Questions

What's Goin' On?

- Marvin Gaye

Where Is the Love?

- The Black-Eyed Peas

Is America Islamophobic?

- Time Magazine cover

Is Fox News a terrorist command center?

- Jon Stewart

This post is a digression. Usually I write happy things about how I try out green recipes and green products and have a good time doing so. But right now, my mind is full of a lot of questions. And honestly, a lot of disbelief.

It seems to me that there's a new storm brewing in America right now.

Many would like us to believe that this is a storm from without, that we are being threatened by invaders from other countries -- that immigrant women come here to drop jihadist anchor babies that will be raised to be terrorists; that mosques are being built so that America can become a theocracy (while these same critics state that America should base its laws on Judeo-Christian tradition, hence advocating a theocracy); that if we're not careful we will all be speaking Spanish; that our president is a Muslim born in Kenya (yes, 1 in 5 Americans apparently believe that our Christian president is a Muslim).

These statements, almost always, come with some sort of disclaimer, like ...

"I'm not a racist, but ..."

"I'm don't hate Muslims, but ..."

"I'm not against immigration, but ..."

These disclaimers, with their transparent dishonesty, lead me to believe that this is not a storm from without, but a storm that's brewing within (especially white, middle class) Americans. We feel threatened (by the economy? by the fact that we won't be the majority any longer? by the sounds of words we don't understand?). Because of the threat, we draw up and try to protect ourselves from "the other", and we find that the kind of open hate and hostility that we thought had been driven underground, is now out in the open once more.

Take for example, building of mosques in America. No, not that mosque. Just any old mosque. Our constitution guarantees freedom of worship, and yet as America's growing Muslim community seeks to build houses of worship that will accommodate them, they are met by protests -- often from the same people who espouse strict constructionism in other circumstances. How then, can these Constitution-loving folk protest anyone's freedom to worship or congregate? By claiming that Islam is not a religion. Seriously? Are you kidding me? We're talking about people who pray five times a day, and the response of those who protest is "not a religion"?

It's nonsense, because it's not good form anymore to admit that you hate another group of people. And so the haters find crazier and crazier arguments to couch their hate in a thin scrim of validity.

They make me so angry. Lately, when I watch The Daily Show, I can feel Jon Stewart's rage at their hatred coming right through the screen and I think, right on, Jon! This open hatred, which we thought we'd pushed down (though never buried) fills me with rage as well. And yet, I'm going to refuse to hate them. My goodness, I want to hate them. But I can't. Even if I did want to, I can turn to the words of this guy named Jesus, which remind me that I shouldn't:

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Matthew 5:7-9.

All those questions from the beginning of the post? I can't begin to answer them.

What's going on? I don't know, but it scares me.

Where is the love? It's become hidden. I'm pretty sure it's still there, but those of us who feel it are being kind of wimpy about showing it.

Is America Islamophobic? It seems like it, right now, but I think that those of us who are committed to freedom can rise above it.

Is Fox News a terrorist command center? Most definitely, if you consider terror to be the fear-mongering that they perpetrate on a daily basis, the hate that they stir up, and the blatant lies that they spew in the name of freedom of speech (okay, I'm still working on that not-hating thing).

Because this is the land of the free, I have to let the haters say these things. And because I want that freedom to remain, I have to speak up against those who would take freedom away in the name of hate.

Extremism - For Love or For Hate?

There's a lot of strife and conflicting rhetoric being tossed around today. In a cultural climate where hate seems to have regained a foothold, it feels good to remember the words of Dr. King:

... I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. ...

But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill three men were crucified. We must never forget that all three were crucified for the same crime---the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thus fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment. Perhaps the South, the nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. (From MLK's "Letter From A Birmingham Jail")

What kind of extremist will you be?

Thursday Spa Day

It's Thursday!

Thursday? Why the exclamation point? you might ask.

I've decided that Thursday will be spa day for me. I'm a pretty low-maintenance girl. I wear make-up and comb my hair, but I've never cottoned to the beauty routines that a lot of girls swear by.

Take, for instance, mani-pedis. (No really! Take them! If my dad read this blog he would crack up). I have no desire to get one. I'm too ticklish to get relaxed while someone touches my feet or hands. I get bored easily and don't like to sit around. Hence, mani-pedis don't seem to be my thing.

