But, if you can find a little bit of time to make just one dish on your own, I suggest guacamole. I love the guac we sell but, sorry Produce Team, it’s really cool to have the server at a nicer Mexican restaurant make guacamole right at your table; it’s super fresh and you can how simple it is to do. I actually make guac at home all the time- especially when avocados are on sale which alas is not now- with just a few ingredients.

The recipe is in my head now. When I first began making guac at home I used a recipe in one of several cookbooks by Rick Bayliss. It’s easy to adjust because there are so few ingredients. Here’s all you need-

3 avocados

1 serrano pepper

1/4 cup (or “to taste) chopped red onion

1 plum (Roma) tomato, seeds removed, diced

Juice of one lime

Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, roast the pepper in a skillet until it’s blackened all over. While that’s happening, cut open the avocados, remove the seeds and skins, and mash the avocados in a bowl. Here’s where you decide if you want your guac smooth and creamy or chunky! When the avocados are ready, stir in the red onion and tomato. Slice the blackened pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds, leaving some if you like your guac on the hot and spicy side. Chop the pepper as small as you can and add as much as you’d like to the bowl.  Also, add the juice from the lime and salt and pepper to taste. Now’s the last chance you’ll have to add any of the pepper you kept aside before you enjoy your guac with your favorite chips! My final advice is to taste your guac with the chips you’ll be serving so you get the salt right. Done!

Since we are your community market, what better way to help you “get in the game” than to let you know about the winning foods we have for game-time munching. Ta-da! It’s really easy to order, too.  Simply click here or call 617-375-1010 or just come in; most of these items are on display already or can be ready for you in minutes!

So will it be Tebow and the Broncos? Unfortunately for folks in Denver, we think Brady and the Patriots will reign but the best thing is that, no matter who wins, everyone can continue to enjoy this special menu until the season ends!

Monday, September 5, 5:00pm-8:00pm. The folks from Sweet Scoops in Portsmouth, NH, are here to finish off your Labor Day Weekend of  fun (or work) with samples of all natural frozen yogurt.

Tuesday, September 6, 4:00pm-7:00pm. Whether you started classes today or you will tomorrow or Thursday, you’ll want to treat yourself to a taste of Cold Fusion Gelato. This Italian-style ice cream is made in nearby Walpole, MA; we are especially excited that they are coming since they are the latest recipient in our Region in our Local Producer Loan Program. Plus, the gelato is the best!

Wednesday, September 7, 5:00pm-7:00pm. Ciao Bella will be here from New Jersey as part of our Vegan Night tonight sampling tasty dairy-free sorbets. Remember to try their gelato, too, on your own or next time they are here.

Thursday, September 8, 4:00pm-7:00pm. This afternoon we welcome the Chilly Cow with “frozen treats for warm hearts” in the form of frozen custard! Smooth and dense, rich and creamy…  Locally made in Arlington, MA!

Friday, September 9, 4:00pm-7:00pm. Here’s your chance to find out if your favorite flavor is the same as Mayor Menino’s! Hometown favorite Batch Ice Cream closes out our festive week and preps you for the weekend. Susie and Veronica will travel “all the way” from their facility in JP with samples of Salted Caramel- or will it be Cinnamon & Chocolate Bits? Something else? Guess you’ll need to be here to find out!

Welcome to Boston if you’ve just arrived…  or welcome back if you’re returning! Enjoy the treats this week. We look forward to seeing you each and every evening. And, remember to follow us on Twitter for updates.

Most of the time someone says this sort of thing, they are probably thinking that those nickels would never add up to anything?  But, have you ever heard about Forget Jars where you toss in a nickel every time you forget to do something? Maybe not but certainly these days many folks know about Swear Jars; you can’t walk a few feet without hearing someone say #$@*&%! One of those would definitely get filled up fast. But. With just nickels?

What if someone really did get a nickel? What if someone got a nickel every time someone spent a dollar at our store? Now that you’re finally listening, here’s the deal. On Tuesday, March 22, 2011, this is actually going to happen. Yup, that day, each time anyone spends $1 at our store, the Hyde Square Task Force in Jamaica Plain will receive a nickel. And, you know what? They are pretty excited about it.

This organization’s mission is to “develop the skills of youth and their families so that they are empowered to enhance their own lives and build a strong and vibrant urban community.”  Recently my counterpart from our Brighton store (our 5% Day Partner Store) and I visited to see what exactly this means. Simply put, we were inspired just watching how these kids get inspired through music and dance, group learning and sharing, and others means of self-expression.

