i love bloomingfoods...

...but maybe i would love them more if they had an updated produce page on their website like new seasons. new seasons is a lovely kind of grocery store, and i reccomend it to anyone popping through the portland area. you can get organic deli macaroni and cheese and speghetti-o's, it's local, and they have lots and lots of fresh samples. for example. on our visit, they had garlic romano bread with butter, french bread, two types of guacamole with chips (soooo good), and whole apricots. and something else like apricots? but not pluots? on saturdays, forget about it with the samples. they do themed tastings. good stuff. my other old neighborhood favorite is uncle paul's, an open-air produce market. they had a heck of a time getting the permits to do it, but perservered, and i miss it dearly. this visit, they had big bags of local frozen fruit. didn't have much time to poke around, but uncle paul himself is a good resource if you're in there with questions. brought home some oregon blue cheese from the rogue creamery, too. if only we had some nice cheese makers or cheese shops in southern indiana...