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“I never make a trip to the United States without visiting a supermarket. To me they are more fascinating than any fashion salon.”
Wallis Simpson
Everyone has been up in arms recently because of the new opening of the Shop Rite in Niskayuna. A couple of years ago it seemed as if the Capital District had a love affair with drug stores, there were CVS, Rite Aids/Eckerds and Walgreens popping up all over the place. My personal favorite is the Two Pillars which I like to call them, the CVS and Rite Aid pairing right across the street from one another on Eastern Parkway by Price Chopper. Have it be that we just ran out of room for more drug stores or lost our fascination with them but it seems as if we have moved on to the grocery store.
There have been many people in the area trying to get a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes in the area for quite some time and that led to the still relatively new Fresh Market in Latham. I really enjoy the different kinds of foods they have at Fresh Market and I love shopping in that store but everything is more expensive that I tend to usually want to spend in one grocery trip. When the rumors of the Shop Rite began to start, it was being described as something new, a NEW kind of grocery store, whatever that meant.
Something in their marketing worked because if you tried to go there the first couple weeks after it opened, you were lucky to find a parking spot especially if you ended up with that spot without getting into an accident in the parking lot. I waited it out a couple weeks and went when I hoped it would be less busy.
Luckily I was able to find a parking spot, near the car charging stations (I don’t notice many electric cars or hybrids being driven around but they’re prepared for the hopefully soon to be common practice). At first glance I wasn’t really impressed, I walked through the “Fresh ingredients” which is set up like every other grocery store. The prices weren’t any different than anywhere else I shopped and the selection wasn’t much different either. I was impressed by their made-to-order area. There was a large selection of sandwiches and pizzas and fresh sushi you can order for a quick meal. I wasn’t able to order anything (I had just eaten) but that just leaves it open for a new blog entry, right? As I walked through the store, it was organized quite well, easy to find everything and had a noticeably large ice cream section. I was happy to see a large healthy eating section comparable to the selection you may find at Hannaford with gluten-free options, low-fat options, etc.
Overall, to me, it was a grocery store. Now, I know as you’re reading this you’re thinking “Well, yeah but did you notice..!” If you’ve read my blog before, you would know that I’m a huge foodie, I’m one of those kinds of people who gets excited over new foods and new food experiences and Shop Rite just left me at “Yeah, it was a nice, clean grocery store..I don’t understand the hooplah.” I will give it another chance just in case I missed the “big deal” – I’ll let you all know how that goes. When Fresh Market opened, I understood the big deal, it’s new food, new set-up, things that I used to only be able to find in NYC and this led to other grocery stores carrying those kinds of products (like POM for example) this wasn’t much different.
I think my favorite part of Shop Rite opening was the sales happening at the competing grocery stores, while everyone was packed at Shop Rite, I took my pile of coupons over to my local Price Chopper and got a free pound of cheese and buy one get one (sometimes two) free on a lot of my favorite products.
Don’t take my blog as a dislike for Shop Rite, I enjoyed it, I enjoy food but does it deserve the crazy uproar it caused in the Capital District? Probably not, maybe I’m missing something. If you’re obsessed with the new store and changed your grocery store because of it, fill me in, what is it that you fell in love with? Maybe there’s something more I need to experience!
“Drinking beer doesn’t make you fat, It makes you lean…. Against bars, tables, chairs, and poles.”
Anon.
For those of you who read my blog often, you must know of my borderline obsession with the new Fresh Market. This blog entry I’m going to tell you about my favorite part, something I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, the beer. Most people I know, when they turned 21 beer was just to get drunk, 
to get that “finally I’m legal” feeling out but now that I’ve grown and am more mature with my alcohol at the ripe ol’ experienced age of 22 I see alcohol (beer and wine, mostly) more curiously. It’s kind of a waste of money to buy a six-pack of beer to try only to find out you dislike it and now you’re stuck with 5 more bottles, Fresh Market has solved that problem.
At Fresh Market for $8.99 you can Create Your Own Six Pack. Sure, $9 is a little expensive for a six-pack but you get to choose from Premium beers as well as some beers I’ve never seen sold elsewhere. I’ll try to write a blog entry as soon as I try the various beers. Most recently I tried the Monty Python Holy Grail Ale.
I’m a huge fan of Monty Python so I felt it was my obligation to try this beer and I was surprised. It wasn’t anything special and other than the name has nothing to do with the Python franchise but it was good. It was very close in taste to Budweiser, in my opinion. It tends to run more expensive than Budweiser but if you’re going to have some Python fans over, it may be worth the slight splurge.
Hope you take advantage of this as 
I have. I see a lot of beers always there but they do have new ones to try from time to time.
