mushroom scramble

breakfast (8:30 a.m.) = oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar

brunch (11:30 a.m.) = bagel with scrambled mushrooms

Heat some olive oil and a diced red shallot, along with salt, pepper, and fennel seeds, over low heat. Add 5 small-medium button mushrooms (those small, round, white mushrooms that are easy to find), chopped. Heat, stirring/turning occasionally with a spatula, until the mushrooms are slightly browned on the edges, and you should hear water hissing out of them. Turn the heat off and let them continue to sizzle while your bagel toasts. I did mine in the oven at 400 degrees until it was slightly brown on the edges. Spread margarine on the bagel, then top it with the mushroom scramble. Don't be shy with the olive oil; mushrooms will drink it up. Fennel seed gives the topping a savory breakfast taste.

Saturday food haul

At the farmers' market (about $25)

1 quart button mushrooms

a bunch of collard greens

a bunch of kale

a bunch of winter salad greens (watercress, etc. mix)

1 head of green leaf lettuce

several bulbs of red shallots

10 red carrots

3 bagels

2 brownies

1 quart apple butter

At Mariposa co-op (about $35)

1.5 lbs rolled oats

1 lb penne pasta

1 lb asparagus

1 quart rice/soy milk

a bunch of dulce (sea vegetable)

dijon mustard

Tofurkey deli slices

4 bananas

lapsang souchong tea (bulk)

raspberry leaf tea (bulk)

valerian root powder (bulk)

nutritional yeast (bulk)

1 can of red beans for the food drive at my school

1 can of spicy refried beans for the food drive at my school

6 starter strawberry plants

I forgot to get beans for us (bulk red beans), and I forgot garlic. The winter greens mix and collard greens were the best deal of the day: $2.40 for both at the Pennypack Farms table. I'm into mushrooms for sandwiches again. They're filling and high in protein and they soak up whatever flavors you put on them. With springtime, I'm into sandwiches again, which just always seem like an appropriate food for warm weather. We've been getting hoagie rolls from Fu-Wah, and I bring sandwiches on them for lunch. Mark has been making me a delicious pasta and bean salad for lunch that I just don't get tired of. It saves my life on those long Wednesdays when I have to go out to Glenside for class after school.

Lapsang Souchong tea is now one of my favorite things. It is smoky and sexy. It's campfire tea. Valerian root is for relaxation, including relaxing your muscles, so I wanted to try it to help ease the tension in my neck and shoulders that doesn't let go at the end of the day. Raspberry leaf tea is especially for ladies. I just discovered that the co-op has bulk teas, which is great. I got a lot of the campfire tea for $4, which, a box of 16 Russian Caravan tea bags (another smoky tea) is over $4, and this is a lot more tea than that. I don't know how to use the Valerian root, so I have to look that up.

We've been running out of money pretty much every week as we catch up from winter heating bills, unemployment, and the general January-April money curse, so we've gotten creative with food a lot. Mark's payday was yesterday and not a moment too soon. Yesterday, I actually brought four slices of cheap white bread and a container of apple butter to spread on it for lunch. Thursday, I brought a bag of raisins and got a bag of pretzels and a very sad banana at the 7-11 near the school. Pitiful. Back on top of things now. I tried to be conscious about what would last the longest, with the exception of the Tofurkey slices, which were a splurge. The quart of button mushrooms, with greens, vinegar, mustard, and onions, will be great for sandwiches for lunch. I'm sure I can sweet talk Mark into making me another pasta salad. I still have lots of raisins, and the rolled oats are $1.02/lb, and a lot of bang for the buck, with high protein, calcium and iron, and very filling for breakfast (or dinner). Adding raisins sweetens the oatmeal and ups the calcium. Cheap pasta sauce from Fu-Wah, along with the cheap white bread for garlic bread makes for a good, cheap, filling pasta dinner. We also have plenty of whole wheat flour and black pepper for gravy, and Mark perfected a rice-and-gravy dish this past week that is ridiculous-tasty. I don't know what the hell I would do without Mark's mad cooking skills. My life would be sadder and less fulfilling. And then there's the love. That makes things better, too.

something to make a pot of on sunday and eat all week

I thought I had a picture of the Whole Grains and Beans Soup Mix from Bob's Red Mill, sitting on the shelf at the co-op, but it looks like I have a picture of the 13-bean one instead. Too bad. Anyway, the one we are having today is the beans & grains one. I once had a cookbook all about beans and grains. Back in Marlinton. It went the way of many of my possessions when I transferred myself from Marlinton to Charlottesville to Philadelphia.

