Weekend Wanderings

On the road again.... Where this weekend??? Ithaca, NY - home of Cornell University where my niece is a junior and home of - - -

the Ithaca Farmers' Market - an incredible market here in the land of the locavore. I love my farmer's markets and will travel to experience the best. My sister-in-law has been begging us to join them in Ithaca for the market ever since her daughter's freshman year. Ithaca is, after all, home of
the Moosewood Cafe - with over 15 cookbooks in print, and reason for my many years of vegetarianism - I eat meat now, but go meatless many days a week.
Here we are at the market - it's an open air market covered by a pavilion.
First stop - The Piggery - yup - no more vegetarian for me. The Piggery raises free range pigs - pork the old fashioned way - this pork is not the other white meat - it's beautifully marbled and dark.
Old McDonald was at the market - e - i - e - i - oooo! And brought all of his veggies - - -
Almost too pretty to eat - beautiful produce.
I love the look of Brussels sprouts - alien-like.
The market had amazing bakery vendors.
And, since Halloween is just around the corner, the vendors had lots of pumpkins - none as beautiful as these.
The stems on these pumpkins were massive - I've never seen anything like it.
So what did I buy at the market (I brought an ice chest the size of a coffin along to hold all of my goodies) - I got Tuscan kale, giant leeks, purple kohlrabi, celeriac, fennel, paw-paw, watermelon radish, honey nut squash, poblano peppers and obese carrots. In addition to produce we brought home a fresh rabbit, bison strip steaks, mutton stew meat, a pork roast and fresh ham from the Piggery, a block of sheep's milk Tomme cheese, and jumbo eggs.
I needed a cup of coffee to get my energy back for the rest of the day - tomorrow we'll stop at Ithaca's quilt shop - just voted one of the top 10 quilt shops in America - don't miss it.