The Accidental Bargain Shopper

I stopped by the Union Square Greenmarket on Friday. After a long week, I just wanted a break from the city without having to leave it.

The Greenmarket is open year-round and brings farmer-fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, meats and natural food products (honey, jam, etc) to Manhattan. The foods are grown and shipped from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. With the ever-growing geographic reach of our food chain, this is as local as we can get in the city.

Although located in one of the most people- and car-congested areas of New York, the Greenmarket is my little oasis. It's my chance to look, feel, and at times, sniff the produce, which gets the creative juices flowing and inspires future dishes.

After touring all the tents and speaking with some of the vendors about their products and their growing methods, I decided to go with the Pennsylvania-farmed vine-ripened tomatoes and peaches and cream corn.

I then proceeded to the scale where my selections were weighed and priced. True to its market tradition, bargaining is fair play. But, the urban gal that I am, the price listed is the price you pay with, of course, the addition of your local and federal taxes, and any other gratuities.

With this mindset, the following exchanged occurred:
Li, in surprise: "Wow $12 for the tomatoes? Maybe I should just take some out. I don't think I'll use them all this week".
Vendor: "Okay, how about $10?"
Li, very excited: "$10 for the tomatoes and corn? Sold!"
Vendor, with perplexed hesitation: "Um, well. Okay for everything."

Yes, I had mistaken his intentions and as a result saved a whopping $4 ($2 for each the tomatoes and the corn)! Do you recall that IKEA commercial where the woman rushes out of the store, yelling to her partner-in-crime to start the car? Well, that is exactly what was going on in my head - so I quickly pulled a $10 note out of my bag, stuffed it into the vendor's hand, grabbed my bags and rushed off as quickly as I could.

Only when I was safely across the street and hidden by the throngs of people did I stop to giggle at myself! It was only $4!