What is the best $1 you've spent today?

I made a nice little drive-thru adventure of the morning, mostly because my kids were going nuts and the allure of them being strapped into one place, contented by Imagination Movers music playing was just too great for a lazy Sunday.

So I offered to pick up coffee for my dad. And then I realized it was almost lunchtime, so we made a nuggets run- a bad choice, but with a bare pantry its all I could really do... and then I saw it.

My favorite fruit stand, usually closed whenever I happen to drive by it with a the OPEN sign proudly scrawled across the piece of scrap wood and propped up against it.

You know that kind of stand I'm talking about- the little shanty type store front propped up in front of a field brimming with multiple varieties of homegrown delight. I couldn't resist- it is strawberry season and we have my son's birthday party tonight.

So I bought the three cartons of gigantic, perfect strawberries for $5 and then I saw them... purple carrots.

I had heard about them and their tasty wonder from my mother in law, but at the grocery store you practically have to sell an organ on the black market to be able to afford specialty produce, even here in the produce capital of the f'n universe, and it's hit and miss when they'll show up on the shelves or if it'll even be tasty.

But here they were, just picked this morning, dirt still clinging to the roots, the gorgeous plumes of green leaves dancing out of them like a teasing burlesque dancer's fan. I got up the nerve and asked how much.

1 dollar.

A DOLLAR! My Starbucks Venti Iced Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte cost 4 times that and it didn't look pretty enough to make my dad and sister jealous of my find when I waved it out my car window at them as I delivered their coffees.

A steal for a big bunch of carrots! Purple ones!

I got home, closed the doors and windows, looked shiftily around me to make sure no one was watching cleaned them off and without even removing the greens I just channeled my inner Bugs Bunny and took a bite.

Best dollar I've spent today, and probably all week. Bags of baby carrots, machined into their cute little finger shapes, have nothing on this. It was crunchy, perfect and so sweet. Each bite I took I marveled at the deep purple ring that bled into vivid orange in the middle.

I love living in Fresno.

(Image made by me. On my scanner. Because my daughter dunked my camera in the bath tub. I don't wanna talk about it.)

Day 11- Produce and Agriculture

I went to school for two years in Orange County and I never appreciated the abundance of produce in Fresno more. You'd think "Yeah, a county of oranges, SUH-weet!" about OC, but yeah... not really. I remember a lot of the produce I consumed was kind of... soggy. Maybe it was just dorm food (likely) but it was absolutely nothing like I was accostomed to. (Read as: spoiled by.) I became a total produce snob, when it was cantaloupe season I got offended that it wasn't as sweet. When it was time for grapes I was mad that they weren't as crisp but already well on the road to raisinhood.

The real kicker, though, was bringing home one of my boyfriends who was from Southern California to meet my family and see Fresno. We're driving along the 99 and he asks me "So are we going to see some grape orchards?"

Orchards, folks.

Now, I'd like to think that was an isolated event and not all SoCal folks are like that but even so I am proud to be from Fresno for the plain and simple fact that I can recognize with some level of accuracy the difference between vines and trees, and am able to identify them properly.

Its pretty bad ass, in fact, that all I'm going to need to do to tell my children about the food they eat is take them on a walk down our street. We'll be able to see apples, oranges, cherries, peaches, apricots, persimmons, lemons, grapefruit, strawberries, pecans, almonds, pomegranates, tomatoes, and a variety of herbs. And thats just between our house and my grandmother's house 3 doors away. Everything can grow here, we are able to enjoy delicious fresh fruit and veggies all year long in Fresno without even having to go to the grocery store. (Though we do, because that's how we roll in 2010.) Our farmer's markets are always full of seasonal delights, all it takes is driving, biking, or walking to one and BAM! You're in fresh produce heaven.

I'm pretty pleased that living in Fresno has helped me to be more aware of the origins of the stuff I put on my plate. And then shortly after its on my plate, into MAH BELLEH.

(Picture taken by me of the late Chairman Meow, inspecting the bounty of the land. He is pleased. May he rest in peace.)