Wonderful News: One Stop Mini Market Has Dairy!

I walked into the market to say hello to Felipe and as I gave him a hug I noticed that there were milk, eggs, cottage cheese, and sour cream where once there had only been fruit and fruit juices. I nearly exploded with joy and hugged Felipe all over again and I'm sure I overwhelmed him a bit with my happiness. I had to take a picture, but in my excitement, I was unable to take a proper photograph.

I haven't had eggs or milk in my refrigerator regularly for months, and this is truly huge for me. It's a quality-of-life issue, really.

One Stop has been open for at least eight months and their license and their suppliers just came through. Gotta love bureaucracy.

Organic in South Central

Community Services Unlimited, Inc. is a nonprofit organization based in South Central Los Angeles that I stumbled upon while searching for grocery stores on Yelp.com.

CSU, Inc. runs various programs focused on creating sustainable communities through educating youth about farming and gardening, supporting local farmers, and making locally-grown, fresh produce available to the community.

I met briefly with Neela Sharma, Programs Director of CSU, last week in order to inquire about volunteering. She was at the tail-end of prepping for the weekly Village Marketplace and Farm Fresh Produce Bag program that happen every Thursday at the corner of Menlo & King Blvd. The programs are ambitious and, like most ambitious programs, under-staffed. The Village Marketplace is a produce stand which sells fruit and vegetables that were either grown in CSU's "urban mini-farms" or by local farmers. The Farm Fresh Produce Bag program is similar to CSA: for a small monthly fee, participants can receive seasonal, locally grown produce on a weekly basis ($32/month/1-2 Person Bag, $64/month/3-4 Person Bag).

Finding out about CSU feels like fate, considering all the griping I have been doing lately about "kids these days" being too far removed from their food and how difficult it is to find good produce outside of less-than-convenient-and-likely-expensive farmers' markets. I'm excited to begin volunteering, whether it is on one of the mini-farms or at the produce stand.

It's wonderful to know that there is an alternative to negotiating downtown traffic (of all sorts) to get locally-grown produce, and that it will support such an important organization at the same time.

Village Marketplace by CSU, Inc.
In front of the LA Swim Stadium Pool
Thursdays, 3PM-5PM

3980 Menlo Ave.
90037

One Stop Mini Mart: Dangerous Convenience

I am addicted to condensed milk.

It started innocuously enough with the Vietnamese coffee that I would make myself in the morning. Then it made its way into my tea when I didn't have whole milk on hand. Then, about two weeks ago, I treated myself to a favorite childhood snack: condensed milk on toast. I think that was my downfall; next thing I knew, I found myself drizzling the sticky sweetness over bananas, mangoes, oatmeal-- my fingers.

For better or worse, I can easily replenish my supply even though the nearest supermarket is about two miles away, a Ralphs at 9th & Flower (the first to open in Downtown in over fifty years). The One Stop Mini Mart downstairs has not only my beloved condensed milk, but a variety of other pantry staples like canned beans, rice, onions, not to mention the array of random necessities like toilet paper, safety pins, and bleach.

The owner is a friendly man named Felipe who affectionately exclaims "Mirinda!" when I walk in. (He knows my name but is thoroughly amused by its similarity to the name of a soft drink popular in Mexico, which I encountered for the first time, thanks to Coca-Colonization, in Cambodia.)

I still trek over to Ralphs to get ground coffee (One Stop only has Folgers and Nescafe, unfortunately), but I try to give as much business as possible over to Felipe. He's only been in business at this location for about eight or nine months, and he is still waiting on his permit to sell dairy. I can't wait until I can buy eggs and milk from him.

One Stop Mini Mart
1835 S. Main. St.
90015

Route:
Walk downstairs, exit front door, turn right, walk about 12 yards.

Cost Summary:
Condensed Milk: $1.79