Kersen

This right here is one of my absolute favorite things about California: fantastic local produce.

About a fifteen-minute walk from my apartment is a store called Monterey Market. Their parking lot is about half as large as it should be, as are their aisles. But my goodness, do they have some nice produce! An entire aisle of mushrooms, perhaps ten different tomato varieties, maybe six or eight types of eggplants.

I try to shop there during off hours. When the crowds are thinner, I sometimes have room for my little shopping scheme. My strategy is to find one instance of the first item on my shopping list. I walk over to that instance, then I look around until I find a preferable instance (usually I mean cheaper, but other legibly labeled possibilities include local, pesticide-free, organic, and heirloom). Then I go stand at the preferable instance and repeat, until I'm reasonably certain I've spotted all the options for that item, and I can fill my basket with some yumminess and move on to the second list item. Sure, it might take a while, but I really don't mind very much. This method works best in their large, tented area outside; once you're inside the darker, cramped store, it's tricky to find all the instances of one fruit or vegetable.

These cherries called to me today. They were actually calling to a lot of people; I had to quickly snap this photo before anybody impaled me with a cart. It was a popular display, is what I'm saying. But after rifling through them for a few seconds, I fell in love with their glossiness and the myriad reflections of the sky light. (This beautiful heap was in the tent, hence the sky light.)

As always, click on the photo to enlarge.