Saturday, August 16, 2003
Shared an Asian pear before heading to the Embarcadero Farmer's Market. We got there and were hungry for breakfast, but after standing in line for crepes for 15 minutes in hot sun in a moderately long line that was hardly moving, I got frustrated and tired of waiting. We went across the street to Embarcadero Center where we discovered the open but empty Crepe Cafe and got a ham and cheddar crepe for me and a veggie crepe with feta and a chocolate milk for Patrick for $14.92. Same prices, but no waiting in long lines, no hot sun, no noisy crowds, and they even had a table and chairs. My favorite part was the plasticware dispenser—like a straw dispenser but for forks, knives, and spoons. I thought I was in Europe for a minute there. We had planned to buy groceries at great-deal prices at the Farmer's Market, but after the crepes we went back and although we found lots of great (mostly organic) food, the prices were mostly not pleasing. Crunchy, sweet, and big black plums for $3.00 per pound. Heirloom tomatoes for $3.50 per pound. One place had okay prices on herbs. We saw pies for $8 each—not bad. The ferry building seemed to have been recently renovated and housed lots of gourmet food vendors: a butchery, a flower shop, a chocolatier, a Sur La Table kitchenwares shop, a local olive oil producer. The building looked new and was beautiful. It all had an upscale air, as though not everyone could afford to enjoy what was available. The chocolatier, for example, sold a "S'mores Kit"—a prettily packaged box with gourmet chocolate, rectangle cookies, and special marshmallows, and wooden sticks for $20. I laughed and wondered what Tina would think. Who would buy that? If I were rich enough to pay $20 for what would probably turn out to be 3 s'mores, I'd probably already have a chef on my campsite setting it up for me. Some of the meat prices were on par with Tower Market but we couldn't come all the way to the Embarcadero just for a few pieces of free-range chicken at $1.59 a pound. We ended up buying absolutely nothing and going to Golden Produce at Church and Market for veggies. In the vendor cluster across the street from the Ferry Building I saw a man selling knitted hats and scarves and immediately thought of Joel. I checked out a price tag for one hat—$15. Home: Patrick napped while I installed K9 and set him up with Outlook. We get about 90% spam in our Lodestar Quarterly mailbox, so I decided that something must be done. Haircut with Bao at Nice Cuts.