To Market, To Market or, My Laughing Place

Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ho Ho Ho
Boy are we in luck (yahoo).
We're visiting the laughing place
Yuk Yuk Yuk
Hoo Hoo Hoo.

The Portland Farmer's Market opened on Saturday, April 7th. I'd had that date on my calendar since the market closed last December. Pyramids of lettuce (five different kinds), piles of carrots, mounds of onions. Artichokes, asparagus, leeks, radishes, herbs; wild gathered mushrooms, fresh caught salmon, 100% grass fed beef--and buffalo, elk, venison and boar as steaks, patties, ground or tasty sausages; berries by the flat as the days get longer; apples by the barrel when the cool air comes again. Cartons of eggs from pasture raised chickens; blocks of yellow butter from cows feeding on growing grass; goat cheese (oh, the goat cheese) and sheep cheese and jellies and jams. Row upon row of leafy greens which morph color, shape and heft as the seasons change. This is my happy place.

I didn't make it to the market on April 7th. I woke up to heavy rain on the roof on the first Saturday in months without an early alarm to drag me out of bed....and promptly rolled over for more sleep. (It was glorious; sometimes you need to feed the soul like that.) Next weekend, I'd told myself. But, the next weekend was a seminar weekend, spent indoors in cramped chairs learning wonderful and amazing things. I didn't make it to the market.

Today, though: Armed with reusable bags, pockets of cash, and cappuccinos in our tummies, my friend Joel and I went to the market.

The bok choy was so brilliantly green, it glowed in the daylight (like Nickelodeon gak a la 1995). Leeks and rhubarb covered tables or stood in baskets next to mountains of butter lettuce. Lettuce. Not chard, not kale: lettuce. Sweet, tender, verdant lettuce, so new it almost melts on the tongue. We bought a bunch. A bunch of bunches. Then we went home and made a salad.

Spring Salad, the First of the Year
Respect the lettuce... go easy on the dressing!

Butter lettuce, dandelion greens, baby spinach
Spring onions, pulled from Joel's garden, thinly sliced
A small handful of cilantro, freshly cut, coarsely chopped
Four Pasture-Raised, Farm-fresh eggs, hardboiled softly, broken into pieces
Fraga Farm's Farmhouse cheese, crumbled

Fresh olive oil
Touch of balsamic vinegar
Salt
Pepper

Combine in one large wooden bowl. Dress lightly. Very lightly.
Add two forks.
Indulge.

Right now, most of the market stands are selling plants. Lettuce starts, cilantro starts, tomato starts. Plants I would take home and kill and feel terrible about. Soon, though, they'll be selling vegetables. More vegetables than I will know what to do with. I can't wait!