Saturday is for shopping

Every Saturday, Kelsey and I go grocery shopping for the week. It's a bit like living in NYC - you can't just go to one spot and expect to find everything you need. Recently, we've developed a little loop that takes us to all of our favorite spots in just under two hours. 

We usually start with a quick breakfast somewhere to rally the spirits. Here's Kelsey on the very cold Veranda of Cafe Picobella, our little neighborhood Italian restaurant.

As you can see above, it's got some cool graffiti and a great view of traffic.

It's also got one of the coolest brick ovens I've ever seen (in back)

We then proceed to Impala Fruiters, a wholesale fruit and vegetable outfit. I think that box of oranges is about $2.70.

Inside it's quite an array of fresh produce jammed into tiny aisles.

Got to choose the broccoli carefully.

You get the basic USA stuff here, like beets, but you also get nice local fruits, like papayas.

When you ask for eggs, ask for "wohlfart's"!

The next stop is Impala Bakery, Olivia's, purveyor of fine breads, cakes and pies. This weekend we met the owner & manager, a fine Greek gentleman from Summit, NEW JERSEY. His relatives still own a restaurant there. Also, when people ask where we are from, we become instant local celebrities.

After we make a few impulse purchases at Olivia's (cough custard tarts cough, ahem), we head over to see our good friends at Impala butchers. We learned about this gem from Marina, who clued us in not only to the delicious meat products, but also to the wonderfully friendly people who run the shop. These gentlemen will happily cut any piece of meat you like, with an awesome bandsaw. Their biltong and döerwoers is, true to name, the best in town.

We would like the one on the right, please.

(As you can see, these guys hang their meat. Jonah asked how long they age it for, and our friend said they prefer to age meat for a minimum of three weeks.)

Hands down, best meat we've ever purchased. If you visit, we will go.

And what the heck, we'll take the middle one here too.

The last stop in the Impala strip is, of course, vying for top spot: LIQUOR CITY! This store contains some of the best wine in the country, at unbeatable prices. Believe me, we know, we've done our research.

Okay. We won't beat around the bush; we love cheese. Anyone and everyone we know gets this. Around our fourth month in Joburg, someone asked, 

"Haven't you been to the Cheese Shop in Linden?" 

Why, NO, we had not. 

And we have never looked back.

These ladies carry some of the best local cheeses, and are the SOLE PROVIDERS of Imported, Legitimate Pecorino Romano. It's safe to say that I love them.

 We can safely say that we highly recommend any of their cheeses, I particularly like the Belegen, Hougenot, and Kiliminjaro, ...oh and don't forget the local gorgonzola. Yum!

In addition to cheese, there are hard sausages, jams, preserves....

and the best olives.

So, as you can see, this upcoming weekend, we have a nice little Saturday planned. Impala fruiters, the butcher, the cheese shop, and maybe a visit to the candlestick maker?