New Supermarket and New Friends

Two amazing things happened this week. Well, amazing for me. I went to my first event with a group of local food bloggers. Thank you Renee for organizing and thank you Rachel for providing tickets. Tickets? Where did we go, you may ask? We went to a rehearsal of The Boston Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet which is set to open this week. I had never been to a working dress rehearsal before and it was really interesting. The dancing, costumes, and music were breathtaking. The incessant clicking of cameras, people walking around, and the occasional prop being moved reminded me that it was still a rehearsal, and I loved it! I loved seeing just a tiny bit of the magic removed and the effort, work, and sheer number of people involved in the production. The dancers make it look so easy, like they are floating through space and time. Seeing this glimpse of behind the scenes made them more real, reminded me that each person was doing a job. This made it even better, and the dancers that much more remarkable. I commend them for a fabulous performance. Juliet was perfectly cast and danced with such expression. You could feel her pain, suffering and emotions through her graceful arms, sensuous duets and effortless lifts and pirouettes. Once inside, we were not allowed to photograph so I can only provide you with a glimpse of the lobby.

The second excitement is that Whole Foods opened a branch in my neighborhood. I’ve been watching the construction for some time and there has been no indication of when the store would open. Wednesday night was the grand opening and Thursday I checked out my new neighborhood supermarket! It replaces Hi-Lo Market and is a fairly controversial event. I am sad to see a local, independently owned store close, yet I am happy that Whole Foods has opened. Hi-Lo closed very early, was not the cleanest market, and I somehow always felt sticky after shopping there, like something had leaked onto the outside of whatever packaging I had touched. Whole Foods will be open late (till 10pm) to satisfy evening cravings or ingredient needs. It has significantly diminished my grocery carrying distances and they offer items that are hard to find in short radius of home – like red bananas, kosher chickens, and wheat germ. Maybe not the typical household grocery items, but ingredients that I do seek out on occasion. Perhaps I will work on recipes using these items in the near future, so you can understand their importance.