Yesterday we drove to Emmett, a town about 45 min. from Boise, to go to the Cherry Festival. I envisioned the festival with a LOT of cherries, cherry pie eating contests, farm-like fun for kids and maybe a petting zoo for kids. When we got there it looked promising, a lot of rides, booths, great smell of food and a center stage. But where are the cherries???
We finally found a stand with cherries with outrages prizes. A regular plastic cup 12 oz (maybe a size bigger) $3.50 and a 16 or maybe 20 oz plastic cup $4.50!! That is ridiculous, especially because you get a good sized bag of ORGANIC cherries at the Co-op for about the same amount. And here is the craziest thing - those cherries were not even local. I wondered before we left Boise if it wasn't too early for cherries because I remember in Germany the cherry time is late July. And as one merchant stated, when Tom asked if they were local - the local cherries are still green. None of the pies were made with local cherries. What's the purpose of having a cherry festival?
The festival was ok, and we mainly did it for Amelie and she enjoyed hugging the frog mascots and being around bunch of people, the food decisions were challenging. I didn't know that it was like a fair with bunch of fried food. The foods we wanted like an Elk burger and the Indian taco booth both didn't accept debit cards only cash (my bad!) - so we decided on a huge Turkey leg. We thought that was the healthiest and least disgusting thing to eat. We were so wrong!
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| Our little carnivore |
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| Our little carnivore |
We started eating it, mainly because we were starving. But just about in the middle of it, we both looked at each and said.."That's pretty gross". And it was sort of gross...after 30 min. eating it I had an unusual taste in my mouth - mix of blood and grease. Don't think we don't eat meat - we love meat - but we love GOOD meat. It will be a challenge to find good things to eat once you get used to a certain quality. We tried to sit down at a very charming cafe right around the corner of the festival but it was closed. So, we decided to make this our last visit to the Emmett Cherry Festival.
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| Amelie making art at the cafe |
After we left Emmett we stopped at Walmart, because it was on our way and we wanted to check out their organic assortment. I have to give Walmart a lot more credit now. I always wondered why stores wouldn't have a little tiny separate section for organic food, for example at the end of the aisle. Walmart has it that way. And they have way more organic items I thought they would have. The most amazing thing is that it's super cheap. You can get organic eggs for only $2.45!! That's a dollar less than the ones we are buying at Co-op - who knows if they are good, but it's worth a try. They have inexpensive snacks, organic juices, organic chocolate and everything for a REALLY reasonable price. I have not seen any organic foods so inexpensive anywhere else. They even have organic milk! I was close to tears...hahaha..ok what that means is that we are adding a third store for our grocery needs. We will continue buying vegetables & fruits at Co-op, eggs at Walmart, bread at Winco, and snacks, yogurts and cereal at Winco or Walmart. I am so excited to save money and still continue our organic diet. Yesterday we purchased a super yummy organic yogurt at Walmart for only $2.00 (that equals only $0.50 per yogurt). I used to boycott Walmart for their terrible customer service, but I changed my mind and will go and buy the organic products and use the self-checkout to avoid any frustrating experience with their customer service.
Here you can see two of the things we purchased at Walmart last night. Cinnamon Apple Chips - baked apples all organic for about $2.48 and an organic peanut & sea salt chocolate bar. It's so good and it was only $2.46. The dangerous thing about organic food, particularly snacks is that they are so good that you might eat it all in few minutes.This Friday Tom and I are going on a date to the drive-in theater and I am already planning on healthy/organic snacks for the night. Because we are going to see a double feature we will need some snacks and coffee for a quaint date at the drive-in theater. The coffee we will probably get at Starbucks, since Starbucks is committed to provide milk with no hormones. I generally drink a Cafe Latte..it has nothing but coffee and milk. And as for the snacks...we will see..
WISDOM OF THE DAY
"Wal-Mart says it wants to democratize organic food, making products affordable for those who are reluctant to pay premiums of 20 percent to 30 percent. At a recent conference, its chief marketing officer, John Fleming, said the company intended to sell organic products for just 10 percent more than their conventional equivalents. Food industry analysts say that with its 2,000 supercenters and lower prices, Wal-Mart could soon be the nation's largest seller of organic products, surpassing Whole Foods. Already, it is the biggest seller of organic milk. While organic food is still just 2.4 percent of the overall food industry, it has been growing at least 15 percent a year for the last 10 years." - New York Times - May 12, 2006
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