Last weekend, I went to three grocery stores in Indianapolis: Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Fresh Market. I was excited because the Whole Foods was a newer, flashier one than where I usually shop in the city and I had never been to a Fresh Market before. You might remember it from Top Chef Miami, it's where they bought all of their groceries.Visually, Fresh Market is very much like Whole Foods. It was kind of like, "what store am I in?" It's very green and white, with a dash of the organic, natural. They have their own store brand and lots of wonderful produce included great buys on blood oranges and pencil thin asparagus. I was surprised to find an array of Southern delicacies including several varieties of pimento cheese and some Southern vegetables you don't see everywhere, including Silver Queen corn. Yes, Silver Queen. It's really a family joke, which won't be funny to anyone but me: my family could have an entire dinner table conversation about corn, its varieties and the subtle differences in flavor and sweetness. When I was a child, Silver Queen was one of the preferred corns.
It was a fun shopping trip and I got some delicious things: chocolate-covered pretzels with toffee bits; an indulgent chocolate coffee which is the most aromatic I have ever had; a black and white cookie; tiny, thin asparagus; and blood oranges.