers which is great when you feel the need for a Guinness and you don’t want to head to an Irish pub in the city.
We will now take our wine, snacks, books and a blanket and head to the park for a bit of down time by the lake. I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend!
Cheers, Kari
