Tag Archives: Shopping

Saturday Morning at Phoenix Public Market

May 15, 2017Arizona, Blog, International Travel, Nature, Uncategorized, United Statesarizona, downtown, farmers, girl time, market, phoenix, phx, produce, Shopping, urban, veggiesbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Downtown Phoenix is full of wonderful surprises: little indie coffee shops, trendy boutiques, unexpected museums, ethnic food unlike any other, colorful splashes of street art… you get the idea. It’s not all chrome and glass like you see on the postcards. One of my favorite local attractions is the Phoenix Public Market that runs in the parking lot of Phoenix Public Market Cafe each Saturday from 8:00 am to noon. I first discovered this urban gem about four years, ago, when one of my best friends started working for one of the vendors. Since then, it’s been on my agenda during each of my rare free Saturdays! Last Saturday was one of those delightful days. Here’s what you can expect at Phoenix Public Market!

How to get to Phoenix Public Market

If you’re like me, you generally avoid both driving and parking in downtown Phoenix at all costs. It’s not that it’s a poorly designed city; on the contrary! The problem is that there are a ton of one-way streets and a shortage of free parking. Thankfully, getting to Phoenix Public Market is pretty easy! Here’s the address:

14 E Pierce St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

To get there from the West Valley, you need to take the I-17 South to the I-10 East. From the East Valley, get to the I-10 West. No matter where you’re coming from, go south on 7th Ave, then go east on Roosevelt, then go south again on N. Central. There is plenty of parking, even on a busy Saturday morning–thank goodness!

What you can get at Phoenix Public Market

Look who I got to go to the farmer’s market with!

Yep, that’s right! Alyssa and I were both med school wives in Saint Martin. When I said goodbye to her six months ago, I had no idea that I’d get to hang out with her in Arizona! She and her husband are spending a few months here between classes and clinicals, just like us. You can read about our island adventures exploring downtown Philipsburg and downtown Marigot in some of my earlier posts. I guess we just like hanging out together downtown.

We had a great time wandering through the many vendors at Phoenix Public Market, trying samples of ice cream and peppermint essential oils. The farmer’s market has everything you can imagine, as far as produce goes. I picked up some fresh organic Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, and tomatoes while we were there. Everything tastes better fresh!

It’s not all veggies at the Phoenix Public Market, through. There are also things like homemade cheese, fresh-baked goods, local honey, and ice cream. A chocolate chunk cookie was essential to our shopping day.

This weekend, the market with bursting with colorful blooms! Hit this corner of downtown in springtime, and you’re always bound to see plenty of flowers for sale.

We admired the handiwork from all the talented vendors. The farmer’s market is an awesome place to get turquoise jewelry, hand-carved wooden toys, and macrame. Both Alyssa and I loved these handmade macrame planters. Aren’t they awesome?

I loved listening to the live music in the market before we left. Outside the market, there are always plenty of food trucks. I’ve tried the acai bowls before, and they are delicious.

Phoenix Public Market Cafe

Of course, no trip to the Phoenix Public Market is complete without stopping at Phoenix Public Market Cafe. This is located right next door to the market, and it sources as much of its ingredients as possible from the market. Alyssa treated me to a cup of tea and we enjoyed chatting in the busy weekend atmosphere.

There’s a lot to do in downtown Phoenix, but if you’re in the area, why not make some time this weekend to enjoy a taste of the rural in this urban jungle? Actually, anywhere you are, it’s a great time to seek out some local produce! Go support your local growers and eat healthy. Love your community!

French Food and Fashion in Marigot

May 19, 2016American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, Expats, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses OrganizationAmerican University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, culture, Expat, French Side, International, Island, Marigot, Med school, medical school, Saint Martin, Shopping, Sint Maarten, st martin, St. Maarten, SXMbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

Where in the Americas can you find France? The Caribbean, of course! The French side of the island Saint Martin is definitely tropical, but there are pieces and pockets that feel just like a part of Paris. This afternoon, my girlfriends and I went for lunch and fashion in the capitol town, Marigot.

There are a lot of places to get a croissant and coffee in Marigot, and all of them are delicious. This is France, after all. I never liked pastries all that much until I moved here, where real pastries are made. The most popular shops are the touristy ones by the port, but within the winding streets of Marigot, you can find even better treasures.

