For your shopping list

I never appreciated The Radish until now. Our farmer -- I like to think of her as "our farmer," in the same way that we have "our doctor" and "our landscaper, i.e., Ricky, the guy who stops by and tells us to water the grass before it dies, hunh" -- has been stocking our weekly veggie box with fresh French Breakfast and Easter Egg varieties. (Half of their attraction must be the names, right?)

Seriously, these are not the stinkers that settle to the bottom of your cheapo Iceberg mix. They're spicy and juicy, and they're ever so yummy with a smear of salted butter on toasted 15-grain bread. In my opinion, the radish has been a previously under-rated veggie, but no more!


Anyhoo, lest you think I'll now spout off about "whole foods," "simple foods," "real foods," etc... Number Two is the Orange Pim's by LU. Take one round of factory sponge cake, top it with zesty orange jelly and an embossed sweep of dark chocolate -- and voila! (It's French.) The English have something similar called a Jaffa Cake and they argue constantly about whether it's a biscuit or a cake, which is complete silliness since it's so obviously a cookie... In any case, the one not-so-great thing about the Pim's is the size of the box! Just 12?? If they were American, there'd be like 60, thankyouverymuch.


Number three, and this stuff is seriously amazing, is Sabra's hummus. I am afraid to compare its nutritional info to the other brands because there can be just one reason for its restaurant-smooth faboolinous. (Fat! Of course!!) Sometimes I uncover the container, set it out on the coffee table with pretzel sticks, and we happily snack away. This is Margaret's strategy: Dip, lick. Dip, lick. Dip, lick, oh, fugged about this goddamn pretzel! Here goes the hand!