I have been feeling very sorry for myself lately, so I decided to take a break from sitting in front of my computer not studying to go out for some tacos while not studying.  La Superior  (3325 North Roxoboro) provided a perfect diversion–it’s like a Latin American market nested inside a Latin American grocery store.  It has an almost carnival atmosphere that I knew would put me in a better mood.

Juice Bar      

Taqueria

We could have gone grocery shopping in Superior’s full-service …

Halgo (4520 S. Alston Ave) is a quite cute Polish grocery store and flower shop. They have rows of Polish snacks and candy, kielbasa and other meats, cheeses, crazy juices, pickled fish, a freezer full of frozen pierogies (12 kinds), cabbage rolls, soups (borscht), and generally lots of things I have never seen before (not being Polish or from a big city). Apparently next week they will start to serve up the pierogies hot, but today we fried some up …

The Durham Farmer’s Market is one of my favorite Saturday traditions (other than brunch at Piedmont/Watts).    I try to make it out to the market every weekend, but I also like to sleep in on Saturday, and the market only runs until noon, so that’s not always successful.  I happened not to get much sleep today, so I made it out!  I picked some sweet curry goat cheese from Celebrity Dairy, a box of Dolly Mama chocolate truffles, a fresh bouquet of narcissus and tulips, a dozen fresh eggs …

The Durham Farmers Market (at the Pavilion in Central Park, 501 Foster St) starts summer hours (8am-noon Saturdays) tomorrow. Apparently Amy Tornquist (Watts Grocery chef) will be cooking there starting at 9:30am. Durham’s local hipster marching band Scene of the Crime Rovers is supposed to play at 11am. They’re kind of fun even if you are one of our non-hipster readers.

UPDATE: I use “hipster” broadly and non-derogatorily.  I actually might be a hipster myself …

Parker & Otis just got a shipment of bacon-related goods that caused me to go on a shopping spree. It includes lunch boxes, band-aids, and wrapping paper, among other things, and apparently they will shortly be getting in some placemats.

They also regularly have fancy chocolate with bacon bits in it. SO GOOD. If you’ve never tried it, the chocolate/savory combination is amazing.

As much as I love living in North Durham, there are many times when it is a pain. This is particularly true when it comes time to food shop, considering almost every option north of 85 is old and decrepit. The arrival of a new Harris Teeter on north Guess Rd is anxiously awaited. Luckily, we have Compare Foods, which is an awesome international supermarket. Their prices are the lowest I have found in the area, and they have tons of stuff you will not find anywhere else. …

Thanks to one of our very special readers (Britt) we were tipped off to the fact that Little India, an Indian grocery store behind Target, sells home-made chicken biryani on Thursdays (and Fridays, it turns out). When I went on Thursday I got there right before closing (9pm) and the biryani (packed in to-go containers) was no longer warm, but was still quite good, especially with the yogurt sauce. Not that it would take much, but it was far better …

I’ve always heard that the Red and White is one of the best places to get groceries, but I never get groceries so I’d never been. Now that I’ve gone once, I know that if I do ever start cooking for myself like an adult I will definitely start shopping here.

According to people who actually buy groceries, there are a lot of good deals here. There are also a ton of local goods: meat, honey, cheese, spiced nuts, eggs, candy, produce, …