Fresh is Best

If  it’s approaching February…then I must be in Hilton Head for the next few weeks.  Yes, this snow bird has gone South to escape Pittsburgh’s cold, raw, gray, most snowiest (did I make up that word?) month!  I take well to sunshine and warmth, more and more so each year.  Out of all the benefits of spending time here in the Low Country, my greatest joy comes from the fact that I am just minutes away from a Fresh Market grocery store!  I feel sorry for those of you that are not in a close vicinity to this magical market!

I came prepared, as I always do, with new cook books and cooking magazines in tow, overflowing with  tempting and new recipes just waiting for me to tackle!  And what better place to purchase the ingredients than a Fresh Market.   Produce is generally more plentiful and inviting here where we are closer to the warm, longer growing season states which produce fruits and vegetable, like Georgia and Florida.   When I enter a Fresh Market, I’m entering a foodie’s heaven!  I have to contain myself from oohhing and aahhing and touching everything from the dark, forest green,  curly Tuscan kale to the smooth skinned, shiny, baby eggplants the color of an emperor’s royal robe.

The breads on display in the bakery not only have a tantalizing aroma, but are sending subtle invitations to have their crusty exterior broken and slathered with the honey butter, made on the premises.  I am drawn to the coffee and tea aisle to sample the fresh brew of the day; my all time favorite being Seville Orange…just a slight hint of bright citrus mingled with a robust, fragrant coffee bean flavor.   The cheese counter is like no other!   Hard to find, aged to perfection, these hunks of salty and sharp or creamy and smooth made from either cow’s or sheep’s milk cheeses will blend and marry beautifully with a pasta dish or find it’s way into a scrumptious sauce.

I can hardly contain myself!   Can’t wait to go this morning and saunter aisle by aisle searching for whatever I need to make an unforgettable feast.  I never go with a shopping list, I just let my senses, all of them, guide me to purchase the freshest, most appealing items as single ingredients, knowing that they will join together and transform to something that will feel like angel’s dancing on my tongue.

New Decade

January 2011.   A new decade is upon us.  When someone says the older you get the faster time passes by, boy, they’re not kidding!  But wait, didn’t we  just herald in the new millennium?  Didn’t DVDs  just replace VCRs, word processors replace typewriters, push buttons replace rotary dial phones, what generation iPod are we up to now anyway?  I don’t even want to touch what computers and smart phones can do! [Well, I do enjoy scyping with my out of town kids.]  And if I hear the word ‘apps’, wait, it’s not even a word! one more time , I think I’ll scream!  Oy, double oy!  If  you can identify with that phrase and remember who Myron Cope is, well, we may be on the same page!   I guess I need to get with it, accept these changes, learn to adjust…blah, blah, blah.   I am willing to try. [Dragging my feet just a little.]

A new decade, new year, new month and I guess a new attitude is in order.  One more thing.  Just when did my doctors, bankers, police officers, and government officials all look like they just graduated from High School?!?!

If you haven’t guessed, this year on my birthday, I will step out of one decade  and enter into the next. [Also, dragging my feet just a little.]  Age is only a number, age is only a number, age is only a number….