A Good Day at the Market

Every Saturday, April through November, the Farmer’s Market sets up in the parking lot of a small strip mall.  While I don’t make it every Saturday, I am managing to go more this year than last.  (That’s not difficult seeing as we only made it once last year.)  Tug and I usually saunter in around 10:00 a.m., do a walk through and decide what we’re going to get.  Today, I got up early so I could be there at 8:00 a.m. to meet my friend, Terry.  The plan was to scope out some of my competition for home-baked goods.  The problem:  none of my competition showed up this morning.  That was disappointing, but I consoled myself with the fact that I got to see Terry and that this is what I brought home with me:

The strawberries are in the process of becoming strawberry-chipotle preserves.  I made a batch of this last year and it didn’t last nearly long enough. The cherries were stemmed, pitted and frozen to be used later for pie.

And since I was in the area, I stopped by the produce market and scored on some fresh ginger:  almost three pounds for a whopping $2.00.  I didn’t get such a great deal on the rhubarb, but told myself with such a deal on the ginger that it evened out.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 

Most of the ginger is being candied, but I did grate some in the food processor.  It was portioned into one tablespoon amounts and frozen in a mini-muffin tin for future cooking uses.  The rhubarb is going to be used for some rhubarb-ginger jam.  Doesn’t that sound good?