But I do love nice nails and cuticles, and I do like to have a nice, fresh complexion (one reason to live in Houston, where the humidity acts as a natural anti-aging treatment). So, on Thursdays, when I sit back and watch Project Runway (where Portland's eco-friendly designer, Gretchen Jones , is doing two things to the other contestants: kicking their asses and annoying them) I'll have my own beauty night.

Of course, my spa day, just like a Project Runway dress made out of recycled bottles, must be eco-fabulous.

Nails

I have teeny-tiny little hands with the nails of a second-grader - scuffed and broken. I'm trying to look like an adult professional however, so I'm trying to institute a simple nail routine of filing and buffing. The little buffing block I use (which I bought from an Israeli girl at a mall kiosk) shines up my nails without any chemicals.

My nails, post-filing. Note how freakishly small my hands are.

I don't wear nail polish because I can't keep it unchipped, but I do like the way it looks. However, it's not Mama Earth's best friend. Nail polish, as you can tell by its toxic aroma, often contains weird chemicals. You can download a wallet card to tell you which brands are free of toluene, formaldehyde, and dibutyl phthalate. Just because a nail polish is free of these chemicals, however, doesn't mean it's toxin free. As always, the Skin Deep Cosmetics Database is a great place to look if you want to know the impact of the products you use.

Wily gets into spa day with some claw-filing.

Clean Face

My go-to facewash is ... Ivory soap! However, sometimes I like a deeper clean, so I go for Burt's Bees Pore-Refining Mask with French Green Clay (ooh la la!).

Burt's Bees ... since I've started this blog, Burt's Bees is my beauty company of choice. No, they aren't "the greenest", but they are the most consistent company I've found in terms of eco-impact, price, and effectiveness. Go Burt!

Moisturized Face

I don't need much moisturizer, due to the fact that the very air in Houston moisturizes my skin. When I do need something (as I did in our peculiarly dry spring) I like Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream. It has royal jelly, which is something involving bees, and which I don't look into too much, in case I'm grossed out somehow.

Here's me, face completely stripped and clean. Not too bad, Burt's Bees!

What do you do to pamper yourself?

Go-Go Organic!

Why is organic better?

Because organic food rots.

Catfish, what? you are probably thinkinYou like rotten food?

No, I don't like rotten food, but food is supposed to rot if it's not eaten in a timely fashion. That's the way that nature made it. That's what our bodies were made to process.

So what kind of alliance with the devil results in these?

What are these? These are plums.

I bought these non-organic plums because sometimes the grocery store doesn't have organic. And then I kept them on the counter for several days. Then I was going away for a week and I meant to take them, but I forgot. So they stayed in my house (about 80 degrees in the day, since I wasn't there) on the counter. When I got back, they were still fine. So I put them in the fridge. I carried them back and forth from work to home several times, but kept forgetting to eat them. I took them to San Antonio in my lunch kit and back. Then they sat in the fridge for another week.

Four weeks later. Still edible. But I can't eat them, because they are so unholy.

Life's A River, Kid ...

... ya gotta go where it takes you.

- The Riches

"Houston has no soul."

"Houston is just a slab of concrete."

"Houston is a bunch of strip malls."

These are the kind of things you hear about the city where I live. To tell you the truth, I've never understood these sorts of comments. Yes, Houston has a lot of freeways and more than its fair share of malls. However, the city I live in (emphasis on city - not the suburbs) is a surprisingly verdant urban landscape criss-crossed with bayous and parks. You have only to leave the freeway and head into the neighborhoods to find someone with a horse in his backyard, a community garden in an industrial area, or a walking trail crossing an urban wetland.

Case in point: the Buffalo Bayou. The Buffalo Bayou is a waterway that cuts right through the center of Houston. Due to the work of diligent preservationists, the bayou has not been encased in concrete like many of Houston's bayous, but is kept in its natural state. The bayou provides a home for wildlife, a natural oasis for Houston's residents, and a place for adventurous types to play.

That's me. An adventurous type.

Well ... I pretended to be adventurous on Saturday, when I joined friends Andy, Dave, and Katie in kayaking on the Buffalo Bayou.

