Often, I resolve to visit Findlay Market more often. I really like the place. But I don’t actually cook very often, and food can end up on the compost heap instead of in a wonderful soup.
Today, a close friend I hadn’t hung out with in a while and I had breakfast at Tucker’s, on Vine in Over-the-Rhine, just a couple of blocks from the market. It’s always a good breakfast and lunch place – now even better for us veggie / vegans, with veggie bacon, tofu, non-dairy sour cream. Goetta, etc, for the meat eaters, and real food for the rest of us. So I had vegan huevos rancheros. With real home fries.
We both have the same favorites: Madison’s, which has a fair amount of organic and lots of local, and the Mediterranean Store/Dean’s, where I always get a batch of samosas plus haloumi (sheep cheese), plus lots of the other great smelling things there. So we decided to wander the market first, and then come back to do our real shopping at our favorites.
There were actually vendors in the market shed, which is usually pretty empty in the winter. In the summer, it’s the best place to get local / organic. I got a big bag of sweet potatoes. Luckily, I had brought a ton of shoulder bags to put everything in. We then wandered among the street vendors, ending up inside the market itself. More spices, actual bulk butter like our grandmothers and great-grandmothers used. Lots of carnivore / omnivore food, as well as lots of gourmet choices for those of us who eat lower on the food chain.
By this time we were loaded down enough to make a trip to the car. Then we came back to Madison’s (where I found the leeks I was looking for) and Dean’s (just breathing in there is such a good idea!).
The leeks are because I had bought some black-eyed peas, and went looking for recipes. Most of the recipes called for kale (which I harvested from the garden just before the cold snap) and leeks. Now I’m all set.
Then we took one of our cars down to Park + Vine to do green shopping, and walked back up Vine to the other car, while stopping to shop, and to look at some of the housing projects being built in the Gateway Quarter. A great day.
And then – I had agreed to meet another friend for our Christmas high tea – at Churchill’s, which has moved to the Market. Turns out they no longer do high tea, though they sell tea and accessories. So on this second trip in one day, we wandered in to the Taste of Belgium, inside the Market House. I virtuously got a vegetarian crepe – so beautiful and so good! – so that I could then wipe out on a genuine Belgian waffle – bears no resemblance to the insipid waffles we make. And I tried taro tea – which is purple / lavender.
What a great day. Lots of adventures, lots of friends to hug and laugh with. Findlay Market – it’s all good!