In 2001, teens from the Hyde Square Task Force created a community mural in Mozart Park - frequently the site of drug-related crime and youth-on-youth violence - in an effort to “increase the peace” in Hyde/Jackson Square.

Each year, approximately 1000 youths from Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and a few other Boston neighborhoods benefit from these programs at the HSTF. Each nickel we donate from each dollar you spend with us at our Brighton and Symphony stores on March 22^nd will go directly to further inspire these kids and improve their futures. Perhaps yours, too.

All that’s changed now. First, local residents began to arrive home from their holiday visits to parents and grandparents. Then, students returned to classes at Berklee and Northeastern, and we needed to order more products to stock the shelves and schedule more team members to open more registers. This weekend the rest happened! Boston University, Emerson, Tufts, the Conservatories, MassArt, and the Museum School welcomed the return of their student bodies from break and so did we! Since Saturday, the doors to the store rarely get a chance to close and the constant beeping of the register scanners in Customer Service is our own supermarket symphony, so apropos for our location here behind Symphony Hall.

Now, while the team members in the suburban stores wait for the snow and ice to melt, we here in the city are working hard during our version of the Winter Holiday rush- the return of the thousands of mostly younger, sometimes noisy, vibrant folks who keep us on our toes and busy until their Winter Break- and ours- arrives in March.

Welcome back!

Truth is most of us would gladly share what we can with others. Cool thing is it really takes just a little to help a lot. Once, when referring to donations, my friend Billy Shore at Share Our Strength said that a small amount of money goes a little way but a large amount goes a long way. We all realize what he means- that obviously a lot of money helps a lot more- but a small donation is certainly appreciated, too.

Here at Whole Foods Market, we have come to realize that everyone who can wants to help. Here’s an example of what you can do. For the past 20 years or so, our Massachusetts stores have partnered with Project Bread/The Walk for Hunger each December, offering you the opportunity to “purchase” donation coupons at the register. This year, according to Project Bread, your contribution of $2.00 will provide more than 10 pounds of food to a hungry family and your $5.00 donation will ensure that an entire family receives a hot, nutritious dinner at a weekly supper program. A little certainly can help a lot in this case. (Note: You may also purchase holiday cards to support Project Bread in the Whole Body department in all of our Massachusetts stores. They were designed by a local artist and are printed locally on recycled paper.)

And, have you heard that American Express will donate 10 cents for purchases made with any eligible American Express^® Card at Whole Foods Market through December 31^st to Share Our Strength? (minimum donation of $250,000, maximum $500,000 contribution) Those tiny dimes added up to $180,000 in November!

Finally, Whole Foods Market will donate $1 to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign for each gift card purchased online this holiday season; there’s still time left to order!

Now I’m thinking that busy people don’t really forget the less fortunate; most of us simple think we can’t make a difference. But, as we’ve seen, we actually can help. There’s just over a week left before the year ends along with these opportunities. Let’s see how much we can accomplish in a little bit of time.

Happy Holidays to everyone from your Whole Foods Market Symphony Team!

These are the folks in the brown aprons (here at the Symphony location anyway) and brown hats- where necessary- who will answer your every question, lead you to the product you cannot locate, and share stories with you about why one product may be better than another.  So, how do you bottle trust?  Can this faith that you place in our Team Members be harnessed or packaged or somehow made available to everyone?  We think we’ve come up with a way to do so and we’re calling it “100 Forks”.

At regular intervals, in each of our stores across New England, we assemble a group of us to view, touch, smell, and taste products from throughout the store, some new, some which have been available for years.  This week’s session may feature tuna salad from our regional kitchen in Everett, a fish chowder from Cape Cod, cheddar from the UK,  a new bread from our Bakehouse in Medford, French lemonade, and, yes, herbal cough medicine.  We all gather ‘round the table and evaluate each product on our own: no talking, please!  The scoring sheets are collected and tabulated and the results sent on to the Regional Office in Cambridge.

Then, all of the ratings from all of the Team Members in all of the stores are combined.  In my imagination, I see chunks of cheese, bowls of soup, tuna sandwiches, glasses of juice, and cups of tea standing around wringing their hands and trying to remain calm as the winners are announced-

“Today, we are happy to award the Whole Foods Market North Atlantic Region’s 100 Forks designation to…”

The program kicks off on March 1^st.  You’ll need to come in and check the aisles for this sign.  Don’t forget to let us know what you think! 