Katie was the one who designed and executed this outing. She received a Groupon advertising the kayaking tours of the Buffalo Bayou Shuttle Service, and emailed a bunch of friends to see who was up for the excitement. A few of us answered the call and set about coordinating our schedules and reserving our spots on the "Navigators" tour.

We arrived (after being lost for 20 minutes) at the Briar Bend Park where our kayaks would put in. After some paddling instruction (most of us had kayaked before) the guides got us settled in our boats, and we were off.

Even though I've lived within 5-10 blocks of the bayou for several years, and I've made walking along the bayou a regular part of my day-to-day in Houston, I was unprepared for the peace and calm of being on the water. It was as if the bustling city ceased to exist ...

... except for the fact that the shopping carts and trash that have been thrown into the bayou periodically pointed out to us that this watershed is in the process of being rehabilitated from a state of pollution. Our guides told us that it's cleaner that it was a few years ago, but it's still not recommended for drinking or swimming.

Nevertheless, kayaking the Buffalo Bayou was a that nature fights for a place even in the most urban of environments. As we navigated around submerged roots and branches, we saw a snowy egret unfolding its wings against the black-green of the vegetation; heard the squeak of the 150,000 bats living under the Chimney Rock bridge and keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

Andy and I shared a tandem kayak, and as we paddled along, free of distractions, conversation waxed philosophical (and irreverent, 'cuz that's how we roll), and I was struck by the way that, when stripped of the brain-bursting noise of modern society, connection becomes much easier.

Even though our trip meant rising semi-early on a Saturday (normally a sacrilege in my little world) I couldn't ask for a better way to start a weekend. The truth is, nature is always close by if we choose to see it. Every city has a soul, but not every soul pays attention.

Welcome!

I needed a new doormat. My old one was literally in shreds.

I was pleased as punch, then, to find this lovely doormat made of 85% post-consumer recycled tires. Instead of being one of the millions of discarded tires to grace American landfills, these tires will have the happy job of welcoming folks to my home.

Which is the perfect segue to saying Welcome! to those of you who've recently started following this blog.

Occasionally, I like to see who's out there in internet land, so if you so desire, leave a comment telling who you are (I know some of you long-time readers have done this before, but the new folks would probably love to hear from you) and any crazy factoids about you.

I'm happy you're here.

Meatless Monday* - Meat-free Cooking Tips, Part 2

When I was first learning to cook, I was always running around the kitchen like a crazy person, trying to chop something while another ingredient burned on the stove. And as I began making more complicated dishes, particularly meatless dishes containing delicate veggies and spices that did not tolerate burning well, this kitchen havoc only increased. Until I learned the secret: mise en place.

Mise en place is a fancy Frenchified term for getting all of your stuff ready before you cook. It means, literally, "put in place", and if you've ever watched Top Chef, you're probably familiar with the mise en place relay, in which the cheftestants are asked to do very basic cooking tasks, such as chopping a bunch of onions or peeling and coring a pile of apples. Why, you might wonder, are they doing this? Because preparing to cook, I've learned, is as important as actually cooking, and a good chef understands mise en place.

This is my mise en place for curried eggplant and potato, which I learned from @kaimoana, an internet pal and one of our readers! Those potatoes have been pre-cooked ... it pays to read your recipe ahead of time.

If you're cooking meat, mise en place can sometimes be overlooked. You can chop the veggies while the chicken roasts, or while the hamburgers grill. However, if you're making a delicious veggie dish filled with a variety of veggies, spices, and alternative proteins, all of these things need to be prepared and there's usually not time to do it in the middle of cooking, since veggies tend to cook much more quickly than meat (which is not to say that mise en place isn't useful when cooking with meat, as anyone who's dried out a beautiful piece of fish or chicken knows).

