Beets for Life!

I'm glad someone else was paying attention to Tom Robbin's beet love in Jitterbug Perfume.  Aside from being in the list of my top 10 favorite novels, Robbins also used Jitterbug as a vehicle for discourse on the lowly beet.  This writer over at Saveur.com talks about the Tom Robbins/beet connection, and provides several good-looking beet recipes to try out!

First Visit to the Farmer's Market

I am so, so stupid for going to my first farmer's market of the season with only $6 in my wallet.  All I walked away with were these extraordinarily sweet and tiny strawberries:

I ate them all within 20 minutes of buying them.  I excused myself for this, knowing that these are the sort of ephemeral fruits that mold over with white fuzz within several hours of picking.  My companion, M, bought some fresh snap peas, and we traded back and forth on the car ride home.  This market, which I had never been to before, had some offerings that I've not seen at my local farmer's market.  There were various cuts of local lamb, black currant cordial (the sample was divine!), lavender-infused goat cheese, and locally-sourced maple cream.  But most exciting was the strawberry-rhubarb shaved ice, which was made to order using a large, rotary shaving device.  It was fun to watch the process, and I only hope that they'll offer it again the next time I'm there!