Farmers' Market Finds

For the last two Saturdays we have been up bright and early to peruse the Memphis Farmers' Market downtown. Last Saturday we arrived at 7.00 sharp. Venders where still unloading and some had not arrived by the time we made our purchases and moved on to The Complex for breakfast.

This week we decided to take it easy and arrived just as things were getting into full swing. The plan was to get everything for dinner from the market. Too late to catch the steaks from the beef guy (he said he sold out of most of that in the first hour)so we settled for short ribs. We were too late for the cheese folks as well, they had sold out of almost everything but gave a sample of some delicious petit basque. Alas, we blew the budget so we'll have to be patient until next week. We finished up our shopping with some stone ground yellow grits, baby carrots, blueberries (best. blueberries. ever.), cabbage and peppers. A lot of the really good looking produce was already sold out by the time we got there, but I was very happy with our booty. Our friends came along and got some phenomenal granola. I plan to pay more attention next time, so we can give props to the vendors.

So the meal (recipes to come) that we got out of this trip was: Anise scented short ribs, stone ground cheese grits and steamed cabbage (best cabbage I have EVER eaten). All in all I think the entire meal without the wine cost about 5 dollars a person. Well worth it.

The farmers' market is great. It opens at 7:00 am on Saturdays only and get there early because the popular vendors are very, very popular. The beef guy is worth the trip. The short ribs melted in our mouths.