Mad Dash Through the Market

We had to head to Cottage Grove at 9:45 am yesterday for a baseball double-header with my son, so I made a whirlwind trip through the farmers market as soon as it opened at 9:00.  First stop, The Baklava Lady for five spanakopita to go with my lunch at the ballfield, then off to buy some of the first snap peas of the season and a bunch of scallions from Jim and Joni.  I picked out a gorgeous bouquet of lilacs, irises, lilies, and azalea blossoms at Dang's stall and then bought a bunch of radishes, a bag of mixed lettuces, and a bag of spinach from John Riggs.  I kept searching for my regular egg lady, but she was nowhere to be found, so I ended up back at Jim and Joni's and I was able to buy two dozen ultra-fresh eggs from them.

Now I had the challenge of keeping all of this fresh while it sat in a car the entire day.  No time to go home and put it in the frig.  I had brought a large metal flower bucket half-full of water (with rocks in the bottom for stability while I was driving) for my bouquet.  The eggs went into an insulated bag with ice pack.  I stashed the veggies in a cooler with more ice packs.  I met up with my husband and son at 9:30 at the team meeting spot and transferred it all to the shady side of his car.  When we returned at 7:15 pm everything was still cool and fresh.

After dropping Kevin off at home and quickly cleaning up, we drove to Glide for a delightful dinner with dear friends--Boursin Lasagne, homemade bread, roasted asparagus, a simple salad (my contribution) and organic strawberries for dessert with or without homemade angel food cake and maple-syrup sweetened rhubarb sauce.  What a treat after such a long day!  We took time out to look at the "super moon" and were able to get a clear view of Saturn, Mars, and Venus through the telescope, too.  It was a lovely evening.

Baseball is in full swing now, with games or practice almost every night of the week.  I'm going to have to come up with something more exciting than the turkey sandwiches, chips and fruit we been eating for our ballpark suppers.  There is no way I am resorting to hotdogs and pretzels with "cheese" sauce from the concession stand!