Saturday, March 20, 2010

Saturday

This morning, we hauled our butts out of bed early (for us anyway), loaded up the boy into the car,

Nailbiter at a year and a half. Terrible.

and headed up to Scottsdale to check out the Old Town Farmer's Market.

I must have some sort of tv version of a Farmer's Market in my head, because every time I go to one they always seem kind of lame to me. Either that, or our Farmer's Markets around here just suck. Who can say? All I know is that it seems to me that a Farmer's Market should sell less crap like soap, bibs, or dog beer and more stuff from, you know, FARMS!

There was one awesome booth that did have a great selection. Even better, almost everything was organic and the prices were stellar. We got some cute (yet slightly creepy) fingerling potatoes, a Granny Smith apple (to make into panini with brie and ham), a couple of leeks (for Pioneer Woman's Potato Leek Pizza), some fresh basil (going to try Kate's tomato sauce and pizza too), and some carrots. While we did see these:

And they were very pretty, I just can't bring myself to eat "wrong" colored food. Carrots are supposed to be orange, not yellow or red. Asparagus is supposed to be green, not white. Potatoes are supposed to be a whitish yellow, not purple. Corn chips are supposed to be off white, not blue.

So, I got regular, orange carrots. I'm boring like that.

I also bought, and ate, my very first macaron ever from Essence Bakery. I had no idea that they were that big. I always pictured them to be maybe an inch and a half across, but this one was 2-3 inches easily. I got a caramel cream one, per recommendations (I think it was Jaimee Rose? Maybe someone else on Twitter?) and was only disappointed because we bought just the one. Boo.

After that, as we were driving home, we passed by this huge antique store that was having a vendor fair in their parking lot. I'm all about digging though other people's old crap to see what I can find, so we stopped. I got two awesome pair of vintage clip on grandma earrings for $9, and four milk glass bowls for $5. They were marked $12, but I haggled a bit.

My husband bought a Metallica CD. He's not much into antiques.

Since we were there, we decided to check out the inside of the building as well. There were so many random things in there, including:

A genuine moonshine still. Every household should have one, right?

It's funny how delusional some of the sellers in that place were. I mean, I get that old things are kind of rare and therefore have value. Maybe I have been spoiled by Goodwill and eBay, because it seemed that most things were priced outrageously! For instance, I've had my eye out for a milk glass juice reamer. I found two there and both were priced at $65. That's ridiculous! You can get them on eBay between $10 and $20 usually. Both of them were really dirty too. I found milk glass mixing bowls for the old Sunbeam mixers, bowls that I currently own, for $12 - $20 each. I paid no more than $5 each for mine. These little individual metal Jello molds were priced at $3. I must have thirty of those things around here, and there's NO WAY I paid that, or would pay that, for one.

Crazy.

After we left the antique store, we realized that the only thing we had eaten that day was the macaron, so it was off to find lunch. I was bad and broke my fast due to my poor planning and desire to get our behinds out the door in a timely fashion. No way was I going to make it all the way home to eat! We took a little drive into Mesa and on a whim stopped at Cafe Rio. I had heard of this place before from reading peoples blogs, but I myself had never been.

I am so very sorry for that mistake now. The sweet pork barbacoa was AMAZING. We both got tacos, but next time (and there WILL be a next time) I'm definitely getting the salad. We all shared some chocolate flan with strawberries for dessert.

It was a nice Saturday, spent out with people I love. :)

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5 Comments:

Blogger Samara Link said...

You might consider stepping out of your comfort zone to try purple and white carrots. I had some given to me by a master gardener I met when doing a story on composting. She pulled them right out of the earth and handed them to me. It was so cool. I used them as inspiration for a big pot of vegetable soup, and I thought they added some flair and color. They're cute, I think. :)

Sounds like such a fun day together! I love random family exploring days. In my book, that's good bonding time, for sure. Congratulations on your milk glass bowl score. I've heard you mention here that you like that stuff and that you want more of it. (I agree. It's beautiful.) It's funny what you said about these markets carrying more items ... from a farm. Good point. I think the same thing when I go to these places. All this stuff is great, but where are the vegetables? I do like looking at and sometimes buying the other homemade items, but when I go to a farmers market, I want tomatoes and stuff! If you're ever in Dallas, it will be 100% worth your time to go to the farmers market in downtown on the weekend. It's nothing short of amazing!! They have a huge produce side and then another side with jewelry, furniture, decorative items, etc. It's awesome! We used to go there at least two weekends a month. I miss it. Anyway, loved the post. It was fun to read. :) Sounds like you have quite a few recipes that you'll be trying this week. Looking forward to hearing their reviews. Take care!

6:53 AM  
Blogger justem said...

Looks like such a great time! I can't wait for summer! I already have some big Farmer's Market plans for Miri and myself!! :)

7:06 AM  
Blogger Becky (My Fabric Obsession) said...

Sounds like a wonderful day! Our farmers markets are like that too. I think because there aren't that many farms left. Other vendors flock to sell their stuff at the farmers markets too.

1:50 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I've been disappointed by local markets too! I have had some excellent experiences - in other states! While working as a recruiter, I was at UC San Diego and they had a fantastic market...I had just enough time to get a wonderful lunch there. I also walked through an amazing market in Hawaii last summer. I wish they had good ones around here!!

6:20 PM  
Blogger Jaime said...

In India all of the carrots were red (no orange). They tasted the same.

10:45 AM  

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