Farmer's Market then Lunch - all before the Hurricane

A Saturday at the local Pine Bush Farmer's Market - well, not the whole day but about an hour. The theme was "Tomato Me Crazy" with a tomato contest for Best Tasting, Heavyweight, Most Perfect Visually and Weirdest which could be the strangest variety or appearance. It was my first time at a tomato contest so I wasn't sure what to expect.


The cherry tomatoes pictured above are (from top to bottom) Tumbling Tiger, Sun Gold and Yellow Pear varieties all grown by a local gardener. I was lucky enough to taste the Sun Gold and they won for Best Tasting. The fruit broke quickly under a bit of pressure in my mouth and squeezed a burst of juice that was like a bit of liquid sunshine.


The fruits looked simply succulent.


Bell peppers... so many options...

Picture perfect squash and more...

And tons and tons of tomatoes - ok, maybe just quarts and quarts.

One side effect of shopping at a Farmer's Market is incredibly hunger! Wonder if they have ever considered having a station where people can rinse, prepare fresh produce, cut up or peel or what ever has to be done then have a few tables for people to eat on the spot! Wouldn't that be a wonderful alternative to fast food?

For us, we went to a local restaurant and the closest thing I had to fresh produce was a mountain size salad with cubed turkey, bacon crumbles and sweet/tart craisins.
A crunchy loaf of Italian bread gently held a saucy, fried and tender chicken cutlet topped with stringy, melted mozzerella.

A grilled chicken wrap dripped with juices from fresh tomato, served with the crispest french fries... somehow we all ordered a little piece of the ingredients I bought at the market: tomatoes, mozzerella, bread.

That night, the storm came and Madame Irene did knock out our electric as expected. Once the wind and rain died down Sunday I was able to toast some bread on the grill, slice the tomatoes and mozzerella and have an incredible, fresh afternoon snack. We don't really rough it around here!