We stopped at The Coffee Shop Club, where we were greeted by brightly-colored walls and kind faces. Seriously, the people who work here are some of the friendliest I’ve met on the island. I’ll go back just because of the people. All I got was a tea, but the other girls ordered smoothies and lunch. It was delicious! I know, because I sampled a little of other people’s food. We were lucky to have Aqiyla with us, because she is the only one of our group who speaks French fluently. The rest of us needed a little help with the French menus.

St Maarten Shore Excursion: Beaches and Shopping in Marigot
from: Viator

What’s an afternoon in France without a little fashion? We went shopping at some of the more affordable boutiques in the area, and they reminded us of the familiar mall stores back home.

Jennyfer has a lot of sweet, trendy styles that I hadn’t seen yet because I haven’t been shopping for clothes since I visited the States a few months ago. I have to say that classy must be making a comeback, and I actually liked most of the clothes here. I wanted to buy a dress I loved, but then I thought of our mounting med school debt and the closet full of dresses I have at home.

Pimkie is pretty much the clothing store version of Pinterest with a tribal flair. I loved browsing through and looking at all the sayings on the shirts. One of them said, “The Dream is Dedication: Dedication is Expensive.” I think that shirt should be the official medical school uniform! My favorite tank was based on a quote from the book Peter Pan. When Peter Pan is wounded and left to die on a rock in the ocean, he says bravely, “To die will be an awfully big adventure.” The shirt was a bit more inspirational: “To live will be an awfully big adventure.” I might go back and buy that one.

We stopped for a while at Z Boutique on Rue du Republique, but most of the men’s clothes were in an odd size and I didn’t see anything that I wanted. I also forgot to take a photo, because I was so eager to get to Roland Richarson’s art gallery!

Roland’s wife, Laura, was at the gallery when we arrived. Stacey and I have been to the gallery often, and we introduced our friends to her. She let us wander the grounds, and we showed everyone the paintings of me and Stacey that Roland has done.

All of these ladies with me are fellow Caribbean med school spouses, Canadian and American expats in the Caribbean. Being an expat is bittersweet, because your heart is divided into pieces, and “home” has many definitions. There are a lot of things we miss about home, but I think that when we return, we’ll miss times like today. These days are short and precious.

Grocery Shopping in French

March 1, 2016American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Cooking, Expats, Expats and TCKs, For the New Expat, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, UncategorizedCaribbean, cooking, countries, culture, Eating, Expat, food, French, groceries, International, Island, language, learning, moving, Saint Martin, Shopping, Sint Maarten, storebreanamjohnson@gmail.com

“Ground beef. Like, beef– cow meat– but it’s all ground up in little bits.” I did my best unofficial international sign language to accompany my explanation.

“Ah! Bœuf haché?” The grocery store employee led me to the freezer and pointed at the package of meat, eyebrows raised. “This?” He asked. It didn’t look exactly like the ground beef at Walmart, but it appeared to be ground beef nonetheless. I smiled and thanked him, placing the package in my cart.

There are only a handful of affordable grocery stores on the island of Sint Maarten, and my options are to pay $170 a trip to shop in English or $102.75 to shop in French. I choose the language barrier and saving seventy bucks.

I spend a lot of time staring at labels, trying to make out what this can or that box holds. I’ve become pretty good at guessing, and I’ve even picked up some French in the process (although don’t ask me to try to pronounce it). Whenever I learn to speak French, I’ll have a head start. I will know the word for every single food item ever invented.

Some of the labels are easy. I babysat for a bilingual family, and their kids called milk lait at all times. The cow on the front also helps.

Others aren’t so easy. I always thought fromage was just the word for “cheese,” but apparently it’s the word for every single dairy product on the planet.

This is not cheese. It’s yogurt. When I bought it, I needed yogurt, but it looked like it could be cottage cheese or whipped cream. I decided that the risk was worth it. Ben hoped it would be whipped cream, so he was disappointed.

This does not say fromage, but it IS cheese. Thank goodness this bag is see-through, or I would have been even more confused than I already was.

The hardest products to find are the ones I don’t know the French word for, can’t see through the packaging, and don’t even recognize the packaging. It took me a few trips and some asking around to find baking soda. I was looking for the small orange box, but apparently Arm and Hammer doesn’t do French.

