Sunday, April 26, 2015

Hillcrest Farmer's Market in San Diego

I just stopped by the Hillcrest Farmer's Market in San Diego and here are my unbiased observations.

Perks:
-Get to run into a lot of great people with positive attitudes.  There's no hate here.  Everyone is the same and they all love each other.
-Nice variety of fresh grown organic produce.
-Nice variety of world cuisine.
-People watching.  There's a lot of unusual looking humans of all types on Hillcrest.

Cons:
-Park far and take a free trolley bus, it says "FREE" all over the bus, but there's a huge tip jar at the exit next to the driver with dollars spilling out, so exiting the bus without tipping feels kind of bad.
-Price of produce.  How do they decide the price of their food???  Do they just round up and guess what the local price is?  Have the sellers NEVER visited a grocery store?  It's like $5 for a bag of ugly Naval oranges whereas it's $2.50 at a local grocery store for the same amount.  A small basket of strawberries are also nearly double priced as well.  Do they think I'm stupid? 
-Bring cash.  Sorry, you can't utilize your "rewards" card and earn points here.  I spotted maybe two or three places that took credit.
-People bring their dogs.  If you don't like dogs or are allergic to them, avoid this place at all costs!


Overall, don't expect to go bargain shopping here, but to find a good local variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, and world cuisine.  It is a good way to try out unusual foods like raw sea urchin or tofu dipping sauce.

My New Crib

I moved into this new place in San Diego at the Rancho Mission Villas.  I've been remodeling this place by myself.  So far, I've replaced the flooring with porcelain wood-like tile, repainted all the walls, repainted all the baseboards and replaced the damaged ones, removed the popcorn ceiling, replaced all the outlets with updated ones including those with USB, placed motion sensing light switches to automatically shutoff, replaced kitchen lighting fixtures with LED, installed a ceiling fan in the dining area, replaced all chrome faucets and knobs with brushed nickel... the projects don't stop.  I'm planning on putting a backsplash in the kitchen and vanity room.  So far all the improvement projects have cost me around $3,000 doing it all myself.