Ever seen a cranberry bean? I’ve never seen so much luscious produce in one place — heirloom tomatoes, white peaches, plums, big and tiny grapes, almonds and walnuts, various varieties of chili peppers…eggplants, potatoes…welcome to The Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market .
Here’s one place where no one is afraid to get their hands dirty. They’re bent over tables diligently making multi colored clay figures from wire frames and assorted other creatures — dogs, sea lions, cats.
DAY ONE — As long as I was flying cross country to San Francisco, I thought I’d try Virgin America (www.virginamerica.com) . I always liked…
By Eileen Ogintz Tribune Media Services I’ve found vacation nirvana for teenagers and it’s a place parents will like just as much as teens do….
Pancake, the much loved blue bear, seemed right at home among the oh-so-serious laptop-toting business people. So did his 4-year-old owner, Colin Blodgett. Colin, Pancake and Colin’s parents were awaiting their flight from London to New York in British Airway’s expansive $60 million Executive Lounges in Heathrow’s new Terminal 5
We sniff the strong perfume that even kids used, since they bathed so infrequently (servants just once a year) and learn that even though royal children had servants to do everything for them (even brush their teeth), they didn’t have a lot of time to play because they were expected at court (sitting quietly for hours). Still, our gang decided they’d rather be royals instead of servants.
Searching out those markets and meeting the locals who shop there is all part of the charm of renting a flat in a strange city or a villa in the countryside. We sleep with cherubs over our bed and hear the noises of a city neighborhood — a baby crying, a couple jabbering in Italian and music playing.
A word about duty-free shopping. It’s tempting but I’ve never found any real bargains, except maybe on liquor or cigars. I buy something we can’t find at home for my husband and son just before we board our flight home and resist the temptation to stock up on cosmetics and perfume that I don’t need and that likely cost the same or more than at home.
We head to a nearby street where we can’t believe our food choices — Italian, Japanese, Thai, Indonesian, French… After a week of heavy Austrian and Czech food, we opt for Indonesian at Sahid Jaya
After a morning of white-water rafting (and plenty of water fights) on Costa Rica’s Sarapiqui River, and a first-rate burrito lunch made by our raft guides at the river’s edge, we stop in the small town of Horquetas, about 10 minutes from where we are staying to visit an elementary school. Some 270 kids attend the ill-equipped school, which is so overcrowded that children must attend split sessions. The students mug for our cameras and giggle.