Columbus Foodie

Can I just say how overjoyed I am that the farmers markets are back again? I mean, the winter market at Worthington was nice (and better than having nothing at all), but there’s just nothing else like waking up at the crack of dawn to head out (in admittedly crappy weather today, it is dark and rainy) to get to the market as soon as it opens for the best selection.

And the early bird gets the worm, indeed. Guess what I found at the North Market, at the Wish Well Farms stand? Morels!!! And cheaper than at either the Greener Grocer or Weiland’s - roughly $40/lb. as opposed to $55/lb. (and sold out immediately) or $48/lb., respectively. And super fresh, they were foraged yesterday, if I remember correctly. Aren’t they pretty? I’m already formulating a plan for what to make with these; this is one of those cases where you plan the meal around the ingredient versus vice versa.

To see what else was available at the market today and what I actually got, click on through (warning: picture intensive - I usually cull it down to 6 pics for my market reports, but today I couldn’t narrow it down to any less than 10.

Wish Well Farmd was like a goldmine for me today. They also had this beautiful “you know it’s really spring now!” asparagus, which I purchased to be part of my almost all-local meal tomorrow.

Not to mention these pretty hydroponic tomatoes, which I didn’t avail myself of because I’ve already got a bunch of tomatoes in the fridge I need to use up.

New to the market this year, and located right next to Wish Well Farms was Freshwater Farms, who had this beautiful and super-fresh (”was swimming yesterday!”, she said) ranibow trout, which I’m going to grill up for fish tacos for lunch tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to this, it’s been a while since I’ve had fresh trout.

And then it was off to another of my favorite stands, Toad Hill Farms, where I got some red leaf lettuce, spinach, and these chives:

They also had bok choy, which is something I don’t see too often at the market. I’ve never cooked with it before, so I passed for now, but in retrospect, I should have got some to go with the sugar snap peas I got for stir-fry.

There was another farmer there selling seedings (the name escapes me now), but I got a bunch of herbs to start on my deck.

I got some baby leeks at Comb’s, which I may use for a nice potato chowder while it’s still a bit nippy out.

And also at Combs, I saw my first flowers (other than tulips, etc) of the season. I think I’m going to make an effort to always have fresh flowers of one kind or another in my house this summer. I don’t know why, but when winter turns to spring, as everything greens up, I feel the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. I think flowers are a visual reminder of that for me.

And then it was off to Clintonville. We got there right after they opened, a little after 9am, and there was a pretty steady rain going, so it was definitely a wet experience! I got these green beans and potatoes from HW Organics.

I thought it was a little early for garlic, but I may be wrong!

I am jumping for joy over my finds today, and look forward to telling you about all the dishes that I have planned to highlight these great ingredients. Stay tuned! Which markets did YOU go to and what did you get today?