Greetings from St. Louis

Hi Everybody,

I am done with AP grading and back in Virginia. (For everyone who asked, yes, I was fair when grading the AP exams! There were about 150 of us reading, and everyone's test had at least 9 different readers, so you can rest assured that the students fared well.) Tomorrow, Daiku and I leave for Puerto Rico! I am so excited, because I have never been to PR before, but I want to learn more about the food, culture, history, natural environment... everything.

Before I leave, however, I leave you with some wonderful pictures that Daiku brought back from his trip to St. Louis. These are all from the hip, diverse, and up-and-coming neighborhood of Soulard. As you can see from the above photo, Soulard is home to a wonderful, 228 year-old farmer's market.

...that features fantastic produce (Daiku said these cherries were only $1.90/lb.!),

...fresh artisanal pasta,

... a bakery specializing in all-natural hand-made bread,

...and my all-time favorite, pickles! If you enlarge the above photo, you'll see the spice center, from which you can get the world's best spicy bread-and-butter pickles. I think most Americans are familiar with bread-and-butter pickles, but for readers who are not, these are sweet and savory pickles that perfectly complement sandwiches and barbequed foods. I always chop these extra spicy pickles up and put them in my potato salad and cole slaw- yum!

Finally, here are two shots of a community garden in Soulard, near Daiku's sister's house. This garden features individual plots as well as a communal vegetable patch that everyone tends and shares.

If any of you ever get a chance to visit St. Louis, you must check out Soulard. You'll find the market and the garden, but also a whole lot of restaurants, bars, health food markets, and independent stores. The people are wonderful and there's a real neighborhood vibe.

Tomorrow, Puerto Rico. I'll be there for a week and probably won't get to write much, but I might send photos to the blog. So bear with me if you see some random shots popping up on this site for the next few days! Have a wonderful week everyone!
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Greetings from St. Louis