sf wrote:
> On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:00:13 -0700, Joseph Littleshoes wrote:
>
>> Sorry, i misread the headers
>>
>> Where ever exotic place will you get off to next!
>>
>> Oakland?
>
> LOL! Yes, Oakland is definitely on my itinerary. The weather is
> becoming balmy again and good for strolling... Housewives Market
> (better known as Swan's now) and surroundings? I want to go to
> Taylor's Sausages and I also want to buy a capon. Capon is new
> culinary territory for me.
>
> We'll put our heads together in the chat channel soon to nail down a
> date.
>
I think Housewives is about to close, and even if the whole Market don't
close, Jacks meats that sells the capons is about to. I was talking to
him (Jack) to day and he is talking about retiring.
The recent global economic down turn has taken a real toll on the
place, it was always a place where the less affluent shopped, it was
never an expensive or up market kind of place, and it used to be a lot
more ethnic. I suppose most of its old clientèle are not driving to it
anymore. The very successful cat fish restaurant closed, the vegetable
stand is gone and while there is a new fish monger after an absence of a
year or so he never seems busy to me.
When the old Housewives Market moved to the Swan's building 8 - 9 years
ago and they tried to tart it up and get a more affluent clientèle, it
did not seem to catch on. And even the yuppiefied "farmers market" on
Fridays out side of swans has recently lost at least half of its clientèle.
I used to avoid walking any where near it because of the crowds, they
were so thick, dense, just last winter. I walked by it to day on my
way to Chinatown and it seemed there were no crowds so on my way back i
walked through it and talked to a few people who have noticed a steady
decline in people coming to the "farmers market" over the last 6 months.
No great loss to me, they were horribly overpriced, at its height i was
once quoted a price of $1.00 for a head of garlic. I chuckled and put
it down and walked two blocks further on and paid 10 cents for the same
garlic (now 25 - 30 cents!!!
Originally, the first few months the "Farmers Market" was open it was
literally a 'farmers market" truck farmers bringing in their produce
from the delta, and they had good prices, but some condos were built
in the neighborhood and the whole neighborhood was really marketed
especially the whole "organic' aspect of the farmers market and had
entertainment, non food vendors, flower sellers, arts & crafts, and a
generalized 'street fair" atmosphere, strolling clowns and out door full
service bars & "beer gardens" and the local merchants got involved and
it quickly became a destination among the local yuppies. It had a good
run 7 - 8 years, but i was shocked by how few people were there to day.
While there are a few "certified organic" vendors there, the bulk is
locally grown produce and can be had for a 10th of the price 2 blocks
away in Chinatown, i sometimes want to go up to the people shopping at
the "Farmers Market" and tell them about Chinatown but i think it
really was a destination event for the yuppies to go there and pay high
prices for the experience. Originally the vendors were all working
class farmers, Asian or Mexican now they are all Caucasian yuppies, and
to day frustrated and angry yuppie wannabes.
Course if you time your visit to get there around closing you can often
get some bargains. i have picked up a regular $15.00 - $20.00 roasted,
free range, organic chicken for 5 dollars.
Chinatown is still going strong and its all i can do to bite my tongue
and not encourage the stores i shop at to charge more than they do.
I rather like the way prices fluctuate in Chinatown, sometimes up some
time down, i have never seen a product cost less from one day to the
next in any other shopping area the way i do in our local Chinatown.
One store i shop at wont sell broccoli if they cant sell it for around
50 - 60 cents a pound. One day i had to go to 3 different stores in
Chinatown to finally find some broccoli for a little over a dollar a
pound.
I believe you cant bring in any food products, preserved or spices in
from out side of the country in your luggage? otherwise i would ask
you if you have found any good curries or other herbs or spices to
purchase in bulk, though i think there is a way of mailing something
like that back to the states, "drop ship"? fed ex in Lhasa?
Spin a prayer wheel for me
--
JL