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I grew up with wild rhubarb growing in the woods behind our house. Our neighbors used to make it into pie and crisp and bring it by on Saturday afternoons. For me, theres little better than a seasonal fruit crisp, served warm with ice cream. But when Im in the mood for something a little lighter, I turn to rhubarb in purer form.

Strolling down grocery store aisles with cathedral-like ceilings does make one feel quite regal. Balduccis Market, on the corner of 14th and 8th in New York City, is by far one of the most beautiful places to get milk and butter checked off your list.

Those of us who work at non-profits might find it hard to shop regularly at Whole Foods. While their dairy is often cheaper than other stores', it's the produce, meat and fish that dig into the wallet a little too deeply.

Occasionally, though, when you're not in the mood to get run over by strollers at Fairway and you didn't plan ahead for FreshDirect, the behemoth that is Whole Foods bekons.

This week's Foodie At Large is a fellow non-profiter from Brooklyn.

Name: Cara
Lives: Bed-Stuy
Age: 26
Occupation: Fresh Food for All Coordinator, Just Food
Buying: risotto ($4.99), asparagus ($3.99/lb.), leeks ($2.49/lb.), 365 organic chicken broth ($2.49), sea scallops ($16.99/lb.), red leaf lettuce ($2.49)
Favorite cookbook: How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman)
Favorite veggie: leeks

Union Market isnt the type of food market that inspires warm and fuzzy feelings (take Sahadis or Bierkraft, for example), but its not for lack of trying. Maybe its the slick-looking brushed steel that lines the store, the impeccable produce aisle, or the pristine organic rib eye steak ($23.99/lb.), but generally my favorite people (and food places) tend toward the less kempt side of things.

When I wanted to make cactus salad for a friend's dinner party, after a string of phone calls, Tehuitzingo was the first place I found that carried fresh cactus ($1.59/lb.). It may not be the most glamorous Mexican goods store, but its utilitarianism at its best.

With Univision blasting a telenovela in the corner, the rest of the small space is stocked with plenty of tortillas, pork rinds, and hot sauces. But there are other reasons to go to Tehuitzingo, and a few reasons, besides the cactus, to go out of your way.

Names: Micol and Dino
Live: Uptown
Occupations: Micol and Dino run an Italian cooking center for cooking classes, wine tastings and culinary tours to Italy. Visit Rustico Cooking.com for more info.
Buying: Thai basil ($1.50), lemongrass ($1.50), cha um ($2) which looks a bit like a hairier version of dill, chilies ($1), and galangal ($2).

Tonight Micol and Dino will make curry and stir-fry. For a break from Italian cooking, they visit Bangkok Center Grocery (104 Mosco Street, between Mott and Mulberry Streets, New York, NY) every week. Nong, the owner of one of Manhattan's few Thai groceries (for a listing of others, visit Thai-Food.com,) greets visitors with a sing songy Swatdee Kaa.

Whole Foods is a mixed blessing in my mind. While it helps solidify the suburbanization of New York, Ill admit that its aisles of attractive packaging and beautiful pieces of fish are hard to resist.

Foodie At Large

Name: Nina
Lives: Midtown
Age: 20
Occupation: NYU student studying drama and business with career aspirations of working in the entertainment industry
Buying: wild gulf shrimp
Other shopping bag items: tomatoes, onions and garlic for a tomato salad
Future goals: Nina would like to open her own restaurant in Houston, where her family currently lives

Despite its slightly inflated prices, Kitchen/Market is still a great resource for hard to find Mexican ingredients.

It's also a good place to start when you want to make something like mole, which has been on our Recipes To Tackle list for a while now. The staff was not supremely friendly nor very knowledgeable about the chiles but the ancho ($3.60 for 2 oz.) and guajillo chiles ($3.20 for 2 oz.) needed for red mole are easy enough to find among the over 30 varieties.

The Karamouzis Brothers opened International Grocery amid scores of Greek stores over fifty years ago. Now the area, across from Port Authority, looks nothing like it did then.

On the same block as Sea Breeze fish market and near several butchers and a green grocer, the area can seem at times like it forgot that it is now 2007.

Be aware: reusable canvas bags, overpriced strollers and organic produce shipped across the country, this is not. You might have to dodge some of the less savory characters that (thankfully) still dot Manhattan, but thats all part of the experience of this part of town.

Sahadis, a Middle Eastern Mecca in downtown Brooklyn, is known for their dried fruits (try the amazing unsweetened pineapple $4.50/lb, and the inexpensive no sulfur apricots, $2.60/lb), nuts and olives, all of which you can buy in bulk. But there is an amazing array of other products too.

They started as a Middle Eastern store and then expanded in the 60s to include other specialty items. That would explain why you can also find chocolate twists (a bit like chocolate Twizzlers), tofu shirataku (noodle-shaped tofu, $1.60) and blackberry syrup ($3.75).

It's usually an unusual cooking need that gets us to Sahadis in Brooklyn. And we almost always leave with twice as much as we intended to buy. You may never have had a need for chick pea flour, but it looks so appealing on the shelf, you rack your brain for ways you might use it and it's a great place to pick up some inexpensive, quality Lebanese olive oil.

This time it was our monthly Cooking Club assignment: Indian. Lack of time and a small budget presented a particular challenge. After perusing Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India (which you can also pick up next door at A Cooks Companion.)

Charmoula is a traditional Moroccan spice rub for grilled fish or meat. Rather than use as a rub, Ben, who works at Bierkraft, recommends his version as a sauce to spoon over your grilled dorade or shrimp. Given Spains proximity to Morocco, the added pungency of these Spanish anchovies makes sense.

Bierkraft, will you be my Valentine? On Bierkrafts website youll see in bold: Beer, Cheese, Chocolate, Charcuterie and More. Im in love.

The only thing missing for me is wine, but their over 900 varieties of beer, mostly from the Barley Belt of Europe (England, Germany, Belgium, France, Poland and Czech Republic) and the U.S., quickly help me forget. Richard opened Bierkraft in 2001, after a former life on Wall Street, and since then hes added cheese, charcuterie and chocolate. I asked Richard for a favorite recipe that the kitchen readers could make at home and he passed me to Ben, who was most recently a pastry chef at Town.

Through puffs of a cigarette, Vincent Dimino tells me hes been working the market, passed down from his father and grandfather, for 50 years. Hes 58. You do the math. A formidable man of few words, he seems to enjoy what he does, or at least has no thoughts of leaving. Sea Breeze has a 99 year lease with an option to extend it for another 50.

For his fish Vincent recommends the well worn combo of garlic, lemon, herbs and white wine. Instead of this standard, though, I decide its time to conquer gravlax (see following recipe). It seems like a good way to snub my nose at winter.