A leisurely Saturday

I got home from the gym this morning (we had a sub at bootcamp and she absolutely KILLED us), took a shower, started making some eggs and then realized that I had nothing planned for the day. I'd had some tentative plans with a few people, but none of them worked out, so I had a whole day free and to myself. Wowsers, when is the last time that happened??

I decided to go check out the Deering Oaks Farmer's Market. It is the biggest farmer's market in the Portland area and I have been wanting to go for the past 2 years. But you know, it's all the way on the other side of the bridge, a whole whopping 10 minutes away.

It was awesome! There was tons and tons of fresh produce, but also cheeses, meats, potted plants, and prepared food. I went a little crazy. My first purchase was a couple healthy, hefty potted tomato plants to replace the dying one on my patio. After I stowed those in the car, I also loaded up on swiss chard, kale, cherry tomatoes, and garlic scapes. I have been wanting to try garlic scapes forever- they are just so cool looking!

My last impulse purchase was 3 quarts of jamming strawberries, they were just such a bargain that I couldn't resist. SO, that meant that when I got home it was jam time. I'd never actually made jam on my own before, but it couldn't be that hard right??

It really wasn't that hard. And squishing all the berries with my fingers was a lot fun. Less than an hour later, I had jam!

 While the kitchen was already a mess, I decided to whip up some pesto with my garlic scapes. They had a sample of garlic scape pesto at the stand where I bought the scapes and it was so good that I decided to whip some up myself. Into the food processor went the scapes, a bunch of basil, some olive oil, pine nuts, and some pecorino romano. I heart my food processor, it is like magic.

 

While I was busy in the kitchen the fog finally burned off, so when I finished my pesto I grabbed the dog and headed out to Bug Light Park. We walked around, watched the boats and people flying kites, waded in the water, frolicked in the grass and then settled down to read (me) and sleep (Dixie).

By the time we got home, I was starving even though it was only 4:30! So I whipped up a batch of homemade pasta to have with my pesto. With the food processor and my pasta maker it is so easy to make fresh pasta. I don't know why I don't do it more often!

It was really nice to have a day where I could do exactly what I wanted when I wanted to do it. I should plan these more often!