I have a dream....a food dream, that is.

Since my last wordy post was about food, I thought I would continue the theme.

I currently do most of my grocery shopping at Wal Mart, something I am not very proud of. I hate how they put so many Mom and Pop stores out of business, and changed the face of small town Main Streets all across the country. But it is a convenient and affordable place to shop. They have also been adding organic products, and things like environmentally responsible cleaning supplies, which are also less expensive than other stores'. My dream used to be being able to shop at either Whole Foods or Central Market for everything, but those just aren't feasible options. Way too expensive.

So I have developed a new dream. Here's a working rough draft:

1. Purchase all produce and herbs from Farmer's Markets, where the food is preferably organic, and definitely seasonal. I would also love to one day purchase eggs, cheese and meat from a Farmer's Market.

2. Purchase bread, tortillas, etc.. from a bakery where they are made fresh daily.

3. Purchase fresh fish from a market.

4. Purchase spices, condiments, canned or jarred foods that aren't in season, snacks, and pantry items like olives and peanut butter from an organic grocery store.

5. Using all of these ingredients, SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY meals.

All of this sounds good in theory. But in order to execute my dream I have several large obstacles to combat. I'll take each number one at a time:

1. The Farmer's Markets in our area are still quite expensive if you want seasonal, organic food from local farms. The one market we used to shop at regularly was affordable, but I found out that they have most of their inventory shipped in from other parts of the country and world just like most grocery store produce departments. FAIL on the seasonal. The Arlington Farmer's Market has a woman selling eggs, and I need to find out her prices. They also have one family farm selling beef, but it's really expensive also. I don't know of any local Farmer's Markets that have cheeses available. We're not really in dairy country!

2. We don't really have any bakeries in our area, other than the grocery store bakeries and a few Latino bakeries a little further away.

3. There is really no place to buy really good, safe fresh fish close by. Albertson's used to be ok, but has recently given in to area consumer demand and dropped almost all seafood except farmed salmon (mercury-filled) and catfish. Love catfish, but need some other healthier options. I want to try out the nicer Kroger that is up the highway, and therefore not as convenient.

4. Obviously, if 1 through 3 can't work, I can't afford 4 either.

5. Having two picky appetites in the house to feed would make this one challenging, to say the least, if not downright impossible.

Of course, I have an alternate dream of growing my own vegetables, planting some fruit trees, and have even read up a little on backyard chicken raising. My obstacles there are Lack of Time, Lack of Energy, City Laws and Not Being Able To Kill A Chicken if One Happens To Get Sick. That last one is a doozy.

Sigh. It's nice to at least have dreams. They give you something to work towards.