Farmer's Market

On Sunday, my Grandma Biggs and I made a trip to the Milwuakie Farmer's Market. I love supporting local farms, and buying our produce from their stands. 
The first stop we made in Milwuakie was to this little antique shop called The Dusty Tiger. My grandparents have a booth in there and we wanted to look around a bit. I love antique browsing. Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong decade because I love vintage things. At The Dusty Tiger, I saw a lot of glass wares and kitschy things, lots of tea cups and doll furniture. It was a cute, little antique shop. Very enjoyable. 

Just a few feet over and a jaunt over the parking lot was the farmer's market! The night before, I had put together a list of the fruits and veggies and I wanted to purchase at the farmer's market. Among that list was a lot of purple things... purple carrots, purple broccoli, purple peppers. The first stand we saw had bushels of purple carrots for three dollars. It was a little more than I wanted to pay for a bushel of carrots, but my grandma said that she would go in on it with me and we would split up the bunch. I liked that idea. So we walked around, and sampled some fruits, sampled some teas, coffees, sausages. We stopped at fruit and vegetable stands, we admired the flowers and succulents at the flower stands, we made some purchases. 

I would look through the fruit and vegetable stands and I would make a mental list of what I would buy the second loop through. I wanted to see if the other stands we passed through would have better deals, and sure enough they did. We passed by the purple carrots again and there was one last bushel, so we grabbed it up! We went to another fruit and vegetable stand, where I was purchasing egg plants, and a man behind me asked where I had purchased the purple carrots, I told him at a vegetable stand near the market entrance and that I had purchased the last bushel. He seemed disappointed... 

 As we were walking down one of the "aisles", I spotted a beautiful pin that this woman was wearing. It was pinned to a sunny yellow apron, and she seemed so lively and happy. Her banner also said "cheesecake", so we couldn't help but stop and sample. Zoe Ann is her name, and she makes some wonderful cheesecakes! 

She asked if we would like to sample some cheesecakes and of course we said yes! So we sampled a berry cheesecake and a key lime cheesecake. She plopped a white, paper bag in front of us, and it was labeled the "happy garbage". I loved that! It is so creative to make the garbage a positive thing, something to liven up a drab, ugly thing such as garbage, and make it a cute thing: "The Happy Garbage". 

We ended up purchasing a peanut butter cheesecake. We had her hold it for us while we shopped around some more, and when we came back to pick it up, she remembered us and my grandma's name, my grandma's name is Ann, and so they talked about how that was the correct spelling of "Ann". Oh my goodness! Her cheesecakes are amazing! I told her I would mention her on my blog, and her cheesecakes deserve 5 stars. They are delicious and rich. 

My grandma and I ate our cheesecake while we were canning our pickles. Oh my. Zoe Ann does a wonderful job on making those cheesecakes. I will definitely be purchasing her cheesecakes in the future. Those little cheesecakes are just perfect for two people, or for one person, eat half and save the rest for later. Like I said, they are rich and delicious! 

Visit her website here.

Toward the end of our farmer's market escapade, we started to get a little hungry. We had seen many food stands, and then we saw a pad Thai stand. It was big enough to share, so we got the pad Thai noodles with a spring roll and a big piece of chicken on a skewer. It was perfect. They gave us a big portion, so it makes sense to share. I didn't even finish my half, it was so much! 

After we ate, we made a last loop around the farmer's market, and we bought the last items that we wanted or had to have. We picked up our cheesecake, and said our goodbyes to Zoe Ann, and we packed up, and went back home. I was proud of the purchases! I bought some new veggies, and veggies and fruits that I well acquainted with. I love variety. I bought a pint of raspberries, a pint of blueberries, purple carrots, red plums, "fairy tale" egg plants, a "striped" egg plant, and  a regular egg plant, four lemon cucumbers, and my grandma bought some orange beets. 

These are the adorable "fairy tale" egg plants.

"Striped" egg plant and the lemon cucumbers.

 The Instagram pictures of the Farmers Market

So yesterday, I tasted the veggies and fruits with my little cousin, Isabelle. I thought it would be a fun thing for us. It was kind of fun, seeing her reaction to the new fruits and veggies, and of course seeing her gobble up the berries she is familiar with. 

Fruit and Veggie tasting was very fun with Isabelle. She sort of liked the lemon cucumber, loved the blueberries and raspberries (she is familiar with those), she wasn't sure about the purple carrots (they taste the same as orange carrots), and then she really liked the purple carrots, she loved the red plums, and didn't really care for the fairy tale egg plant. I am sure if I roasted the egg plant in olive oil, garlic, and some Parmesan cheese, she would like it. The fairy tale egg plant was a little bland for me too, but same, if I fancy up the egg plant, I am sure it will taste lovely. 

We usually have store bought berries and fruits in the house, but now the local farms are providing breakfast. This morning, I had a lovely berry-ful breakfast. I mixed together some raspberries and blueberries and that was my breakfast with my mason jar of iced coffee. It was a wonderful, healthy breakfast. 

(From my Instagram photos)

Before I go back to school, my grandma and I are going to the big farmers market in Vancouver, WA. 

Really excited about that. 

This reminds me, fruit and Washington... I was watching Fraiser the other day, (actually, I watch it everyday) and Niles Crane was talking about he drove for miles and miles and didn't stop, his brother Fraiser asked where he ended up and he said the Oregon border, but he had to turn back because he had fruit in the car and couldn't go through the fruit check. The Oregon border coming in from Washington does not have a fruit check. It is just a bridge going across the Columbia river and you just keep driving. The only difference between Oregon and Washington is that there is sales tax in Washington. There is no fruit check. It made me laugh. For a Portlander who frequents Washington, it made me laugh because there is no fruit check, you don't even have to stop. You really shouldn't stop on the bridge... unless you have a flat tire or are being pulled over by the police. It was a funny observation. 

"Tossed salad and scrambled eggs....quite stylish."

Seemed appropriate for the farmer's market post because you buy veggies at a farmers market, and you can buy fresh eggs at the farmer's market.