First Time at Chelsea Market

While it may seem like this blog is turning into a food blog, I assure you that that's not completely the case.  :)  After filing my taxes and taking care of some nuts & bolts, I left my apartment this evening and made my way downtown.  Destination: Chelsea Market.  Well, I should say that I was thoroughly engrossed with reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone that I missed my stop at 14th Street and got off at the stop after it: West 4th.  I had walked here earlier this week, and the walk wasn't too bad to get to Ninth Avenue and 15th Street.

Chelsea Market is an indoor market comprised of several different shops -- bakeries, eateries, a gelato stand, and more.  Despite my reading material, I couldn't resist getting a baked good at Amy's Bread.  Seeing the bakery, I realized I had been here before, but not inside the market.  A few years ago, when Jason was visiting for Thanksgiving, actually, Camille, Yale, JR, other peeps, and I went to a bar (or two? I can't remember), and then we stopped by the baking area of Amy's Bread, not typically open to consumers.  We got to try some samples, including this bread with chocolate, which I loved but haven't had since.  Well, they didn't have it tonight, but I asked for something with chocolate, and among my three choices, I chose pain au chocolat -- a chocolate croissant.  It wasn't until after I chose it that I realized I unconsciously must have been still channeling my Italian vacation with Mom and Dad.  At the rest stop stations (forgot the name of them), Dad discovered pain au chocolat.  Mmmm.  The Amy's Bread version, I have to say, wasn't quite as good as it is in Italy, but I am biased.  :)  I did feel guilty about having butter and sugar.  Oh well... I am "flirting," as Alicia has called it in her book, with a kinder way of eating (no meat and no dairy, instead plant-based foods and grains), and am bound to have my slips.  I just started reading the book on Sunday.

I think I will be able to make up for it.  As I ate my treat at a table, I kept watching people enter the Manhattan Fruit Exchange.  No, it doesn't just have fruits in it!  Because of the foot traffic, I decided to check it out.  The store is chilled inside, to keep everything fresh, and there were fresh fruits, dried fruits, fresh vegatables of all kinds, lots of grains, spices, ingredients for antipasti, and more.  Lots of food that I bet can be found in The Kind Diet's recipes.  And it felt like a place I could definitely see myself buying produce from again.  I bought peaches, lemons, mushrooms, baby carrots, tamari (soy sauce), falafel mix (I love me some falafel, but I've never made it!), dried strawberries, and raw almonds.  I stopped myself from buying a few things that I was curious about but had no idea how to cook.  I want to read the recipe section first so I don't end up with buyer's remorse.  Tomorrow is an experimental cooking day with the veggies and falafel mix.  I have leftover brown rice from takeout, but I'll have to look into getting some and cooking it myself moving forward.  My current "spice rack" consists of garlic salt, Italian Mrs. Dash, pepper, sea salt, and red pepper flakes.  We'll see what happens!  Maybe this is a food blog now.  Haha.