Sunday, August 10, 2008

Wow! I love fresh food!

I had a great run this morning. Now it's raining, but pre-rain it was cool and breezy, so I took the opportunity to do my "long" run outside. For my ramblings about my running, see my fitness blog! Otherwise, I will get onto the food.

After my run, I donned my rainboots and raincoat (just in case) and walked over to Philly's best farmers market, which is fortunately only 3 blocks from me in Headhouse Square. I got a pretty awesome haul, though a little expensive at $19-- but the quality is worth it.


My favorite stand is Heirloom Farm, and is where I got the tomatoes, leeks, and that green thing which is a green apple eggplant. The tomatoes were the best deal-- all of those beautiful heirlooms for $5! Also in my findins are chemical-free oyster mushrooms, yellow nectarines, young Swiss chard, and an amazingly tasty baguette. I guess that's actually a lot of really fresh local goodies for $19. Check out how long these leeks are: (!)


I trimmed them and stuck the ends in a bag I keep in my freezer for veg scraps to make broth from.

While we're on the subject of fresh produce, here's a canteloupe Phil and I picked up from a smaller market by us on Tuesday. It was amazing, but part was rotten and it intimidated us out of eating the rest. You never know what you'll get buying local and organic, but it's just part of the fun (cause when it's good, it's so good!)


And dinner that night included local heirloom tomatoes, wax beans and a mixture of oyster and shiitake mushrooms. The green bean recipe is a dish I love from VWAV.


Last but not least, here's the lunch I made today with my market findings:


The nectarine was amazing (my favorite fruit!). I sauteed leeks, Swiss chard and oyster 'shrooms and made a sandwich with them and teriyaki marinated tofu (Fresh Tofu, Inc., a local tofu company. This tofu is amazing and so easy to work with!) The salad is local romaine from yesterdays market (also at Headhouse) and one of those small heirloom toms I got today, with a light olive oil and red wine vinaigrette.

Whew! If you're still here, kudos to you. The moral of the story is that I effin' love local produce. I've been toying with getting a CSA share next year, but I sort of like having more of a selection at Headhouse, so we'll just have to see!

6 comments:

EmLit said...

What's that yellow thing with the tomatoes? A yellow tomato? And is the green eggplant the thing that is sort of in the back of the group? It looks like a tomatillo or a green tomato. I'm confused.

SueWho said...

nectarines are one of my fave fruits too. When they are good and ripe, they are awesome. But what's the black stuff in that last picture? Are they some kind of edible seeds?

Rural Vegan said...

That little green eggplant is so cute, I would have had to buy him too!

Alicia said...

I love fresh food as well! :-). Now I'm totally obsessed with that small green eggplant you got!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

All that fresh produce = VeggieGirl heaven :0)

healthy ashley said...

This is such a healthy post, I love it!

I totally understand that "you never know what you're going to get" issue with Farmers Markets..