I love Farmer’s Markets!  It is so much fun to explore the local markets and see what is being grown, harvested, cooked and creatively displayed. This is what I found at  the Hub City Farmer’s Market on Heyman Blvd in Lafayette on Saturday…

Gotreaux’s (www.gofamilyfarms.com)  fresh farm eggs, green and yellow zucchini, baby (two toned) squash, small sweet watermelons, cantaloupe, tender baby okra, baby eggplants and my favorite, their lambchops!

Thibodough’s (www.thibodoughs.com) Cinnamon and raisin bread (my granddaughter claimed a loaf as soon as she saw it!), kalaches and spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta wrapped in a light and flakey puff pasty.

Beautiful fresh mixed flowers arranged creatively in mason jars (They also sell homemade juice popsicle that are fresh, bright and wonderful!);

Homemade peppermint soap from Acadian Rain, one of their newest soaps…smells like you just rubbed your hands through a garden of fresh mint!

And, of course, I couldn’t come home (for myself and my daughter) without  freshly roasted coffee beans from Supreme Beans Coffee Roasters!  She also sells freshly baked cookies and pastries that are always wonderful.

I particularly love the spicy homemade salsa sold by Linda Jo’s Salsa…great stuff!

Now, what in the world did I do with all of these fresh and wonderful treasures?   Having my granddaughter with me on Saturday morning, we immediately (in the car, driving home)  start nibbling on that soft, fresh, sweet cinnamon raisin bread and savory kalaches!  Then, as soon as we were home, cut into that incredibly sweet little watermelon and quickly devoured it, while a fresh pot of coffee was brewing (of course, with the fresh roasted beans!)

Since I was expecting overnight guests, the beautiful fresh flowers went into the guest bedroom!  Lamb Chops, right into the freezer for another day (and another post!)   Baby eggplants and squash will be grilled with supper tonight, zucchini will turn into a loaf of fresh, sweet and savory zucchini bread. (I have been hungry for this since my youngest daughter, who is in the Pastry Arts Program at Delgado in New Orleans, sent a picture to me of a loaf that she had made in class!) The cantaloupe went well with breakfast this morning, along with the fresh eggs.   And the soap went home with my granddaughter…precious!

Those tiny tender baby orka.. I had plans for those!  They brought back wonderful memories of what my mother used to do with the smallest of the okra that she would find when cooking a whole sack:

 

Wash and gently boil whole okra in lightly salted water until just tender (approximately 5 minutes after water comes back to a boil)

 

 

Slice 1 onion into bowl and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt and fresh ground pepper;

Add 1 cup of white vinegar

 

 

Drain okra and (while still hot) pour into bowl with onion and vinegar.

Stir and mix well.

 

 

 

Enjoy at room temperature or after chilled…great to eat alone as a snack, as a compliment to a salad or in a nice cold Bloody Mary!!

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my favorite ways to start a Saturday (especially with one of my grandchildren in tow).  For me, this just works in so many ways…creating great lifelong memories with another generation! Well, it just doesn’t get much better than that…