If you'd like to bring the concept of mise en place into your kitchen, here are a few key ideas:

• Make sure your kitchen is prepared, as I discussed last week. If your recipe has a lot of ingredients, you will probably want a collection of small containers. I have a bunch of prep bowls, but you don't need anything fancy. Regular bowls, mugs, or plates work just fine. You'll also need measuring cups and spoons, and knives.
• Read through your recipe. The big idea behind mise en place is that when you're actually cooking, you'll be able to simply toss things into your pan and cook away. Pay attention: how are the ingredients grouped together? Does anything need to be pre-mixed or pre-cooked? How does the recipe ask you to slice, dice, or julienne?
• Do your research. If the recipe asks me to do something and I'm not sure what it means, I turn to one of my basic cookbooks or the internet. I'm not ashamed that a week ago I googled "how to cook eggplant" because I wasn't sure whether to leave the skins on or not (I did.) Make sure you understand all of the instructions ahead of time. This can be particularly important if you're working with some non-traditional grains. Don't assume that since you can make rice you know how to cook wheat berries or quinoa.
• Chop all your veg, measure all your ingredients. For each step in the recipe, put all of the ingredients together. For example, if the recipe says: Add onion, chili peppers, and garlic, put all of these things into the same bowl. You can even arrange your items in the order that you're going to use them if you're particularly organized (or neurotic).
• Get to cooking! Once you're mise en placed, you'll find that cooking is much easier and low-key. Grab a glass of wine, chat with your family or friends.

Meatless cooking is wonderful in many ways, not only because it brings variety to your palate, health to your life, and color to your plate. According to the United Nations, it's one of the biggest steps you can take toward a more sustainable lifestyle. Starting with Meatless Mondays might just lead to Sustainable Saturdays and Turkeyless Tuesdays, but even if it doesn't make you want to become a vegetarian, it impacts all of our lives in positive ways.

* Meatless Monday is a movement to increase awareness ofsustainable, meat-free eating, by eating meatless meals on Mondays. So alliterative!

Green Eats at Ruggles Green

Last night, after an early evening showing of Eat Pray Love, my friend Katie and I were hungry -- probably because of all the amazing pasta footage in the movie. The two of us love a delicious salad, so Katie suggested we head over to Ruggles Green for some dinner.

Ruggles restaurants -the Montrose Grill and Rice Village Bakery Cafe -- are a Houston tradition -- places where the tres leches are five-inch-high pieces of poetry on a plate. Recently, however, Ruggles has opened two new outlets dedicated to green eating -- certified by the Green Restaurant Association and advertising "organic, all-natural, hormone-free, preservative-free products" as well as a host of other green practices.

You might think that I would have visited Ruggles Green the day it opened, but my prior attempts to eat there were thwarted by a full parking lot and friends who were impatient with attempts to street park (in Houston, we're very lazy parkers).

Needless to say, I was game to try out Ruggles Green on Alabama when Katie suggested it. Although the cafe, like many a hidden Houston gem, is situated in a strip mall, it boasts a cozy interior mixing light and dark woods. I was instantly charmed by the atmosphere, the clientele (a mix of families, ca. 1967 hippies, and their hip-ster offspring), and the menu. The very first entry, "Hi-Protein Hempanadas" caught my eye, but since I'm not a red-meat eater, I let my eye drift down to the salads.

Now, in making menu decisions, I have a few deal makers - one of which is goat cheese. So when I spotted the Texas Goat Cheese Salad, I was sold. Katie chose the Atlantic Salmon Salad. Both of us chose pinot grigio.

Ruggles Green embodies one of Houston's restaurant peculiarities -- a mixture of counter and table service. You order at the counter but a server brings your food to the table. While we waited, we discussed where we would eat pray love if we were to take a year off (Me: Ireland, Southeast Utah, either Egypt or the Holy Land; Katie: Brazil, Vietnam, South Africa).

My salad arrived with a great big lump of soft goat cheese decorated with almond slivers. I'd ordered a grilled chicken breast to accompany the salad, and this was some of the most tender, flavorful bird I've tasted. The goat cheese, Granny Smith apples, almonds, and greens combined to make a light, healthful meal that seemed as transcendent as anything Liz Gilbert ate in Italy.

I was fully satisfied by my amazing meal, the atmosphere, the wine, and the eco-friendly hand dryers in the restroom. However, the menu had so many more intriguing entries that I predict visits to Ruggles Green will be a regular happening in the future.

Meatless Monday* - Meat-free Cooking Tips, Part 1

Getting Prepared

If you're thinking about cooking meatless meals, I've found that it pays to be prepared. You might think that meatless cooking is about throwing together a salad. That is one option, but if you want to cook something that is satisfying and nutritionally-rich, and do it without a lot of hassle, thinking ahead will pay off.

