The weekend weather in Minnesota turned stellar yesterday, the epitomy of Indian summer. Warm sun, a fresh breeze and a morning spent with new friends and a visit to the Farmers Market.
I met Alanna from A Veggie Venture, and Laura from My Sisters Kitchen at the St. Paul Farmers Market. Alanna hails from Missouri but is an old Minnesota native in town for a reunion. We took advantage of the lovely weather to meet at the market, then enjoyed coffee and some wonderful conversation before heading into the stalls to foray for the harvest. We walked, ooooh and ahhhed and chatted about all kinds of vegetable ideas- as you may guess, Alanna is FULL of them! When I expressed a slight disinterest in beets, Alanna encouraged me to try some and gave me a plan for cooking them. I agreed, so watch for an upcoming post as I stretch out the walls of my eating here. Laura tried parsnips after we urged her on to them; her site has all the scoop on that outcome already. She works fast!
Here is my haul.
We each decided to try an heirloom potato, and my choice was a Rose Finn fingerling which went into some soup last night and tasted wonderful. I plan to roast the rest of them, those are the little beauties spilling out of the bag on the left. I also got some beets, a head of gorgeous broccoli, some sharp aged cheddar, a loaf of herb focaccia and three kinds of winter squash- carnival (the round colorful one), delicata (looks like a yellow cucumber) and acorn. Alanna gave us each a bottle of wine from a Missouri vineyard, and mine was surprisingly good, a Golden Rhine which mimics the great German Auslese wines, semi sweet with tons of fruit aromas and flavors. Laura presented each of us with ajar of homemade blueberry syrup that looks really yummy. My total expenditure was $20.
It was a great day, overall and I was somewhat sad to see it end as I was enjoying it so much. Bags of fresh veggies gets me really excited too, I turned the acorn squash into chicken and squash soup last night, with some of the potatoes added for good measure. Although I am hesitant about the beets but vowed to try them, and even plan to cook the greens so we’ll see what happens!
How nice it sounds! I’m a bit envious that you have met Alanna with whom I only have exchanged e-mails but maybe one day I will be able to join one of your market meetings! Good luck with the beets!
Beautiful kitchen…I wish we had room for an island
Hi Kate ~ What a lovely morning, indeed! I’ve yet to even unpack let alone start cooking with my own haul but the Minnesota apples were a HUGE hit at the family reunion. I really loved the, hmm, the one, what it, Hasselman? Clearly I was too excited and too chatty to remember much: do you happen to remember those little ovals of sweet peppers I got, what they were called? Glad the wine worked out okay, we opened the cherry (VERY SWEET) from St James Winery but the Hermanhoff “white table wine” was good enough that I picked up another couple of bottles on the way home. It was so nice to meet you and Laura! “Food bloggers are just nice.” ; – )
Haralson apples……quintessential orchard eating, how did you find the Honeycrisp??
the peppers, I am not remembering….we saw so many.
Honestly, I have never had beets. I fear them for some irrational reason.