My Vintage Cottage Kitchen and the Farmers Market

Saturday Morning at the Farmers Market

Saturday was a busy day. We started off at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. We hadn't been there much all summer. The reds were abundant this weekend...There were tomatoes and peppers everywhere!

A portion of purchases... Basil, Tomatoes and Red Bell Peppers

A beautiful red pepper and my basil in a mixing bowl

 The basil was a most likely the last of the season, so I purchased a great deal of it and plan to make pesto with it. I have already froze a small batch in a container, I will check to see how that froze up. It may be a great way to have fresh basil for maybe Basil fried rice this fall and winter.

The perfect partnership, basil and heirloom tomato

The heirloom tomatoes were available as well, not as readily as roma and some other varieties, but I LOVE the flavors of an heirloom tomato!

Three tomatoes

 And when we happened upon bunches of concord grapes, I had to have them. They are tricky to find form year to year. Not all get a good harvest. I remember about six or seven years ago, they were everywhere! All of the local co-ops had them.. since then, I have only seen them at the farmers market. I think one year, one of the local co-ops had a small crop in... If you have ever had a fresh concord grape, they taste like NO OTHER! Seeds only slow down consumption so you can revel the taste.

Delicious and Beautiful Concord Grapes... yes there are seeds, but they make you savor the flavor of the grape, smells like grape bubble gum- YUM!

Our Kitchen table... 

After the farmers market, it was on to a local lumber yard showroom to listen to a talk by Sarah Susanka. I had seen her speak before and have several of her books. My House mate, however, has been fascinated by my books and wanted to go as well. I was interested in what her latest was.. so off we went after returning home from the farmers market.

The open pantry door... not much counter top space

 Returning from the showroom event, it was quickly load up the car with items to bring back out to mom and dad's. I haven't the room for it and needed to peel off the attachment. Things to get by with.. and return dad's totes.. he wants to get ready for fall hunting and realized, he had no totes.. he lent them all to me for moving..

The cooking and clean up section of the kitchen

 Sunday was the day to go through final boxes of kitchen items and get things put away. The pesto hasn't been made yet, however, we were able to actually eat dinner at our kitchen table. It is cozy, but nice.
Today I make the pesto and other goodies for stocking my pantry.. I think I am going to dehydrate the peppers with olive oil and smoked sea salt for flavor, they will be great in pita sandwiches... and whatever else I dream up.

Depending on how it goes, I may work on the basement again... at least an hour. I wonder what I can get done in an hour?  I want to get those draperies sewn.. this week.. the cutting mat has been retrieved along with my plants and my boxes of photos... Oddly, we brought out a carload of stuff to mom and dad's and returned with another carload!