After finishing work at 4, I got The Oyster in the car and rushed to Lexington in time for the Lexington Farmers Market, which runs from 2 till 6. I was very keen to get my mitts on some goat cheese, which tends to sell out early.
We were wandering around the market by 4:45 and lucky for me, Crystal Brook Farm hadn’t sold out of their chevre rolled in cracked black pepper. It’s heavenly (I’m eating it right now with hazelnut crackers) — lots of pepper, and you can practicaly taste the sweet grass the goats nibbled on. Double lucky for me: no one else in this household likes goat cheese, so it’s mine. Mine, all mine.
The other stuff in the photo: I picked up the red tomatoes and blueberries from the Charlton Orchards Farm table, and the honey is from Niemi’s Apiary in Athol, MA. As much as I wanted it, the fresh mozzarella I had to pass on — my cheese drawer is overflowing. I also wanted to get some grass-fed aged beef from River Rock Farm, but by then I was running out of both cash and checks, so we passed by. Instead I used my last $2 to buy The Oyster a fat brownie from the Hi-Rise Bakery table. (Oy, the prices they charge for breads I make for many dollars less! But they do have very good bread.)
On the way back home, we stopped at Verrill Farm in Concord. The Oyster was quite happy to head to Verrill’s because they have a pretend tractor he likes to drive. This is where I got the yellow tomatoes, the quart of red potatoes plus the lone spud, the corn (we shucked it ourselves at the stand), and the bag of baby spinach. Then it was a quick stop at my favorite Indian market, Kolava Market in Westford, for the chick pea puffs and homemade yogurt. These two ingredients I needed for a raita my friend Sonika served for lunch a few weeks back. It was very yummy!
So, how will I use these ingredients? The corn we ate for dinner tonight, and I used a yellow and a red tomato for a salad caprese. I’ll have the remaining two tomatoes for lunch tomorrow, the blueberries for breakfast, and roast the red potatoes for dinner. The baby spinach and lone spud are for my Babe challenge, which I hope to complete tomorrow. And the honey is for our stash.
Hope this isn’t boring y’all. I just post this stuff because I’m nosy and curious why people buy what they do and how they plan to use their ingredients.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Not boring at all! I love to see what other people buy and wonder about how they plan to use it. So I enjoyed the descriptions.
Man, those blueberries in particular look so good. Berries are horribly expensive here even in season.
I also LOVE a good fresh goat’s cheese. I am addicted to two kinds made by this one small dairy that sells their products at our local farmer’s market. Their black olive and sun-dried tomato goat’s cheeses are both to die for but the latter is my favourite. It is dangerously good and doesn’t last long in my fridge.
YUM! Everything looks so good. I’ve only gotten to one farmers’ market this summer and it was ridiculously hoity-toity and expensive. I fear that markets are going the way of WalMart around here…too commercial, too “big.” But I’m glad to hear you like goat cheese. It makes an appearance in my spinach challenge recipe!
Mmmm, looks so good! Just curious– about how much did that lovely spread cost you? Last week I took $20 to our local farmer’s market and was just curious to see how much I could get. We’re in Oregon, so I got 2 pints of organic blueberries, an overflowing pint of Rainier Cherries (they’re yellowish red, with yellow flesh–yummy!), 2 leeks, some basil and I think my husband bought one other veggie of some kind.
Next year, we’re excited to do the CSA subscription. We have a farm that drops off at our church every week. It averages about $24 a week and offered more, I think, than what I could buy at the farmer’s market for the same price. Though less fruit.
Teri, this particular market day occurred 2 years ago, so I’m not sure how much it cost — I’m guessing around $25? I’ll do another one this year to see.
Our CSA runs about 15 weeks. At $540, that makes it $36 a week, definitely more than I’d spend at our local supermarket, but I still feel it’s a deal: everything’s organic, I buy less meat over the summer (a HUGE savings!), and eat healthier, which I hope means fewer medical bills/health problems down the road.