Portrait with Vegetables, by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. This guy's probably a carnivore.

Today I'm going to talk about choosing recipes and outfitting your kitchen. Next Meatless Monday, I'll share some tips (that I've picked up the hard way) about the actual cooking process.

Choosing Recipes

In Texas, many of us who eat meatless meals are viewed with suspicion. And in the land where macaroni and cheese is considered a vegetable, I don't blame anyone for thinking that vegetarian eating is about bland food that won't fill you up.

Plenty of veggie meals would fit that description. There are many more, however, that are flavorful and filling. To make sure you choose one of these, consider the following:

• Explore your resources. The shelves at bookstores are filled with vegetarian cookbooks, spanning the distance from vegetarian (no animal flesh) to vegan (no animal products) to raw (no cooking). Regular cookbooks are filled with vegetarian recipes as well. Of course, these days, the internet is one low-cost resource for recipes of all kinds. A few websites to check out: Meatless Monday's site has recipes along with information about the movement for meat-free eating. If you want to try vegan eating, you might want to take a trip to The Post-Punk Kitchen. At The Kind Life, Alicia Silverstone shares recipes along with organic beauty and fashion tips. I LOVE her recipe for fried mochi!
• Think protein. As you peruse recipes, think about protein. That's what gives you long-lasting energy and makes you feel full. Especially if you're cooking for skeptical family members, protein is important. Beans, soy proteins (like tofu or tempeh), seitan (wheat gluten), organic yogurt (packed with protein in a way that regular yogurt isn't), quinoa -- all of these can give you a protein boost. Look for these ingredients as you choose recipes.
• Explore the world. Let's face it. American cuisine is not exactly light on the meat. If you branch out, you have many more options -- and they are likely to be more flavorful and unique. Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean cuisines are particularly friendly to vegetarian eating. Also, with these cuisines you're likely to find recipes with lots of colors -- lots of colors means lots of nutrients.

This is a Moroccan tagine, or stew, with prunes and butternut squash. Kinda makes you forget about beef, huh??

Vegetarian cooking is much easier when you have a well-stocked kitchen. If you've chosen your recipe well - one that has protein, a variety of colorful veggies, whole grains, and delicious flavors, you're going to be chopping and prepping like one of those cheftestants on Top Chef. To make this easier, make sure your kitchen includes:

• Knives. You'll want a variety of sizes. Serrated knives are best for slicing tender fruits like tomatoes. I use a big butcher knife for chopping nuts (get your mind out of the gutter, greenies!); a steak knife for onions, leeks and the like; a pizza cutter for cutting tortillas, mochi, and, you know, pizza. You'll also want a grater and peeler. Many chefs swear by a mandolin, but I don't have one. Think about it when Christmas comes along.
• Prep bowls. All that chopping means you'll have to put your veggies somewhere. A variety of small bowls will keep all of your ingredients organized. I love my set of Mario Batali Measuring Prep Bowls with a love that's as crazy as Sookie Stackhouse's for Vampire Bill. You don't need special prep bowls, however. Regular bowls work just fine.

Prep bowls. Get down and mise en place! (We'll be talking about mise en place next Meatless Monday)

• A strainer or colander. After you wash your fruits and veg in a mixture of white vinegar and water (removes dirt, kills germs) rinse them in a strainer and let them sit on a towel to dry or in the colander. I tend to wash all of my fruits and veggies at once, so this is the most effective way to dry them.
• Spices. Vegetarian cooking can be blando mac and cheese or it can be curry eggplant with potato. Great vegetarian cooking demands a well-stocked spice cupboard. Some invaluable staples (aside from those in the typical Betty-Draper-style kitchen): cumin (known as comino in Texan and Mexican kitchens), curry, cayenne, turmeric, garam masala (my favorite go-to spice blend), and coriander. I also like to have a variety of vinegars (rice,balsamic, red wine) and condiments (sriracha, stone ground mustard, low-sodium soy sauce). All of these items are commonly available at grocery stores. I round out my seasoning selections by always having fresh garlic, lemons, and limes on hand. Because spices can be expensive, I like to invest in one each big shopping trip until I'm stocked up.
• Gloves. If you like hot food, and think you might be chopping fresh chilies, a pair of gloves can be your best friend. Should you happen to get jalapeno essence on your hands, and are running around screaming and flapping your fingers in agony, dip your burning appendages in a bowl of milk. This remedy has something to do with bases neutralizing acids. Trust me. I know.

