fresh from the market
Sunday marked the return of the full farmers' market. Between January and March, many farmers opt to take time off to rejuvenate and plan and sleep in on Sundays, leaving us with a third of the normal sellers. But come the first Sunday in April, they're back with fresh foods from their greenhouses and storerooms to tempt us.
This week we celebrated their return by buying:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Golden beets
- Watercress
- Grape tomatoes
- Spring lettuce
- A cucumber
- Pink lady apples
- A variety of cooking apples
- An onion
- Hon tsai tai (an Asian green particularly good in the spring)
- Red spring onions
- A baguette
- Croissants
- Apple tartes (these were especially tasty!)
- Cheddar
- Strawberry yogurt
- Orange poppies
- Daffodils
- A purple hyacinth
Next week, we're looking forward to blueberry scones and microgreens and some other spring Asian greens. And as the weather gets a bit warmer, we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for rhubarb, wild mushrooms, and ramps.
farmers’ market bumper crop
Rudi went off on a bike ride this morning, leaving me to go the farmers' market myself. This was a mistake.
I started off with the best of intentions and self-restraint, but as the morning wore on (and I got hungrier), the basket began to get heavier until finally it overflowed and I was forced to accept a bag or two, as well.
I came home with:
- blueberries (the last of the season)
- peaches
- nectarines
- two kinds of lettuce
- Red Malabar spinach
- red and orange cherry tomatoes
- a yellow tomato
- two green tomatoes (for frying)
- seconds tomatoes (for gazpacho)
- Thai eggplants
- a giant head of cabbage
- beans (they might be something closely related to a cranberry bean, but I can't remember what kind they said they were)
- corn on the cob
- leeks (the first of the season; of course, I forgot to buy brocolli to make soup with)
- squash (five pounds -- including pattypans, bicolors, dark yellows, and star-shaped ones -- it got cheaper the more you bought and I figured I could make five pounds stretch to two, maybe three, weeks)
- blueberry scones
- milk
- a giant double sunflower