See the vegetable man, in the vegetable van.

There's a line from the new Beck album "See the vegetable man in the vegetable van with the horn that's honking like a mariachi band.". Today it hit me that since Beck is from LA, I'm pretty sure this is about the type of vans that drive around in our very own neighborhood in Van Nuys. It really is pretty much a vegetable man....in a vegetable van. These vans slowely cruise around the city with, you guessed it, vegetables among other types of groceries. The van in our neighborhood signifies its arrival on our street with a fairly loud yet tasteful and dignified rendition of "La Cucuracha" from a grey loudspeaker mounted on the roof. Usually it repeats the tune twice and then people emerge from their homes to make their purchases. I haven't tried to buy anything from said van, because I have feeling I'll get laughed at because I don't speak Spanish.

California really does have it good when it comes to food. One of our favorite things has been the sense of regionality of the food here. The following is a list of major grocery chains and their Manitoban equivilants:

a) Ralphs - This is pretty much Safeway. Kind of expensive, and everywhere. Somehow we ended up with a Ralph's Club Membership Card. This club, like the Safeway Club, is pretty exclusive and only those with a telephone number can tap into the amazing savings to be had. We try not to go, but they are open 24 hours a day. The people behind the meat and cheese counter are always Armenian, it doesn't matter what part of the city you're in. I don't get it, but man those Armenians can shave a block of cheese so thin it looks like Saran-Wrap.

b) Whole Foods - Smaller stores and quite expensive. Sort of like a chain of Vics on Pembina. Here you can find a great selection of sugar-free vegan organic free-range baby seals. Ok, most of the food is organic which is pretty awesome but it's still not really accessible to the majority of the population because of the price. The parking lot is usually filled with BMW's and the isles with desperate housewives. We would go here but it's too expensive. Does that mean we're cheap? Am I stereotyping people who value healthy food and are willing to pay a fair price for it? Is that how you spell "isles"? These questions I cannot answer.

c) Trader Joe's - One of the two places we go. Sort of a slightly cheaper version of Whole Foods. Don't even think about buying the vegetables, read point D for the reason. Trader Joe's has lots of locally sourced foods and the stores themselves are pretty small but have an amazing selection and the quality of the food really high. There is a subtle safari theme which makes buying cookies and a bag of beer nuts on a Sunday afternoon quite an exhilarating experience. They use paper bags and have Cliff Bars. They also have quality wines from Napa Valley.

d) Jons - This place is like Price Choppers on seniors discount Tuesday, but all week and for everyone. Really really good and where we buy our veggies. Not to be confused with the upscale grocery chain "Vons", which must be Jons older, whiter, richer, brother. Jons is the most frequented grocery store in Van Nuys. The price of their fruit doesn't really make sense sometimes: once we bought good oranges at the price of 7 pounds for a dollar. Think about that. Mangos are regularly 3 for a dollar, same with avocados. Jons are the people who use way to many grocery bags, but we clean our conscience once a week buy going to Trader Joe's.

So that's how food works in California. Last week I heard the average home price in LA county reached 506,000 USD. I think that's fair. This milestone has inspired me to show everyone some "I can't believe THAT costs a million dollars" pictures I've got so watch for those. These places make the houses on Wellington Crecent look like a steal. We really do like the comments so keep them coming. (As long as they're not..confrontational.) On behalf of me and Jer's two-handed +3 damage broad sword, thank's for reading.