I Love - Farmers Markets!

So I am a big fan of a Farmer’s Market, or really any outside local produce store.  It can be a small shop with just one farmer’s amazing produce, it can be a small Farmers Market with a handful a vendors, or it can be a large one with tons of vendors and local businesses.  I love them all.

Now I grew up basically in the heart of Amish country (it is our next door neighbor that lived only about 5-10 minutes away).  So growing up we would make many trips out to Amish country for good produce, cheese, trail bologna, baked goods….whatever!  And it was always delicious, homemade, and of course locally grown.  AWESOME.

In/near BG we have a few small stands that are on the side of the road that sell great local items.  We go to this one stand multiple times a year to get our corn, tomatoes, and any other special fruits and veggies.  We go to two other shops to get cider & apples in the fall as well as they have an arrangement of nuts, baked goods and other seasonal fruits and veggies.  However, there has been no one place where many of these farmers go (like a farmers market) to sell their products.

So you can imagine my surprise when I just happened to drive through downtown BG on a Wednesday after work and see what appeared to be a Farmers Market! WHAT?!  When did that get there?!  After a little research and asking, apparently this Farmers Market had been going on for some time on Wednesday evenings during the Months of May – October. Again….WHAT?!

 How did I not know about this?  Well probably because I avoid downtown BG during most months because of all the students and just take the back way home from work.  But a Farmers Market, albeit a small one, in my town is totally worth taking a look.  So Wednesday night, when it was a beautiful 75 degrees outside, I stopped by to take a quick look.  Basil, tomatoes, baked goods, freshly made breads, corn, flowers, even candles….all so lovely and available for me to purchase.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I didn’t really know what to expect so I didn’t bring much cash with me, but I did have enough to get a few things.  I got some large tomatoes; I can already taste the basil, tomato, and mozzarella salads I will be making this weekend.  I got these extremely sweet yellow cherry tomatoes….seriously they are almost like candy!  I got some sweet local corn – YUM.  And I got some homemade salsa from Willy’s Famous Salsa in BG.  I have had this stuff many times before and it is SO good.

Overall there were around 10-15 different vendors out selling their products.  So it was by no means a huge Farmers Market, but had more than enough to get what you would want/need all in one place.  The hardest part was choosing which of the 4 places that sold tomatoes should I pick….seriously, I felt guilty and wanted to buy from ALL of them and of course they all want you to come over and buy from them.  Now that I know what to expect and what vendors are there, I feel I won’t be so overwhelmed and I am totally going back next Wednesday, with a little more cash in hand to get some more items.  There were these homemade breads that looked amazing.  And do you know how hard it was to walk past the baked goods and not even buy ONE cookie!! 

I absolutely love supporting local farmers and small businesses and think this is such a great way to get the community out to not only support the farmers but also the local businesses in a small downtown like ours.  There was a good crowd of people there and I hope they do really well at this so it can continue and grow.

YAY for Farmers Markets!

Terry and I even already decided this would be the perfect place to venture out and visit after Henry is born this fall!

I Love...

FRESH CHERRIES!

Ok, this probably sounds like a random thing to say “I Love”, but I tried my first fresh cherries this weekend and I am on the verge of being fully addicted, as in I need an intervention! I have never really been a fan of cherries. I don’t really care for maraschino cherries and don’t like natural or artificially cherry flavored ANYTHING and so I just stayed clear of them all together. But when we were at a Farmers Market this weekend Terry picked some up. He was raving about how good they were, so I thought what the heck and gave into peer pressure and tried them.

Verdict: DELICIOUS.

Because I am just loving these and feel as if I need to catch up on years of lost cherry eating time, I went to the store to get more and also found yellow cherries, I think I like those even more than the regular ones. Even T. says he has never tasted a cherry as good as the yellow ones. Simply delightful. So now my afternoon snack consists of a bag of cherries, grapes and blueberries. YUM! So I guess this means I am converted, I officially love cherries. Well only the fresh ones, I still don’t like anything else with cherries or cherry flavored. Blech

So with tons of wonderful fruits over the summer, what are your favorites?
Mine are cherries (obviously), red grapes, blueberries, black berries, peaches and plums.

Any fruit recipes you would like to share?
Not a recipe, but I like yogurt with berries and granola.


Random Fact: “The cherry belongs to the family Rosaceae, genus Prunus, along with almonds, peaches, plums, apricots and bird cherries.” I did not know this, almonds are not botanically a nut but from the same family as cherries. Don't say I write just mindless crap on this here blog....I value learning as well.

