More About the New Farmer's Market

I mentioned before that a new Farmer's Market had just opened on Wed's morning in Fair Lakes. When I walked over this past Weds, there were significantly fewer vendors than the previous week. For example, there was only one vegetable seller down from four the previous week. There were no plant vendors, where there had been two the previous week.

I am worried that the vendors at the market hadn't been seeing enough business and were discouraged. This is a very bad sign, since if the vendors pull out, there is no way the market can succeed. I am a strong proponent of local farmer's markets, and feel they are the best way that consumers can keep their shopping dollars away from giant agribusinesses. Most chain grocery stores go with the cheapest option; not the healthiest option or the option with the lowest carbon footprint. Late last summer, at the height of tomato season, I saw a basket of heirloom tomatoes for sale at my local Safeway that were imported from Canada. I was able to get fresher, tastier heirloom tomatoes at my local farmer's market for less money than the grocery store was charging.

The Fair Lakes farmer's market is open every Weds. from 8am-1pm in the parking lot of the Whole Foods and is managed by Smart Markets, Inc; a new non-profit dedicated to providing direct producer-sales in the Northern Virginia area. I want to strongly encourage everyone to visit either this market or one of the other Smart Markets over the next couple weeks to show support for our local producers. You might even be lucky enough to meet Emeril!

Cube Etiquette

The guy in the cube next to me is listening to sermons. Church sermons. Without headphones.

He's a super-nice guy and works ridiculously long hours, so I don't want to tell him to stop. Maybe they help him stay relaxed and focused on what he's doing. But, just. GAAAH.

Pasta Fanatics

Our house has definitely been bitten by the pasta bug. The homemade pasta bug. Tom made pasta from scratch early last week when he got home from work earlier than expected. What a fabulous surprise! It was delicate, flavorful, and the texture was to die for. I topped it with just a bit of butter and olive oil and a handful of fresh oregano from the garlic. SO. GOOD. The were leftovers, so we were able to enjoy them for a couple of days (well, I was able to enjoy them - I stole the tupperware of leftovers and brought it to
work).

So Weds. night we decided we wanted to eat a light dinner since we'd both had late lunches. I'd suggested pasta with the fresh sugar snap peas and young onions I'd picked up at the farmer's market that morning (there is a new farmer's market on weds. morning in the parking lot near my office - this is a deadly combination as I am a total fm addict and will easily spend a paycheck on fresh produce, but I digress). I'd had in mine something from a box since it's quick and easy, but Tom wanted to make pasta again with the whole family helping. After sampling the results, I'll never question is pasta choices again.

The two times we've made pasta, we've used a recipe from Jamie Oliver's show "Jamie At Home" that airs on Food Networwk. He calls for 100 grams of flour and one egg per person. We've found that a bit more egg is necessary, and generally do 400 grams of flour to 5 eggs and 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix it all up in the food processor until all the flour is incorporated (adding a bit more flour if it's too sticky), then knead on a floured surface a few times until you have a nice, dry mass. Proceed to roll through your pasta roller as directed. Our machine has settings to cut the pasta into linguine or spaghetti, but we prefer to hand-cut it into shorter, wide noodles since they're easier to eat with a fork.

It's been taking us about 45mins to prepare a batch. A little time consuming, but not out of the question for a weeknight if there's some spare time.

Before adding the pasta to the salted boiling water, I sautéed sliced, young red onions and garlic in some butter and olive oil until they just started to brown, then added fresh herbs from my garden. After these cooked through and flavored the fats, I added a couple cups of spinach from my garden and cooked it down. I adjusted the seasoning (ie, added salt, pepper, and about a tsp of sugar), and tossed in 2 pints of blanched sugar snap peas. I cooked these briefly, then added a couple tablespoons of white wine and a squirt of lemon juice to the sauce. Once the pasta cooked, I added a couple spoonfuls of the pasta water to loosen the sauce, then tossed everything together. It was an unbelievable party in my mouth.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the finished product - it all went into mah belly before I even thought of the camera. I guess that just means I'll need to make it again, huh?

Cake

The downside of being the cook/baker on your team at work is that you have to bake your own birthday cake.

The upside of this, however, is that you get to choose the flavor.

Mmmm... Coconut and Pecan

Make New Friends...

I've been meaning to blog about my garden for a few weeks now, but I've been so busy that I just haven't managed to do so. I also want to take some pictures of the tomato trellis system I devised a few years back, but again, that time issue...

I had a late dinner and chat session with some lovely women from my dance studio this evening after class. The entire experience got me to stop and think about why I have such a hard time making new friends. I meet wonderful people all the time, but for some reason, those connections never seem to last. Even people I associate with frequently for several months at a time; eventually those relationships just seem to dissolve. My current group of friends I have known either since high school or my first year of college. Is it really so hard to forge lasting friendships in this area? Is it the fact that I am a young mother (or just a mother at all)? I feel like the whole DC-area population is superficially nice, but has problems opening up beyond casual conversation. I'm sure I come across the same way, but I don't know if I'm taking cues from other people, or if we have all just erected personal boundary walls that keep us from taking that next step.

Over dinner, we were talking about food (really, when don't I talk about food), and everyone seemed really interested in planning an evening of cooking and eating good food together. This is something I would love to do, but I know these women only from dance class, so I don't know if I should take the leap and invite everyone to my house. It almost seems too good to be true - a chance to step beyond that fence and truly get to know someone. I just don't want to get my hopes up on something that turns out to be general politeness.

So what's a shy (and socially awkward) mom to do?