boo internet yay produce

I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate computers. In my dream Food Blogger world, not only would I have an amazing SLR camera that doesn’t actually require any knowledge of photography but simply reads my mind and a house that has beautiful cloud-free natural light 24/7/365, MOST CRUCIALLY I would have a computer that works perfectly and reliably and a master team of computer-fixing elves to fix it immediately and permanently should anything go awry.

In the meantime, I’m on my laptop stealing the neighbor’s internet which, unlike ours, is working.

The farmer’s market is my favorite place in the world, I’ve decided. A playground for grownups.

We got summa these:

Which you can see are pesticide-free and, as I can verify, are the best blueberries I’ve ever tasted.

I have mixed feelings about this picture though, not based on its quality but based on the fact that whilst I was taking it the rest of the family was buying tomatoes from what, given what was a tragically brief glimpse of him as I reunited with them and we moved on from the tomato stand, seemed to be a cute guy. Oh well, next week. I would love to marry a farmer.

Also:

There’s always scads of people with various baked goods and prepared foods (some day I have to force myself to not eat breakfast before I go so I can get in on the BLINTZES!) but we picked up from this adorable lady three of her vegetarian phyllo-wrapped goodies: potato (too mayo-y for my taste), eggplant (BLISS!), and this guy, cabbage:

What’s the thingie sticking out? Peanuts! So inventive! This was sort of Indian-spiced. I’d never have thought to combine those things, and yet it all workd.

Also:

         

Basically homemade kefir from LOCAL GRASS FED COWS. And holy deliciousness. Yes, it’s whole milk, but I nonetheless regard our probiotic yogurt drink made with real fresh strawberries (!) as nothing less than health food. Oh em gee.

I wanted to use some of our bounty to make some of my beloved barley risotto. I used the same methodology as in the recipes in Favorite Recipes but, lacking white wine and wanting to mix up the flavors to go with the snow peas, I subbed:

Green onion for my veg, green onion for my onion, fresh ginger instead of garlic, and 1 T mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine- the flavor is quite strong) for the 1/4 cup white wine.

It wasn’t that amaaaaaaaaaazing on the first day- the ginger was a bit strong- but got better as leftovers!

On day #1, my accompanying dish was served in the cow bowl.

More cowbell cow bowl!

Contained therein was what the vendor at the farmer’s market called “summer seafood refresher” and what I am dubbing CEVICHE JUICE!

An acidic tomatoey broth filled with crunchy red onion, creamy avocado, and cilantroey cilantro, with a coupla shrimp at the bottom. It was SO refreshing and lovely.

Aaaaaaand for risotto round two I made the simplest, perfect-est, summer side dish: tomato (farmer’s market) thinly sliced with basil (from our deck), salt and pepper, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar. All I friggin need.

 

It’s such a wonderful beautiful thing that tomatoes and basil come into season at the same time. Their flavor, their colors… they are so beautifully and perfectly complementary. Do you ever wonder if we are limited by the seasons- like there are pairings that’d be awesome that we’re missing out on cause they are at their best different times of year? Say… artichoke and cranberry?

Finally, I’ve been lovin’ on this melon (from the farm stand by my church- like cantaloupe but not cantaloupe, and now I’m totally drawing a blank on the name. Anyway, it’s blissful):

       

Just how big it makes me smile.