Columbus Foodie

Man, was it cold when I woke up this morning. 39 to be exact. So cold that I actually could see my breath for the first time this season and so cold that I wore jeans and a heavy sweatshirt to the farmer’s markets today.

We got started fairly early, making a quick pitstop at Thurn’s first so I could get some ham and landjaeger. We went to the North Market first, and I was surprised that it was so crowded so early. Most of what is there now is winter squash, potatoes, and other fall/winter veggies, which is AOK with me because it means that I have a bit more time to use things now, rather than rushing to use produce within the first couple of days after I buy it.

One of the first things I bought was some butternut squash. I had a really lovely soup at the Refectory the other night that I’d love to duplicate here at home. I don’t have a pic of the butternut squash, but I do have a pic of a selection of some of the other winter squash at Wish Well Farms this morning – aren’t the colors lovely?

And that’s the one thing that struck me about everything I saw today. Everything in the fall has such an intense color to it. Not green, but shades that match the colors of the leaves as they change in October. Like these potatoes, which are an amazing shade of magenta.

I picked up a few other things at the North Market – some lettuce mix from Elizabeth Telling Farms, shiitake mushrooms from Toby Run (since he’ll be in Japan next week and not at market), and went inside and got some local goat cheese from Curds & Whey, my requisite cinnamon roll from Omega, and some cassoulet from NMPG.

Speaking of cassoulet and NMPG – sadly, I think I’m going to have to stop getting their hot foods. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE their food, but hate hate hate their inconsistency with pricing. The price changes week to week for the same stuff. For instance, 2 weeks ago my pint of cassoulet was $8, last week it was $6, and this week it was $11. I walked out today feeling decidely ripped off, especially since a good third of the container was a slice of bread. And this has been a reoccuring theme during the time I’ve bought stuff from them (I had the same problem with their pricing on scotch eggs a while back). Like I said, I’m not disparaging their food, but if you order from them, make sure they’re clear about how much it’s going to cost before you order it, rather than being unpleasantly surprised when they ring you up.

After the North Market, it was off to Clintonville where I thought I would be able to get eggs – but sadly, 2Silos wasn’t there today, even though I think this week was supposed to be an egg week. So instead, I picked up some short ribs on the cheap from Flying J, along with some potatoes from Arbor Hill Organics, and signed up for the list for winter delivery from OMC Farms. And I actually saw some artichokes at market for the first time ever.

So it was a quick in and out at Clintonville, and I convinced my husband to head over to Worthington because I still hadn’t found the yukon gold potatoes I had been looking for.

Worthington’s market was so pretty today. So colorful, absolutely amazing. They had a craft sale going on, too – which I skipped out on, much to my husband’s relief, I’m sure. One of the vendors had this really beautiful arrangement of winter squash, if I had been smart, I would have picked it up for a centerpiece.

Crum’s had some really lovely fall strawberries, so I picked up a quart to use to top Belgian waffles tomorrow morning. I also got some potatoes, some parsley, and some really pretty carrots, along with a bunch of other things.

And you know since they pretty much bleed Buckeye red in these parts, someone couldn’t resist decorating pumpkins for game day today.

Made a couple more stops (Whole Foods for some Pecorino Grand Cru cheese, along with some tiny lady apples that I’m going to be making into miniature caramel apples for a birthday party tomorrow), and then back home again, where I’m nice and cozy and warm.

Anyone here planning on going to the Worthington winter farmer’s market this year?