Things have changed over time.  My mom is still celebrating with us but my dad and grandparents have passed on.  My sisters live in New Mexico and California now so Christmas Day is a constant series of phone calls and emails and text messages.  The biggest difference though is the holiday season itself.

As our country has come to include so many people of so many different cultures and the world has been made so small through television’s ”breaking news” and the internet, the holiday season itself has grown from just Christmas to encompass a variety of occurences and celebrations that I, as an 18-year old waking up my 4-year old sister, could never have imagined.  Working in a food environment with people from distant areas of the world with diverse faith backgrounds and differing culinary traditions has broadened my appreciation for this witner season and has also increased the level ancticipation for me each December.

My “candy cane” world is still filled with Christmas carols and nativity scenes but now embraces menorahs, the values of Kwanzaa, an appreciation for Winter Solstice traditons, and more.  Whether we celebrate any one, none, or all of the many winter holidays and observances- Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, the Hiijri New Year- hopefully, we can rejoice and be a part of the wishes of peace and joy and goodwill of the season.

So, on behalf of all of the Team Members here at Whole Foods Market- Symphony, I am still excited to wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Boxing Day, Happy St. Stephen’s Day, Happy New Year, or, more simply, Season’s Greetings, at this most wonderful time of year!

This, of course, got me thinking about the fact that this is the part of my job I like most of all.  I really enjoy the planning and budgeting process for donations and sponsorhips and events both in and out of the store.  The best part though is the thank you, the appreciation, the “I’m so glad you are here” that follows with most of what the Marketing Team at Whole Foods Market does.

Some of the theatre go-ers mentioned some of the other events at which they had seen my store or another local Whole Foods store- Taste of Cambridge, AIDS Walk Boston, Taste of the Nation, and various walks and races.  It seemed as though when one person mentioned something and another person heard, that other perosn had another instance to share and so it continued.  I was amazingly happy the entire hour I was there!

So now I’d like to take this opportunity to talk a little about the groups my store had the opportunity to help out recently.  Obvioulsy we work a lot with the various colleges and universities which surround us.  Last month we provided gift cards to the Wentworth Institute of Technology to use as incentives in a staff ftiness program there.  New England Conservatory was running a fundraising phonathon; we helped them with some prizes for students.  The Latino/a Cultural Center at Northeastern needed 100 apples and caramel for a Halloween event for kids in Dorchester and Roxbury; those apples and the caramel wrappers came from our store!  We also gave 2 cases of peanut butter to the Circle K group at Northeastern to be used for a project to help feed some of the city’s homeless men and women this winter.

Two hundred freshly-baked cookies from our Bakery were enjoyed by kids at the Fenway CDC Halloween Party before the Safe Trick or Treating event they sponsored.  Many of those same kids came to the store in costume for sweets; some even chose a box of raisins over the gummy candies!

We donated gift cards for the March of Dimes, the Mission Grammar School Harvest Fest in Mission Hill, and the MSPCC After School Program in JP, and provided refreshments for volunteers at the Lung Cancer Alliance at the Pru.  Our store also spearheaded a regional donation from most of the stores in MA plus Portland, ME, which resulted in nearly $1200 for auction prizes at the Children’s Hospital Champions for Children event which raised more than 2.2 milliion dollars!

Last but not least, the folks at Fenway High School learned that they might need to cancel their annual pumpkin carving event due to lack of funding this year; fortunately we were able to give them 10 pumpkins and the event went on as planned.

Many of these things may not seem like much but judging by the number of “thank you’s” I’eve been hearing and reading, I know they mean a lot to those who are revceivng them.  The old saying about “every little bit helps” seems to be very much the way thing are today. 

Back to the pumpkin pie at the theatre.  I was starting to pack things up at 7:30pm when the play was about to begin and two women ran in, showed their tickets to the usher, and ran up to my table.  ”Are we too late to buy a piece of pie?” they asked.   I replied that there was no charge and that they could indeed try some.  One of the women mentioned that she had participated in a Health Fair at the South End Community Health Center earlier in the day and that someome from Whole Foods at been there with pilaf and some other things and that she had missed out on the pumpkin pie.  I sort of just stood there holding up a Whole Foods Market pinted napkin for a minute until she finally looked up and saw it and realized that I had been the one providing the goodies at the health fair, too.  She then thanked me.