I suspect the packaging issue is why I still can’t find baking powder. My friend Aqiyla went shopping with me yesterday, and she couldn’t find it either, although she speaks French. You don’t realize how powerful branding is until you’re dropped in the middle of unrecognizable foreign brands.

One thing that is not hard for me to locate, however, is Nutella! I think I have a Nutella radar built into my brain. I’m OK with becoming more European, if it involves chocolate for breakfast. Yes, please!

I have encouraging moments, too. I’m getting to the point where I can read a lot of French words, even if I couldn’t use a single one in conversation. I can understand most French signage around town, and I can tell the difference between all-purpose flour and pastry flour. I can even scan package ingredients for allergens and be fairly confident that I won’t send anyone into anaphylactic shock.

I never thought I’d say this, but there are days that I really miss Walmart. But at the same time, I’m glad I have the chance to make shopping a bilingual adventure. After all, I never quite know what I’m going to come home with…

Seven Chinese-English Translation Fails

October 4, 2015American University of the Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Spouses Organization, UncategorizedCaribbean, Chinese, Dutch Side, English, Expat, funny, International, Island, overseas, phrase, Shopping, Sint Maarten, translation, travelbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

One of the things that I find most entertaining is Chinese-English translation fails. Zero judgment on the people who created these interesting translations– regardless of how grammatically incorrect the translations may be, the translators still speak a foreign language way better then I do! I have huge respect for any Mandarin-speaking person who can learn English and vice-versa. Still, these phrases are pretty funny. The Chinese market next door to our apartment complex carries plenty of plastic imports that make shopping a little more fun. Here are a few:

The Wonderful Life plastic food container. I’m not sure if it’s trying to remind me that my life is wonderful, so I should be happy, or if being happy every day makes life wonderful.

“Happy diary. If you often have smiles on your face good lucks will naturally come to you.”

Matching the positive thinking of Wonderful Life food container is the happy diary. Maybe you can only write positive things in this book. On one page record what makes you happy, and on the opposite write all the naturally occurring “good lucks” in your life. If you think about it, this actually makes sense. I’ll bet that if I wrote down all the happy things in my life and smiled more often, I’d quickly recognize how blessed I am.

The Huahu pitcher!

“Huahu daily-used will become us living of a part, let’s enjoy living for every day.”

I don’t know what “huahu” is, and the rest of the poem doesn’t make much sense, either.

Cookie bear tub

“Cookie bear, Baby happy baby, I want.”

Does the bear want a cookie? Or does it want a baby? Or does the baby want a bear or a cookie? Or is it a baby bear wanting a cookie?

Mini desktop drawers. There are three drawers in this set, and every one of them has the exact same poem:

“Flowers of Happiness. Flowers, dreams can’t answer. Where has, The only way to obtain happiness, boy and girl, wandering in the world, no matter is the numerous hills and streams.”

Toilet soap. Not really for toilets.

Notebook- “There is something better in writing.”

Is it trying to remind me that there are a whole lot of writers out there who are better than I am? Or just that writing is better than not writing? I don’t know whether to feel insecure or encouraged.

That’s all for now, folks! “There is something better in writing” coming in future posts. Stay tuned and please subscribe!

Eight Things You Won’t Buy on Sint Maarten

September 28, 2015Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses OrganizationAce, Caribbean, Dutch Side, funny, Island, Shopping, Sint Maartenbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

When we first moved to Sint Maarten, I was expecting to be forced to go without some of the things that I’ve always been used to having. Not the case. In fact, not only do the stores here carry virtually everything you could possibly need, they also carry some things you could never, ever possibly need in a million years. For your entertainment, I have compiled a stack of photos from the Ace Home Store.

First is the Palmpeeler. Basically, it’s a ring with a carrot peeler on the inside. This in the answer to one of the great questions of life: What would Larry the Cucumber buy his girlfriend for an engagement ring?

The Garlic Keeper! For only $5.95 (plus tax!), you can keep garlic clove halves fresh. It will only take a few years for this thing to pay for itself.

The Easy Twist! Works on pretty much every jar anywhere, and you’ll never have to ask your husband to open a jar of pickles again. Of course, you could just get one of those circular grippy things (or a kitchen towel), but why save kitchen drawer space when you could have a cool new toy?

