If you are starting out with City Living, take advantage of the Romance and Spice festivals for harvestables. For the Spice Festivals, you can also pack lunch sacks of each of the free vendor foods they offer you, saving you money and allowing for an easier way to obtain that packs 27 hidden recipes. Of course, if you have the Dining Out pack as well, you can just download or build a restaurant and change the menu offering to include those 27 dishes as well.
I do not recommend TS4's Seasons unless you have played the game for a while. It adds a layer of difficulty for gardeners and it's actually more difficult to keep your sim from witnessing the death of another sim who is too stupid to change into warmer clothing on their own.
