venerdì, agosto 11, 2006

Hee hee hee . . . box

Yesterday saw the delivery of my first Good Food Organics box. It’s come to this . . . I’m one of those snobs who snobbishly refuse to eat pesticides. I’ve always loved them, or at least the delicious foods they were on, and like my cigarette-quitting this spring I wasn’t ready to stop. The dear ciggy poos I stopped because they started making me retch while I was trying to enjoy them as was my long-addicted wont. The pesticides I’ve had to stop because I’d decided to eat more local produce, because local produce tastes better. Do you understand? I still love pesticides. It’s just I want to be able to taste my fruit and vegetables again, like a normal person or a European.

I guess it was time to start eating organic though. I’m always yelling at Noam Chomsky-reading ugly-haired morons to quit their goddamn whining and act with their dollars and their votes to change the stupid fucking world if it’s all that bad, and lately it’s been striking me that yes, indeed, it is all that bad.

There were three options for local produce:

1. Farmer’s markets (I’ve been doing this and it’s been fun, but they close down during the winter, I’ll want to spend less time cycling around the city to them and more time making love after Tuesday, and they’re full of people who walk stupid)
2. The WOW Box (delivery straight to door with a purely local produce option, but seems to be less value for money based on paltry contents of normal WOW boxes)
3. The Good Food Box (pick up at native resource centre two blocks away, organics option which mostly features locally grown produce and has a few what-the-fuck-are-those exotic organic options thrown in, and apparently better value for money than WOW Box.)

This first Good Food Box had the following:

A bag of Spring Salad Mix
4 oranges
2 pounds of red potatoes
a musk melon
some Japanese Mustard
a big eggplant
4 ears of sweet corn
3 tomatoes
an avocado

First of all, I'm super curious to try the Japanese Mustard. Second, that cost $22. I’m not persuaded it was worth $22. Maybe I should jump off this wagon while the farmer’s markets are still in town and jump back on come winter. I shall discuss it with Figaro. Unsettling to think my domestic decisions will soon have to be made in consultation with a human being who isn’t my cat.

9 commenti:

Masonic Boom ha detto...

...well, a European who doesn't shop at Tescos or Sainsburys or any of the other Big Four supermarket cartels. :-(

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

:-( indeed, Boom, but even Tescos and Sainsburys - honestly - have much better quality fruit and veg than you'll find in a Canadian supermarket. I know how unlikely that sounds, and I know the difference between how things from a farmer's market and things from those places taste over there, but it's sadly, sadly true.

By the way, I read that the owners of Covent Gardens are going to scale down on the cutesy-ass tourist shit and open a farmer's market there instead! If I had a tail, that would make me wag it.

cali ha detto...

I think you should hop off the bandwagon until winter - and there is always the St. Lawrence Market or even the Kensington Markets - which have a wide selection - although I guess they aren't really in your location. You could always bike over to the Danforth - it's closer and I know they have a lot of market style shops, esp. the more east you go.

So is Figaro here for good now? (soon) What's he going to do? This is so swoontastic (a.k.a romantic)!

Sugarplum ha detto...

Oranges and avocado? I don't know but it doesn't sound very local to me. You should be suffering through collards and kale like the rest of us. And tiny zuchini that are the size of my middle finger. We ate a lot of greens over the past month - whatever is ready and whatever hasn't been eaten by the deer. I do envy you though, I guess you're just getting organics locally and then supplimented with organics from the States. Ours is supplimented with baked goods which was good Egyptian food at first but now is only bread. I have a breadmaker.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

I'm inclined to agree, Cali. The St. Lawrence market is pretty close and there's also a farmer's market at the Riverdale Zoo every Tuesday. Right now that conflicts with my Pilates class but my gym's schedual is changing in a few weeks . . . also farmer's markets are fun and you can pick what you want.

Yes - on Tuesday Figaro is coming for good, insha'Allah. I'm feeling quite swoony myself and so pleased there was a security scare on the planes this week so he'll be nice and safe next, insha'Allah. He has an under-table teachy thing lined up but I hope he moves to private students - that's more money and less time, which means he can do more cooking and cleaning and thinking about ways to please me.

Sugarplum, it was all local except the oranges and avocado. Well spotted! I remember your breadmaker. It makes yummy yummy bread. I buy spelt bread now. Lady went on an iodine-free diet because of her explosive thyroid and spelt bread was the only thing that didn't make her die or something, and when I had it again I remembered how yummy it was. It tastes a little nutty. Sigh. This goddamn allergy - I bet I would love nuts since I'm addicted to eating things that taste a little nutty.

Masonic Boom ha detto...

God, I love kale.

I suppose at least Sainsburys is trying to respond to consumer pressure because it's the Middle Class Supermarket - it's quite easy to get organic fruit and veg, and most of the stuff is at least UK sourced (which would be local, in terms of distance, in Canada).

Blimey, I'm gobsmacked at Figaro's imminent arrival!

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Yeah, kale is yummy yums. I actually like those tiny zucchini too, I think they're cute and tasty. I know how satisfying it is to *look* at a nice, big firm zucchini, but sometimes the little ones are the best.

(That rule only applies to zucchini, by the way. And strawberries and potatoes and a few other things you CHEW, DIGEST AND EXCRETE. Interested parties should not try to extend the metaphor.)

I'm trying to be gobsmacked, Boom, but at the risk of sounding like a big whiny baby the closer his arrival gets the farther it seems away. My daddy pointed out it was five more days, and I got excited for a moment, until I realized how many hours that was, and then, well, okay, I'll shut up because now I do sound like a big whiny baby.

Melbine ha detto...

The longer that I'm living at home the more strange it is for me to think about not being able to go and pick some beans from the garden or tomatoes etc. I need to get back here sooner than later...

I bet Figaro would enjoy going to the farmer's markets, then maybe rely on the drop-off for winter?

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

I'm thinking that's what he'll want. He's also awfully fun to grocery shop with, so I'm getting more and more sure that's what I want. Gosh, I miss him.