Lucky In Limbo

Thanks to a co-worker who inspired me to keep a tighter grasp on my finances (and subsequently install the bafflingly complex computer program Quicken, which as yet lies unused on my computer desktop), I suggested to Adam that we do some meal planning and go for a hefty grocery trip to the affordably priced Trader Joe's.  And while I do have lots of laudatory remarks about Trader Joe's abundant and inexpensive offerings (exemplified, of course, by its three-dollar bottles of wine), it the store's neighbor I would like to talk about today, Limbo Produce (SE 39th near Steele).

I thought we'd check it out first-- stock up on fruits and veggies, and then hit up TJ's for our dry and canned (or wine-bottled) goods.  And what an idea that turned out to be!  Like your typical produce-only market, little attention is devoted to architecture or decoration, but when you have sweeping mountains of melons and tomatoes, box after box of potatoes (red, fingerling, russet), and of course, since it is June in Oregon, tiers and tiers of blue-, rasp-, and strawberries to bring tears to the eye-- then interior ambience is of little importance.  Happily the plentiful produce was local and largely organic, and happiest of all... it is DIRT CHEAP.  99-cent avocados!  Dollar-a-basket strawberries!  (Recall, those were three-fifty at the farmer's market.)  Cherries for two dollars a pound!  (At New Season's they cost literally four times as much.)  Big boxes of already-washed spinach for a buck!

We stocked and stocked, and walked away with a thirty-eight dollar boatload-sized bounty, and I've been popping cherries in my mouth like jelly beans ever since.  (I also made a lasagna last night for dinner layered with zucchini and spinach, courtesy of Limbo.)

Perhaps these well-kept secret permanent markets are an even better answer to the conundrum of over-priced, over-bland supermarket produce than farmer's markets.  As much as I love my local FM, it's really expensive.  I've noticed too, that the products at the FM are becoming more and more processed.  Not like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese-processed, but more and more ready-made stuff is being sold, and is pushing out all the raw basics.  For example, instead of a bunch of spinach, vendors now have spinach tarts and spinach tortillas and spinach facial moisturizer.  They are often homemade and delicious and I'm sure very moisturizing, but the prices are also of course jacked up.

Limbo's fruits and veggies are just that: whole, ripe, just pulled from the earth, and ready for me to have my way with them.  So when I want to take a gander at my neighbors on a summer's afternoon, or if I'm in the mood to plunk down some money for some artisanal goat cheese and homemade ice cream sandwiches, I'll head to my local FM.  When I want my fruits and veggies untouched and inexpensive, I'll head on down to Limbo, the produce heaven.