Saturday morning in the 'hood

[mojosmom]

I started the day by going to an estate sale. Two books, a DVD, three CDs, a decorative plate, a crocheted pillowcase, a mug and some coasters later, and after having dropped that stuff at home, I headed off to my first farmers' market of the season. (It actually opened last week, but I was doing to many other things to get there.) I didn't actually buy a lot of produce, just some salad greens, a couple of tomatoes and some asparagus, since I'm going to be leaving town mid-week, but I did get some cupcakes from the Brown Sugar Bakery and a lovely veal chop from Mint Creek Farm. I know their lamb is good, so I decided to try their veal.

You know, between Saturday morning at the grocery store, and Saturday morning at the farmers' market, who needs to fix lunch? Chef Courtney Nzeribe was fixing lamb sliders with rhubarb-onion sauce:


and Stephanie Izard (the Top Chef winner) and her sous-chefs from Art Smith's Common Threads program were passing out high-class sloppy joes:


After the farmers' market, I went grocery shopping and there were the usual people handing out samples (pizza and chicken bratwurst today), and of course they always have samples of various fruits, and bread to dunk in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and cheeses, and salsas, etc.

The morning was rather overcast, but the sun seems to be trying to come out. I think I'm going to put my winter clothes away, and get my spring/summer things out!

Comments

[asterapallas.livejournal.com]

I adore estate sales. It sounds as if you came away with treasures. Woo!

Your haul from the Farmer's Market sounds fantastic. And your photographs of the food on offer today are superb.

Yum.

[fancyhorse.livejournal.com]

A profitable morning!
How did "sliders" get their name? Do you know? I've seen them on menus, and eaten some, but it sounds like such a strange thing to call little sandwiches.

[asterapallas.livejournal.com]

Usually sliders are so named due to their small size...and they usually are topped or marinated in a sauce which enables them (along with their smaller size) to "slide" right down.

:)

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

As near as I can find, "sliders" was a term used in the Navy for greasy hamburgers. White Castle began calling their small, greasy burgers "sliders" and the word has now come to mean any small burger.

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

That sounds like the perfect day to me! Your Farmers' Market puts our to shame (although ours is all-year-round). The only stall to give away anything is one of the bakery stalls, and then it is only a little cube of whatever he is pushing at the time.

This current marketing trend of giving stuff away in order to attract custom and, hopefully, customer loyalty hasn't reached Europe so far as I know. I appreciate that I live in a backwater here, but Guy and I noticed at the expo for the London Marathon that although there were some good offers, there was very little in the way of "freebies". Interesting - seems to me the first companies to realize and do it will clean up!

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

This farmers' market is actually quite small, but they focus a lot on education and helping people. Hence the chef's demo and the involvement of Common Threads. They also accept the LINK card (which is government assistance to help low-income families buy food).

It's part of a larger organization called "Experimental Station",which describes itself as an "incubator of innovative cultural, educational, and environmental projects and small-scale enterprises". They have a bicycle shop that teaches kids in the neighborhood how to fix bikes and, in the process, earn one.

So I get a lot more than produce at this market!

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is so impressive.

[cathepsut.livejournal.com]

I bookmarked the rhubarb-onion-sauce recipe, sounds yummy! Did you try the lamb burgers?

I added sloppy joes to my must-try-list. Never had one... This summer!

Is there some food that is special to Chicago and that I should definitely have when I am there?