Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

I love grocery stores.
I love grocery stores, and fresh food markets, and fish stalls and butchers. I love the way time slows down in my mind as I peruse the aisles, taking in labels and colours, smells and textures. I love the way the names jump out at me...fig-almond butter, olives stuffed with goat cheese, sesame & soy glazed slow roasted duck, rasberry-wine vinegarette.

But it isn't just the gourmet grocery stores that I love. I adore the sight of fresh vegetables and fruit, the vibrant colours and the marks where little insects nibbled a little on them, proof of their freshness. I love holding the fruit, smelling it for it's true essence, unmarked by the spray of fertilizers.


Mary, Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?

I live with my brat,
In a high-rised flat,
So how the hell should I know?

(Pic: Garden of Eden gourmet market, Brooklyn, NY)

I walked by a fish market today, and overheard two teenage girls complain about the smell. 'It smells so...', - alive? real? like home? I thought to myself. There's something to be said about standing in water that has been muddled with fish guts, being bumped about by aunties and their pasar-baskets and brushing the dirt of the sayur...it's grounding and incredibly real.
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Below: Pictures taken from my trip to Wholefoods (love it!), on a rainy NY evening.

Empire State Building

Union Square Park