A lime squeezer, a lemon squeezer, and an orange squeezer. I get the need for an orange squeezer, I get the need for a lemon squeezer, but I don’t get why you’d need both a lemon squeezer and a lime squeezer. Just to have all three colors? And how often do you really use lime juice in cooking, anyway?

Because we wouldn’t want to lose our silverware, now would we?

Here’s what every kid wants at her birthday party: two creepy centipede balloons with bunny ears.

The jar safe! It’s an empty jar with the inside painted to look like it contains fresh strawberry preserves. This is a great idea, but it should probably be a Pinterest pin, not a twenty-dollar retail product.

Bagel slicer. Because knives are super hard to handle.

That’s all, folks! Tune in next time for Chinese-English mis-translations on plastic imports, brought to you by the Asian market next door.

What to Do for a Week in Sint Maarten

August 28, 2015American University of the Caribbean, Caribbean, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Spouses Organization, Uncategorizedadventures, Caribbean, Dutch Side, Eating, fish, French Side, hike, Island, Marigot, Mullet Beach, nature, Saint Martin, Shopping, Sint Maarten, snorkel, St. Maarten, surfbreanamjohnson@gmail.com

We have now been living in Sint Maarten for a week! We have a week yet to explore and enjoy before classes begin for Ben at American University of the Caribbean. We’re going on as many adventures as we can on our beautiful island home. Here are some of the fun things we have done. If you ever come to Sint Maarten, take some time to try a few of these!

1. Mullet Bay Beach

We love Mullet Bay Beach! I can’t believe we live just a short walk away. Mullet Bay has gorgeous fine white sand, warm clear water, and best of all, not too many people. There is even a little beach snack shack with umbrellas and chairs for rent.

2. Fort Louis

We took an excursion to the French side of the island last week. On the north side of the town of Marigot, there is a short hike to the ruins of an old French fort. I’m not sure if the best part is the view or the awesome vintage cannons.

3. Fishing

I’m not sure about the French side of the island, but on the Dutch side, one does not need a license to fish. And the fishing is good! We’ve done just about every type of fishing you can imagine. It’s fun, but the downside is that most fish aren’t edible. The majority potentially carry Ciguatera, an incredibly toxic virus that affects people quite badly. Fortunately, the little ones and the herbivores are generally clean. We made fish tacos last night. They were delicious.

Ben catches a barracuda. Can’t eat these, unfortunately.

4. Shopping

Both the French side and the Dutch side have great shopping. Most of it is pretty expensive, but what do you expect on an island? Our shopping has been limited to fishing equipment and groceries for the most part.

I'm not sure what exactly this is useful for, but I've always wanted to be a mermaid! — I’m not sure what exactly this is useful for, but I’ve always wanted to be a mermaid!

5. Snorkeling

The fish here are beautiful. There are few things more fascinating than watching tropical fish go about their little fish lives. The variety and color is amazing! So far, the coral we’ve seen is a bit drab, but the fish make up for it. The other day, I saw a scary huge barracuda and the biggest granddaddy spinefish I’ve ever seen!

One of three good watersports stores we discovered in Marigot

6. Casinos

I wouldn’t recommend the gambling, and a definitely wouldn’t recommend the bars. I’ve heard of the sketchy and dangerous things that happen in some of these bars. However, the casinos sometimes have pretty great food for a reasonable price at their restaurants! We ate at Thai Savanh’ in Stars Casino for Ben’s birthday. They have a nice patio for dining away from the smoke of the casino.

7. Hiking and Running

We went on Guana Bay hike with friends yesterday. We loved the views! There are so many little islands that you can see from this trail. This is just one of many hikes on the island. There are good opportunities for running, too, whether on the beach or the golf course.

8. Surfing

Ben and his friend Matt bought a couple of surf boards today and took advantage of tropical storm Erika’s big waves. There aren’t too many days with good surfing, so today was lucky. Unfortunately, Ben ended up getting thrown onto a sea urchin, so right now he’s experiencing the bad side of the:

9. Wildlife

The flora and fauna here is awesome! Ben climbs coconut palms so we can have fresh coconut milk. There are a few fruit trees here, too. I’ve already mentioned the fish, and in addition to sea creatures, there are interesting land creatures, too, like the giant iguanas that sun themselves on the golf course.

Until next time!

Breana's Blog

A writer's adventures around the world