Saturday Morning Tradition

Why wake up early on a Saturday morning? To go to the farmers' market, of course. When I was in college, I used to buy all of my vegetables at the farmers' market every week. The market was so big, you could find EVERYTHING there.

The market this morning was smaller but still made for a perfect start to the day. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed downtown to do a little fresh food shopping: potatoes, onions, peppers, corn, squash and apples {to name a few}. I'm excited to make some great meals now!

{photo via Flickr}

Strawberry Memories

My aunt was an amazing chef, you could give her ketchup and crackers and she would make a delicious meal out of it. Her big cooking rule, though, was that everything tastes better fresh. She had a huge garden in her backyard, but what she didn't grow at home, my mom, sisters and I would pick at a farm with her.

We used to pick apples, grapes, pears, tomatoes, asparagus, rhubarb and many other vegetables at farms together.

My sisters' and my favorite farm was a little strawberry patch in the county. We would make a whole day trip out to the patch. My sister and I had a little competitions to see who could pick the most berries, while sneaking a few also.

So when my friends asked me to go pick strawberries today, I didn't hesitate, of course I would.

It was so much fun walking around and reliving childhood memories.

Farmers' Markets

One of the things I miss most about summer's in Madison is the farmers market. The Dane County Farmers Market is the largest producer-only farmers’ market in the country. It's huge and it's friendly.

Since I couldn't go to Madison for the farmers' market, I went to one in Wicker Park last year. It's definitely tiny compared to Madison, but I like it. To me, farmers' markets make it feel so much more like summer. Plus, I LOVE fresh fruit and vegetables. I think I'll go next weekend.

Plants Don't Like Me

I am so bad with plants that I once exploded a cactus- a plant that’s nearly impossible to kill.

His name was Ronald. (I name all my plants in hopes that will give them reason to live.) I like to think of Ronald’s departure less as a sad occasion and more as an explosive tribute to my black thumb.

The only thing about this that makes me sad is that people always say to get a plant before a getting a pet or having a child. I can only hope that should I have either of those someday, they would fare much better.