The 13-bean soup was fine, but I prefer the Whole Grains and Beans mix because it has about a zillion different grains in it, and the texture is perfect for a stew, which you can flavor a la American cuisine with onions and garlic and herbs (which is how we're having it today), or I would think you could have it curried, with big chunks of potato, which is how I'll have it when I make it myself.

The Whole Grains and Beans Soup Mix contains:

small red beans, pinto beans, lentils, red lentils, whole oat groats, brown rice, triticale berries (wheat), rye berries, hard red wheat, pearled barley, kamut khorasan wheat, buckwheat groats and sesame seeds.

One serving has 19 grams of protein, 15 grams of dietary fiber, 2 grams of fat, and 30% of your recommended daily iron.

I like the words hard red wheat. They make me think of a field in winter that was the setting of a few scenes of a book I read as a kid, which I remember nothing else about. I like the words triticale berries. They remind me of Quest for the Faradawn by Richard Ford. Who doesn't like to say pearled barley? Buckwheat groats is growing on me.

Saturday Market: Fruit and Green Peas!

It would be a shame to cook these peas. I have been eating them raw, by the handful, all day. Peas, by the way, are another great answer to every vegan's favorite question, "Where do you get your protein?". Peas are a legume and, as such, a great source of protein.



Saturday Shopping List

1 quart green peas
1 quart cherries
1 quart strawberries
1 very large head of romaine lettuce
1 head of buttercrunch lettuce
4 sweet potatoes
1 bunch of asparagus
1 quart crimini mushrooms
6 large carrots
6 tomatoes
4 summer squash
2 zucchini
1 loaf multi-grain bread
2 bagels

Total: $39 and change

The cherries are delicious. This was the first week there were cherries. I got a quart of strawberries at one table and put them in a small paper bag, then a quart of cherries at the next table and put them into the same bag. So I have a paper bag full of refreshing, sweet, tart, fruity goodness in the refrigerator. I can't keep my hands out of it. Today has been busy with homework, and I've lived on snacks of raw green peas, strawberries, and cherries.

This is also the first week there was Patty Pan Squash, but I didn't get any, because I had already gotten summer squash and zucchini, and we still had some squash at home, and I didn't want to let it go to waste. It's good to know the Patty Pan is back, though. I'm having flashbacks to last summer, as we head into our second full summer of living off the farmers' market. We're moving at the end of the month, and it's good to know we'll only be a few blocks away and actually a little bit closer to the market. The walk will change slightly, but will be about the same length.

Saturday market, mid-May... waiting for squash

I can't wait for summer squash. I don't remember when it comes in, so every Saturday I go to the market hoping it will be there. I want to roast some with sweet potatoes. But today was not the day.

Saturday Shopping List

about a dozen large carrots
8 of the tomatoes you see above
6 white potatoes
4 red potatoes
5 yellow sweet onions
2 of the bunches of asparagus you see above
a large head of buttercrisp lettuce
a jar of apple syrup
a pint of strawberries
a pint of crimini mushrooms
1 large portobello cap
2 bunches of dark green curly kale

Total: about $27

We want to start juicing again, so I got a bunch of carrots and the two bunches of dark green kale. We haven't had kale in a while. No sense in that. It is a great source of protein, calcium, and iron. The carrots are really big and I got plenty, so there should be enough to both juice and roast.

