I went back to the Saint Paul farmer’s market for the first time in about 10 years. Not only did it change locations in downtown Saint Paul, but the selection went up and the prices went down. Megan and I shopped around for about an hour and were not disappointed with the finds. Now that I’m writing this I wish I would have kept better notes on what I actually bought (who from mostly). I do know that the availability of fresh produce is something that has caused me not to eat of lot of it before. Getting something in the store a couple weeks out of the ground just isn’t appealing to me. I have to concede that since there are some things that just don’t grow in Minnesota, I need to find places to get them the freshest and best quality that I can.
I picked up a basket of lettuce for $2.00. When I got home and unpacked it I couldn’t believe how much was there. After eating I truly appreciated the freshness and quantity that I received. Here’s a pic that contains the lettuce, in a bowl, on the table.
Not much of a pic, I know, but there were three kinds of lettuce in that bunch that I bought, and the mixture was awesome.
You probably already notice the bread sitting in the middle of the table. Gorgonzola and Onion loaf. Megan bought this. Absolutely fantastic. Not dry anywhere. I had purchased a tub of roasted pepper and feta hummus. I need to buy that again. I ate the remainder of the loaf tonight with the remainder of the hummus, the mixture was awesome.
What you don’t see in the pic are the radishes that I purchased as well. I had stopped eating radishes because the ones bought from a store were a crap-shoot if they were still tasty. I cut a few of these up and put it in my salad tonight and I was amazed at how much I really did enjoy them. Reminded me of being a kid again. Ooh… I just reminded myself that there are snap-peas in the fridge too. </random thought>
I admit, this time back was just the precursor to more visits there. If I start going on a regular basis (which I’m planning on), I’m thinking of creating a page on here that will review some of the producers with links or contact information. I just need to start collecting that information first.
–dez