I slept really well that night.  Ok, it was a long day and I was tired.  Most of all though I slept well because I was had been thanked by so many grateful people.  Remember, that’s the best part of my job!  Oh, yeah, and the pie was good.  In fact, in was very good, extremely delicious.  I ate a leftover slice for my dinner when I got home.

Note:  Click here to be taken to the community section of our web page.

The “instead” is to talk about the things that I remember each year as preparations begin for our involvement in the next walk.  First and foremost I think about friends and acquaintances who have passed away from AIDS, especially Jim, my partner’s former roommate, one of our best friends, and an overall amazing guy.  Of course, it saddens me becasue we miss Jim but then all of the pleasant memories of AIDS Walk Boston and the WFM sponsorship make me happy again as I know that I am doing something and that the company of which I am a Team Member is honoring so many of its Core Values through its support.

The members of the Whole Food Market family who are in some way assoicated with this project are many.  First, at the regional office are the coordinators and VP’s and everyone who tell us to “go for it” and be there the first Sunday each June!  Then, there in the same buliding on CambridgePark Drive, is Gail who works faithfully and unceasingly to be sure we’ll have enough of our suppliers involved so that walkers have plenty of snacks when they finish.  We’d never make it to the Esplanade without her help.

Our distribution center in Cheshire, CT, is where all of our participating suppliers ship all of their products to be given out during the Wellness Festival after the walk is finished.  Rick, Andrea, Nina and the team there expertly receive and sort all of the boxes and bags and pallets when they arrive the first week in June and make certain that everything is loaded on the Whole Foods Market trailer many have become accustomed to seeing on Storrow Drive on Walk Day.  (One gentleman told us that seeing the WFM truck makes him feel like he’s “home”.  I’m not exactly sure what that means but it sounds pretty good to me.)

There’s one more WFM Team Member who needs to be mentioned here.  That goodie-filled trailer truck doesn’t get from Cheshire to the Esplanade by itself!  I’m not sure anyone else could navigate the low bridges and twisting lanes of Storrow Drive quite the way Alex does.  Yeah, it’s probably pretty exciting for him to have that State Police escort at the end of his journey as he approaches the Hatch Shell, but you can tell that it’s his dedication which fuels him the rest of the time.  You see, he doesn’t simply drop the trailer and run.  From the time he arrives until the time he leaves, Alex is the man in charge! 

He coordinates the unloading of products and their delivery to the tent as if he’s been doing it forever.  The rule is that no one gets into the truck but Alex and he’s careful to enforce it.  Volunteers line up with arms open and carts ready to carry everything to our partners in the tent awaiting their products to make ready for the walk’s end and the start of the festival.  We’d never survive the day at the Esplanade without Alex’s help.

Who else?  Can’t forget Tommy from the Wellesley store who decided he would head up our walk team this year.  Rising extremely early many mornings, he attended 6am meetings at stores far from his to rally for participation- and then went to Wellesley for a full day’s work.  Tommy succeeded in getting walkers from an assortment of our stores-

Sometimes I think i have the easiest job when it comes to AIDS Walk Boston.  I simply coordinate the dedicated suppliers Gail has already signed up and figure out who gets which table.  Then, I run around taking photos while other Marketing Team Members (this year, Jen, Kirsten, Rodney, Tina, Eddie, Tommy again. And, thanks to Lynay and Nick) make sure folks have everything they need.  You guys make everything so easy.

I’ve been talking about suppliers; who are they you ask?  They’re our vendors who donate to the Walk for the privilege to give out their products.  This is already too long but here’s this year’s list- Clif, GoodBelly, Gaga’s, Immaculate Baking, Zico, Cabot, Polka Dog Bakery, Late July, Tribe Hummus, Nature’s Path, Rick’s Picks, World of Grains, Stonyfield Farm, QBel, Quorn, Pop Chips, Grandy Oats, Olivia’s Organics, and Applegate Farms.  Again, we wouldn’t get through the day without them.

So what I would have said in my email to a few people I’ve turned into this “instead” which anyone with internet access can read.  Yeah, it’s pretty long but there are so many people to mention.  I’m done for now- but, this morning, my thoughts did turn to Jim as I walked down Boylston Street and crossed Clarendon on the way here…