Little Green Riding Hood

I don't know people....... call me crazy, but I think there was something a little special about my market excursion today.

Could it possibly have been the little green riding hood basket.........a.k.a.  my very own monogrammed market tote?   

 Not sure but.....

I found some of the most beautiful things at the Market today...................just look!!  Are these things not amazingly incredible or what!!

The lettuce on the left of the picture is called Oak Leaf and it is so tender and really looks just like oak leaves. They say it's a Southern lettuce. 

(THEY?? say..............who are THEY anyway?) 

The blackberries have been available for about 2 months now and although THEY claim not, I believe they must be grown under Duke Energy power lines because not a one of them is less than the size of a grape tomato............

Hey, that reminds me of all the strawberry picking my family has done in Baldwinsville all these years.............the girls and I used to get shocks off them from time to time if it was damp out!!!

          

Well, my fresh market basket was much more full than I've shown you but now I've got to DO

something with my great buys.........oh and that would be OTHER than sharpening my brain with Market Match today!

........tune in Monday..........I'll keep you posted on what I come up with for the

Bistro at Hastings Farm 

To Market To Market...to buy......

I LOVE THE MARKET!!

especially with my 

new favorite thing...

a personalized market tote...........how cool is that!

There is just something amazing about the market.  No, not just the regular grocery store kind of market but THE market...........the farmers' market which is generally referred to in most places as the regional farmers market.

Almost without exception, I would go every week to the Syracuse market and be awed by the wonderful array of fruits and veggies and plants.  I would get so excited about being able to buy a plant for $2 that before I knew it, I had a whole garden with a total 90' of perennial plantings.

I really do think that frequenting that type of shopping keeps your mind sharp. Remember the childrens' card game called Old Maid?  Well, it's kind of on that idea.

So the first rule for your shopping adventure is to peruse the isles or sheds to collect your information

You've GOT to remember who has what and for what price!

In most cases, you'll be finding things that "look the same but are different"............I LOVE it:):)

Undoubtedly, if you buy the first tomatoes that you think look terrific, you'll most certainly find that you'll travel to the next area and find that you spent WAYYYY more than you should have.  For instance, beautiful tomatoes were $3/lb. and then I saw them for $4/lb  only a few vendors up on my journey. 

 BUT!!  no sooner was I thinking of heading back to the $3/lb farmer and I found them (in abundance) for .79 cents/lb.

In case you forgot the card you didn't want to have in your hand while playing Old Maid........it was just THAT.........the one with the old maid on it  

The connect between that Old Maid card you've just drawn and mindless shopping at the market might just be the $4/lb tomato purchase if your brain isn't kicked in while on your farmer- fresh market trip. 

So, grab your Starbuck's tomorrow and head for a little mind sharpening excursion...........

Get smart!!  Go shopping!!

I'll show you what's in my basket and I'd love to hear about what you find amazing there!

What a Bunch of Fruits!!

Sounds kind of silly doesn't it.....but it actually is amazing to think of all the wonderful fruits that are available to us....then throw in a few nuts and a little something "cheesy" (like cottage or ricotta) and presto we have a fun-filled plate!!

Of course for those of you that don't even like fruit, it might be a stretch to think of but for most of us that salivate at simply the thought of a juicy strawberry or maybe a bite into a chilled piece of watermelon,  you get the idea.

They are different but they've all got great nutritional value and although some might be more eye appealing than another..............WHAT! you don't think the outside of a coconut is beautiful?

Each fruit in it's own way is wonderful inside.  It has an appeal all it's own and whether it's a little rough around the edges and prickly like a pear...........oh, and by the way, I wonder just how many people KNOW that in only 1 teaspoon of Prickly pear juice nectar there just happens to be enough vitamin C to give us 70% of our daily allowance?      AH HAH! I knew you didn't know that one!!

Of course there's the Ugli fruit to think about (ha ha get it, Ugli fruit) all rough and wrinkly but get beneath the skin of this cross-breed between a grapefruit and a tangerine, close your eyes and take a bite of Jamaica! 

Smooth as a baby's cheek is the luscious mango and then the all-too-bitey lemon...BUT...that lemon serves just the purpose to brighten a dish or a cool refreshing beverage now doesn't it?

It's kind of funny when you think about it............we're starting to form a little correlation here with our own family trees wouldn't you say?

Okay, maybe EVERYONE doesn't have the size family tree that I have but you've got to admit that when it comes right down to it.....................we're all just a bunch of fruits.........ha ha ha........that actually don't fall far from the tree!!

Amazing isn't it?

Maybe It's Just Me

I don't know.....maybe it's just me, but did you ever have one of those days where everything goofs up.  No, not the horrible "oh my goodness, just whisk me outta here Lord" day but the kind where you just think you've got it together only soon to realize you don't?  Well, that was me today.

