Main & 5th Market

Friday I don't want to start anything is mundane and as a “Flashback Friday” but today's post is definitely a flashback. The above is a photo of the Main and 5th market just east of the downtown Boise area. I'm not really sure how I became acquainted with the market. I would like to think I came across the market when I would attend seminary before junior high started but I don't think that was it. I think it was after my accident when I begin to spend a large amount of my free time (which is a lot especially during the summer) in downtown Boise just bumming around. The Boise Main and 5th market was a treasure of food delights. I can only characterize that this place carried food that most likely would only be found on the East and West coasts of the country which I thought was kind of bizarre in Boise in the middle 60s. The first thing that hit you when you pushed through the swinging front door was the overpowering odor of fish. But soon you could discern other odors like fresh bread and even cut flowers at certain times of the year. There is a sign in the meat department that stated fish were flown in from the coast every day. I didn't understand this at all but I just went with it. I don't know how I learned all the great taste of hard crusted bread – – Italian bread or French bread or some kind of artesian breads – – of course it wasn't called that then . Somewhere along the line I also learned that this crusty bread with the divine soft interior almost dough like was also great with cream cheese spread liberally. Had I been exposed to wine and cheese I would've realized these three ingredients often made a Parisienne if not European meal. All I knew was that I thought it tasted great. In fact one of my favorite experiences was when I was a senior in high school one Saturday I met up with a friend of mine who has cerebral palsy and was already at the University living in student housing. He was a little guy who had cerebral palsy (we met years earlier at the disability summercamp which I've written about in other places in this blog). Somehow, Henry got donated his big old golf cart which he used to get around campus and other places. And together this one Saturday I coaxed him into taking is both downtown, on either side of the Boise River from the University. We stopped at the market and I bought bread and cream cheese. It was a bright brisk October morning as we roamed around Boise city terrorizing pedestrians eating our bread and cheese and enjoying being young and free. Henry now lives in whitefoot Idaho and I just retired. He drives a scooter now and I guess enjoys his “golden years”. I of course meant Salt Lake doing what I do enjoying whatever kind of years I have going for me. It's hard to find the bread we enjoyed at one time and Boise Idaho and brilliant autumn mornings. Market St., Grill serves a very similar bread with their meals. One of my favorite experiences is going to market Street and ordering a bowl of their clam chowder and as much sourdough bread, hard crusted, with lots of butter as I can coax out of them and dream of other days