It is grey and windy today, what my husband likes to refer to as �depression weather.� I spent the morning running errands with AJ, who was a saint about it (he was rewarded with a trip to the pet store to look at fish and bunnies). First stop was Costco, which we joined. I guess that makes me a card carrying suburbanite.

I have really dragged my feet about the whole warehouse shopping thing. I am vaguely disturbed by the whole arrangement and I�ve never been good with too much shopping in a single location. I hate malls and supermarkets, but at least they are useful, in that you can usually get all your shopping done at once. This feature has become more important with a kid, as the more you have to put AJ in and out of car seats, the crankier he becomes. Costco takes all the time required of shopping in a large location, but you can�t count on it for everything you need. I find this incredibly aggravating. However, the produce is so much fresher and there�s so much more choice available in organic produce that I really don�t have a choice, at least until Midwest farming season begins again.

I have become somewhat obsessed with vegetables of late. Not just as food, but as aesthetic objects. This is probably due in part to the big blue bowl full of mixed red, yellow and orange peppers that is standing in my kitchen. It is a work of art. It�s going to be downright painful to have to roast them.

I am seriously thinking of buying shares in Angelic Organics or just ordering from Diamond Organics. The advantage of the latter is that it is located in California, so I could get fresh organic produce right now, although I like the idea of supporting local farmers like Angelic.

There was a really interesting article about the Farmer�s Diner in Barre, Vermont in Sunday�s NY Times Magazine (as well as an even better article in last month�s Harpers). It�s about a man committed to using only locally grown and manufactured ingredients at his diner. Astoundingly, he�s done the legwork and it�s been very successful. Even more astoundingly, he�s trying to franchise it. I hope he succeeds. I would love to support a venture like this that supports small farms. It�s troubling to see how fast the family farms in our area are being gobbled up by still more thoughtless tract housing developments. I realize that my shopping at Costco isn�t exactly a vote of support in the right direction, but if I had good alternatives, I would definitely exercise them.

And to follow up on yesterday's question, no one has been able to come up with a translation of the sign reading "Chinese Food: It's a Gee Thang," although two people suggested it might be a better slogan for an Indian restaurant if you changed the spelling to "It's a Ghee Thang." Hmm. Perhaps you should copyright that, girls. Or start writing a business plan.

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