Stop the presses. It's 8:30pm on a Saturday and I am sitting on my sofa, in my pajamas. I have already eaten dinner (Pita Pit, YUM - schwarma and falafel), have already had a Hitachino (Japanese beer) at Bob's Bar, I've driven to Plain City, visited my Grandma, gone to the Clintonville Farmer's Market and Weiland's to buy brisket (an uncharacteristically meat-filled day, but really, who can resist the brisket at Weiland's on a Saturday morning?). I should take more Saturdays off. Usually, the joy of visiting the farmer's markets on Saturday mornings is completely overshadowed by having to work on Saturdays. Ask any waitress, and she will tell you. The only thing worse than waiting tables on a Saturday night is doing it on a Sunday morning (listen up, folks, if you are out to eat on a Sunday, tip 40%; it really is the worst day to work).
At any rate, for those of you who aren't in Columbus, you might be wondering why am I at home on a Saturday? Did I get fired? Make so much money be paid off by restaurants to give them good burger reviews? Ill? No, no, don't worry, you will find me at work for the vast foreseeable future. There is an Ohio State game tonight. 8pm games render the city completely vacant, except for sports bars. Numerous restaurants are actually closed tonight. And so Husband and I find ourselves with an entire Saturday evening to ourselves!
Where am I? Oh! Market report! So, a little history - my family has pretty much the definitive Amish apple butter recipe. You can find it here and there, but always at the Shekinah Festival, in Plain City Ohio. My dad is something of an apple butter fiend. So I agreed to brave the wilds of the country to buy Dad's yearly stash of apple butter - 24 pints. This is how nice people in the country are - a man in a piece of farm equipment (a Gator, which is kind of like a tough golf cart) drove me and m y 24 pints of apple butter through the mud, to my car, and wouldn't accept a tip. It's a strange place, the country.
At any rate, visiting Plain City and then my frail little 90 year grandmother (who nonetheless asked me what did I plan to buy at the Farmer's Markets this morning), I was a little late to the markets (too late for doughnuts! sorry babe!) This was fine because I am gearing up for next week's RW Sunday Supper, so I knew it would be a light cooking week.
I really only made it to the Clintonville market today. I bought some various apples for my friend Kelly, who is making an apple pie for our friend, former RW Supper Chef, and future Bocuse d'Or USA comis Seth, whose birthday is Monday. I bought some nectarines, and I bought a ton (okay, 25 pounds) of tomatoes for my next supper. Tomorrow I plan to make some tomato soup.
My Wayward Seed CSA this week included: sweet corn, red cabbage, tomatoes, small fat little eggplants, peppers, and potatoes. The fruit CSA included nectarines, pears - last week's pears were so amazing. I managed to completely accidentally take them to work on their perfect day (are you aware that pears really only have one perfect day?). Coworkers were as delighted as I was. They were great. Also included were some Honeycrisp apples!!!! As you may or may not know, Honeycrisp are my favorite of all the apples.
So. That was about all for my day at the market. Brief and easy. And then it started to get hot, and I was powerless. I had to go home and take a nap. It's like my dream day.
So, kitties! What did you get today?