My favorite dish lately has been to roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, asparagus and onions in the the cast iron skillet in the oven at 425 for about 35 minutes. So good. I put on sea salt, black pepper, and fennel seeds. I cut up a whole, small sweet onion, in big chunks, and put in there, and it makes the whole house smell savory and foodie. Garlic is also good to add.

Saw an apartment on Craigslist that advertises if you live there you might have to help with the vegetable gardening and composting in the back yard. Hmm. That would be awesome. We e-mailed about it. Will keep you posted.

Perfect sandwich greens from Landisdale Farm

I take back what I said about these being overpriced. I would pay a zillion dollars for these sandwich greens.

You eat them with thinly-sliced Portobello mushrooms drenched in balsamic vinegar, coated with olive oil, onions. Mustard would be perfect, but I don't have any. Had a very thin coating of Vegenaise on each slice of bread, because the cracked-wheat bread is very heavy and requires dressings. I would prefer mustard. You want to layer the greens with the mushrooms. Pile them pretty high. Remember, your bread is heavy, so lots of wet ingredients are good, and your mushrooms and greens are coated in oil and vinegar.

My camera's batteries died before I could photograph the finished sandwich.

Quitting Tofu

Finally watched Food Inc. It's not as if I didn't know this, but I really, really... really have to stop eating tofu.

For real.

I know that over 90% of American soybeans are Monsanto soybeans. Why do I act as if I don't know it? Do I feel better if I buy something that says "non-GMO" on the package? Then I'm just as dumb as the sanctimonious liberal who buys the cow that says "grass fed." Do I really think I'm smart enough to find that less than 10% of soybeans that are real beans? Really?

Watching a farmer who didn't choose to grow Monsanto beans talk about watching his legal costs grow because his neighbors' soybeans contaminate his crop and once that happens, Monsanto owns the patent to his crops. Monsanto sending goons - thugs in big black cars - out to his farm at 4:30 in the morning to spook him. Watching him say, "How can they do this?" And then he gives advice to a young farmer: "Just try to get out of this thing with your skin intact. Roll over. You can't fight it." How can they do this? Just like that. If everyone stood up, they couldn't do it. That's why organizing - on any level but theirs - is their enemy.

Damn it.

And a lot of organic soybeans come from China. Great. There's something I feel safe about. Eating crap from China.

Fortunately, I have my protein-rich and versatile quinoa and of course, my good old-fashioned pinto beans and kidney beans. And, as I learned recently, I can buy local kale in a blizzard if I don't mind the cold! In most of the recipes I did use tofu in, I've already replaced it with mushrooms, which act very similar and taste better.

So, what the hell. Let's quit tofu.

Return to Saturday

Finally! After a long, lonely three weeks, the Clark Park Farmers' Market is back.

Can I just say that I love January? I love January. It's like having a new thing. I know that nothing actually happened at midnight on December 31st, but it makes a difference to me. I like writing the "1." I like writing "2010." I like saying the word January. Everything seems shiny and exciting.

It is freezing cold today in Philadelphia. The RealFeel forecast said 9 degrees. High winds made walking home almost painful. It's the kind of cold you can feel in your eyes and teeth. My new boots kept my feet cozy and I was dressed warmly, but that cold could not be ignored. I didn't mind at all. It was refreshing, invigorating, and just thoroughly January.

Let's have a round of applause for the people who worked the farmers' market today. I could barely take the 20 minutes or so we were outside, they were out there all day. It was sparse, maybe five tables (and one of those all eggs and cheese, and another seemed to be only apple products), but it was enough for us.

Saturday Shopping List

at the farmers' market:

2 leeks
1 head of cauliflower
5 florets of broccoli
2 kohlrabi bulbs
1 pint white mushrooms
1 portobello mushroom cap
approximately a metric ton of curly kale
lots of purple carrots
about 2 pints of yukon gold potoatoes
5 yellow onions
a 23-oz. jar of applesauce
a jar of pickles
4 bulbs of garlic

at Milk & Honey:

a very large loaf of cracked-wheat bread
2 sesame seed bagels

at Fu-Wah Mini-Market:

a thing of vegan cream cheese

total: about $60

Kohlrabi bulbs (nutrition data for kohlrabi)

This will be my first experience with Kohlrabi, also known as German Turnips, and according to Wikipedia, popular in Kashmir. According to NutritionData.com, the protein content of these beauties looks pretty good. They are said to be sweet and crisp, able to be eaten raw or used for cooking.

