Oh, I do love food. After returning from a two week vacation with the kids, Greg and I took off for the 20th Anniversary of the Hot Springs Gallery Walk. That was pretty cool, and I look forward to sharing that time of enjoying Hot Springs with you later. But this morning, waking to the animals and their pleas of food and relief, I got up earlier than planned.
After making some wonderfully strong coffee, I read the local paper. The skies are overcast today, and I hope it does rain a little. I love rainy days where we have to do nothing but stay inside. Greg fixed a glorious dinner for us last night. I found Dover Sole at Fresh Market. I was ecstatic. Being landlocked and not being able to eat meat, I must get excited about the fish that is flown in from other parts. Dover Sole is my favorite fish of all time.
We enjoyed the fish, along with a vegetable medley of new potatoes, carrots, and onions with parsley. It really was a wonderful meal. So this morning also greeted me with a very messy kitchen. That’s my job. Greg cooks and I clean. I think it’s pretty fair. With the dishwasher humming and the counters scrubbed clean of olive oil, I turned to two large paper sacks on the kitchen bar.
My father picked up my weekly order from the local farmers market in Argenta while we were in Hot Springs. This is probably the best farmers market ever. Jody Hardin makes sure of that. He’s a local hero in my book. When Little Rock wouldn’t ban those “farmers” who sold produce they had flown in, or picked up at the local Wal-Mart, Jody left and started the Certified Arkansas Farmers Market. It’s located in the Argenta area of downtown North Little Rock, and it continues to grow and flourish. Only products grown and made in Arkansas are allowed to be sold there. It’s fabulous!
So there they sat, unpacked since my father left them for me yesterday. They were like bright shiny Christmas packages waiting to be opened on Christmas morning. I ordered the produce a week ago, and I didn’t quite remember what I had bought. Digging into the first sack I squealed with delight. I brought out eggplant, tomatoes, red, green, and yellow peppers, okra, shitake mushrooms, zucchini, squash (with the blossoms still attached!), and a dozen ears of fresh corn. In addition, I bought fresh herbs: mint, dill, cilantro, and parsley. These herbs are so much better than the “fresh” ones you can buy at the supermarket. They are full of flavor and picked just for me.
I can hardly wait to start cooking.
