My Love Affair

With vegetables anyway. I can’t help it. They are so beautiful all by themselves: the colors, textures, and varieties. Just returning from Spain, I think I drove a bunch of high school kids crazy seeking out the local farmer’s markets.
While there are vast differences between Spain and America (specifically Dayton) the most evident is the Spaniards’ love of food and drink. They eat all hours of the day and night. Thousands of cafes, one after another, ALL busy! At 3 PM, men in suits and women on their break are having coffee or a beer and a pastry before they return to work. This is awesome!

Most establishments don’t even have indoor seating; all service and eating is done al fresco under umbrellas. So even though they eat dinner at 9 PM, their food consists of pretty small portions and heavy on the fresh, local vegetables and fruits with little sugar or fried foods.

Maybe we can some day adopt a small part of this concept. Many, many independently owned restaurants all in walking distance or downtown- supported by citizens of Dayton and all the surrounding counties.
I might be dreaming, I know…but Dayton is a quiet, slower pace of living with kick ass economical advantages to raise a family- can’t we have that AND a tiny slice of Madrid? Especially the vegetable part? Support your locals!

Photos from the Barcelona Market…artichokes, tomatoes, pears, nuts, fresh eggs!