Now that you've got your recipe and your kitchen is prepared, it's time to cook. Next Meatless Monday, I'll share a few tips I've picked up as I've tried to increase my commitment to vegetarian cooking.

* Meatless Monday is a movement to increase awareness ofsustainable, meat-free eating, by eating meatless meals on Mondays. So alliterative!

Get Out Your Grocery List

At my house growing up, Sunday afternoon was often the time for "big shopping," otherwise known as the weekly trip to the grocery store to stock up. Even when I was a teenager, I usually chose to go on these expeditions, as they provided an opportunity to hang out with my mom away from our usual busy environment (cue the: awww!)

I sort of love grocery shopping all of out proportion to its actual fun quotient. Since I love to cook, my Sunday afternoon big shopping is filled with the potential for the delicious things I'm going to make. The trip to the store also provides me with a way to ease back into the business of the week, as I make sure I'll have everything I'll need for whatever is coming up.

Living in a big urban environment, however, I've had to carefully choose a grocery store that best supports my attempts to go green, doesn't bust my pocketbook, and is close to home.

While many greenies swear by specialty, natural markets like Whole Foods or Central Market, I find that even their regular items have been notched up in price. And because of the amount of travel I do, the farmer's market is more of a treat for me than an every week kind of thing (I admit, after a late flight on Friday night, I'm not going to rouse myself early on Saturday for kale).

Hence, I've come up with a list of a few things I want in a grocery store, that helped me choose where to do my big shopping. Maybe this list can help you evaluate your store. (At the end of the post, I'll share where I actually go).

1) Greener options for common products, positioned where you can find them

Sure, there's some greenwashing involved in the marketing of "green" cleaners, paper plates, etc. But I truly believe that greener lifestyle choices won't be adopted en masse if people need to go out of their way to choose them. For this reason, I like it when the options are right there, where anybody can find them even if they aren't looking. They may not be the "greenest" option, but until green is profitable and readily-available, "greener" seems like a good idea. And honestly, I don't feel like I should have to go to a special store to find recycled toilet paper.

2) A bulk section that's more than a candy aisle

What you're looking at, right here, is my favorite part of the store. Dried mango! Israeli couscous! Okay, so I don't buy most of that stuff on a regular basis, but I could and that's what I like. Shopping bulk is great in so many ways - less packaging; no marketing, hence lower prices; the ability to get exactly the amount you want. In particular, I'm a big fan of whole grains, and a good bulk section should provide you with all the bulgur you want. Unfortunately, bulk areas seem to be shrinking at many non-specialty grocery stores, so finding a good one at a reasonably-priced store can be tricky.

3) A selection of organic, fair trade, and vegetarian options for most items

Yes, I am a hippie chick who puts agave nectar in food instead of sugar. I like even my canned tomatoes to be organic if possible, because I don't like thinking that my pasta sauce is destroying the soil. I like to be able to buy coffee that is fair trade and organic, not have to choose between the two. In this day and age, where they can make yogurt that is designed to be frozen and "thaw by lunchtime", I don't think this is too much to ask.

4) Organic and local produce

I know that not everyone wants to pay a little bit more for blueberries grown without chemicals, but I do and I like a store where the organic and local produce is clearly marked and not relegated to a tiny little bin of sad-looking apples.

5) Friendly Folks

There is a store near my house that fits all of the above criteria. They have samples of cookies and even musicians playing during peak shopping hours. But I don't go there except for emergency runs because the people that work there are not friendly or helpful. They act as if, by buying things, you are inconveniencing them. I prefer to drive a little further and go to a store where the staff is kind and helpful and remembers me from week to week.

So, you may be wondering: Catfish, what is this magical place that meets your many desires?

Well, greenies, I usually do my big shopping at Randall's (the local name for Safeway). It has a reputation for being "expensive" but I'm not exactly sure why, and it's certainly cheaper than Whole Foods. (And for anyone familiar with Texas, who might be wondering why, oh why don't I shop at HEB, which is practically religion in the Lone Star state, I'll tell you: there is not an HEB near my house).

Where do you like to do your big shopping?