Tag Archives: Fresh Market

Why so many Apples?

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An apple a day keeps the doctor away. That’s what people used to say. But will any apple do? Is there a specific one with doctor-repelling powers?

Why are there so many different types of apples? Back in middle school, I remember learning about the three main apples: Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Apple computers (just kidding, Golden Delicious was the third one — I think). Just by hearing their names I knew the differences in look and taste.

Now I go to Fresh Market and see more than ten varieties of apples in one day: Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Gala, Lucy Rose, Lucy Gal, Ruby Frost, Envy, Honeycrisp and new varieties popping up each season. I usually go for Fuji or Gala, but I don’t know if I’m making the right choice with those — they’re just the safe decision sinceI already know I like them.

I actually started writing this post because after I arrived at my newly redesigned Fresh Market (Coconut Grove). They had recently changed up the aisles, the fruit stands and a bunch of other areas in the store. The Fresh Market is my favorite market to go to. When I got there I saw how beautiful the apple display looked so I took some pictures with my iPhone and wanted to find a reason to share them. So, I wrote this whole thing about apples, but now I actually thought of a pretty good idea.

Over the next few weeks (possibly months), I will try a different variety of apple each week. I will give each one a small review on the Ferdi’s Learnings Twitter account, using the hashtag #ApplesInReview (Make sure to follow @ferdislearnings on Twitter for these). When I run out of apples I will create an #ApplesInReview mega-post right here on the Ferdi’s Learnings site, ranking all of the apples. Stay tuned for that.

Here are some more delicious iPhone pictures of apples for you to enjoy while you wait for my first review…

WHOLE FOODS = Less Than Expected

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Any time I shop at Whole Foods I always come home with less items than I expect (based on the money I spent). The other night, I spent about fifty dollars at Whole Foods on one, big brown bag of stuff. When I got home I pulled out my dinner, some cookies, some snacks, a few other items and when there was nothing left in the bag I asked myself (in my head), That’s it? (It also doesn’t help that they give you a monstrous brown paper bag).

I don’t shop at Whole Foods regularly, I’m more of a Fresh Market guy. When I shop at Fresh Market I build my meals based on what’s on sale, so I end up with a good haul for the money spent. I sometimes even forget about certain things I bought at Fresh Market and get a nice little surprise when I come home.

Why does every new Whole Foods that gets built look more and more like the future?

Now that Whole Foods is owned by Amazon I thought I would get some savings with my Amazon Prime membership, but instead I always end up saving 10% on one or two items. Items that usually cost between one to two dollars, so I save about ten to forty cents on my whole purchase (Prime deals!).

I know some people call Whole Foods, “Whole Paycheck,” because they think it’s funny and they also think they made that up. (It’s not that funny) It’s a dad joke, but I guess it is kind of true. If I did my weekly groceries there, and not just some random snacks and dinner buying every once in a while, I would definitely not have much of my paycheck left over each month.

One thing that’s neat about Whole Foods is the hot foods bar, they have a huge selection of good hot food, but if you’re not looking for “good hot food” you can also grab some pizza. They also hold the “Guinness World Record” for largest soup bar (I’m not sure if that’s accurate, but it is the largest soup bar I’ve ever seen. They even beat out Panera, and those people are all about their soups). Just don’t hit up that hot foods bar at lunch time, because all you’ll get is hangry, annoyed yuppies.

I do enjoy visiting Whole Foods in new cities though. When I lived in New York they had special meats and beers that I had never seen back home. In Chicago the cookie bar was insane, and they had over ten different restaurants inside. The last out-of-town Whole Foods I went to was in Minnesota, there they had cheese curds (which I have never found in any grocery stores in Miami) and different coffees, some different hot foods and crazy flavors of RX Bars.

I usually like visiting different Best Buys, Barnes & Noble’s and sometimes Targets in new cities, because those make me feel like I’m home even though I’m not. But Whole Foods always feels new to me, in a different city. I guess Whole Foods isn’t really a bad place, it’s just expensive. I will continue to go for specialty and small things, but I will never go regularly (unless I become crazy rich).