I can't wait to make potato-leek soup, which will include carrots, cauliflower, onions, kale, broccoli, mushrooms and - why not - kohlrabi. I like to make my vegetable soups as hearty and nutritious as possible, so they fill me up. I'm a lazy eater, so I pack in the kale, broccoli, and cauliflower to load up on protein and calcium, and the mushrooms to help fill me up. Subtle variations in the types of vegetables and quantities of each one will give you a different soup each time and help keep things interesting.

Fuel

SEPTA is on strike, so I'm riding my bike to work. It's 40 degrees... real-feel: 38... real-feel on a moving bicycle: god damn cold. So I had a bowl of hot oat bran with molasses and flaxseed, for fuel.

I'll have a cold ride home in the dark to look forward to, so for lunch, I'm bringing a Thermos full of potato-leek soup (extra rosemary makes it seem warmer to me), with a side of red beans with lemon-pepper (the pepper is super-hot). And a couple slices of multi-grain bread for toast right about tea-time.

Here we go!

Sandwich Fail

It wasn't a complete fail. It did its job.

See, today is the first day of NaNoWriMo, and besides that, I have two major exams coming up in 13 days. So, those two situations conspired to cause me to put off eating until I was very very hungry.

As a result, when I went into the kitchen to fix a sandwich, I was compelled to put absolutely everything onto it.

Started with toasted multi-grain bread. Cut a small, maroon carrot into very thin slices and sauteed those with garlic, rosemary, curry, and salt. That's going to be the dressing.

So put that on first, and then on top of that, raw onions, raw portabella slivers. Then I was going to have some Brussels Sprout on the side. I only made one, because I figured the sandwich would be pretty filling, I just wanted a little Brussels snack. But it was so crispy after it was sauteed, I decided it would be good on the sandwich. Topped everything with green leaf lettuce. Rub the leaves in the container where you had your carrots and sauce, to get it all.

It wasn't so good. With the curry and the Brussels Sprout, it was all a bit much for a sandwich. The first half was good, because I was so hungry, but there was very little compelling me to finish the second half, other than the desire to not be hungry later. With an evening of writing and calculus coming up, that was enough motivation, and this mess did fill me up for a good while.

I'm at 2,492 words on NaNo. I wish I could quantify for you my progress on learning instructional design, or functions, for that matter. I'm just trying to hang in there at this point. Between the antioxidants in the carrots, the iron in the sprouts, the heat in the curry, and sheer will, I might live to see December. It's going to be a long month.

Look at my perfect math vegetable.

I spent all day in math class today, a crash course in functions and calculus.

Then I come home, and Mark has brought this perfect fractal home from the farmers' market.

It's a Romanesco broccoli, also called a Roman cauliflower, or coral broccoli.

I don't want to cut it.

Sometimes, when someone decides to be an asshole, they say something to me like, "Well, what about plants? Don't you think plants have feelings?" (Unfathomably, used as a reason why I should eat animals, because there's an outside chance plants might have feelings.) Obviously, such a statement doesn't get a serious response.

But in this case?

It's not that I think it has feelings. It's just that it spooks me, because I think it might have reason. How did it do the math, to come up with those perfect spirals and cones? It's a plant. It grew its nutrition into spines and cones like a coral. Shouldn't it live free under the water somewhere off a coast? Shouldn't something with tentacles develop a partnership with it that allows them both to hunt?

Look at it from different angles:


Any non-profit types reading this know how to open a museum?

On top of being stunning, this thing is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, and carotenoids, among other things, I'm sure, but they don't list it on NutritionData.com.

OK. It's late at night. I took a lot of time to unwind after my seven-hour math class today. I couldn't go to the farmers' market this morning; class started at 9 a.m. But I hear we did very well at the market.

