Columbus Foodie

It’s been a long day, so I’m just now getting this up. I’m babysitting my nieces and nephew this weekend, so I almost passed up on the farmers markets altogether – but my other sister also stayed over, and they were all still sleeping when we got up at 6:30, so we slipped out a little bit after 7am.

We got to the North Market *real* early this morning, while everyone was still setting up.  So I decided to give in to temptation and got the first cinnamon roll of the day from Omega, still piping hot from the oven. Yum. There’s nothing quite like fresh, fresh, fresh pastry in the morning.

By the time we got back outside, most everyone was set up. We talked to Mrs. Rhoads for a couple of minutes, and she generously gifted us with a few items of hers to try out – some blackberries, a few ears of corn, and these beautiful little miniature sweet peppers. I can’t wait to try these – I’m thinking of stuffing them and making miniature stuffed peppers, but haven’t quite decided yet. What would you do with them? We already ate the sweet corn at dinner, and it was WONDERFUL. Big kernels, and sweet as can be. Can I just say again how much I love summer in Ohio?

You know, it really surprises me – as comparatively small as the North Market farmers market is, it really is a one stop shop. I could have easily skipped the other two markets today, as most everything I needed was there – one thing I’ve been hankering for all week is heirloom tomatoes. In addition to a selection of regular sized ones, vendors there also had these small varieties. If you lot have never tried a sungold tomato yet (little orange ones), you have no idea what you’re missing. Awesomeness in a single bite. Sweet and just slightly acidic, a real condensed explosion of pure tomato flavor when your teeth pierce the skin.

We skipped out on our weekly dose of mushrooms this week (as much as I love shiitakes, I’m mushroomed out at the moment). Instead, we picked up a canteloupe and onions from Wayward Seed Farm, and a bag of lovely freestone peaches from the Orchard of Bill and Vicky Thomas. I was sorely tempted to make another batch of pickles after seeing these cukes, but decided against it, mainly because the logistics of babysitting this weekend would have made it impossible (you guys ever cook 3 nutritious meals a day for 3 kids? It’s harder than I thought it would be).

As an aside, can I just say how impressed I am by the adventuresome tastes of my 5 year old niece, Autumn? I was eating vindaloo from Trader Joe’s last night, and they were holding their noses and talking about how much it stunk (Indian food is kinda stinky, I guess, to kids – personally I love the smell). So I ask them if they want to try it. The other two say no, Autumn says “sure”. And says “yum” and then proceeds to come back for a second, third, fourth and fifth bites. Convinced that it’s all kinds of awesome because of Autumn’s attitude, the other kids give it a try. Shaking their head yes that they like it all the while their faces are skunking up as they run for the water. My 7 year old nephew Brandon called it “barbecue”…um, OK. Not seeing it myself, but what ever floats his boat.

But I digress. Back to the morning markets. We got out of there a little later than normal, because Paul needed to pick up some of that fantastic Piemonte Moscato wine (one of the only wines I’d consider buying by the case) at Grapes of Mirth (which didn’t open until 8am), and then got sidetracked for a few minutes by talking to John Hard of CaJohn’s.

Weird experience today. One of the vendors (near the parking meters) saw me taking pictures and told me I’d need a signed release to take pictures of his produce. As if. Way to alienate potential customers, dude.

Off to Worthington. Really crowded, but surprisingly it wasn’t that difficult to find parking today. It was a fairly short trip for us – just picked up a few staple items, some ground beef, and a nice bag of cranberry beans which I plan on using for this upcoming week’s all-local dish, and a box of white peaches. As usual, we were greeted warmly by the beautiful sunflowers along the corner across from the Gillogly Orchard stand. It’s not often that you see red sunflowers.

I didn’t keep track of where, but I believe that this hard neck garlic was from Worthington as well. Are you guys familiar with this stuff? It’s easily my favorite type.

We spent some time trying the new flavors of cheese from Blue Jacket Dairy, of which they had several this week – a date and pecan rolled goat cheese, a goat cheese topped with figs, one rolled with chives, and raspberry quark as well. It never ceases to amaze me the stuff they come up with, all equally as tasty.

Finally, we were off to Clintonville. I got quite a few things there – a dozen ears of corn from Terra Verde Farms for $4 (yay, the price is finally coming down some – this is comparable to grocery store prices!), some sweet potatoes (don’t remember the vendor, but they also had these onions)

Snowville Creamery was there today (yay!) so I picked up some whole milk, and some cream (to make butter later this week). I got into an interesting chat with someone about how great their whole milk is for making mozzarella cheese. I’ll have to try my hand at it. I also picked up a couple dozen eggs from 2Silos, and some more heirloom tomatoes from another vendor.

So that was my day. Where did you go and what did YOU get? What are you planning on cooking this week?