Showing posts with label farmer's market. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farmer's market. Show all posts

8.22.2010

farmer's market: week fifteen

this week i spent 17 dollars.

a dozen ears of corn: $5
watermelon: $2
fresh hummus: $5
a baguette: $3.50
smoked salt: $1.50

almost all entirely consumed last night with friends.
perfect.

8.02.2010

farmer's market: week fourteen

what week is it? i missed two.
it made it especially lovely to be there this saturday.
  • strawberries $2
  • nectarines $6
  • chiogga beets, mint, green onions $4
  • lettuce blend $3
  • 3 cucumbers, tomatillos and hungarian peppers $4
  • red onions $2
  • yellow squash $2
total: $22.00

tonight i'll be baking up some beet chips and making up a couple of salads to last me the week. july was a rough month for me and i wasn't as good as i could have been about eating what i bought. august is a new month and i am re-doubling my efforts. exciting times in the kitchen ahead!

7.12.2010

farmer's market: week eleven

a quite day at the market.

  • peaches: $6
  • #potatoes: 3
  • bunch of beets: 1.00
  • sunflowers: $5
total: 15—!

spent the other $5 on salt from the salumerie downtown.
and excellent use of twenty dollars.



7.04.2010

farmers market: week ten

an excellent morning to go to the market early and pick up my sundries.

pea shoot microgreens: $6 for a flat
# of potatoes: $3
# of fava beans: #1.50
small orange bouquet: $2
cucumbers: 2 for $1
zuchinni: 2 for $1
5# sweet onions: $4

total: 18.50

later in the season that i expected but i was especially excited to see fava beans and pea shoots this week. perhaps this slow summer season is a good thing in that its bringing summer and spring crops closer together.

6.28.2010

farmer's market: week nine

it was a small haul this weekend, the fridge is still bursting from other weekends!
  • flat of strawberries: 10$
  • pound of peas, 2 kohlrabi: 5$
  • pointed cabbage, spinach, bouquet: 8$
total: 23$

6.25.2010

farmer's market cooking

i've really been enjoying shopping at the farmer's market each week. i get excited about what's new and can watch the growing season progress first hand. as i poke along the vendors i think about what i might want to eat the coming week, what kinds of things i can create with the tasty morsels offered.

i thought i would share a sampling of what i've been whipping up
sunday i made potaotes gratin with some of my new potatoes, and snacked on strawberries for breakfast.

monday i made a stir-fry with snow peas, asparagus, and cipolinni onions. some garlic, ginger, lemon juice and soy sauce rounded it out and gave it a flavorful punch.

wednesday i tried roasted radishes and pasta with sauteed orach. (what is orach? learn here!) and whipped up a big batch of my new favorite arugula garlic scape pesto.
and today was the day for more rhubarb simple syrup for my rhubarb lemonade for the hot weekend that is ahead of us.
and tomorrow is saturday—and thus, market day!
i am especially excited for strawberries, cherries and more potatoes for a tasty sunday breakfast.

6.21.2010

farmer's market: week eight

its getting to the point where i'm surpassing $20/week and i can't keep track. but when it comes to eating fresh local vegetables, that's a good thing—right?
  • strawberries: 2 pints for $5
  • potatoes: 1# for $3
  • peas: $3
  • arugula: $2
  • salad greens: $3
  • orach: $3
  • broccoli: $1
  • radishes:$1
  • hummus: $5
total: $26

this week i have intentions on trying roasted radishes, stir fry with peas and broccoli and doing a large batch of the pesto i made last week (i love it that much.)

in other news, its the first week i haven't bought asparagus or onions. that last one was a mistake i think. but the asparagus—its just about time to give that a rest.

