"Love Carrots"

The farmers market was bustling this morning. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood (or maybe I was just projecting my mood on to everyone else). I love being in that environment, making connections with random people in my community. We all seem to have the same objective - to eat beautiful, healthful food from our bountiful state. The whole experience just lifts my spirits. When I entered the market, a woman selling the "Real Change" paper said "Good Morning." When I replied, she said, "Man, you must be a morning person. Your face just lit up." And it's true, I am a morning person, but it was the atmosphere that made me feel cheerful. 

Today, I got lots of goods from the market, including: fresh eggs, a whole chicken to roast, several pumpkins, fresh honey, Braeburn apples, and of course, another butternut squash. But my coolest finds were the veggies in today's picture. I bought a whole stalk of brussels sprouts for $4. The whole thing, with all those sprouts, for only 4 bucks! And I got to pick the veggies right off the stalk before I actually sauteed them for dinner tonight. It was fantastic! I never thought I would ever be so excited about buying so many brussels sprouts. But, man, they're tasty! 

Tonight I made a recipe by Heidi Swanson, the author of one of my favorite cookbooks, Super Natural Cooking. The recipe was for Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts. I highly recommend it, especially for people leery of the sprouts. My friend, Radhi, suggested that I check out this fabulous butternut squash recipe on a recipe site called 101 Cookbooks and when I went to check it out, I discovered that it's Heidi Swanson's site. I found the brussels sprouts recipe on there today. I've also got ingredients in the works for the butternut squash millet bake for some time this week. Stay tuned. 

The other cool veggies I got were the carrots. I went back to the same farmer to buy carrots again this week because last week's carrots were so sweet and delicious. But this time, the bunches of carrots were marbled orange and dark burgundy, like rainbow sherbet. They were beautiful. I asked the farmer if they were as sweet as the other carrots I bought last week. He snapped one off and handed it to me to try, right then and there.  Sure enough, it was delicious. Then, he told me the story behind them. He said they call them "Love Carrots" because they planted a row of carrots next to a row of big, red beets. He said that one night they heard some little elves making some noise out in the fields and the next thing they knew, they had "Love Carrots." At that, I paid my $2 for a bunch and was on my way. I'm not a big fan of beets, but maybe these carrots will help change my mind.