Saturday shopping list

That perfect Roman cauliflower
10 Brussels sprouts (a pint)
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 bunch of kale
4 small white onions
2 red onions
maroon carrots
1 pint tomatillos
2 leeks
blue potatoes
white potatoes
2 portabella caps
1 very large garlic bulb
1 oz ground rosemary
1 loaf multi-grain bread
3 chocolate-banana muffins

total: reportedly about $33

I don't see how that's possible, but that matches up with the amount of money we still have, so OK. Pretty miraculous. I think he flirted with all the Amish girls and got crazy discounts. Heheh. That's my baby.

I was going to broil some potatoes tonight, which would have been my first experience with broiling anything.

When the kitchen filled with smoke, I changed my mind, and after it cleared out, I roasted some blue potatoes.

They are dressed with olive oil, rosemary, oregano, garlic (2 cloves, crushed), and salt. Roasted in the oven for about half an hour at about 375 degrees. But... 375 degrees after pre-heating the oven to broil and then turning it off and letting the kitchen air out, so, however many degrees that is.

I needed some good food. Last night, I fed myself fried potatoes, sauerkraut with semi-nasty fake hot dogs, and raw tomatillos. I was kind of down and only got lower after that dinner. The potatoes were undercooked. Today I had Subway for lunch (6" Veggie Max on wheat with spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion, green peppers, and mustard, and a bag of barbecue chips). After class, I had a tofu hoagie from Fu-Wah, which is great, but, you know, it's another tofu hoagie from Fu-Wah.

So tonight, with the perfectly-roasted and seasoned potatoes, I had a couple of Brussels Sprouts I had seared in a pan with just oil and salt. Brussels Sprouts are great for protein and iron. I love how the outer layers of the sprouts get crispy in the oil, and I love the burned taste of the browned, cut edges.

Here are things I want to do in the coming days: Make a potato-leek soup and garnish each bowl with crispy Brussels Sprout layers. Make mashed potatoes and do the same thing. Do something with that perfect vegetable at the start of this post.

Fats: flaxseed and oat bran

You can't see the flaxseed in this picture, but it's there, and it's full of fat.

Here's the important thing about flaxseed:











Its calories come mostly from fats. Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, which you can also get from nuts, coconuts, and vegetable oils, among other things.




Flaxseed is always in my refrigerator. I add it to stew, oat bran, cereal, sprinkle it on squash, salads, sandwiches, toast. You can put it on anything. If it has a taste, it's a slightly nutty taste, but it doesn't really have a taste.

What you see above is a bowl of hot oat bran, with two tablespoons (or thereabout) of flaxseed mixed in, and granola sprinkled on top. This is an incredibly filling breakfast. The oat bran (1 cup of it) has 33% of your "recommended" daily protein, along with 28% of your iron, 58% of your fiber, and 10% of your fat.

The granola is just fucking delicious and has maple syrup and vanilla, so there you have that. The granola contains: rolled oats, walnuts (again, look at the fats and protein), sunflower seeds, maple syrup, raisins, cranberries (look at the color!), coconut, canola oil, and vanilla extract.

This breakfast (or -- if you're studying for a test or you have a deadline and/or you're sleepy and lazy -- dinner) is a powerhouse of fats, protein, and iron. Also, you can have it with toast and blueberry preserves, and then it's just game over. Look at this. Shut up.

Friday noodles

We're out of nearly everything. It's time for noodles. Picked these up at Fu-Wah this morning. You could use any type of light noodles. I cooked these with the stock packet that is provided with them, but it is very mild. The toppings are going to be the good part, anyway.

At first I underestimated the size of the portion and didn't saute enough portabella mushrooms, onion, and garlic to put on these. When I came to my senses, I increased the amount you see here by about three times. When it was done (about 3 minutes), I added the toppings, sprinkled on some oregano, and enjoyed with toast spread with a mixture of olive oil and crushed garlic.