6.13.2010

farmer's market: week seven

the season is upon us!
it is finally warming up and strawberries and cherries are making an appearance at the market. and along with them, a bevy of other vegetable delights. i have to admit, i went a little 'crazy'.

this saturday i scored:
  • asparagus $3
  • rhubarb 2 @ $2
  • cherries $3
  • broccoli $3
  • beets 2 @ $1.50
  • carrots $2
  • flowers $6
  • garlic scapes $2
total: 26$

6.07.2010

farmer's market: week six

in addition to the tasty juice we procure from Stone's Throw Farm each week, i came home with:
  • spring onions $2
  • asparagus $3
  • larzac $10 (cheese from the formagerie)
  • broccoli raab $2
  • purple tatsoi $1
  • baguette $4
total: 22.00

even better? an impromptu morel hunt scored us some sweet fungi to indulge in.

sunday we spent the day eating cheese and baguette in bed, got up long enough to make a delicious stir fry with fresh onions, asparagus, tatsoi and kohlrabi for dinner. an excellent indulgent sunday.

5.29.2010

farmer's market: week five

week five was a total blow out because i did all my holiday event shopping at the market as well.
  • hummus ($5)
  • asparagus ($8—for four pounds)
  • salad greens ($6—for two bags)
  • green onions ($2)
  • baguette ($3)
wow. when i write it out like that, its not nearly as bad as i expected!
really only the asparagus blew out my budget, and these purchases helped feed some twenty people over two days and i still have left overs, so i think i am feeling pretty good.

next week i might splurge on some cheese. and then strawberry season is coming up—!

5.22.2010

farmer's market: week four

we're on week four of my weekly market ventures and i thought i'd start posting about my weekly purchases.

at the end of last season i decided to strive to spend $20 each week at the market on the bulk of my groceries. i thought it would keep me eating fresh, local and seasonal—and help keep my grocery budget down. it was an idea that i followed through with moderate vigor. what i found was that you can buy a lot for $20 a week at the market, most weekends i made off with a bevy of veggies, flowers and a treat such as hummus, fresh bread or goat cheese.

i enjoyed it so much that this year i've decided that i want to make it a weekly endeavor.

this week i picked up:
  • spinach ($3)
  • asparagus ($2)
  • hummus ($5)
  • spring onions ($2)
  • broccoli raab ($2)
  • rhubarb ($2.25)
  • 1/2 french press coffee downtown: ($3.50)
total: $19.75—!
    it doesn't take much to create a well-rounded pantry of fresh vegetables.

    this form of grocery shopping has helped me focus on what i have at home, what i need to use up and how quickly i go through each item (for instance, i can snack on hummus for as long as three weeks but i love the green onions in everything, so they've been a weekly purchase.) with my own salad greens and radishes coming into their own, i decided to put that money towards other items this week.

    5.17.2010

    grow baby grow!

    its nice to come home from a weekend away and find that everything has grown at least an inch.

    i have recognizable arugula, spinach and heads of loose leaf lettuce now, the chamomile is about to bloom (tea!) the beets, carrots and parsnips have a decided presence. the tomatoes are perkier—green zebra and cherokee purple are already putting out flowers which is encouraging. tonight i plant peppers and eggplants and tomatillos.

    portland was sunny and full of fun. the farmer's market was still void of fava beans so i'll have to hold out hope for our market here. sounds like the intensely frigid december did them no great benefit. but i did score some early season cucumbers, new potatoes and red cipollini onions—all of which i already have designs on.

    glad for the break, glad to be home. what else can i say.
    the next few weeks are going to be good ones.

    4.19.2010

    spring cheating

    this past weekend i missed out on the nicest weekend in walla walla yet.
    but in return i did get to spend one especially lovely afternoon in seattle at gasworks park and the opportunity for two farmer's market shopping sprees. (photos to come this afternoon.)

    so i am a little envious to have missed out on a sunny day in the mid-80's but i am super excited to play with my farmer's market finds over the next few days. i've got the spring staples (literally) in the bag: rhubarb? check. raab? check. asparagus? check. i was disappointed to not find any pea shoots or fava beans, but i did manage to score some mint, leeks, and kale—not to mention two items i've been dying to try: sunchokes and stinging nettles. (just last week i was reading up on stinging nettles.)

    and for good measure i picked up some beauregard sweet potatoes. a few to eat and a few to sprout. just before my mini-break i decided i would try and sprout some sweet potatoes this spring and plant them by the driveway. i picked one up at the grocery store, but am more excited to know what varietal i'll be growing.

    this is going to be a good (and eventful) week.