Saturday, June 27, 2009

Blogger Meet Up at the Market!!

Happy Saturday, everyone! I had a most fun day today. DD and I were up and on the road by 7:30 to head into Toronto to hit up some popular farmers' markets. We enjoyed the company of a fellow blogger who was a most awesome tour guide....Ruth from Plentiful Plants!

What a sweet friendly person Ruth is! We have plans to meet up again soon for some more excursions in T.O. I really appreciated her taking part of her day to show us around the markets and bringing us to the best vendors. I bought a ton of stuff, but first...what did I eat for breakfast? Well today ends my June challenge of eating something different for breakfast one day a week for the month. I made a toasted WW bagel with homemade cinnamon maple almond butter and fig jam to go...This made for a great breakfast. DD had one too, minus the preserves. Traffic was fantastic on the way there so between that and my lead foot, we made it downtown in 55 minutes. We passed right by the CN Tower many times. I've seen it hundreds of times in my life and I'm always amazed by it!
We went to the St. Lawrence Market...
and Kensington Street market. As I mentioned, I bought loads of goodies. Here's the proof!

Sweet peas, bell peppers, and a few different varieties of tomatoes.
Fresh local asparagus. I can't wait to roast these babies up!
Strawberry Banana jam, sweet apple chamomile tea and Holly Nog Vita Soy. This was reduced to a dollar because it expires on July 17th. I'm sure I can put it back by then!
Yellow and green zucchini and a KABOCHA courtesy of Ruth and some homemade mole, also from Ruth. I' thrilled about the kombucha and the mole is so very good. I stuck my finger in to give it a taste and I think iIm gonna enjoy that on some chicken! THANKS, Ruth!!
Pastries! There are 7 in there if you can believe it. This is more for my hubby who enjoys this type of sweet stuff. I can take or leave it so it's safe for me to have a home.
Fresh, local strawberries which are super sweet and juicy. We've actually already polished off a pint! They're like eating candy.
And this ginger dark chocolate bar which melted on the way home and had to be put in the fridge to reharden. It looks a little funny but tastes great! I also bought some almond breeze which was more reasonably priced than what I've been finding lately and some cereal for the kids. I purchased some dried banana's which you will likely see in my oats tomorrow. They're VERY strange looking!

I taste tested some really good cheese and breads so I was OK for lunch until we got home which was about 1:30. I put everything away then made up a bowl of cottage cheese mixed with pineapple jam and fresh strawberries (which taste just like sugar!!) and a wrap that was filled with some Monteray Jack (purchased at Kensington Market) and some grilled zucchini and oyster mushrooms (purchased at St. Lawrence Street). I toasted it up in a pan to melt the cheese.
What a great lunch!!! The veggies were in quite a bit of oil so I rinsed them off and patted them dry before using them. This didn't take any of the flavour away in my opinion.

As soon as I got this down we left to go to my parents place to celebrate my nephews 4th b-day. Mom had dinner for 4:30. There were burgers, sausages, hotdogs, potato salad and pasta salad and a green salad. Nothing appealed to me which I couldn't figure out a first but I soon realized that I was not hungry. I munched on some watermelon and strawberries...

Then enjoyed a piece of Mom's famous drumstick cheesecake... Full or not, I can not pass this one up!
We arrived back home about 7:30 and I can honestly say that I'm BEAT! I know I didn't eat much of a dinner, but I'm just not very hungry. I'm going to spend the evening catching up on blog reading with my feet up while sipping on that new tea. I hope you all had as enjoyable a day as I had!

Bye for now!

10 comments:

  1. PSST - the squash is called kabocha. Kombucha is the fermented drink you see many a blogger consume ;) Why they have to be so close in name is beyond me.

    Your market day with Ruth looks like tons of fun! Jealous of your local strawberries - they had them at my produce market today, and I so wanted to buy some, but I'm still avoiding them to see if they are causing me hives.

    Oh, and your mom's cheesecake? I need some. Now. Too bad it won't ship well ;)

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  2. Is the St Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto? There is one that I LOVE but I can't think of the name of it. It's one where there are tons of food stalls so you can get something to eat for lunch/dinner if you want. I wish I could think of the name of it. I might have to do some googling! At any rate, looks like you had some fun! Great meet up with Ruth!

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  3. I wish we had as many farmers markets here in Sweden as you have there! Looks like you got some fantastic stuff. I have a Celestial Seasonings tea that is honey vanilla chamomile, it's SO good so i can imagine the apple chamomile you bought will be good too. I also got VitaSoy choc peppermint once, it's a special they have around Christmas. That stuff was insanely good! I was so sad when I finished it! Your moms drumstick cheesecake looks amazing!

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  4. it sounds a fun day!!!
    you got KABOCHA!!! wooooo..... I can't wait to read your thoughts about it!
    and that piece of cheesecake looks amazing!! I wouldn't pass that one either! :)

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  5. Looks like a great little trip--I always love hanging out with my mom, so I think it's cool that you and your daughter bond well too! :-) Mommy's girls rock haha! Btw, that strawberry banana jam sounds WONDERFUL! Anxious to hear the feedback.

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  6. Fun meet up! Krista, I love your dress!! Perfect for summer!

    Fresh, local strawberries are like candy - way too good to be 'healthy'! That dessert looks HEAVENLY!!

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  7. what GORGEOUS green market finds! We are shopping soul mates - saving the world one green market at a time!

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  8. Home!!!!!!!! :o(

    You went on one of my favourite Toronto outings period. St. Lawrence for the yuppy eats and then Kensington for my ethnic fix. Le sigh.

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  9. OMG how do you make that cheesecake!!! YUM!!! whats on top of it?!?!?!

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  10. I love your purchases! That looks like a great market!

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