The finished dish was surprisingly good. Nonetheless, tomorrow is Saturday, and I'll dream of grocery lists tonight. I want something different tomorrow. I'm going to do something we don't usually do. I don't know what yet. I want to buy something that's a different color or a weird shape or a stronger taste than anything we normally cook. I will, of course, report back.

Featured in this recipe: Portabella mushrooms. An excellent source of several good things, including protein, vitamin B6, potassium, and fiber.


(Source)

Juicing carrots, kale, and broccoli

Juicing is so simple, I can't even imagine why we don't do it more frequently. It takes ten minutes. You split the carrots in half lengthwise so they'll go into the shoot easily, you rinse everything, and you drop everything into the juicer. Every time I do it, I insist that I'm going to remember how quick and easy it is, but somehow I always forget.

This evening, I juiced some of the maroon carrots we bought last Saturday. Maroon carrot juice is not as pretty as orange-skinned carrot juice, but the pulp is beautiful. It's orange with red flecks. To that, I added some broccoli stalks and a lot of kale.

Season's Last Local Peach, and What I Did With It

You've read here about Quinoa Soup, and about NASA's consideration of quinoa.

Here are two more things you can do with quinoa.

One of them tastes like pizza. The other is crumbly, peachy, and sweet, like cobbler.

Mark made the first one this afternoon.

You know how to cook rice, right? Two parts water, one part rice, a dash of salt, bring to a boil on the stovetop, reduce heat and simmer until it's done. To cook quinoa, do the same thing and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Before cooking, rinse the quinoa grains with cool water and drain.

For the above quinoa pilaf, add to the quinoa and water on the stove some diced onion, chopped broccoli, and mushroom. Add the vegetables at the beginning, bring them to a boil right along with the grain, simmer everything together.

When it's done, the quinoa is soft and translucent and you can see the white curl of the germ along the outside of the grain. The water should all be absorbed. If there is excess and you don't want it, it can be drained.

While the dish is hot, add diced tomatoes and stir them in. The hot pilaf will heat them and give them the taste of stewed tomatoes.

Season with oregano, basil would be great (we don't have any), salt, and some raw chopped onions, sprinkle with oil and vinegar. With the hot tomatoes, onion and oregano, the finished, seasoned dish has a taste similar to pizza or spaghetti. (Damn, basil would be perfect!) Could serve with garlic toast.

I had a little of that this afternoon, but I was full from a plate of potatoes, okra & tomatoes, and green beans, and just had a taste of the pilaf so I could report on it. Thanks to Mark for being patient while I photographed his food before he ate it. I'm looking forward to trying this one myself.

Now, here's something I did with quinoa later in the evening. It was so dreamy I can't believe I made it myself at my house.

I started by cooking some quinoa for cereal, planning to have it with molasses and brown sugar (which I finally bought). Two parts water, one part quinoa, bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for 10-15 minutes or until grain is translucent and soft and you can see the germ along the outside.

Remove from heat and mix in about a tablespoon of molasses (10% of your "recommended" daily calcium, iron, and vitamin A). Add cinnamon and stir it in.

Then I had an idea.

I diced the last peach of the season. Left over from last Saturday, and the peach lady said then that that was the last week they would be bringing peaches. I ate several slivers of it raw and heated the rest in oil. Poured it over the hot quinoa cereal and sprinkled with flax seed and brown sugar.




This dish tastes like peach cobbler. I didn't stir in the brown sugar, just sprinkled it on top and left it in clumps of crystals along with the flax seed, much like a crumbly cobbler topping.

There may be frozen peaches or peaches from a grocery store later, but this is likely the last local peach of the season.

That's the way to do it.

Saturday Market in the Rain

It's raining on the farmers' market. That's different. All summer, it has rained maybe twice on the market, which I didn't realize until we were walking down to the park this morning in a light, gray, drizzly sort of rain. I know it rained at least one other Saturday morning, because I do remember clomping around the market in rain boots once, but almost every Saturday has been sunny.

