Skip to main content

Peculiar farmers market

Frida was finally at the farmers market this Sunday, like her dad had been asking her to for about a year. Her dad had, since retiring, really gotten into farmers markets. He had begun to extol their unending virtues and had served her dish after dish that he proudly told her had come from ingredients solely purchased at the farmers market.

At first, it had just been the farmers market down the street that he went to, but now he was becoming a farmers market connoisseur. He went all over the city and, sometimes, even all over the state to visit the best of the best. He told Frida all about how they had different schedules and different specialties and how the winter was the most difficult, but there were a few indoor markets that he could visit, but they just weren't as good. After all, he told her, some of what you go for is the atmosphere and you don't get much atmosphere at an indoor market.

Frida had never been one for cooking and, while she enjoyed eating, had never really been one for fresh vegetables. She couldn't really think of the last time she went shopping for fresh vegetables. She didn't see the appeal, especially as she could buy frozen ones that would last way longer for a fraction of the price. So she had avoided going with him for ages. But, this time, when Father's Day rolled around, she knew it would be the best gift to her dad to go to the market with him, buy some ingredients, and cook a meal with him. And she was right. When she told him what her plan was for Father's Day he burst into the biggest smile she had ever seen.

So here she was. Outside, wishing she was asleep, and on the hunt for ingredients. She decided on getting coffee first. She had managed to beat her dad to the market so she hoped he wouldn't mind her getting a bit of a head start.

After she got the coffee, she saw a text from her dad that said he was running late and that she should see what ingredients "called out to her" and he would help her pick things that went along with them. Frida sighed heavily into her coffee cup and muttered to some force to give her strength for this day. After a few sips of coffee, and reminding herself that this day was for her dad so she should stop moping, she felt refreshed and ready for the market.

She wandered a bit at first, taking in stall after stall. She most wanted to visit the stalls with baked goods, but she knew that wasn't what her dad wanted, so she found her way to a man selling an assortment of vegetables. Most of them she recognized, but then there was one she didn't.

She stooped down and looked at the little green thing. It looked almost like a long, more cylindrical cluster of grapes, but made up of itty bitty, nearly perfectly spherical balls of delicate, green leaves. Towards the top, large leaves shot out from thick stems. Frida was confused as to how there could be these little balls of leaves and then such large crinkly ones on the same plant. Don't plants just have one type of leaf?

She looked around and didn't see a label on this plant, but, then again, most plants at the market didn't have labels. Not wanting to seem dumb, she decided to get this bizarre looking plant for her and her dad to eat. He couldn't have tried this before, it was so odd. She decided to get the whole cluster, the idea was to make a feast after all. The farmer was kind and sold it to her for what she took to be a good price.

Frida's phone pinged to let her know that her dad had arrived at the market. She put her purchase in her tote bag and made her way to the entrance that her dad said he was at. When she approached, he smiled at seeing that she had already bought something.

After they hugged, Frida triumphantly took her purchase out of her bag. She was about to proudly proclaim that she'd stumped him when his smile got even bigger.

"Why, Frida, I thought you hated Brussels sprouts! I'm so glad you're willing to try them again. Come, I know just the thing to go with them." He grabbed her arm and tugged her towards another stall.

Frida inwardly frowned. She did hate Brussels sprouts.

(Prompt by Kimisha Cassidy)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Starting my parental journey, part 2

You can read part 1 here . Yesterday I began the next step of my parental journey. Ironically, it was starting birth control. This medicine helps prepare my ovaries for the egg retrieval process. It was weird taking the pill to prepare for my fertility journey because you typically think of the pill as ensuring you don't get pregnant. Obviously, I'm not getting pregnant now, but I am getting ready for that eventual possibility. There have also been various bureaucratic issues that I've been dealing with. Mostly insurance stuff (as I'm sure comes as no surprise). But, thanks to a new benefit at work that started 1/1/24, my journey will be (mostly) covered. While, again, there were some bureaucratic hurdles that I had to overcome in order for this to all work out, I am immensely glad that it did work out. I am nervous though. In part I'm nervous about a lot of the practicalities of this step in my journey. For instance, I will have to inject myself with various medica...

15 ways to support me on my parental journey

I posted yesterday and in August, 2023 about starting my parental journey. If you're wondering how you can support me, here are some ideas I have at the moment (though these may change and also don't feel pressured to do any of these things). Check in via text or DM so I can respond at my leisure (but please don't be insulted if I take a long time to respond) Help with arranging food for me (I know that when I get overwhelmed, I often have really awful eating habits) Offer to help with apartment chores (I may turn you down, but the offer will mean a lot) Walk Hoban (I realize only some people can do this, but the relief of lightening the responsibility of Hoban will likely be welcome) Be understanding if I have to cancel plans (I hope to still be somewhat social during this time, but I cannot guarantee how I'm going to feel) Drive me to appointments (I have the retrieval itself covered, but I have other appointments that will happen leading up to it so if you have the...

15 things I'm looking forward to for summer 2024

It'll be here so soon!  Whale watching with a friend Bookstore crawl with a friend 57th Street Art Fair Beach days Movies in the park Swapping out my wardrobe Being done with egg retrievals (hopefully) Helping a friend plan her wedding Going to Galena Taking other trips with friends Doing more sessions of my D&D one shot Eating ice cream on hot days Dining at the Point Trying to find an agent for my picture book ideas (hopefully) Reading more (hopefully) (Prompts by me) "Sperm Whale diving" by Bernard Spragg. NZ