Hello friends, and Happy Wednesday! Vacations are wonderful but it’s great to get back into a routine again. I feel so out of touch having been gone so long but I’m sure there will be great lunches – crispy egg rolls, lovely raw salads and wraps, spicy Tandoori (with a little chicken curry for home), smoked chicken salad and a little pulled pork for Thursday’s lunch, a few Honduran tamales and maybe a serving or two of boiled peanuts. Good! That should last until Saturday.
Saturday, lovely Saturday, will be another great market day with Lola Deux in the cooking tent (or rather on the street since the food truck would not fit in that location). I know you’re all a flutter waiting for those wonderful Parmesan fries but you’ll also have the splendiferous (fortunately, a 2 week vacation hasn’t changed me in the least) tones of David and Mary Spicuzza in the gazebo. So grab your coffee, put your dancin’ shoes on and have a great time with us.
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I had hoped the Farmers’ Market (and I use the term loosely) in Kansas had grown since last year. Everywhere you drive you can see acres of corn growing along with gorgeous fields of amber grain but I really didn’t see a home garden anywhere. The selection of veggies at their market included beets, onions, and green beans – that’s it! I am soooo thankful to be back in the land of really fresh vegetables…plump stuffed artichokes…sweet juicy blueberries…grass finished beef & pork…luscious peaches and plums (Elizabeth, please tell me you still have plums)…creamy fresh-milk cheeses…spicy salsas…free range chicken…spinach artichoke dip!…it is good to be home!
I’m looking forward to seeing if there are any new veggies to be had. Regardless, I will drown in the ripe red tomatoes (and even the yellow and orange ones), bake up a casserole of eggplant, stir fry fresh green beans, make some squash “chips”, and definitely pick up some eggs.
I can’t wait to get back to the Market to the wonderful aroma of fresh coffee, brightly colored flowers and green plants, cool summer soups, freshly baked breads, a cookie selection to dream about, sweet honey, jars of sweet jams and fermented veggies, the friendly faces, the laughing children, the scent of herbal soap wafting on the breeze along with Tabasco’s endearing cock-a-doodle-doo. Kansas is a nice place to visit, Dorothy, but there really is no place like home!
Lots of love
Charlene LeJeune
Abundant Life Kitchen
Market Hours: Wednesday, Covington Trailhead, 10am – 2pm; Saturday, Columbia St (by Justice Center) 8am to Noon. Visit us at www.covingtonfarmersmarket.org