Eat Me.

I published this AMAZING Turkey meatloaf with Feta and Sundried Tomatoes recipe on our Food from Friends blog.

I am telling you, this is delicious.

Try it.

Just A Mindless Blog for a Friday Afternoon

Remember when you were younger and you would take the big JcPenny’s or Sears catalog and go through and circle everything you wanted from it? I loved doing that then and at the age of 29 I still enjoy doing that. When I get magazines in the mail I totally enjoy going through and marking everything I want. I know I may never get anything I circle, but it is fun to dream and have my very own wish list of things that one day we may buy.

So that is what I am doing in this post today, "circling" my favorite items from one of my favorite store as i just felt like sharing...and as my husband tells me sharing is caring :) My inspiration comes from the email ads from Williams-Sonoma I get every few days and their magazine I get every other month. I LOVE this store, even though I think I only have ever bought one or two small items from them. It is one of those places when I am in there or looking at the magazine I say; “I wish I had that, I want THAT, I NEED that”, on every other item I come across. I do have a strong LOVE of all things kitchen/dining related. Terry would say too much of a love as we have no more room for anything kitchen related.

Here is my “wish list” IF we had the money to splurge (you know from the lottery we are going to win). I didn’t put any kitchen gadgets as I want every gadget I come across.

MY LIST

Lausanne Flatware, I LOVE this flatware! A great oversized flatware done in a European style. I love nice, heavy silverware and this looks very simple, sturdy and stylish.




Espresso Cups. I have wanted a nice set of Espresso cups and saucers for awhile. Not like I am drinking espresso a lot, but we do have an old espresso machine and it is not the same drinking espresso in an 8oz coffee mug! Plus these are just simple and cute.

Grated Cheese Server!! Um, what do I need to say about this other then it is for CHEESE! Seriously, I want this. You can easily pass cheese around the table then scoop it out with the cute little scoop, Awesome. This is too perfect.

Glass Tea Pot. I saw this and fell in love with it. This partly hand-blown traditional tea-pot allows you to see your tea steeping. “Once it reaches the desired strength, press the plunger of its infuser to instantly halt the brewing process, preventing the tea from tasting bitter.” Very cool.

Frozen Margarita Machine – Um, did you see this thing?! So I ask, why would you NOT want one of these. It is just really really really cool.

Pancake Fan. I know you can get one similar at Big Lots for $19.99 (and I actually might just get one) but I just think these are great and I would love one. I even wrote a blog about these awhile back. Mini pancake puffs is just wonderful enough, but then you can fill them with chocolate, fruit, or cream – amazing.

Copper Dutch Oven. I am a big fan of the look of copper in the kitchen. We want to get a copper backsplash in our kitchen and I would love some copper pots one day to go with that. I am a big fan of this style.

Soup Tureen. Ok, this is going out there a little bit for me but I am strangely attracted to it, birds and all. My taste in dinnerware and serving dishes is very simple. All our stuff is black and white. I like the simplistic look of food on uniquely shaped white serving dishes mixed with a few black ones. However, this hand painted piece of art is just gorgeous and interesting to look at, and who wouldn’t want to serve soup in a flipp'n tureen like this at their next dinner party?! I for one would LOVE to.

Ok, these are my favorite things, just as I would have circled them in the latest Williams-Sonoma Magazine!

Talk To Me....Cereal Edition

So, we like cereal in our house, a lot. At any given point we have about 6 different boxes of cereal on top of our refrigerator. This is because T. and I have completely different likes when it comes to cereal.

My Top 5: (I am a plain girl)
1. Cheerios
2. Kix
3. Frosted Mini-Wheats
4. Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch (this is my getting crazy cereal)
5. Corn Flakes

Terrys Top 5: (Don’t know exactly his top 5, but I am close)
1. Cocoa Krispies
2. Boo-Berry
3. Artificial flavoring sugar cereal with marshmallows
4. Chocolate cereal with marshmallows
5. Raisin Brand

I never had chocolate cereal, fruity cereal or marshmallow cereal growing up. I did some experimenting with different cereals in college but eventually cleaned up my act and went back to the straight cereals. I don’t like to talk about that time in my life, sugar cereals can bring out a different side of you.

But this weekend Terry picked up a cereal I just had to try, I seriously couldn’t resist.

S’morz Cereal.

