Saturday Market in cell phone pictures

Saturday Shopping List

1 lb chickpeas (dried)
2 quarts green peas (fresh)
4 summer squash
2 green zucchini
1 golden zucchini
5 tomatoes
6 sweet onions
2 fat carrots
1 bunch broccoli
1 huge bunch kale (green/purple leaf)
2 heads buttercrunch (green) lettuce
5 stalks rhubarb
4 sweet potatoes
5 white potatoes
1 pint shitaake mushrooms
1 quart strawberries
1 quart cherries
and a 16 oz cup of iced coffee

Total: about $47

The coffee shop across the street set up a stand selling iced coffee. Smart them.

Still no sweet corn, and asparagus appears to be finished. Plenty of berries out now.

I saw a three-year-old girl eat her first blueberry. Her mother was looking for fruit for her, asked if she could try a blueberry because she had never had one. The baby ate the blueberry, paused for a moment, grinned and reached up to the table for another blueberry. "We have a winner," her mom said, and bought a quart.

Last week, the fridge was on the fritz and a bunch of our food wilted. :( That happened shortly after last week's market. I've eaten way too much noodle soup this week.

I'm looking forward to roasting shitaake mushrooms with sweet potatoes, squash and fennel seeds. And juicing some of this kale with those giant orange carrots. Got a loaf of bread last night, so mushroom/vinegar, tomato, onion, lettuce sandwiches are on the menu. The chickpeas might get roasted. The green peas will no doubt be eaten raw, along with cherries and strawberries. And strawberries will be dropped on top of oat bran.

Saturday Market & North Port Fishington Cookie Factory

There are 30 vegan cookies in my kitchen, and I can't eat them until Monday.

We'll come back to that. It's a cold, sunny day at Clark Park, maple-syrup weather, and chilly yellow daffodils are in bloom. White sunshine glances off the mud or is absorbed by bare branches. Food is plentiful, sweet and variable. Even the bean-and-spice lady is here, and I think she may be back for the season. She has chickpeas today.

Saturday Shopping List

1 lb of chickpeas
1 bunch of kale
baby spinach
2 heads of green leaf lettuce
a carton of micro-greens
a paper bag of small white potatoes
2 parsnips
1 quart of white mushrooms
1 portobello cap
a 23-oz jar of homemade apple sauce
1 oz. of "chicken seasoning"
a really big butternut squash
a loaf of multi-grain bread

total: about $35


Hadn't gotten a butternut squash in a long time. I'm going to bake it, of course. Going to try to make hummus - that's what the chickpeas are for. I also have a recipe for falafel I want to try. Still did not use the leek from last week, so I think I'll start off the week with a potato-leek soup for lunch.

I also purchased today 30 vegan cookies from a local bakery for my students. Milk & Honey Market special-ordered them for me and they came in today. I would tell you the name of the bakery but I'm afraid to open and look at the cookies. I have to keep them until Monday. Since two days were lopped off of spring break due to snow days, I wanted to bring my kids something for having to come to school those days. And I want my kids to know I like them, and what better way to show someone you like them than by giving them cookies. And I wanted cookies.

UPDATE: I braved a look at the cookies. They look so good! There are ten chocolate chip, ten snickerdoodle, and ten oatmeal-cranberry. They were baked at Philly Kitchen Share on South Street by North Port Fishington Cookie Factory (the name is an amalgam of several northeast philly neighborhoods: Northern Liberties, Port Richmond, Fishtown and Kensington). The baker apparently also makes donuts! And the donuts look good!