Nurturing my inner... friend to the farmer

May 7th. Mark that on your calendar if you're local. That's the day the Reston Farmers Market opens for the 2011 season. And I could NOT be more excited!! The joy I have every Saturday morning that I can go a couple miles up the street and buy fresh, local, incredible produce just drives me insane. Every Saturday is a new opportunity at discovery. And my cooking attitude from the winter changes. It's no longer, what do I feel like making. It becomes, what is in season and looks most appetizing today. Such a different perspective and a challenge to my creativity. If the tomatoes look particularly awesome that day, I may make a fresh caprese appetizer. If the peppers are plump and colorful, sausage and peppers could be on the menu. Sugar baby watermelon may be juiced and turned into a granita.  And if the corn is in season, well, a fresh corn and basil salad would be in order. But there is always the possibility of something truly wild making an appearance that just floors me. So here's a quick look back to last year's blackberries.


It's so fascinating, it's nearly unnatural.

I know, freakish, right?  How could a common blackberry every get that huge?  And I had a carton full of them.  I put Berryzilla on the right next to an ordinary, fair-sized blackberry on the left for comparison.  It was unreal!

And Berryzilla next to a lime. Almost scary.
Feels like it might attack me.

If you look around, no matter where you live, you can find a farmers market or at least a road side stand with fresh produce.  You have to take the time to pull over and check them out.  What's your hurry on a weekend morning anyway?  We are entering the best part of the entire year for fresh fruits and vegetables and I'm going to take advantage of every moment I possibly can.  In season veggies make such fabulous dishes.  But it's also exciting to discover something new and experiment.  Grow your knowledge; expand your recipe box.  They are continually cross breeding varieties of foods for slightly different outcomes, so you really just never know what you might come across.  I saw orange and purple cauliflower one time!  Purple string beans and bell peppers.  Tomatoes only slightly bigger than peas.  And eggplants the size of, well, eggs.  Oh the clever chemistry of it all!

So don't always plan out every detail of your day or your menus.  Be a little spontaneous and adaptable.  See what looks freshest, most appetizing that day, go home and crack open the cookbooks or search the web for a recipe to match.  I cannot encourage you enough to go to your local farmers market and support your farmers.  (No farms, no food.)  They are your neighbors.  Even if the produce costs you a little more than the large chains you normally patronize, you will get just picked, grown in America, not mass marketed foods.  And that will make you feel good about what you're feeding your family and quite patriotic by supporting the great country you live in.  Doesn't get any better than that!

Now, how many days until May 7th?