I would just like to say this cereal was made by Angels and flown down from heaven on a fluffy cloud and given to us as a gift from God. It is simply perfection. I have never been a fan of these types of cereals, just not my thing. But this, this is truly amazing.

I know this cereal has been around for awhile, but it is new to me. For me, it is a perfect sweet treat at night. The box we got Saturday night is just about empty, I will have to make sure we are fully stocked on this stuff as T & I can’t get enough.

It is fun living on the wild side some times.

What are your top 5 cereals?

I Love....

(As usual I am always late when it comes to beauty type regimens. I have never cared about this stuff, but the older I get the more interested I am to try new things and take care of my skin. So this is my newest revelation!)

Exfoliating!!

So last week when I was out I randomly picked up Clean & Clear Deep Action Exfoliating Scrub (I believe this is a Newer product). I really never use anything other then Clean & Clear products because I LOVE them and have used the Clean & Clear Deep Cream Cleanser on my face since high school. As I never exfoliate on my own – ever - I thought it sounded like something that would be good for my skin and that I should probably do, especially because my skin looks so dull and whenever I shake my head all these dead skin cells just fly off my face. Yeah, it is gross.

So the other night before I went to bed I gave this stuff a go and let me tell you, it instantly looked like I had a new face. My face before = really dull and dry, but this instantly brightened my face and made it SO soft!!


I guess I am kind of suggesting this product as I have NEVER been disappointed in Clean & Clear products, they work really well for my skin type. But more so I am just disappointed in myself for not exfoliating sooner then this week! My last facial was about 9 months ago, so is that like 9 months of piled up dead skin on my face?!?! Exfoliating is my new favorite thing!

Oh that Google...

...They are some clever and funny folks over there! I always love their special Google Homepage designs! Thank you Google for keeping me smiling.






GO VOTE!

A Letter to Sudafed.....

Dear Sudafed:

You are truly amazing. One of your little pills has given me the ability to breathe again while also decreasing the amount of nasal fluid I drip all over my keyboard and myself. Another tissue need not go to waste whilst you are inside me. You are truly a gift from God, sent to this earth in the form of a tiny little tablet containing the magical-ness that is pseudoephedrine. I now see why we have to use our license when purchasing these wonderful pills in restricted amounts each month from behind that plexiglass enclosed pharmaceutical area. And why also so many drug dealers chemical entrepreneurs are interested in purchasing these tiny tablets.

As this magnificent stimulant runs through my body producing a rather involuntary haze of productivity, I sit back for a moment and say a quiet thank you to the makers of Sudafed and their products. For it is with this product that I do not have to waste my remaining 1 ½ days of personal time to stay at home in bed with a sickness but rather can wait to use my vacation to stay at home in bed when I feel perfectly fine. Sure I may pass along this sickness to my fellow co-workers, but I will also pass along this knowledge of using Sudafed to not only cure their cold but also increase the amount of work they produce. I think in the end we will all be better for this and when the time comes around to say thank you, they will not look at me but instead they will look at your enticing blue box of 12-hour maximum strength Sudafed and give a friendly nod of approval and thanks.

So dear friend, I look forward to us meeting again tomorrow at 7 am after I awake from my Nyquil induced comma to once again share our 12-hour journey together.

Forever yours,

Jenn

You May Have Won This Time.

So I am NOT a fan of plain almonds. Nope.

I don’t like their taste nor their texture and I won’t eat them.

I have sometimes been ok with small pieces in chocolate, but come on…it is in chocolate so that doesn’t count. I would like to eat them b/c I know they have good nutritional value but I eat one and want to gag.

So last week I was shopping at Meijer and I got one of those free coupons you get at the check out. (Side Note: Are those coupons random or based on things you purchase b/c they always seem to be things I want? Hmmmm?) It was for a free bag of Almond Accents. I took it as a sign.

So last night when I was at the store I picked up a bag. I thought, hey they are free and if I don’t like them I know a couple people at work who would enjoy them, what the hell. But when I got to the Almond Accent section I saw that there were actually flavored almonds too…ok, you got my attention.

I ended up picking up Roasted Garlic Caesar. Click here for all their products.

So T & I tried them last night on our salads and I was pleasantly surprised! I started eating some straight from the bag. When I asked T. if he thought they were good he said, and I quote (I have to use the full thing for proper effect) “Fuck yeah those are good!”. I am sure the health benefit isn’t nearly as great as just eating plain ones….and that is probably why I like them, but I am converted as these little slices of almond heaven are delicious! (Next to try, Italian Parmesan!)