Yokomachi

I love Yokomachi. It is a grocery store off base where I've started going to get produce and fresh bread. On Tuesdays, they have a 100 yen sale (100 yen is about $1). All throughout the store, and especially in the produce section, there are items on sale for 100 yen. They also have a small farmer's market section. In the farmer's market section, every item has a label with the farmer's name, address and phone number.

About two thirds of the produce is the same as what I would see in the states. The other third is brand new to me. There are LOTS of different kinds of mushrooms I've never seen before, several types of potatoes and radishes that I don't recognize, and a whole section of fresh herbs that I can't begin to identify.

Almost every week I bring something new home. My favorite "new" item so far has been the purple sweet potatoes. The skin is a deep purple, but the inside is a bright yellowish green. I didn't really know what to do with them, so I boiled them. It seemed like the most logical thing to do. They turned out to be the sweetest sweet potatoes I have ever had! I didn't even add any type of seasoning to them (unless you count butter). I think if I was that sweet potato farmer, I would have been proud to put my name and address on the label too!