Strawberry Fields Forever

Once you have tasted a juicy strawberry, fresh, fresh, fresh from the local farm where it was grown, you will never want to eat another one of those grocery store strawberries (that are white inside) ever again.

 

For the second week in a row, strawberries were the star yesterday at the FRESH Farm Farmer's Market near the White House.  Beautiful, red, ripe strawberries were lined up in a row just waiting to be bought and eaten. 



Photo Courtesy of FRESH Farm Markets

I bought a huge amount of strawberries last week and so did a friend of mine from the office.  We did the same thing yesterday and it was great to chat up the guy from the farm who brought them to the market. 

Strawberries are great for you and are loaded with Vitamin C.  Also, the strawberry is among the top 20 fruits in antioxident capacity; you gotta love that!  Below is a recipe that was being handed out at the market and I thought I would share it with you:


Crepes With Local Strawberries
Shelley Horne, Home Cook & Farmer's Market Volunteer
www.freshfarmmarkets.org

3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
butter for skillet

Combine eggs, flour, salt and 1/4 cup milk in medium bowl; beat until smooth.  Beat in melted butter, then remaining milk.  Chill, covered, approximately 1 hour.

Slowly heat a small skillet (7-8 inch) until a drop of water sizzles.  Butter skillet lightly for first few crepes; after that it will be seasoned and crepes will not stick.  Use 2-3 tbsp batter for each crepe.  Pour batter into skillet all at once and swirl pan to coat bottom with a very thin layer.

Cook over medium heat until lightly browned (15-20 seconds); turn and brown other side.  Remove to plate; when cool, stack with foil between each crepe.  (Can be frozen and thawed just beofre using.)  Makes 12-16 crepes.

To serve, fold crepe in half and half again to form a triangle.  Top with sliced, fresh strawberries, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The above recipe is a yummy way to eat strawberries but if you're not in the mood to make crepes you can always pretend you are at Wimbledon: just slice the strawberries into a bowl and pour cream over them!

DOUBLE YUMMY!!!!!

White House Market Day Is Back!

The farmer's market near the White House is now open for business on Thursdays and I'm so happy that fresh fruits and veggies are close to my office for the picking.

 

 

I'm so proud of myself! I took these pics myself!

There was almost a party atmosphere as I arrived at the market today around 1 pm.  When I walked to the market area which is one block from the White House (www.freshfarmmarkets.org), there were almost 200 people shopping and sampling local produce.  People were spilling out of their office buildings, shaking off the cold weather, happy to be outside and become reaquainted with the farmers and other vendors they hadn't seen for months.

 

Browsing through the stalls today, I saw the season's freshest selections of kale, spring onions, baby cucumbers, leeks, beets, sweet potatoes and even some tomatoes.  I was really looking for strawberries but it is not yet their time.  I was told that it might be another week or two for ripe and juicy strawberries because Washington, DC had a bit of an unseasonable cold snap.

 

 

 

 

I came to the market for the opportunity to support local farmers and buy fresh produce but I also made a wonderful connection.  I was at the FRESHFARM Markets table looking for information about the vendors when a woman named Terry started chatting with me.  She asked if she could help me and I told her about Cry, Laugh, Heal and how I write about working through grief by trying to take care of yourself through exercise and eating healthy and generally staying resilient and positive.

 

She said she loved the name of the blog and she had experienced a time of laughing that turned into crying and then laughing again.

 

Terry said she was at a relative's funeral and this relative happened to be the kind of person who really liked playing jokes on people and making people laugh.  The person who got up to deliver the eulogy at her uncle's funeral walked to the front of the room to start talking.  Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, the speaker's zipper on his pants was unzipped.

People in the audience tried to make signals to him that he needed to zip up his pants and in the process of signaling, people began to laugh.  But then in the laughing they remembered they were at a funeral.  And then they started crying a bit but then they also couldn't stop laughing because the speaker was oblivious to his zipper being open.