We went kind of late, too. We're usually there at 10 a.m. when it opens. We didn't make it there until around 11 this morning, after cleaning the kitchen and making room for the new groceries.

Here's the list:

Lots of small white potatoes
Large bunch of broccoli
3 pints of okra!
1 quart of green beans
Lots of maroon carrots
3 bunches of kale (you'll see exactly how much in a minute)
2 bunches of leeks
2 ears of sweet corn
3 yellow onions
A small head of cabbage
6 tomatoes
5 apples of different varieties
1 loaf sourdough bread
1 loaf multi-grain bread
2 brownies

Total spent: $53.44


The theme this week was green. With okra, broccoli, green beans, and all that kale, we'll have no shortage of protein, calcium, or iron (the three magic nutrients people tend to worry they might not get if they don't eat animals).

We bought dry beans last week, so we have plenty of those. This week, we were able to stock up on green veggies and still spend the same amount of money as last week. See what I was saying? It all evens out.

We're going to get back to juicing, which we've been neglecting for weeks and weeks. We have a perfectly good Omega Juicer sitting in the kitchen taking up space. Juicing is a perfect way to get nutrition from greens, so that's why we loaded up on kale this morning. Carrots are finally here in bulk (they've been scant), including maroon carrots, which have extra nutrients, including anti-oxidants. Anything purple or blue is pretty much good news, nutritionally.

We spent quite a bit on the greens. The curly kale is $2.50 per "bunch." We got three bunches, so that was $7.50. The maroon carrots were kind of pricey too, I think they weighed in around $9, but we got a ton of them. Because of our lack of resolve regarding juicing lately, I had reservations about getting so much kale.

I'm doubting. You can see the doubt there, can't you? But that's a lot of protein, calcium, and iron on that tray, so I'm just going to calm down. Those are onions on top, there. There's also a tiny head of cabbage, for the stew, underneath. Everything else on the tray is kale.

We spent $9.25 at the Slow Rise Bakery table, for a loaf of sourdough, a loaf of multi-grain, and two brownies.

$6.59 at another table for the white potatoes, apples, and broccoli. Two bunches of leeks and a quart and a half of okra added up to $8. We were psyched to find okra, which has been scarce this summer. Okra is a staple for me.

$3.50 for tomatoes. $1 for two ears of corn (we still have two more in the fridge). $3 for a quart of green beans.

Now, here's the scary part. I still don't know how much those maroon carrots were per pound but with the carrots, all that kale, three yellow onions, and the head of cabbage, we spent $22.10 at that one table. Worth it if we juice. Wouldn't be worth it if we don't end up juicing. Therefore, yes, we must juice. But that means I'll have pictures and perhaps even video of juicing, and we're talking about maroon carrots here, remember, so it's going to be quite pretty. (At least until we mix in the green.)

Milling about in the rain, with lots of people and tents and mud, with expensive equipment on me (camera, in this case), and a pen and soggy folded-up paper in my hand as I shift things around trying not to drop anything as I record information and capture images... reminds me of being at the radio station, going out on a Saturday to cover stories, festivals, parades, talking with local vendors.

I wish I could get some of the carrots from my parents' garden. Their garden is far away in West Virginia, where they are, but my mom sent pictures of the latest haul of carrots. Oh my god. Biggest carrots I have ever seen. I mean, these are fat carrots. So much goodness in there for juicing. So many sweet carrot bites for stew.

I regret that I wasn't vegan when I lived in the country. It's great that the farmers' market is a few blocks from my apartment and that all these farmers bring their good food to the city for me to buy. All those PSA's I did promoting various farmers' markets in Pocahontas County, WV, and Highland and Bath Counties, VA, for the radio stations, and I never took full advantage of what was available. Better late than never, but don't repeat my mistake: Over on the right side of your screen, there's a link where you can go and look up local farmers' markets in your area.

I'm going to go put some things away and cook something. I don't know what I'll cook yet. I like to get out a plate and a knife, heat some oil on the stove and start cutting things up, whatever looks good. I'll start with blue potatoes and we'll go from there.