“In the wintertime, in the snow country, citrus fruit was so rare, and if you got one, it was better than ambrosia. “
James Earl Jones
I don’t know how common papaya is to your kitchen, but it’s not very common in mine. My favorite papaya product is smoothies, especially Gray’s Papaya in Manhattan. If you happen to see one your next trip down there, stop in and get the best deal in the city, make sure you get the papaya smoothie! If a trip to NYC isn’t in your near future, make one at home! Since before this experience I had no idea how to prepare a papaya, I figured I’d give a step-by-step way on how to get it ready to make any kind of papaya-based drink you want. Don’t know where to buy one? I got mine at the Fresh Market in Latham. They sell whole and half papayas, I recommend buying the half papaya especially if you’re not sure if you like it. I bought a whole papaya and it left me with more fruit than I knew what to do with. If I remember correctly, though, the whole papaya is cheaper if that’s an issue.
1. If you decide to buy the whole papaya, start by cutting the fruit in half.
2. Though the papaya seeds are good to use for dressings and seasonings, they’re not tasty to eat alone. They have a kind of peppery taste that is not pleasant so scoop those out
3. After you scoop out the seeds, scoops out the membrane lining the inside. It has the same consistency of a pumpkin so it should come out smoothly. Note the difference between the left and the right one that has been scraped out completely.
4. Then, just peel the fruit and cut into however sized chunks you want depending on what you’re going to be doing with them and enjoy!
The flavor isn’t very strong but it is very tasty. Since the flavor is so mild it goes well with just about any fruit but be careful when you add something like bananas to it because it is very easily overpowered. Not only does it taste good but papayas have a lot of health benefits also. Looking for antioxidants when reading the labels at the supermarket? Papaya is a great source of natural antioxidants as well as carotenes, vitamin C and flavonoids; the B vitamins, folate and pantothenic acid; and the minerals, potassium and magnesium; and fiber. It also helps to protect against heart disease, promotes digestive help, has anti-inflammatory effects, immune support, as well as others that can be found at the world’s healthiest food’s website HERE where I found the information.
“If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn’t organic produce just be called “produce” and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?”
Ymber Delecto
My Mom and I go shopping at The Fresh Market in Latham as often as we can (hopefully this is just the beginning for markets like this one and a Whole Foods or Trader Joes could be next!). Each time I try to find a new product that I’ve never seen before to taste, just out of curiosity.
First is the Bossa Nova drink flavored Mangosteen with Drangonfruit. I decided on this because I felt that these were the two strangest fruit choices put together. Until recently I couldn’t picture a dragonfruit and I’m still unsure as to what a mangosteen looks like or even is. Together, I have to say that this juice was really tasty. The only downside was that it was pretty expensive. It’s about the size of a mini bottle of Tropicana OJ but for double the price. Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the price? No. Would I buy it again? Probably not.
This I also bought at The Fresh Market. They’re Crispy Apples, or freeze-dried apples. This bag was only a dollar and the perfect size for a snack. The apples weren’t too hard, it wasn’t like biting into the texture of a potato chip more like the texture of popcorn. It’s hard but soft. I hope that makes sense. Since these were made directly from apples, it wasn’t too surprising when they tasted just like apples. Other fruits are available, like mangos which were also good. You can also buy them in bigger bags for $3-4. Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the price? Yes, great deal. Would I buy it again? Already have 
This is a picture from a dinner of mine a few weeks ago, the main focus here is the salmon. My mother bought this salmon from The Fresh Market and cooked it. I just paired it with some lemon, which is how I usually eat my salmon, and I was very surprised by the amount of flavor it had. The price for the salmon wasn’t too bad either. They offer various types of salmon and fish to take home. During the same meal we also had oysters Rockefeller which was my first experience and if you love garlic and oysters, try one of these! Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the price? Very much so. Would I buy it again? Of course!
These next couple of products have no connection with The Fresh Market and were either purchased or obtained from other sources.
This fruit is called a pluot and can be found just about anywhere. I personally bought it at Country Garden on Consaul Rd (check out my previous blog entry on this stand). The woman described the fruit to me as a mix between a plum and an apricot and that’s a pretty spot on definition. The texture and size is like a plum and the taste has that apricot slight sourness. There is a pit in the middle but not a very large one. Was it good? Yes. Was it worth the price? Yes, very cheap but satisfying. Would I buy it again? It was good but I find peaches to be more satisfying but that’s just a personal taste judgement.
On Walmart’s website, they offer a few products to try for free (found HERE) and one of them I stumbled upon was Cheetos Mighty Zingers, a new flavor of Cheetos mixing Ranch and Sizzling Cajun in one bag (bag normally costs 99 cents). The ranch wasn’t too flavorful on its own but the kick of the Cajun made me realize the purpose of the ranch. I like spice so this didn’t bother me. It’s not a pepper spice but a mild hot sauce ind of spice so though the ranch are tasteless by themselves, don’t write them off, you’ll be looking for them later! Was it good? They were okay. Was it worth the price? I got them free, can’t beat that, but I’d pay $1 for them. Would I buy it again? If I was craving a snack and that was what I found but I prefer the regular Cheetos over these.
I hope I gave you some insight into some of these new products I’ve found and give you enough courage to try something new yourself. Let me know how it goes!
