Saturday, April 12, 2008

Farmer's Market Fresh - Day 43

I awoke this cool, crisp day with a twinge of excitement....it was opening day of the Cherry Street Farmer's Market! Gordon and I got up, dressed and rushed out to see what prizes we might find waiting for us. As expected, it was a somewhat light turn out by vendors due to the earliness of the season, yet we found some great items. My friends who own The Spice Market, Tracy Evans and Rick Boyles, were there all bright eyed and bushy tailed, with all their amazing mixtures. I bought some cayenne pepper, which I have been out of recently, and I really like adding this into my more savory juices for a kick. We then we were lucky enough to find some tomato plants in several heirloom varieties. In a previous blog, I spoke of my good friend Geoff, the chef at Lava. Geoff was there representing with some of his amazing gourmet takeout fare. Gordon happily bought a marinated bean salad and some hummus, which I have so say, smells divine. So, that was about the extent of our purchases today. Each week that goes by will get even better.

About 11:00 am, I had another new friend come over to talk about raw food. "PJ" found me through my page on myspace and now follows my juice feast through my blog. She is a beautiful woman and it sounds like a diet of more raw foods could end up being a perfect fit into her life. She and I are about the same age and it was fun to give her my kitchen tour, make some nut milk, crack into a Thai coconut, etc. Before leaving, I sent her with my extra copy of Raw Food Real World and The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose. I am also going to be eager to hear back from her next week because she has ordered "the Box" from Matt Amsden of Rawvolution. I have always wanted to get "the box" and experience his food.....I guess I'll just have live vicariously through my new friend's rawvolution review for now.

Once finished with our consultation, I went down the street to the Herbal Fair on Brookside. WOW, was it ever windy!! But while there I ran into some old friends and found some great additions for my potted herb garden, a big planter filled with salad greens and a couple of more tomato plants. Come mid summer we'll have so many tomatoes growing....won't that be marvelous? I also bought lovage plants. Has anyone eaten lovage before? This very nice woman who was a grower said she though it would be phenomenal juiced because it is a bit like celery! WHAT? Did she say juiced?! She must have had my number because I ended up buying four plants because of that comment. Let me know if anybody has any scoop on lovage or sorrel, ok? Is sorrel like a leafy green for salads, etc.? Anyway, what a nice event and I love the energy of the crowds that attend such an affair. Just good people.

So my day has been a pleasure. Taylor, our eleven year old is here tonight with a friend. We just finished watching Enchanted....I loved that movie! Gabby is at one of her friends homes for a sleep over. And Gordon and I are ready to turn in and have some down time! Oh, I wanted to share that I drank the most juice today ever. I had 6 quarts total! I drank the juice of one whole watermelon, which yielded 4+ quarts and then I made a pico de gallo flavored juice this evening with just enough cayenne added to make me do the cha cha slide with the girls tonight! So, until tomorrow.....sweet dreams!

3 comments:

Lisa (Pixywinks) said...

Hey Penni!
Sounds like a great day at the farmer's market. I did have fun with Maryyx yesterday. I've been able to grow cilantro, but I've tried for years to grow basil and I kill it every time. Very frustrating!
Calliflower is usually the camera hound (lol) and Oliver is the shy one. I guess they felt like swapping roles yesterday.
Happy weekend!
Pixy Lisa

Anonymous said...

Hi, Penni, nice to meet you! I just found your blog, printed off the whole thing, yes, the whole thing. Am reading and post noting it to death. Did totally raw for 15 days. Wonderful...then stuff, stress, my emotional eating got in there again. Starting again, did the raw green smoothie this morning. I do just feel so much better, alive, when I do this, so why am I having any trouble at all. I do need to have more foods on hand, recipes. I do like the idea of just doing the juicing and smoothies, especially now that it will SOON, I hope be warm out! I grow sorrell, it is in the lettuce family, bitter would describe it, I add it to salads, but now will have to juice it! Lovage, I am not familiar with, my herb book says that the seeds, and roots are used. It's actions promote sweating, warming digestive tonic, expetorant, reduces phlegm, diuretic. Hope that is helpful. Thanks for all your info, love reading it, and it is so helpful and encouraging!

MARYYX said...

Hi Penni
I love sorrel. It has a great flavor, and I do not find it bitter at all. Just have one plant, but would like to get more. It is a perennial.
Mary