 

EXACTLY!!  That's what's so great about the FRESHFARM farmer's market.  Every week is an opportunity to meet new people and share our stories about crying or laughing or healing.

 

Today I'm so glad to have met Terry and know that the farmers' healing fruits and vegetables are just a couple of blocks away for me for the rest of the summer and early fall!

Rock on farmers!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

It's In The Bag

Truly, it is the little surprises in life that make a difference!

Kindness can arrive at any time.

 

Or maybe it's just that my standard for smiling is different.  What brings a smile to my face might bring only a shrug to another person.  But I'm going to go with the spontaneous and positive happenings that I find around me!  It's all about the smooth and healing ride of life.

 

I know that negative energy is lurking out there, waiting to nab me, but I am pushing it away because yesterday in Washington, DC it was a beauuuuuuutiful day.  Not a cloud in the sky and the air was clean and crisp.  Oh to play hookey from work.

 

I walked to the farmer's market down the street from my office and saw that fall produce had arrived, full of fresh and nutritious possibilities: leeks, kale, pumpkins and an amazing variety of squashes and beautiful apples.  I love the Honeycrisp apples and they were at the top of my shopping list.  I had forgotten how tasty they were until I ate a few over the weekend.  That tart/sweet taste of the Honeycrisp is addictive.  I needed more!

 

When I reached the cash register, I had an armful of juicy apples and as I placed them on the scale, the guy behind the table asked me if I wanted a bag.  In DC, and now in Maryland, the bag thing is a big deal.  Maryland has actually taken it further than DC.  Most stores now charge you 5 cents for a plastic bag so I try to always have one with me.  It sounds like a small thing but it isn't. 

 

The money from buying the bag goes to cleaning up the neighboring rivers and I'm all for that.  But sometimes I get caught off guard like I did last week when I didn't have a bag with me.  I had just bought some dress slacks at Macy's and wanted to continue shopping at other stores in the Mall so I paid the 5 cents for the plastic bag.  I'm sorry but it just feels weird paying for something we used to get for free.

 

Anywho, I'm at the farmer's market and I hand the guy my recycled paper bag (with handles) and he accidentally rips it.  Rut Ro!  So he gives me a plastic bag which he doesn't charge me for and I'm gathering up my stuff to leave.  As I turn around, this young girl come up to me and pleasantly says, "This is for you." Well lookey loo, it's a new navy blue bag that says FRESHFARM MARKETS, just like the one pictured above.

"How nice of you!  You don't have to do that," I told her. 

"No, no," she said.  "It's okay.  Please take it." 

And I did.  With a big smile.

Now it's my turn to pass it on!

 

Pleasant Pops

As many times as I have been to the FRESHFARM markets near the White House to treat myself to the real flavors (or the real flava as my friends like to joke) of the farm fresh produce, I have never tried a Pleasant Pop.  Usually I set a certain amount of money to spend on the beautiful seasonal fruits and veggies sold each week by the local farmers and when the money's gone, so am I. 

But today, it was 95 degrees and I didn't go crazy on the tomatoes so I decided to join the line in front of the Pleasant Pop stand and check them out.  I know it's only a pop but part of healing is nourishing yourself with fresh food and an ice pop is better than a cookie.  I know you agree!!

Right away, I knew these pops were not like the heavy sugary orange, cherry and grape popscicles that I grew up on.  Handwritten on the chalkboard in front of the traveling freezer were the following flavors: blueberry pancake, cucumber chile, basil lemonade and strawberry ginger lemonade.

 

Courtesy of Pleasant Pops

  

I asked the guy selling the pops which pop was the lowest in calories and he said they all were under 100 calories and mostly in the neighborhood of 75 to 80 calores each.  I ordered a strawberry ginger lemonade which he said that was their most popular flavor.  He told me the flavors change depending on what fruits are in season and since peaches were begining to ripen there may be a peach flavored pop next week.

