Squash, potatoes, apples, leeks, and a long walk to the park.

Another rainy market day, but this time cold as well. And our trip to the farmers market (four blocks from our home) took two and a half hours.

That's the fault of Philadelphia Federal Credit Union. That is due to the check-cashing policies of Philadelphia Federal Credit Union, especially those policies involving payroll checks, which do not seem like good policies to me. They can't cash payroll checks. I opened a checking account with them back in May, and I have yet to begin successfully using them as my primary banking institution. I'm trying to leave Wachovia and stay with something locally owned and more secure that doesn't keep getting sold. Unfortunately, PFCU, in my five months with them, has done things like: giving the wrong digits to the company that printed my checks, causing a loan payment to bounce and throwing off my finances for the better part of a month; failing to issue a debit card for my new account until after two phone calls, a branch visit, and an email; and now they tell me they can't cash my payroll check and would have to hold it for two business days before I could access the funds, even though I have an account there and it is a payroll check. So after standing in line at PFCU for a long time, we were given the above news, which caused us to walk to 36th & Chestnut (about 15 blocks), me in uncomfortable rubber boots, hungry, to stand in line at Wachovia and cash the check, then walk back to the farmers market and shop, before dragging ourselves home.

We were met at the door by hungry cats. We should have been to Center City and back with their food by now. It's after 2 p.m. Usually, we're home from the market before 11 a.m. Today, we left after 11, because of the downpour this morning, but we should have been home well before noon and then back out to run our errands after a quick meal. This whole day is off.

Anyway, here's the grocery list:

2 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
12 apples - Autumn Crisp and Empire
1 head of cauliflower
about 3 lbs of blue and red small potatoes
a big basket of yellow potatoes for soup
4 sweet potatoes
3 huge "candy" onions
2 huge leeks (huge... one leek will make a whole pot of soup)
4 ears of sweet corn
4 big tomatoes
1 portabella cap
1 loaf sourdough bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread

Total: $44.36

Less than $50! Less than $45, even! We were still good on greens and carrots (we didn't juice, all week, I just snacked on the carrots, and the cooler bag in the fridge keeps them crisp and perfect). The people with the fresh Lima beans weren't there. The lady with the spices wasn't there, which is too bad, because we need some spices. (Maybe these folks were there this morning... who can say? We weren't there. We were in line.) We still have plenty of dry beans, which we stocked up on some time ago.

I got those dozen apples so that I can make lots of the delicious fried apple pies I 've been making. I bake the apples in the oven with oil, molasses, cinnamon, and brown sugar, and then fill pastry wraps with them and fry them. I can make up a bunch of apples and keep them in the fridge, then fry up the pies for a perfect, quick breakfast on work mornings. The next step will be actually to bake a pie. A real, whole pie. I think it will happen sometime before this winter is over.

Have you ever seen one of those annoying commercials where the voice-over tells you what you'll be able to do "with all the money you'll save" by buying their product or using their service? I always hated those, because the point of something being cheap is that you don't have any more money than that. You don't have stores of extra money that you'll now be able to use for a cruise to Costa Rica if you just order from the dollar menu or rent a cheaper carpet cleaner.

You know what, though? That line of faulty reasoning makes a great excuse.

With the money we saved by only spending $44 on groceries for the week, we called in an order to Lee's Deli, the greasy spoon/corner store at 47th & Baltimore. We both had greasy veggie burgers and fries for breakfast. Ew. Mmm. I think we earned it.