Pear Today, Kefir Tomorrow...

Several posts back (and a good year ago) I wrote about the curiosity of shopping at kiosks. Most of my favorite ones had been torn down last fall, only to be replaced by "new & improved" stalls & booths on the street corner where the old row of kiosks had been.

The new booths boast a series of mini produkti, lingerie shops, parfumeria (cosmetics), and a fruit & veggie stall, among other things. I was thrilled by the new outlet for fresh foods, but less than thrilled by the prices, which were just as high as the ones in the stores.

About three weeks ago, on my way to said kioski, I passed by what had once been a ticket booth for trolley & bus passes. I discovered that it was no longer selling salty snacks, newspapers, and extension cords, but rather, something I was actually looking for that day. To my shock & delight, the whole thing was crammed full of peaches, grapes, peppers, lettuce, etc., etc., etc. On top of that, the prices were amazing! Cucumbers there were a good 20 rubles (not quite a dollar) less per kilo than at any other place I'd been that week.

I stopped immediately and loaded my packet full of fresh produce. A few days later, while waiting for a bus, I loaded up again on fruit. I was in disbelief that I was finding such great foods at such reasonable prices! No one else was selling bell peppers for anything less than 150 rubles a kilo, and there I was, grabbing them at 115. Really, it was too good to be true.

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. If something seems to good to be true in Moscow, wait a week. It'll be gone by then.
Last week, on my way home from school, I purposefully crossed the street to hit up the produce stand for some grapes. I walked up the block, turned around, and walked back again. Where was my wonderful produce booth? I looked around to make sure I was on the right side of the street - I was. I double checked to see if I had walked past the bus stop - I hadn't. I counted the number of stalls to see if one had been torn down - it hadn't.

Warily, I approached what I had thought would be a permanent purveyor of pears all winter. There, in the place of the apples, onions, and eggplants, were cartons of yogurt & milk. Tubs of cheese occupied the shelves that had once housed celery. Boxes of kefir had stolen the spots of the squash. As I was not in the mood to buy a block of butter, what else could I do but to trudge forward, and shop in the more expensive stalls?