Things like .........you go to pick up your new sunglasses with the Polarized lenses in them and you just KNOW these are gonna be the best thing since whipped cream on your favorite coffee beverage. 

Now that's pretty cool, cuz 10 yrs ago just the suggestion of whipped cream on coffee would have been totally unheard of. 

Oh people, the things you learn when your man is a "Barista"......

okay, on to my story.     So.......I put these oh so chic glasses on knowing that I'll be able to see anything in the sun......after all, I saw the hidden parrot on the display case that one can ONLY see with the polarized lenses.... this is truly amazing in itself!!!  BUT I can't see with them on!!   Everything I'm looking at is wavy.  What!  how can this be...I know the shape is a wrap but I'm seeing in "warp"    They're messed up all right but after a double and triple check of my prescription and the glasses and and hour and a half spent in the office,  I leave with the promise that they'll "call me" when they get them right.  Ok, no big deal, I've waited this long for them, what's another week.

 On to the next thing before I have to pick up Barista Man.

The post office Nazi( as I've fondly dubbed him) just does NOT operate on my "joy frequency" and I go to this little- known secret place inside of the Shell station often.  I try to make him smile by treating him nicely but to no avail as of this printing.  I leave somehow feeling that if only I was a job counselor, I'd advise him to be an actuary......."JUST the perfect job for you Mr. Post!

Pretty much everything else went that same way so when it was time to pick up my Boyfriend from his dream job,  I just parked the car and waited for him to walk out those doors with a drink in his hand .......for ME!  All the time dreaming of my first sip of  this long awaited treat of the day.....a  Half Caf, grande, non-fat, no foam, 180 degree Espresso Macchiato!!!

Oh yes people....... I know how to "call" the drinks now, lest you forget I am the Barista's woman!

My Macchiato has it's snug little cover on it but I think to myself..... if it smells this good,  I've just got to SEE this dreamy drink before I take a  sip. Oh that looks sooo good so I put the top back on before I close my eyes and take a dainty little swig.  What's that hot feeling on me?.... You guessed it......coffee down the front of my shirt and then on my skirt.    oh bummer!

We were going to make quick stop after work and instead the "neat one" also known as the man who didn't feel the need to see his drink,  brought me home to change my clothes  Don't bother with the garage door I say to him because he's going back to the store and I'll just sneak in the front door with the key and not make myself a sight to behold with half a drink down the front of me.

So I gather the mail, my purse the garage door opener, my keys and of course the remainder of that wonderful, I can't wait to drink this beverage and as I'm turning to unlock the front door, I see that smiling guy in our car waiting to make sure that I got in ok calling to me.......honey, why don't you go in the garage...... it's open!  

I look at him puzzled.  'Well, why is the garage door open?' I ask and with an even bigger smile as he drives away, he calls to me...........'because you're squeezing the garage door opener that you have in your hand and it's going up and down, again and again.'!

Oh yes, it is amazing!

It really is........amazing!

You know, it really is amazing!  Just look at these beautiful hydrangeas.....all alike and yet different  ...and from the same bush right out of my own front yard. They make me think of brothers and sisters. No, not bushy little heads but from the same family "tree".

It's funny how we, like the flowers, can be so alike and then some things are so different.  Take one of my wonderful sisters for instance.  We are only 10 and 1/2 months apart and lots of things are the same but we have one HUGE difference.

 She has a broken thermostat. Yes, you read that right, her temperature gauge is all out of whack!! 

She thinks that the perfect day is one that starts out at about 80 degrees and then reaches 98 by noon and of course the dew point needs to be in the low 70's range to complete the mix, oh, I mean soupy mess.  You can't go to a mall shopping with her because she's cold as soon as you go through the door and unless you have some clothes on that you can spare shedding to keep her warm, you have a reeeeeeally quick shopping expedition. 

 

Now here's where it gets interesting:

She just about had me convinced that I was crazy because she is always saying that EVEN my girls agree with her.  Now that's ludicrous because how could that "hot gene" skip over to MY kids?   Oh well, anyways, here's the deal.............

I've been watching my neighborhood for 3 full months now and NOBODY (and I'm not kidding about that) comes out of their homes except by vehicle to go to work very early in the morning.

SO........"curious minds want to know" and who better to ask then Larry!  Larry knows everything I figure seeing as he's the mailman.  I say Larry, how come I don't see anybody outside around here.  He screaches, "Maaaam, are ya crazy.........it "hurts" it's so hot out here during these months!!!"  He looked at me like I was dumber than a doorknob.  Well, guess what?

I closed that same door behind me and smiled as I leaned on it................breathing the nice cool air inside!

It really is amazing!