Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Ghana and The Chef's Market

In Napa they don't call them farmer’s  markets like the commoners, they  call them chef’s markets. We went there thinking we would see wines on display,  foods to sample and Tyler Florence doing a demonstration of his cooking skills. But don't ask Therese’s  daughter about anything in Napa or regarding Napa or wine or the chef’s market or Hawaii because she's only lived in Napa two weeks.

So we strolled up and down the streets of downtown Napa looking at things like an iguana,  a fairy singing karaoke ,  Christian booths everywhere,  a rock climbing child and some crepes (and some creeps).  We waited for the chef demonstration.  Waiting patiently  for Tyler when some guy with a Brittney Spears microphone and wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt started chopping up asparagus which were passes around in pill cups for us to try.  Free samples at Costco are always more substantial so the commoners left.

Continuing our stroll through the farmer’s- I mean chef’s market we stopped to watch two women crying and hugging endlessly on the curb.  We all watched in amazement and this heartfelt crying spectacle. Rosa the culturally sensitive ’ahem’ member of our group noticed a stand right next to these women.  This was not just any stand but a stand selling blankets bowls and baskets from Africa

Baskets from Africa you say? Big deal.  Not to  Therese third grade teacher- this matched a story she read every year  with her class about a blanket from Ghana. “Tell me about the blanket,”  she said to the man.  “Is it from Ghana?”  “ Oh no, ”  said the man, “This is from (insert other western African country this commoner never heard of).”  “ Oh”  Therese said as she told the man about the story.  “Oh you mean Ghana!”  the man said, “Yes I have a blanket from Ghana!”   as he pointed to all the rest of the blankets in the stand. 

While Therese bargained with Samba not Simba, Rosa observed the criers and Kristen and lesli found a wood bowl just like the one in Tyler Florence’s store except this one had the commoners price of 55 dollars not 450 dollars. The wood may be different but commoners don't care it's just for popcorn anyway

He then told how they were made and what they meant he told me all about the blankets from Ghana and some basketball players who played for the Warriors.  For the low price of 32 dollars. No easy pay. Samba not Simba sold a blanket,  told her a story,  took a picture and she left with the blanket from  "Ghana".  The third graders are going to love this.

So we continued to our hotel tomorrow would be Rosa’s birthday and as we would find out it wasn't just Rosa's birthday. But that's another story

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