Day 11 - Farmers' Market Part Deux

This morning I was catatonic. I couldn't get out of bed to walk my dogs, I was hungry and tired and wanted coffee soooo bad. We have this wonderful french press and delicious Green Mountain grounds. The coffee is strong and thick when it comes out of the press, and the whole kitchen smells like coffee, and that's how it smelled when I got up this morning. But that coffee was not for me, and I was dragging. I knew I needed to eat, but I didn't feel like having eggs again. I had one hour until I had to leave for the Clinton Farmers' Market, that meant one hour to sort my life out. That's when it dawned on me: pancakes.

I've never made pancakes from scratch, I think I've made them once with a mix. To tell you the truth, I don't really like pancakes. You see, I spent three months in Kenya, and the other students and I were sorted into cook crews and we made breakfast every morning. The easiest breakfast to make? Pancakes. I'm not a big fan of sweets for breakfast, my cook crew always made fried egg sandwiches. Since returning from Kenya, I'm happy having pancakes once every two years.

But these were spectacular! Maybe it was the real maple syrup, maybe it was the granulated maple sugar I used, maybe it was because I burned them a little - I liked the crisp. One guy who didn't like the crisp?

Leo does not like that I'm cooking more often; he hides under the table every time I turn on the oven or stove, and when my burnt pancakes made the smoke alarm go off, it confirmed his suspicions.

I arrived at the farmers' market in a much better mood, full of pancakes and raw milk. Breakfast was at 8, and I was full until 1:30, had an apple and some cheese that lasted me until dinner.

Here's what I purchased at the farmers' market today:

Lavender from Rosemary's Thyme for Peach and Cornmeal Upside Down Cake that I plan to make tomorrow.


Cherry tomatoes and garlic from Northstar Orchards.


Tomatoes, corn, potatoes and an onion from the Amish. I didn't take their picture this week because they didn't seem too jazzed about it last week.

Three jalapenos from The Farm.


Honey from a nameless honey stand run by a local Clinton woman whose card I had, but can no longer find.


Raspberries from Savicki's Farm Market.


And a fourth dog. Just kidding! But someone should adopt him, he's darn cute.


There was one piece of produce that eluded me at the farmers' market: fresh cilantro. I stopped by Tom's Natural Foods and struck out again. I did happen upon some dry cilantro that might work in my future salsa.


Tonight was a birthday celebration three-peat. Happy Birthday, Sara! I was running late and packed a dinner before heading off to the festivities. When I got there I was glad to see that the pizza was already put away, I wouldn't have eaten any, but it wouldn't have been fun resisting. Instead, I enjoyed a black bean veggie burger with cheese and some more garlic mashed potatoes.


I also rang in my sister's thirty-fourth year with a glass of Bully Hill Sabres Hockey Nights White. Apparently this is a classic from the 2007-2008 season. I give it a 9 out of 10.


Tomorrow is a cooking day, keep your fingers crossed for food with few dog hairs and air free of smoke.