I'm going to preempt all conversation about ingredients by stating two things. 1) I'm a firm believer in whole milk, butter, full-fat sour cream and cheeses, deep frying, bacon and anything else that makes life worth living. With that being said, I also work out like a maniac. So much so, that I'm currently laid up for the next 6 weeks using crutches because of a stress fracture in my right femoral neck. You say, "Liz, are we understanding you correctly? You have a broken hip?". Yes, I'm 28 years old and I have a stress fracture in my hip from running too much. Awesome, but I digress.
The second thing about ingredients is 2) I believe in the whole buying local and sustainable. How could you not? But, I'm currently in Madison, WI and even though we've got great co-ops and farmers markets sometimes it just isn't possible to obtain some things through a local or sustainable channel. I try, I really do, but by no means am I going to put myself up on a high-horse and make some kind of social statement through my cooking/baking because, let's be honest, everyone needs to eat. I'll leave the social statements to the celebrities and the politicians.
So, with those ground rules laid, we venture on to my favorite part.
Where do I get my ingredients, you ask?
One of my most loved places to shop for groceries is Woodman's. It's a warehouse type grocery store, employee owned and based in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Now, for those of you who have shopped at either the west or east side locations in Madison(which are the only ones I've been to), you're probably rolling your eyes at me. It's Huge, it's always packed, the lines are long no matter what time of day, sometimes the produce isn't the greatest and most of the time people refuse to go because of the overall clientele.
I love Woodman's specifically for that reason. Not only do they have, hands down, the widest variety and most extensive listing of anything you could ever want to buy at a grocery store, but everyone shops there. You will find all walks of life there. It's awesome. You do, however, need to go with a zen like state of mind and a list. If you're in a hurry or don't know what you need to get, hold on for a bumpy ride. But if you go with a plan and a cool head about you, you'll do just fine.
On my most recent trip I passed an older lady being followed around by a young man probably in his late teens/early twenties. I would have guessed grandma and grandson and he was home for the summer from college. As I passed them, I smiled at her (I do have a habit of smiling at strangers, because really, why not?) and she smiled back and after passing me I heard her say to him, "this has been kind fun grocery shopping." He responded in a sarcastic tone, "yeah, super fun." It made me laugh. She was probably super stoked to be out and about and having a helper like him. Even though he wasn't so excited to be there, I hope he is able to appreciate the time he gets to spend with her now and maybe after she's gone he won't say, "you know, I wish I took grandma shopping every time she asked me to."
There are some other great places to shop, i.e. Brennan's, Willy Street Co-op, and the Capitol Square Farmers Market to name a few. But in all honesty, I could probably shop any of those places every day of the week and not come home with the kind of stories I come away with from Woodman's and isn't that kind of the point of life? -experiencing it?
And BOOM, that's how you write a first blog entry. Hope you enjoyed.
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