Market Day

Two big market runs today: the Ithaca Farmer's Market and Greenstar. I have to be careful this time of year; it's hard not to overbuy. I still have half a head of lettuce and a bunch of baby bok choy left over from last week, plus vast quantities of tomatoes and peppers and celery and rainbow chard and a backlog of summer squash from the garden.

Today's Farmer's Market purchases:

sweet corn (Sabol's Farm)

3 kinds of plums (Sabol's Farm, Black Diamond)

peaches (ahh! and I thought we were done for the season) (Black Diamond)

spinach (Blue Heron)

carrots (Early Morning)

broccoli (West Haven)

black trumpets (yum!) (Kingbird)

I like to shop around at the market, and get a little bit here & a little bit there. Though I do have specific foods that I consistently buy at the same place. I had intended to pick up something meaty as well, but we were in a hurry.

Today's Greenstar purchases:

live oats, barley, rye flour, corn flour, grits (Cayuga Pure)

salt, flax seed, mustard (seasonings - exception)

a sampling of local table grapes (Reliance and Einset varieties) (I forgot to look at the farm name)

local organic apples to snack on (ditto)

I ran out of almost all my alternative grains over the past couple days, so it was definitely Time.

9/9 Menu:

breakfast: grits (Cayuga Pure) with raspberries (garden), almond milk (exception), and honey (Greenstar bulk local); bacon (Kingbird)

school lunch: tomato soup (leftover), biscuit bombs (leftover) with honey (GS bulk), peach (farm stand) and raspberries (garden), buffalo snack sticks (Glenwood Farms)

my lunch: same, only w/o the buffalo sticks

snack: watermelon (garden)

dinner: lamb (Northlands) and potato (garden) stew; amaranth (garden) with bacon (Kingbird) cider (Littletree) and vinegar (homemade)

dessert: raspberry sorbet (Purity)

9/10 Menu (so far):

breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal (from Cayuga Pure oats) with melons (garden + Daring Drake) and honey (GS bulk local), eggs (Sabol's Farm)

snack: apples (GS local) and a sampling of plums (Sabol's Farm, Black Diamond)

lunch:

Japanese Steak House Style bok choy (Sacred Seed) and summer squash (garden), seasoned with salt, cooking wine (homemade), cider vinegar (Littletree - first sampling of the new batch!), and sesame seeds

green salad -- lettuce (Blue Heron), cucumber (George), red pepper and scallion (garden), purslane pickles (garden weed + cider vinegar & spices), and local salad dressing (homemade)

flapjacks (Birkett Mills buckwheat) with red currant/maple syrup (Kestrel Perch/Schoolyard Sugarbush)

I figured out what happened to my eternal excess of cider vinegar. Purslane pickles. Duh. I made a quart and a half of them a couple months ago after weeding my sweet potato patch. No wonder I ran out!

Local Salad Dressing (Vinaigrette)

butternut squash seed oil (Stony Brook)

apple cider (Littletree)

cider vinegar (homemade)

cooking wine (homemade)

salt & pepper

herbs & spices (to taste)

The flavor of the squash seed oil was quite distinctive. It reminded me of black sesame seeds.