Farmers' Market, Part Two (and other things)

We went to the Farmers' Market last night, but it was notably smaller than I'd expected; perhaps a half-dozen vendors had set up along a parking lot, several of which appeared to be members of the same family. There were blackberries, onions, summer squash, cucumbers, fingerling potatoes, beets, and bundles of sweet basil. I decided upon a quart of blue and yellow fingerling potatoes and a bundle of sweet basil. When we got home, we mixed the potatoes with some butternut squash that I cut into cubes and three or four cloves of garlic. I chopped up the basil and roasted it all in the oven for about 35 minutes. We ate it with slices of whole wheat baguette smeared with butter. Delicious!

I've never had fingerling potatoes before, but they were fantastic. Imagine a tater tot without the greasy outer-coating, or a plate of home fries without the crunch. My next endeavor may involve a larger version of the purple potatoes, mashed and mixed with pureed cauliflower...




Yesterday was also my first venture with my new sewing machine (well, I say "new," but it was actually a Christmas present from my mother).  This version came with an instructional video that I have now watched more than I'd like to admit, but at least I appear to have the basics down. My mother, being the kind-hearted person that she is, even came up to walk me through the initial steps. After bobbin-threading and basic needle safety, we proceeded to the actual "sewing" portion of the dvd, wherein I learned that a sewing machine is like a marriage: if you don't invest time and energy in the initial preparation, you'll likely end up with a huge mess that you can't fix. However, if you are patient and focused, you'll create something that lasts forever.

Pretty cool, huh?