Oh how European of me.

In French class, I remember learning all the names of the different markets. There was the boulangerie, the fromagerie, the patîsserie. Naturally, I pictured myself walking with purposes between the different markets. I’d have a basket on my arm weighed down by fresh produce and a baguette, purchased from my different stops.

Without a car, I’m starting to realize my French class daydream. For a couple Saturdays, we’ve done a market-loop. All in all, the walk is only a couple miles, but it’s pleasant, and a good way to combine exercising with something that actually needs to get done (um, buying food).

The patented market-loop starts in either Little Ethiopia or at New India Sweets and Spices.  There, we get giant bags of good, affordable spices. Usually we also get some dried or canned goods like chickpeas or kidney beans. More often than not, I find some sort of snack item that I get desperate for (Digestive crackers are SO reasonably-priced at New India Sweets and Spices). If we’re at New India Sweets and Spices, we also usually buy samosas when we check out, so we get a mid-market-loop samosa with tamarind chutney.

Next in the market-loop, we walk up Fairfax to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is the closest market to our apartment, but it’s still about a mile or so away. At Whole Foods, we get whatever we need for the week that we didn’t get at New India Sweets and Spices or in Little Ethiopia. We try to keep our Whole Foods shopping minimal since it’s pretty pricey.

From Whole Foods– the bags are usually pretty heavy by now– I make a quick stop at Chado to buy loose leaf tea. I’m kind of a tea addict, and since selling my car and walking to buy everything, Chado has become a weekly staple. Most of the time, I get about 2 or 3 oz of 4 or 5 different teas for about $10 or $15. 2 oz of tea yields about 20- 25 cups of tea. So I get about 100 cups of tea for $15. That’s a pretty good deal considering bagged teas often hover around $7 or $8 for 22 cups of tea (yes, I have obsessed over justifying my Chado purchases).

From there, we loop back to the apartment. All in all, it doesn’t take too long (okay, that depends on how involved with the snack items I get in New India Sweets and Spices)– probably about 2 or 3 hours tops. But it’s a good break in the day, and a nice way to fit in some exercise, all while doing a very necessary errand. And I get to turn the Miracle Mile into my own personal Paris.

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