City Life in Suburbia: The Fresh Market

Hey guys!  How was your weekend?  Anything fun and exciting happen?  It was pretty cold here (It has been in the 60's for the past few weeks) so we got to light the fireplace again and I made a soup that went well with the weather.  Totally unrelated, but this happens to be my 100th post!

One of the many things that I love about Simon is that he knows a lot about health and reasons why certain foods are good for you.  The very first time we spoke to each other he had a big bottle of water and a bowl of grapes with him.  Back then I didn't eat the best foods all the time, but that has changed drastically since he's been in my life.  Now we try to eat foods that are healthy but also taste good (they are out there!).  Of course we eat junk foods, but not as often.  Whenever I go grocery shopping I find myself looking at the back of boxes/containers at the ingredients to see what kind of "science" (as Simon calls it) is in it.  If there's too much, it's a sign that we don't need it.  This is a habit that I've picked up from him.

We visited our local Fresh Market on Friday to get a few ingredients for some recipes that I'm going to try out.  I like The Fresh Market because it's in between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's price wise but has the Whole Foods look.  Every time I walk into a farmers market I instantly feel happy.  It could be all of the fresh produce, gourmet cheese, wine selections, hormone/antibiotic-free meats, etc. or it could be the energy of everyone in there.  It's kind of like when you go into a gym and are instantly ready to work out since that's what you are surrounded by.  The best thing about this market is that it's only 15 minutes away, so I don't have to go to the city to get market fresh food.  It's crazy because in Georgia, if you don't live in the city or in the perimeter, you have to travel far to get to the larger farmers markets.  It makes no sense to me...why aren't there more markets in the suburbs and rural areas where the produce is actually grown?  At any rate, here are a few images from the trip!

Are there local markets close to where you all live and do you prefer them over standard grocery stores?