It tasted delicious, fresh and light and not sugary at all; an adult popscicle.  The strawberry ginger lemonade definitely lived up to its name: it was pleasant and refreshing.

What is Pleasant Pops doing at the FRESHFARM market you may ask?  Just as fruits and vegetables picked in season taste best because they are fresh, so to do the Pleasant Pops.  According to the company's website, Pleasant Pops was started in 2009 and the company partners and buy all of its fruits, herbs and milk from local DC area farmers.  The pops are original creations inspired by paletas, a traditional ice pop from the central Mexican state of Michoacan.

So if you travel to Washington, DC this summer and you need to cool off, catch the flava and check out a farmers market and Pleasant Pops for youself.

 

To market, To market

Photo by katieleekitchen

If it's Thursday, then it must be White House Farmer's Market Day!

Beautiful, juicy strawberries, freshly washed pesticide-free kale and farm grown tomatoes were all lined up on the tables today and looking fabulous.  It's a treat for me to get out of the office and feel the warm welcoming sun on my face as I walk the four blocks to the market, one of the city's many farmer's markets where people can consistently find unlimited and natural nutrients.

Today there was a new vendor.  I didn't see the name of the farm but I believe it was located somewhere in Pennsylvania because the people working the stand were Amish and not surprisingly, the line was long.  The Amish have a well deserved reputation for fresh delicious homemade or homegrown foods.  Today they were grilling what looked like red and yellow peppers and onions to accompany other grilled meats brought in from their farm.

I try to go to the market every week because I have learned over the past few years that eating fresh and raw fruits and vegetables is invaluable for a healthy mind and body.  Nourishment is essential to healing just as plenty of sleep is.  When you are dealing with an emotional crisis, the last thing you need to put in your body is processed foods loaded with chemicals and other stuff you can't pronounce.  You body can't get any energy or re-charge itself off those foods.

Tomatoes and kale were my big purchases for the day and then I walked around to see what the other vendors were offering.  Baby squash, spring onions and lots of varieties of lettuces just picked from the farm were among the popular items for sale.  Then there were other vendors who are not farmers who sell their products featuring local seasonal ingredients and they lend a festive tone to the market: the popscicle man whose pops are made from natural juices, a baker who sells different varieties of breads and a flower person selling bunches of seasonal flowers overflowing in tin can containers.

It's a community happening just a block from the White House and I can't wait to buy more goodies next week!

Summer In The City

FRESHFARM Markets Photo

One of my favorite things about summer is the food.  Summer food is the BEST!!!  The tomatoes, the corn on the cob, melons, peaches and berries.  I could go on and on.  Everything is so fresh and so flavorful.

One of the places where I find a great supply of summer food is at a Farmer's Market near my office that is also about two blocks from the White House.  We call it Michelle Obama's Farmer's Market because the first year the Obamas were in the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama, as part of her nutrition campaign to get Americans to eat healthier foods, walked across the street to pick out some fruits and veggies for her family.  Naturally, the market got a lot of attention and because of it's prime location you can never be sure when she might visit again!

The FRESHFARM Markets is made up of about a dozen vendors and they sell farm fresh fruits and produce along with flowers, home made breads, home made cheeses, and home made popsicles in exotic flavors such as strawberry ginger lemonade and vanilla honey lavender.  Today, the smell of the peaches was incredible.  I bought some tomatoes and my friend bought peaches.

Besides the delicious produce, you also get a chance to chat up the farmers who grow the food.  They are always ready to talk about the best ways to cook the foods they are selling and how they grew it.  It's all part of the community of vendors who come together every week in this part of the city to promote the unique taste of food grown in the Chesapeake Bay region and expose people to fresh food they might not be able to grow for themselves.

Not only do we feel we're supporting the farmers when we walk down the street to buy their fresh products but we're also doing something healthy for ourselves.  And when you've been sitting in front of a computer for most of the day that's always a good thing!